April 7, 2025 at 2:35 pm
Position on SBA
The MUT is issuing the following clarification re School Based Assessment. Whilst individual schools are drafting and implementing assessment policies, these cannot impinge upon the basic principles behind SBA or introduce new practices at school level which are not agreed upon at national level. Whilst the following list is not comprehensive, SBA should be a natural part of the teaching and learning process without replicating the formal testing culture that has characterised assessment for years. This must be carried out at the pace of students and the respective teacher and no alignment of work between different teachers can be expected. The driving principles of assessment shall be the respective syllabus of each subject and it is up to the teacher to organise the teaching and learning material according to the specific parameters of the subject. Furthermore, this assessments cannot take the format of ongoing mini tests – which has been one of the main concerns since the shift from the formal assessment to ongoing assessment. MUT reaffirms that teachers must be trusted in the teaching and learning process whilst they need to be supported in their professional decisions. Any attempt to control the work of teachers with restrictive measures, including through the said school-based policies is detrimental to the teaching and learning process and will have adverse effects on students’ learning.
