I am torn about formalized testing. I do not take written tests well and I know other people that feel the same way. I believe to really learn what a child is going through is by observing. School age can be a very fragile time for children; they are going through major physical and biological changes. I am not to familiar with this age group, so I am going on what I experienced… As a child I was always worried about how I did because of testing, it controlled my life. Official assessments can show what a child can do on paper but an observation can show what a child does best!
Primary school (Scuola primaria/elementare)
School in Italy is compulsory from the age of six onwards. Recent legislation changes means that children may start scuola primaria from the age of five and a half onwards (this is Testing for Intelligence:
to bring Italian schools in line with European schools regarding school leaving ages). All children who will be six years old by 31 December following the start of the school year can register for primary school.
At primary school children learn to read and write and study mathematics, geography, Italian, English, science, music, computer studies, religion (optional) and social studies.
Primary school lasts five years. Classes have between 10 and 25 pupils each. Until recently pupils had to pass an exam at the end of year five before they could progress to secondary school, but this is no longer the case.
http://rome.angloinfo.com/countries/italy/schooling.asp
Hi Linda, I agree with what you said above. People all have different ways of learning and outputting what they have learned. Written exams are not designed to meet individual's learning style. Some children might be good at it, but most of children may not perform that well, as they have other ways to show how much they have learned. I think as a teacher, we are with our children at school all the time, we know how they study and how much they know. I remember, I was always a failure at my written exams when I was a child, all my teachers could not believe that I was so poor at all my exams, because during daily observation, they believed that I should have done better than my real score was. I do hope the education system and testing methods can be changed in China or some other parts of the world to meet the various children's learning needs.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you in referencing you comment about formalized testing. Students throughout the public school systems are constantly drilled and pressured about successful pasting state mandated test. It has honestly created a very stressful and tense school environment for both teachers and students. Many teachers and students work very hard with the intent of successfully passing these test only to be faced with disappointment.
ReplyDeleteI too am torn by this issue. I do believe testing and assessing has become an issue in how it is done and the innacurate outcomes and negative impacts it has on some students. That is interesting about the school in Italy. I wonder why they do not have the test before secondary school anymore...
ReplyDeleteTake Care.
I agree with the fact that the test that are given are sometimes more than what we expect. Yes observation is the best way to see what a child has learned. I often wonder if all this testing that we are required to do will ever be changed.
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