STUDY OF THE EXISTING STATUS OF SCHOOL BASED ASSESSMENT SYSTEM IN UPPER SCHOOL CHEMISTRY OF SRI LANKA

Abstract

School Based Assessment (SBA) system at Advanced Level classes of Sri Lanka was implemented since 2009. At the beginning there were fifteen assessments to be completed with five practical assessments to get the eligibility for the final examination. There are five assessments that must be completed to get the eligibility for General Certificate of Education in Advanced Level G.C.E (A/L) examination which is implementing from 2019 onwards. This study is mainly focused on the identification of the current status of SBA regarding Chemistry subject as well investigate the drawbacks and remedial actions that can be taken. Marks of the School based assessment in (G.C.E (A/L)) Chemistry should always be used as the measure of teaching-learning process. It should provide the student as well as teacher to evaluate themselves on the lesson that they taught. Unfortunately, this is not happening in our current system and hence is not a landmark of students’ achievement or success of teaching learning process. Therefore most of the teachers use the same teaching and assessing methodology without any change throughout the assigned time period giving minute attention to the achievement of their students and pay much attention to cover whole syllabus rather than checking the conceptual establishment in them. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 356 students of seven provinces and 170 teachers from nine provinces. Teachers were selected from 1AB and 1C schools from the province. Students’ data were collected from two schools of the province from both male and female students of grade12 and 13 according to the number of students in that class. Further the qualitative data collection was done through focused group discussions and interviews. These discussions were conducted in three districts with the participation of eight teachers and twenty eight students. Forty final codes were identified and they were categorized under ten segments. Then sub themes were identified and according to them, seven themes were identified. 75% of the teachers who were participated in the survey had identified the importance of SBA. About 67% of them suggested the more teacher and student friendly assessment system. They requested more guidance from higher authorities, proper training and well-organized assessment models. According to the student point of view, about 60% of them requested more help from teachers to understand the subject matter, reliable marking system which aims to the final examination.

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