Diversify forms of testing and assessment
The 2018 General Education Program (GEP) will begin implementation in the 2020-2021 school year. According to the roadmap, after 5 years, the new program will be implemented in a rolling manner across all 3 levels of education for all grades. The program is expected to promote students' autonomy and self-study capacity, communication and cooperation capacity, problem-solving capacity and creativity.
Although located in a disadvantaged area of Lao Cai province, Pa Cheo Ethnic Minority Boarding Secondary School is very active in implementing the new general education program. The lessons of teachers and students at this school always take place in an exciting and joyful atmosphere.
According to teachers working here, this positive change comes from changes in the way teachers teach and the way students learn. “The innovation of the general education program has brought about many positive changes in teaching activities between teachers and students. Students experience a completely new way of learning, without having to memorize or learn by rote, instead they can freely be creative. Teachers play the role of guides and summarizers, limiting the situation of reading and copying, and passively imparting knowledge" - Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy - Literature teacher, Pa Cheo Boarding Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities said.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy said that the school is currently teaching according to new textbooks including: Creative Horizon, Connecting Knowledge with Life and Kite. In addition, students are learning completely new subjects such as: Local Education, Career Guidance Experience Activities.
“The new curriculum and new subjects require us to innovate teaching methods, learning activities as well as testing and assessment methods for learning outcomes.
In the early days, both teachers and students had difficulties because they were used to the old way of learning, and the facilities did not really meet the needs of the subject. However, after being fully instructed and trained, the teachers gradually got used to it and were able to guide their students to integrate," said Ms. Thuy.
According to Ms. Thuy, the 2025 high school graduation exam is the first exam to follow the 2018 general education program. For the Literature subject, the materials in the exam are taken from outside the textbook, so memorization and learning by example are almost no longer effective.
Students are required to learn and understand the signs and characteristics of the genre so that they can apply them when taking the exam. Innovation in testing and assessment at this time will help students grasp the knowledge firmly and apply it to solve practical exercises.
Sharing about this issue, Ms. Do Thi Thu Nga - teacher at October High School (Tuyen Quang) said that changing the way of testing and evaluating students' abilities is necessary.
“The innovation in testing means that students do not need to take oral tests or do rigid tests. Instead, depending on each subject, they will do presentations and creative projects.
Through that process, I found that students were much more interested. The assignments were highly creative, showing new perspectives. Students were more confident, proactive, and creative,” said Ms. Nga.
Continue to innovate inspection and evaluation activities
In recent years, the activities of testing and evaluating students' learning outcomes have changed a lot, notably reducing pressure and maximizing students' abilities. However, there are still some shortcomings, not being implemented thoroughly and achieving the desired results.
According to many teachers, building tests is relatively difficult because it needs to meet innovation requirements such as interdisciplinary integration, combining theory with practice, linking to current issues of the locality and the country; combining essay and multiple choice; building a test bank with 4 levels: Recognition - understanding - application - high application.
This requires teachers to continuously improve their professional expertise and innovate. In addition, students are used to oral and written tests lasting less than 1 period, so their cooperation skills, self-awareness and initiative are not high.
According to Associate Professor, Dr. Do Van Dung - former Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education - to evaluate students' academic performance, we should pay attention to the entire learning process.
“Educational institutions from high school to university need to implement new assessment methods. Eliminate rigid exams, replace them with projects, major assignments, and continuous assessment during the learning process. How to form skills such as lifelong self-learning, problem solving, teamwork, creativity, and create habits of self-study and self-research for learners.
When conducting assessments, students must evaluate the entire learning process, not just based on test scores" - Associate Professor, Dr. Do Van Dung said.
According to Mr. Dung, to effectively implement innovation in testing and assessment methods, it is necessary to improve facilities, quality and quantity of teachers. A crowded classroom lacking basic equipment for the learning process will make testing and assessment difficult to implement.
“There needs to be a series of changes from primary, secondary to university, along with improving facilities, increasing the number of teachers, training teachers, and building a teaching support system.
Without these fundamental changes, the quality of students cannot meet the requirements of the new era. Therefore, reforming testing and assessment methods is considered one of the important factors to improve the quality of education, meeting the needs of society" - Assoc. Prof. Dr. Do Van Dung emphasized.
Fulfill the school year's mission "to the finish line"
The Education sector has determined that in the 2024-2025 school year, it will continue to implement Resolution 29 with many major solutions and tasks. In particular, innovating exams, reducing pressure, and properly assessing students' qualifications is a breakthrough.
The 2024-2025 school year will be the first year to organize the high school graduation exam as well as the entrance exam for grade 10 high school according to the new program. The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has prepared to issue guidelines for localities to implement, with the general view being to stipulate principles, create a framework for unification in management and direction nationwide; at the same time, decentralize to localities to organize in accordance with reality.
Prof. Dr. Do Duc Thai - Editor-in-Chief of Mathematics in the "Kite" textbook series - commented that the 2018 General Education Program requires learners to meet goals in terms of capacity and qualities; provide students with the right career orientation and help them prepare best for the high school graduation exam.
"For many years, we have changed the high school graduation exam method with a new exam format. Teachers need to learn about the industry's orientations to prepare and best meet the needs of students," said Professor, Dr. Do Duc Thai.
Regarding this issue, Dr. Vu Viet Anh - educational psychology expert, Director of Thanh Cong Academy said that - to assess students' abilities, it is necessary to have appropriate testing and evaluation methods.
“In the context of general education undergoing many innovations, schools also need to diversify the forms and methods of testing and assessing students’ abilities. It is possible to switch from paper tests to practical tests, product tests, project tests, team tests... This not only helps to comprehensively and accurately assess students’ abilities, but also contributes to encouraging them to study more actively, creatively and proactively” - Dr. Vu Viet Anh emphasized.
