I READ with interest the letter “Insights into improving education system” (The Star, Nov 2) about looking at the study conducted by the three 2019 Nobel Laureates in Economics for ideas on reforming our education system, particularly the focus on teaching that is tailored to the needs of students.

This was precisely the focus of my own research at Universiti Malaya about 30 years ago, the findings of which are still relevant today (Tan C. M. and Thanaraj K. 1993; Influence of context and preferred learning environments: approaches to studying physiology; Medical Education 27, 143 -159). 

First of all, what needs to be reformed? Currently, learning is only at a superficial level with students merely reproducing facts with little understanding of the subject matter. Learning needs to be at a deeper level so that students develop a structured and organised knowledge base. There is therefore a need for learners to improve the quality of their learning, which should be focused on deep conceptual understanding. 

I will outline some of the main findings of my research. In the case of low ability students, they have poor motivation to learn and are highly anxious over tests. Furthermore, these students don’t know how to learn as they re unable to organise information and relate ideas together. They also put little, if any, time and effort into learning and as a result they have no understanding of the subject matter. Their learning and motivation are adversely affected by a competitive learning environment.

These findings indicate the need to reduce the focus on competition and comparison that result from the use of traditional norm-referenced exams, whereby students are ranked and graded. Instead, exams need to be replaced with criterion-referenced tests so that students focus on mastering the task and achieving competence rather than avoiding failure. Tests must enable students to assess their progress and provide feedback so that they can improve their learning.

The problem with low ability students is not just their poor motivation but also their deficient learning skills, hence just removing competitive exams alone will do little, if anything, to improve their learning. Students need to learn how to learn. Teachers must not only teach content but also learning and thinking skills as well.

Students need to eventually become self-directed learners capable of learning and understanding material on their own; the first step in this journey is that students acquire learning skills through explicit teaching and support. Learning skills are probably more important than the actual content that students learn. Content quickly becomes out of date and learners must be capable of updating their knowledge when necessary.

Learning skills requires a lot of practice and effort. Time must be scheduled and materials provided to students to enable them to see the need for practice in the acquisition of skills.

High ability students were found to have well-developed learning skills, were well motivated to learn and adopted an organised and intensive approach to learning. However, a competitive exam-orientated learning environment was also found to adversely affect the motivation and learning of the good learners.

They were found to be performance-orientated such that they avoided difficult tasks, preferred those that were less challenging and focused their efforts merely on doing better than others. Criterion-referenced assessment will therefore also be beneficial for good learners.

There was found to be a wide disparity between the capability of low ability and high ability students such that tasks that are challenging for poor learners will not be challenging for good learners. All students should therefore be required to attain a certain minimal level of understanding and competence. However, good learners must go beyond the minimal level and undertake tasks that are challenging so that all students learn to their maximum potential.

Since poor learners need to learn to learn, they will need more practice and time to achieve the minimal level of competence. Learners must therefore learn at their own pace.

Criterion-referenced assessment is not about reducing the disparity between good and poor learners, as good learners will have the time and opportunity to develop a deeper and broader understanding of the subject matter compared to the poor learners.

In order to prevent information overload and superficial coverage of the subject matter, it will be necessary for teachers to carefully select the more limited content for their courses that is necessary for students to achieve deep conceptual understating.

Finally, there must be the political will to produce capable learners. The quality of student’s learning must become a priority.

CHRISTINE TAN

Shah Alam

https://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2019/11/06/stress-on-quality-of-education