Hazel wants to phase out exam

MINISTER of Education Hazel Manning yesterday hinted that the SEA exam may be phased out.

She made the disclosure as she commented on this year’s SEA results at a post-Cabinet media conference at Whitehall.

Manning said the SEA exam may be supplemented and even overtaken by the national tests.

“We have put in place the national tests at standard one and standard three, so what we’ve put in place is continuous assessment right through the system to be able to track children to have a sense of what’s going on.”

In years to come, she said, the national test would help pupils avoid having to hustle over the last two years in primary school to do the SEA.

“We will start monitoring you and assessing you from entry and therefore as you continue along the system we will be able by different ways to assess how you progressed.”

Newsday asked if she was suggesting that the national tests be used to phase out the SEA exam in favour of an ideal of continuous assessement. “Yes, it is an ideal. It is.”

Saying all SEA pupils had gained school places, Manning said fewer students took the exam this year.

She blamed demographics, saying: “Less births. Student population falling. Adult population falling. And we are lucky that is happening as it makes it easier for us to place all our students.”

She said the national tests had revealed some worrisome indicators.

She made some unsubstantiated claims about the national tests, saying, “Boys are doing much worse than girls. The indicators say that urban schools are doing better than rural schools. That math is a little bit better than English when the exam scores are assessed. That maybe socio-economic issues are really very important.” Using these indicators, she said, her ministry’s student support unit will help the country’s 60 most at-risk schools.

Manning said 18,719 students wrote the SEA exam on April 6.

“All students were placed at schools — government schools, government-assisted schools and private schools.”

Some 13,394 pupils will go to five and seven-year schools; 4,190 pupils to three-year schools (junior secondary); 332 pupils to pre-vocational centres; and 803 pupils to private secondary schools. She alluded that the SEA’s pressure on pupils will also be reduced by building more secondary schools.

Manning hoped the Student Support Services Division could identify the factors which affect pupil performance.

“We have put in place an immediate strategy — vacation camps which will provide a programme designed to help address the reading and literacy weaknesses of students.”