Dear Editor,
There are too many school-based assignments which are being prepared by students and hurriedly submitted to meet deadlines set by CXC.
The school-based assessment as I know, to some extent is beneficial, since it generally intends to (i) provide the candidate with an opportunity to investigate an area of special interest within the prescribed syllabus; (ii) develop the candidate’s ability to identify, delineate and define a problem or research topic, conduct an inquiry and present the findings; (iii) provide an opportunity for the candidate to apply knowledge and skills to make decisions and cope with and investigate problems; (iv) provide an opportunity for the teacher to be involved in the evaluation process. These general objectives are for general proficiency candidates only.
It is my worry that a good many students feel stressed because some of them have to study various areas in fifteen or twenty subjects. Thus such an exercise becomes demanding when these students are expected to go from place to place in search of facts and information relevant to their projects. It is essential that these projects are evaluated by the respective teachers and sent to CXC in Barbados for final evaluation. The students will be awarded a percentage grade before they take the actual CXC examination.
Difficulties are often experienced by many students in trying to get the required assistance from resource persons. Unfortunately, some personnel, at times, express reluctance, or are maybe too busy in office or factory to help students with a number of statistics. Moreover, most if not all students, receive great help from knowledgeable and experienced persons in preparing their projects. This should not be. Young people, after being given guidelines should be strongly encouraged to think for themselves, if they are to develop originality and creativity in any life situation.
Furthermore, they will be tempted to copy out extracts (verbatim) word for word, and hence find themselves guilty of plagiarism, literary theft. Paraphrasing is one of the important literary elements that all students at the secondary level should know. Having mastered this, they would be discouraged from cramming facts, and be able with facility to explain what they read or hear in their own words, as far as possible, together with good grammar, vocabulary and idioms.
With regard to subjects with SBAs such as English Language, Mathematics, Economics and also foreign languages, students find it rather difficult to give their required attention to these areas. Besides, they often complain of being mentally fatigued after they have completed so many assignments in the other subject areas.
Finally I hope that the Caribbean Examinations Council will receive this signal and give it some thought with a view to reducing the number of assignments in perhaps, less relevant areas.
Yours faithfully,
Autry A Fernandes
Tutor- French
