Teachers support student testing

The Barbados Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools (BAPSS) and the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) are throwing their support behind the Ministry of Education’s decision to conduct a national diagnostic assessment of some secondary school students.
However, the BUT is concerned that it was not consulted on the plans to roll out the test.
“The BUT supports any initiative to evaluate the learning levels of students in Barbados however, with regards to this specific test, I cannot speak directly to it because we were not consulted as a union and regarding the intended outcomes of tests. What we have gathered so far is what we would have seen in the media,” said union president Rudy Lovell.
“As a stakeholder it could have been mentioned at any of the meetings between the union and ministry recently. Teachers may have been involved in terms of formulating questions but the union was not involved in terms of being aware of what was going on. If we are considered to be a partner I think we should be consulted with regards to the implementation of anything in education.”
BAPSS president Stephen Jackman agreed that the testing was necessary.
“From a pedagogical point of view it is a very good idea. We know that we have had to experiment with blended instruction and online instruction over the last three years and now that we are back to full instruction it’s a very good idea to find out where the students are. It should help us shape the type of instruction we are going to do for the next two or three years,” he said.
The national diagnostic assessment will take place next week among second, third and fourth form secondary school students. The test will determine the learning loss experienced by these students during the heightened phases of the COVID-19 pandemic and will cover literacy, numeracy and social and emotional learning.
“The results of these assessments will be used to further develop intervention strategies tailored to the students’ needs, and these strategies will help to improve the effectiveness of instruction and enhance the student learning and behavioural outcomes,” said Minister of Education Kay McConney in a late night message on Tuesday.
(SZB)