Examinations Systems In Small States

This publication deals with the provision of examinations in small states. It presents a conceptual framework and discusses models for the administration and provision of examinations at the end of the secondary cycle. It is a response by the Human Resource Development Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat to facilitate the development and improvement of education in countries faced with challenges of scale. It is intended for use by ministries of education, institutions, researchers and international organisations.Educational Development in the Small States of the Commonwealth is a series of books which focuses on the impact of scale on the national education systems of small states.• Lifelines for the Isolated, 1994• Post-Secondary Education in the South Pacific, 1994• Educational Consultancy in Small States, 1994• The Challenge of Scale: Educational Development in the Small States of the Commonwealth, reprinted 1993• Making Small Practical: The Organisation and Management of Ministries of Education in Small States, 1991• Ministries of Education in Small States: Case Studies in Organisation and Management, 1991• The Multi-Functional Administrator, 1989

This book argues for the particular challenges of education in small states, and for the need to examine the impact of changing global contexts, to document the changing nature and significance of recent and contemporary education policy priorities, and to advance the case for new and strengthened initiatives for education in small states.

This book focuses on education in small states. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of different aspects of educational provision in political jurisdictions having a very small population – populations which encounter specific challenges, threats and opportunities. This book presents a balance in regional representation – covering the South Pacific, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean. The contributions pay particular attention to basic education, higher education, entrepreneurship training, post-primary education and the impact of globalization on educational restructuring and aid delivery in specific small state regions. This book was published as a special issue of the Comparative Education.

This collection of papers presents the critical reflections on the management and planning of education of 18 senior officials working in 12 small island nations. The papers are a result of their participation in the Postgraduate Diploma in Educational Planning and Management in Small States program at the University of Malta. The book is divided into two sections. After an introductory essay and two papers on generic management and administration issues in small states, the papers in the first section deal with educational management, addressing the education process from its internal organizational or operational perspective. This section addresses such topics as resource allocation, Total Quality Management, staff recruitment, job satisfaction, and the role of principals. The second section of the book discusses educational planning, focusing on education as a tool for national development. This section discusses such topics as school-business linkages, the general role of educational planning, and specific developmental challenges facing primary, secondary, vocational, and adult education in small countries. Each chapter begins with a brief summary of the key arguments of the paper and ends with a discussion point based on the contents. (Contains a subject and author index.) (WFA).

Summative assessment has been a contentious issue in educational circles for several decades, particularly high-stakes assessment events which arise at various junctures of the school cycle, especially those at the end of it. The French Baccalaureat and English A-Levels and their numerous clones throughout the francophone and anglophone worlds are household names and represent milestone events in people's lives, as their outcomes are principal determinants of young people's future prospects. These examinations are external--they are devised, conducted and processed by agencies outside the schools, usually ministerial examination units. As such, they act as 'blind' arbiters of student achievement, providing the proverbial 'level playing field' which ensures the comparability of outcomes. In the pyramidal school structures of yesteryear, examinations acted as filters, regulating the progression of pupils to subsequent tiers of formal education. Exit points occurred from primary school level up, from where unsuccessful candidates could enter the labour force and/or embark on occupationally specific further education and training. With the modernisation of the labour market and an ever-higher social demand for access to higher levels of formal education, the filtering function of examinations at lower levels of schooling has been gradually eroded, while burgeoning numbers of students at the upper secondary level have brought about reforms that include curricular diversification and sometimes radical overhauls of terminating assessment systems (including the modification and, in some instances, abandonment of external examinations). This edited volume brings together the experiences of twenty examination systems from around the world to show how these dynamic entities have adapted over time to the changing context of schooling. Following an introduction by Stephen P. Heyneman of World Bank repute, there are sixteen chapters presenting Country Case Studies, which have been written up under common subheadings, thereby highlighting the comparative nature of the work and facilitating cross-referencing. The subsequent four chapters elaborate on the theme of 'external examinations beyond national borders', including a contribution by the International Baccalaureate Organisation. A defining feature of the work is the attention it pays to what it calls the 'nuts and bolts' of external examinations, from question-setting to grading procedures. These are, it is argued, instrumental in nurturing and maintaining public confidence in external examinations. The book will be of immense value to people involved in educational policy studies, especially strategic educational planning, as well as those directly concerned with formal assessment. The work has been written to appeal to a wide audience of informed persons--it is accessible to teachers and interested laypeople, as well as to academics."

High-stakes public examinations exert a dominant influence in most education systems. They affect both teacher and student behavior, especially at the middle and upper levels of secondary education. The content of past examinations tends to dictate what is taught and how it is taught and, more important, what is learned and how it is learned. By changing aspects of these examinations, especially their content and format, education systems can have a strong positive impact on teacher behavior and student learning, help raise student achievement levels, and better prepare students for tertiary-level education and for employment. Examination agencies, many of which have followed the same procedures over decades, can learn from the successes and failures of other systems. This book addresses current issues related to the development, administration, scoring, and usage of these high-stakes public examinations, identifying key issues and problems related to examinations in many emerging market economies as well as in advanced economies. The book’s primary audience consists of public examination officials on national, regional, and state examination boards, but the book should also be of interest to senior education policy makers concerned with certification and learning achievement standards, to academics and researchers interested in educational assessment, to governmental and education agencies responsible for student selection, and to professionals at development organizations. “This extremely well-written and comprehensive book offers a timely review of the diversity of public examination practices worldwide; of the tensions between examinations and learning; and of the technical expertise involved in the creation of valid, reliable, and fair assessments. It reminds us that as “the diploma disease†? takes hold with an ever-greater intensity at every stage of education worldwide, and the commercial business of testing flourishes, those concerned with educational quality and meaningful learning must be on guard to prevent the assessment tail wagging the educational dog.†? Angela W. Little, Professor Emerita, Institute of Education, University College London “This book is very well structured and written and draws on the authors’ remarkable global knowledge across countries and histories. It will be a great asset both to administrators responsible for examinations and to academics and other professionals who seek to understand the nature and impact of examinations of different types and in different settings.†? Mark Bray, UNESCO Chair Professor of Comparative Education, University of Hong Kong; and former Director, UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning “I am sure that Public Examinations Examined, which thoroughly analyzes the practice of public examinations in different countries and makes profound and well-grounded conclusions, will arouse very great interest and will serve to further improve public examinations.†? Victor Bolotov, Distinguished Professor, Higher School of Economics, National Research University, Moscow; member, Russian Academy of Education; and former Deputy Minister of Education, Russian Federation

The Caribbean faces numerous economic, social and environmental challenges, with current projections predicting the road ahead to be filled with low levels of growth, high debt and low resilience. In Achieving a Resilient Future for Small States: Caribbean 2050, the contributors set out a long-term, research-based strategy for avoiding these projections, recommending a number of policy interventions aimed at building the region’s resilience and development prospects. Written by influential analysts and researchers and drawing on a wide cross-section of regional stakeholders and thought leaders, the study contains an assessment of the main challenges and opportunities for the region, scenario modelling of where the region could be by 2050, and a broad vision for the region with sector specific goals of how to get there.