In line with a global shift from access to access with quality learning, there is need to strengthen alignment between educational policies, curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment systems. At the same time, however, improving the quality and relevance of curriculum and assessment systems remains a major concern in many countries.
Curriculum should be designed so as to meet the different needs of students. An ambitious curriculum delivered at a fast pace may hinder the quality of learning among early grade students. When too much information is provided at a fast pace, students may fall behind and may face even more difficulties when they progress to higher grades. In India, for instance, the curriculum may be considered too rigid and too content heavy. This may negatively affect student learning, especially as they transition from lower to higher grades. Vietnam, on the other hand, has seen improvements in test results as its curriculum is closely matched to its students’ ability to absorb new knowledge and is at the same time, tailored to the needs of disadvantaged learners.
Second chance programmes, which focus on providing basic numeracy and literacy skills to children who have dropped out of school, are found to be beneficial in countries such as Bangladesh (BRAC’s education programme) because the curriculum, class and schedule of such programmes accurately reflects the reality of the children and communities. Teachers are thus more easily able to create friendly and supportive learning environments.
Delivering the curriculum in the mother tongue language also seems to have positive effect on teaching and learning processes. Bilingual programmes that incorporate both mother tongue and a second language should be encouraged and sustained over the years in order to reduce learning disparities among students in the longer term. Experiences from various countries demonstrate that when students are taught in their local language, they excel not only in their second language but also in other subjects in the curriculum.
In addition, providing appropriate reading and learning materials in the mother tongue and encouraging a culture of reading both in and outside of school helps improve learning significantly. Short-term reading programme in the Philippines, including age-appropriate reading and the training of teachers to better incorporate reading as a curriculum priority, have succeeded in enhancing children’s reading skills. Similar success stories are found in South Asian countries like Nepal and Pakistan, where their programme, Literacy Boost schools, has been used to improve early grade reading skills through involvement of teachers as well as the community. As a result, many enrolled in the programme performed better than their peers.
The curriculum should also respond to the needs of other disadvantaged and marginalized groups including by being gender-sensitive and recognizing the rights of children with disabilities to receive formal education. For example, implementation of a curriculum that emphasizes gender equality, anti-violence and reproductive health for 6th and 7th grade students in India resulted in a positive change in students’ attitude towards prevailing social problems such as early marriage and domestic violence.
While improving the curriculum is essential, so too is strengthening assessment. Indeed, assessment is critical to help teachers understand the strengths and weaknesses of their student and identify further strategies to improve the learning of those who perform relatively poorly. The EFA GMR emphasizes classroom-based assessment as one practical approach to evaluate student performance. Classroom-based assessment enables teachers to provide quick feedback to groups or individual students. Another useful approach is to allow students to monitor their own learning. For example, the Activity Based Learning Model in Tamil Nadu, India, proved that classroom based learning processes could have large impact. Providing opportunities for students to study at their own pace, without classroom ranking or examination, enhanced not only their motivation to study but also their self-esteem.
Globally, there is growing recognition that Global Citizenship Education (GCE), which includes transferable skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, and conflict resolution, are all necessary to deal with issues of environmental sustainability and peace-building. Many argue these skills are as important as literacy and numeracy in preparing students for the future. The EFA GMR also highlights the importance of integrating such transferable skills into the curriculum by adapting to national or local contexts. Countries have shown great effort to teach environmental sustainability and peace-building by integrating them either as an independent subject or into already existing subject areas. For instance, the Philippines, as a country prone to environmental disasters, integrated disaster risk reduction into the science and social studies curriculum. This helps to equip children with knowledge on how to reduce vulnerability when disaster occurs.
Ultimately, a great number of challenges to implementing effective curriculum and assessment can be found in the Asia-Pacific. At the same time, a great number of positive examples demonstrate the great value of curriculum and assessment methods that support student learning and contribute to the development of necessary transferable skills across the region.
For more information, please contact Satoko Yano [s.yano(at)unesco.org] at the Education Policy and Reform Unit.
Written by Tserennadmid Nyamkhuu [t.nyamkhuu(at)unesco.org]
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