The first annual national assessment tests (ANAs) for learners across South Africa in grades two to seven and 10 are over.
In a letter to parents the department of basic education gave the following reasons for the ANAs:
In principle, it’s a good quality assurance practice to see whether standards have been achieved. So, for example, the teacher in the grade three classroom needs to know whether his or her learners are at an age-appropriate reading level. If need be, corrective action can be taken. The teacher can also be motivated to raise the achievement bar. Quality teaching is always in a state of never-ending improvement.
However, there’s much debate worldwide about standardised tests. Australia and England have them and their teachers are angry. Last year there were threats of nationwide boycotts in both countries. In England the tests are done in years two, six and nine. The Australian tests are done in years three, five, seven and nine. The Australian education minister at the time, Julia Gillard (now the prime minister), threatened teachers with fines if they boycotted the tests.
Why are thousands of Australian and English teachers so opposed to them? The more familiar complaints are:
Academics also question whether standardised tests are good for education. Do they bring out the core of an outstanding teacher? James Popham in Educational Leadership (Vol 56 No 6) acutely observes:
“Educators are experiencing almost relentless pressure to show their effectiveness. Unfortunately, the chief indicator by which communities judge a school staffs’ success is student performance on standardised achievement tests.”
We know that a quality teacher does much more than getting a learner to jump successfully through the hoop of a test or an exam. That person educates the learner for life in countless other ways.
Parents want the best for their children. They want to be able to assess the schools their children attend. Standardised tests have schools on their toes to achieve certain levels. When parents make choices about preferred schools, they look at past scholastic results. Matric results, for example, have been seen as good barometers of the academic potential of schools. Will the ANA results guide parents in this way, too?
Matric results have been used by schools to promote themselves and encourage new enrolments. It’s likely that ANA results will be used in similar ways. Parents are entitled to know these results and could request to see them.
How will schools, education departments and the media make the results available? Will there be a “naming and shaming” of under-achieving schools? It’s already being done with matric results. Will they be sensitive to those schools that are tireless in their commitment and sense of dedication but have far to travel in terms of quality education?
Use ANA sensitively and sensibly. Make results available in a manner that ensures that no child, teacher or school is humiliated in the process. Wisely implemented, ANA has huge potential to help turn the “Quality Education for All slogan into a reality.
Richard Hayward, a former principal of two state schools, edits Quality Education News. It is issued under the aegis of the South African Quality Institute (SAQI), which conducts school leadership and management programmes. Poor schools are sponsored
