ProBlemS For Teachers?

Teachers still grappling with PBS

Three years after being put in place, school-based assessment or PBS is still posing major problems for teachers.
And a group has said it is going ahead with its protest to highlight the weaknesses of PBS, despite assurances by the Education Ministry that the system will be reviewed.

The National Union of the Teaching Profession said a full review of the system was needed for it to be more user-friendly.
NUTP secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng said a major problem was the inaccessibility of the PBS online database used by teachers to key in data on students’ achievement.

“We’re glad they (the Education Ministry) are addressing the difficulties teachers face,” she said, adding that the online system should be tested after the review to make sure problems had been fixed.
Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said on Tuesday that PBS would be reviewed following complaints from teachers who had difficulty accessing the system.
Suara Guru-Masyarakat Malaysia or SGMM, however, questioned the scope and nature of the proposed review.

Its working committee head Mohd Nor Izzat Mohd Johari said: “Before PBS was implemented, the ministry told us that they had carried out extensive pilot projects and studies by experts. Are they now saying the previous studies are of no use?
“It is also not clear if the new review will only deal with problems with the online database, or the implementation of the policy itself.”

He also said that SGMM would go ahead with its scheduled protest over PBS on Feb 22 at the ministry in Putrajaya.
“This is a last resort after going through all the proper channels of discussion.
“We are not against the Government or its policies, but we just want to highlight the weaknesses of this particular policy,” he added.

A 53-year-old secondary school teacher in Negri Sembilan said PBS could not cope with the high volume of assessments which had to be keyed into the system.
“I have about 165 students under me and each has to be assessed after every class. I have to get up at 4am to complete the assessments,” he said.

The science teacher, with 33 years of experience, said replacing exams with PBS was a mistake because students no longer had to work hard.

“They (students) are assessed by their own teachers and the results can be manipulated,” he added.
A senior teacher from Perak said PBS was an “idealistic concept plastered onto a third-world context”, and not enough thought had been given to its implementation. - The Star

PBS : Education ministry to look into complaints and rectify problems

The School-Based Assessment (PBS) system will be reviewed following complaints by teachers of their difficulty in accessing the central database to key in their daily assessments.
Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said until then, teachers need not key in the data, which was to have been done daily until April 1.

The ministry also needed to find the solution to the system’s database application and server issues.
Muhyiddin, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said teachers had been complaining that the system was always congested. They were forced to key in their assessments from out of schools and at wee hours of the night, he said.

“The central database system is incapable of handling the large volume of data,” Muhyiddin said after meeting teachers of SMK Putrajaya Presint 8 (1) here yesterday. “They have asked the ministry to review the programme thoroughly and rectify the flaws.”

The meeting was held to get teachers’ feedback on the system.
The PBS was introduced in primary schools, starting with Year One pupils in 2011, and in secondary schools, with Form One students, the following year.

Under the system, teachers must carry out daily assessments throughout the teaching periods and key in the data into the system’s database.

“We want to find ways on how this system can be fully implemented efficiently and achieve the objective of improving the education system,” Muhyiddin said.

“Parents have responded positively while the teachers said if this is the (education) system (for the country), a flawless infrastructure is needed.” - theStar.

So what do teachers really need to see of PBS in future?

Pelaporan DSKP KSSR Tahun 4

 
Doanload Pelaporan DSKP Tahun 4 at the KSSR section.

Beginning next year, Year 4 PBS result will be keyed in 'offline' in Excel file format known as Pelaporan DSKP. There is no need for Year 4 PBS teachers to key in online in the SPPBS which is still going on for Year 1 , 2 and 3.
The Excel format looks quite similiar to PLBS or SBOA whereby marks keyed in in the overall result sheet will be automatically linked to individual pupils result. Every subject has its own Pelaporan DSKP contents.

We do not know if schools will be provided the Pelaporan DSKP files for all subjects next year. Anyhow , we will keep uploading the Pelaporan DSKP we had,  just in case teachers need them.

Click the link below to download Pelaporan DSKP.

Pelaporan DSKP Tahun 4 PBS

The Neverending Story of Sistem SPPBS: Better or Messier ?

DO you think our Sistem Pentaksiran SPPBS will get better? Or messier?

READ ON.....

Last year it was called Sistem Pentaksiran Pendidikan Kebangsaan (SPPK). My school was one of the pioneers of the project. The Ministry of Education thought that exam oriented approach to teaching was not fair to all the students. The argument was that six years of primary education should not be concluded in 50 minutes of multiple choice questions. The intention was good. It still is.

Now with Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah (KSSR) comes Pentaksiran Berasaskan Sekolah. You may have heard of it. The Minister of Education refers to this as PBS and it was meant to ensure that no pupil will be left behind due to unfortunate circumstances. It being school based means that the teacher knows best when to assess the pupil. 

