UPSC Articles
EDUCATION/ GOVERNANCE
Topic:
- Gs-2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education, Human Resources
- GS-2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Relearning Assessment
Context: The wait for a way to assess Class XII students after the cancellation of the board examinations has created immense anxiety in students and parents.
On this issue, there is a need to look at both the short and long-term evaluation goals.
What is assessment?
- Assessment is defined as a systematic review of learning, use of information collected from various experiences and consistent feedback.
- Assessments should have multiple rubrics in place. This will help to gauge what learners know, measure their understanding, track progress, help in planning the next step, assign remedial work and constantly give feedback to the stakeholders..
Present day assessment system
- The above definition contradicts how we assess our learners because we do not give them a variety of learning experiences.
- We assess them through a year-end standardised test of three hours in the national exams.
What measures can be taken to reform our assessment system?
- Application oriented: Questions have to be application-based. Banks of case studies, without too many knowledge and memory-based tasks, should be created.
- Innovative testing methods: Interesting testing systems, such as gamified tests, periodic midterms, project-based tests, should be attempted.
- Subject-based Evaluation techniques: It is essential to develop a framework to evaluate more autonomously. Evaluation tools need to be changed depending on the subjects. A student cannot be evaluated in science the way she is in languages.
- Interdisciplinary approach: We need to create capacity-building methods where every child is equipped with a diversity of knowledge and emphasis is given to her competencies, values and attitudes, using experiential pedagogy that integrates art, play, life skills, social and emotional learning with an interdisciplinary approach.
- Retaining the Essence of Assessment: The purpose of assessment is to understand learning outcomes. Identifying learning, aligning it to the goal, mapping skills, designing authentic tasks through which progress can be captured should be the essence of assessment
- A holistic report card should be equitable, inclusive and joyful, reflecting the learner’s diverse knowledge. A combination of self, peer, teacher and parent assessment will help create students who can reconcile tensions, take on responsibilities and shape better futures.
- Leveraging Online Assessment: Evaluating question papers physically will become a challenge. Issues of paperwork, manpower, confidentiality, and monitoring teachers in evaluation centres, will continue to pose problems. The creation of online assessment platforms has to be explored and supported by regional centres and schools
Conclusion
Unless education is more contemporary and child-centric, our children will not be able to cope with the rigours of the future. We need to have alternative learning systems that are enjoyable, inclusive, progressive and holistic. Breaking the mould of rote learning will help children realise their full potential.
Connecting the dots:
- National Education Policy mark a shift from a summative to a formative and competency-based learning system.
