‘Many unfamiliar with new format’

KUALA LUMPUR: Teachers may have not been too familiar with the new Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah format and change in learning pedagogy, thus, resulting in the sharp decline in the number of straight A students this year, National Union of the Teaching Profession president Kamarolzaman Razak said yesterday.

He said the previous method of having drills was pointless.

“The practice of having drills for exams has to change. Students should learn through stimulation, prioritising creative and thinking skills.”

He said he hoped teachers would be sent for more teaching courses for the new format.

He said, however, the quality of UPSR achievement was higher this year. This, he said, was not determined by the number of pupils who scored straight As.

“The National Grade Average of 2.96 has shown that Malaysian pupils have a mastery of higher order thinking skills or HOTS.

“We have to look at it in terms of quality, where 2.96 categorises our pupils in the B and C grade group, which is also good. The UPSR questions this year were not easy and cannot be compared to last year’s exam as there was more HOTS questions.”

Kamarolzaman said parents must not obsess over scoring straight As as living skills were just as important.

He said schools now had psychometric exams to identify what children were more inclined to.

A primary school teacher said yesterday’s results were a shock to many in the teaching fraternity.

She blamed the late introduction of the new format for the low scores.

“We know it is a new system, but this is way below expectations. Our pupils were only exposed to the new format early this year. We were given only six months to prepare.”

She said many teachers were unhappy about the marking scheme as most of them only learnt it in the middle of the year.

“We didn’t know how the exam was really going to be like.”

Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) chairperson Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said the drop in straight A scorers this year was not surprising following the implementation of the new UPSR exam format.

“Do not compare to past UPSR exam results because it is a different exam. It won’t be fair to the pupils.”

Azimah said the real challenge now was for teachers to promote HOTS.

“Teachers should be able nurture pupils’ thinking skills.”

Azimah said the new format discouraged pupils from regurgitating answers memorised from textbooks, and urged parents to be supportive of their children’s achievements, regardless of the number of As they got.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s senior lecturer in counselling programme specialisation, Dr Ku Suhaila Ku Johari, said HOTS in children developed from their social activities.

“It is through play that children can express more about themselves, including their emotions, thoughts and experiences. Without play, they do not know how to express themselves. This may lead to stress and it will effect them emotionally and cognitively.”