This school based assessment is a yearly assessment and it contributes 40 percent towards the UPSR final grade. At the beginning of the year we were told that only five subjects were involved namely Bahasa, English, Mathematics, Science and Physical, Sports, Cocurriculum Activity Education.

The school was to prepare files aplenty. The most notable one would be the 'Showcase' file in which we store the pupil's best piece of work throughout 6 years as evidence. It sounded O.K. But that was the beginning of the year. 

And so we opened all the necessary files. The bigger the school population, the more files needed. Each of the teacher in charge of assessment was provided with a Performance Standard Document as a guideline. It was published by the Malaysian Examination Syndicate. Bear in mind that this was last year's edition - the one used by the pioneer schools. 

One thing that was wrong with it was that the documents for mathematics and science were still written in English. This raised questions but the teachers being jacks of all trade did not complain at this point. Where there is a will there is a way. School based assessment was up and running by late January. 

In April, we were told to halt the school based assessment pending for the arrival of new Performance Standard Documents by the Malaysian Examination Syndicate. All assessments done up until this point was deemed invalid. School based assessment was put to a halt at this point. 

In May, we were informed that the school based assessment now involves every subject in KSSR including Information and Communication Technology Element which is not even a subject taught by any specific teacher. Even the newly minted Bahasa Arab for KSSR was not spared. 

Each subject has its own Performance Standard Document. So we bought thicker files and put dividers for each subject. It got a little frustrating at this point. We needed to redo the in-house training for the additional subjects. By the way, even until now nobody mentioned that UPSR 2016 will involve every KSSR subject. 

The sample worksheets (instrument for assessment) per se is ridiculous. For example Band 1 assessment for Bahasa is fairly fundamental knowledge such as mimicking sounds, naming them, reading word segments, and tracing alphabets.

But when you look at the Bands 1 and 2 assessment for Moral Education it's like a mini literature. It assumed Year 1 pupils read fluently and write smoothly. Even Year 4 pupils could not do Year 1's Band 2 Moral Education worksheet. 

In June, the Examination Syndicate uploaded an online application called Sistem Pengurusan Pentaksiran Berasaskan Sekolah (SPPBS) to do what it was supposed to do hence the name.

The school secretary of examinations was given the task to create user accounts for every local assessor. We attended the in-house training which was done by our secretary himself. School based assessment was up and running again by end of June. 

Surprise, surprise. The Examination Syndicate's circular regarding the compulsory implementation of school based assessment only came out on July 5. Every school has a copy but for unknown reasons you will not find this circular online.

I've searched the official website and I've Googled for traces of it elsewhere. I suspect it is due to the delay of the letter (supposed to have been distributed in January) and that certain quarters might dispute the validity of assessments done prior to its release.

The most ridiculous part was this. I was about the record the qualifiers for Bands 2 and 3 for the subjects that I assessed on Friday, September 3. What I saw was truly horrifying. The entire database was erased by the system administrator! We were prompted to get our new passwords from the State Education Department. 

And upon navigation no news of passwords whatsoever can be found. This is September for crying out loud - less than two months before the end of the school calendar. Do you mean that we need to go back to square one? We have many other errands to run in school, you know. 

The director of the Malaysian Examination Syndicate, Sufaat bin Tumin has a lot of explaining to do. Perhaps it is wise to stick with the original plan and put on hold any improvisations.

Murphy's Law states that if something can go wrong, it will. This whole episode will repeat itself next year, don't you agree, Mr Director?

MalaysiaKini Letter, Sept 2011

Aplikasi Sistem Pengurusan Pentaksiran Berasaskan Sekolah (SPPBS) online

(UPDATED: 22 May 2011)

The Aplikasi Sistem Pengurusan Pentaksiran Berasaskan Sekolah (SPPBS) is now ONLINE. Teachers in school would be called for this SPPBS course very very soon and all Year 1 teachers are expected to start using it after the mid term holiday. Teachers who wish to know the SPPBS website address, click on the link below:(http://apps.moe.gov.my/sppbs/index.cfm) 

• Aplikasi Sistem Pengurusan Pentaksiran Berasaskan Sekolah (SPPBS) http://apps.moe.gov.my/sppbs/index.cfm) 

To read more about SPPBS and other PBS references, click below:

• Panduan dan Peraturan Pentaksiran Berasaskan Sekolah

Lets hope this Aplikasi SPPBS can really lessen our burden and not worsen it such as what we have faced for the flopped Aplikasi BMM. Teachers who has gone for this SPPBS courses please share some info here ok!!! Thanks... 

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