KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry has been urged to set preconditions or devise a plan to effectively implement school-based assessments following the abolishment of the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and Form Three Assessment (PT3).
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia education expert Dr Anuar Ahmad said school-based assessment was a comprehensive assessment that was continuous and personalised for each student.
"Classroom-based assessment has been implemented in developed countries such as Australia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and even the United States and Japan, so it is a good move.
"But countries like China continue to have an examination-based system.
"We should have several main preconditions that must be fulfilled or at least have plans to fulfil the preconditions to effectively implement any classroom-based assessment."
He said one precondition was trimming classroom sizes to 20 to 25 students.
"The optimum number is 20 to 25 students per classroom, as recommended by experts.
"We (sometimes) have more than 40 students in a classroom and the responsibility falls on one teacher to assess them all.
"Teachers cannot do it alone. The assessment will not truly reflect the individual's progress due to the number of students per class, unless teachers are provided with a teaching assistant to monitor students' progress."
Anuar said he understood that reducing the number of students per classroom cannot be done in the near future, but plans must be made for this.
"It can be done in phases starting this year and continue in the next five years because we want the assessment to be effective and successful."
He said individual assessments were important as they allowed teachers to monitor students' progress and come up with the right solutions for improvement.
"The Education Ministry needs to align the syllabus or curriculum so that it is flexible for teachers to hold activities in classrooms to monitor students' progress.
"If teachers are less burdened by a packed syllabus, they will be free to create activities. This can ensure effective assessment of the student as an individual, not as part of a group, as teachers would not be racing against time to complete the syllabus."
He said some students communicate well and others do not, but those who do not communicate well should not be perceived as being less capable.
"Teachers can pinpoint what help is needed or come up with interventions when creating activities that suit both types of students."
Anuar said teachers in Sweden and Finland were given the freedom to assess their students as they were experts in their respective subjects.
"So even the District Education Office cannot dispute their assessment of their students' progress."
He said individual assessments for students were welcome as this would provide a progress record for students and teachers.
"The records will not be stored after each assessment, but they can serve as a guide for teachers to create interventions to help students improve individually."
He said before UPSR and PT3 were abolished, classes should have been downsized, the curriculum should have been aligned and more autonomy should have been given to teachers.
"The announcement has been made, but there is still time to implement the assessment carefully and not hastily. We need to ensure parents understand the assessment-based system as many are used to exam-based assessments.
"Perhaps the ministry can consider implementing this in phases with Year 1, 2 and 3 pupils.
"Parents will understand the process better when the pupils go into Year 4, 5 and 6."