Teachers should set examination papers

A few weeks ago, we walked into a school and were disgusted by what we saw. Children in nursery school were sitting for a written exam bought from a printer.

No so long ago, teachers used to set school exams based on the syllabus. The end-of-term or year exams then gave feedback for the teaching and learning processes; and were followed by thorough revision and remediation for learners who were found to be facing difficulties.

The subject teacher occupied their rightful place, not only in teaching, but also assessing. But things have changed. It is now common to see even children in baby class, nursery and pre-unit sitting an examination bought off the counter.

What has pushed teachers and more so schools to result to buying exams rather than developing their own?

We talked to selected head teachers of public and private schools to understand this. Teachers are concerned that they are evaluated on the mean score only. For a private school, you must post that mean score and beat your market competitors.

With this in mind, they feel an exam bought over the counter is “independent” and will give guidance on areas pertaining to improvement in regard to their pupils’ performance and evaluating teachers.

Head teachers feel that these exams are “neutral” arguing that if teachers were to set the exams, they would compromise them. As one head teacher put it, “It’s like being a prosecutor and a judge at the same time. A teacher won’t let his/her pupils fail an exam they have set”.

Then, how come teachers used to assess their students all the time, and yet have them pass the national examinations? Are these not the same teachers, and the same national examinations?

The other option was the district examinations. These examinations had become important from the early 2000s as way of schools comparing themselves with others. This seems to have changed also.

“No one takes these examinations seriously any more”, expressed one head teacher. “We no longer have the smartest subject teachers setting these exams.

Nowadays, any teacher is sent to set the exams and we have lost trust in them. On the other hand, some district officers prefer these exams being set by private printers and then sold-off, so that they may get their kickbacks."

The proposed curriculum reform emphasizes the need to reform assessment and examinations. Assessments should render service to the learning process, rather than being an end in themselves.

The assessment must present a balance between continuous and end-of-cycle exams, and consider both internal and external environments that confront the learner.

Established by the Basic Education Act (2013), we now have 47 County Education Boards. One function of these boards is to monitor examinations and assessments at the basic education and training levels in the county. With this rampant issue of buying exams over the counter, one wonders whether the County Education Boards exist and what they are doing to curb this vice.

We all know that teachers should assess the children they teach, and use the results of the assessments to improve learning.

To make progress and even manage the curriculum reform, the teacher’s role in assessment must be reinstated.

Rather than just assessment of learning, or sitting exams to give a mean score, we must go back to assessing for learning.

We would look forward to the Cabinet secretary outlawing counter exams, and forcing teachers and schools to develop their own assessments.

As Henry Brooks Adams once said: “Teachers affect eternity; no one can tell where their influence stops." The esteem of our teachers must be reinstated, to fully take charge of the learning of children.

Dr Mugo and Mr Njuguna are researchers with Twaweza East Africa and the Uwezo Learning Assessment

 jmugo@twaweza.org