Primary School Exam 2012 Results By Subject.
The Primary School Examination results are an integral part of Belize’s education system and make headlines every year when released. The report provides a benchmark for the performance of children leaving the primary school system on their way to high school. Apart from who passed and who did not, the report is hotly debated in our society with praises and some finger pointing at the various bodies within the educational system. Elite schools usually get to pat themselves on the performance of their candidates although sometimes candidates from less regarded schools sometimes pull off an upset. But it is a source of joy or anguish for many as their PSE scores will have life-changing consequences – primary among them – who will get into a high school or not. For those who pass, it can affect their placement in which high school they will be accepted into.
But more than personal results, the PSE exam provides a wealth of information for educators and parents wishing to research trends and weaknesses in Belize’s primary school education system. For most kids, this is as far as they will go before entering the work force, or as some would say, joining the unemployment lines. Immigrants and expats can find out more about the performance in various subject areas in the various schools in the areas that they are intending to relocate to. Below is an excerpt from the introduction of the report by the Ministry of Education. The introduction gives a background to the Primary School Exam and projects the Ministry of Education’s views on the examination. The full text of the PSE 2012 Report can be downloaded in PDF format at the end of this article. Our thanks to the Ms. Yvonne Davis from the Ministry of Education and Minister of Education Patrick Faber for providing us and our readers with a copy to share with you.
Student Population
A total of 6,983 candidates sat the PSE this year. Among these candidates, 1.66% are private candidates and students who attend alternative schools. The registered count was 7135. PSE numbers for 2012 record a 2.4% increase in the number of test candidates registered over 2011. Purpose and Intended Use of the Primary School Examination
Purpose and Intended Use of the Primary School Examination
The PSE assesses achievement of curriculum content and skills in the four (4) areas of English, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science of the National Primary School Curriculum. The examination is criterion-referenced meaning that performance of “each individual is compared with a preset standard for acceptable achievement…The performance of other examinees is irrelevant.”1 In this way, the examination seeks not to rank students in comparison to other students (as in norm-referencing) but to report what each student has achieved for individual skills. This is expressed as a percentage score. The results of the examination are intended to be used for two main purposes:
1. Certification of Students at the completion of primary school in four content areas of the primary curriculum; and
2. Educational decision-making to inform policy, planning and practice at national, district, school and classroom levels.
The PSE As a Criteria For Further Education
The PSE is not and was never intended to be used as the sole criteria for entrance into secondary schools. Secondary schools are advised to use multiple sources of evidence of students’ achievement and holistic development at primary school to get a more complete picture of the students’ abilities, strengths and weaknesses in informing acceptance to and placement in high schools.
While the Ministry of Education will be recognizing outstanding students who have done well on the PSE, the Ministry of Education cautions that making judgments about schools and teachers on the basis of individual student performances is inappropriate.
In the first instance, the performance of one or a few may not be reflective of the many, and secondly schools are not all the same. Therefore making judgments of individual schools’ effectiveness on this basis without considering inputs (resources) available to individual schools and without considering background and contextual factors (socio-economic and family backgrounds and communities in which schools are located) of each school is not only inappropriate, but unfair. Additionally, there is a tendency to either praise or criticize the Standard six teachers depending on the performance of students on the PSE.
The Ministry of Education wishes to note that it is the school as a whole that is responsible for delivering the curriculum—educating the students. Teachers should therefore not be considered independent practitioners, like general practitioner doctors, for whom the school is simply a base. Rather it is the school as a whole that is responsible for the educational development of the students, rather than individual teachers alone. Therefore, the school is to be viewed as a team of teachers led by a principal who is instructional as well as administrative leader with the management being responsible for monitoring and providing support.
Schools, teachers and managements should not use resources (or lack thereof) or background and contextual factors of their students and schools as justification to sit back and not seek improvement. There should be collective responsibility and ownership to always seek improvements in quality. What the PSE Attempts to Assess/Measure Following from the purpose of the PSE, the construction of the examination is guided by a table of specifications which specifies what curriculum content and skills are to be tested, that is what curriculum content and skills will form the basis of the questions set.
Download the PSE 2012 Report in PDF format.