EDITORIAL | Give pupils exams only when they’re all going to school daily

American educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom created a taxonomy of educational objectives, commonly known as Bloom’s Taxonomy, in 1956. Among other things, it is widely used by teachers, academics and others involved in drawing up tests and exams to assess pupils’ learning on a variety of cognitive levels.

The different levels of the taxonomy such as remember, understand, apply, analyse, evaluate and create are indispensable in helping teachers develop lower and higher order questions in tests and exams. While the jury is still out on whether a full-scale exam is more valuable than a “controlled” test, exams are widely perceived to be more challenging.

The duration of exams is also generally far longer than “controlled” tests and comprises different papers on a subject, as opposed to a “controlled” test which may often have just one paper.

So it came as no surprise recently when former Model C schools decided to conduct full-scale exams in grades 10 and 11, despite an instruction by the department of basic education (DBE) to offer “controlled” tests instead.

Earlier last month the department instructed schools to replace “controlled” tests in grades 10 and 11 with exams, but retracted this days later. These wealthier schools have argued that pupils, especially those in grade 11, need the experience and practice of writing the sort of exams they will be exposed to in the national senior certificate exams next year.

The department rightfully decided to scrap the exams for grade 10 and 11 pupils because the playing fields were not level. 

This commitment to expose grade 10 and 11 pupils, as well as those in grades 8 and 9, to full-scale exams is understandable. It makes perfect sense to hold these exams, even though they will count for only 40% of the total mark used to gauge whether a pupil passed or failed.

Former Model C schools can afford the luxury of having exams because their grade 10 and 11 pupils attended class on a full-time basis this year.

In contrast, while the department encouraged all schools to expose grade 11 pupils to daily attendance, grade 10 pupils at many township and rural schools have still followed the rotational timetable.

This means that some of them have been attending school every second or third day or once a week and even once in two weeks, thus robbing them of the benefit of enjoying the same number of hours of classroom teaching as their counterparts in former Model C schools.

Stellenbosch University researcher Nic Spaull warned that if the department does not do something about rotational attendance, “we could potentially have a lost generation on our hands”. The Gauteng branch of the South African Principals’ Association said that full-scale exams in the different grades should only be considered if all pupils are back at school.

The department rightfully decided to scrap the exams for grade 10 and 11 pupils because the playing fields are not level. In an ideal world, pupils, especially in the higher grades, should be given exams instead of “controlled” tests at the end of the year.

Universities, for example, place huge emphasis on the grade 11 exams and use the results to make offers of placement to pupils. To its credit, the department came up with a three-year curriculum recovery plan, starting this year, to recoup learning losses. Wonderful as this sounds, the question is whether this is enough to assist those who are suffering because of rotational attendance.

We could have grade 10 and 11s writing exams at the end of next year if all of them are brought back in January. It’s not a far-fetched idea if one considers the recent call by the SA Human Rights Commission for the return of all primary school pupils to daily attendance.