Sea change

SEA CHANGE – a profound or notable transformation.

The origin of the expression “sea change” lies in Shakespeare.

Full fathom five the father lies; of his bones are coral made:

Those are pearls that were his eyes:

Nothing of him that doth fade,

But doth suffer a sea change

Into something rich and strange.

– The Tempest: Act 1 Scene 2 line 394

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In the early years of this millennium, a random sample of 15 year old students in a UNESCO (United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization) survey was carried out which compared the relative achievements in English, Math, and Science. We did not do well in this annual survey which included any country which wished to participate. In fact, the Philippines ranked very low in the survey and regularly was to be found amongst undeveloped third-world countries.

In 2011 we withdrew from the UNESCO survey. I suppose this was to turn our attention away from our basic education problem in the run-up to the passage of Republic Act 10533, the “K-12” Act. During this period, 2011-2013, we were all subject to a propaganda onslaught in which we were told that K-12 would make us “globally competitive”, to use the cant and untruthful expression at the time.

In 2018, the Department of Education (DepEd) took the brave decision to rejoin the international community and subject our education system to a comparative study in which DepEd surely knew we would fare badly.

Indeed we did. We have ranked at the bottom of the international survey of 79 high and middle income countries.

The survey was carried out by the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

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What to do?

We need to take the survey results seriously.

The survey shows a sad state of affairs. It shows that there are many students who attend school regularly but who are not obtaining much benefit from the instruction they are receiving.

We need to examine our methods of assessing student performance. Are we being realistic?

Schools carry out regular tests. I have noticed that they examine short-term memory but do not, in my opinion, determine what students have really understood.

As the prominent educationalist B.F. Skinner put it:

“Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.”

The practice of providing students with ‘pointers’ before a test probably diminishes our knowledge of student attainment.

Parents receive report cards which may not tell the unvarnished truth of what students have achieved.

Schools may wish, if at all possible, to avoid the controversy of dealing with irate parents when students receive failing grades. If our children have not reached the required standard, parents should be informed and, where appropriate, agreed remedial action be taken.

Over the past ten years we have seen a decline in the perceived importance of the National Achievement Test (NAT).

We need to reverse this trend and develop rigorous assessments which are truthful.

We need a sea change./PN

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