Educationists call for a policy on assessing life skills

Researchers are concerned that the current learning system does not integrate the assessment of 21st-century skills acquisition in assessments for primary and secondary school learners.

Most schools are focused on passing examinations with no assessment of life skills by teachers. To have more productive citizens, the dons have asked the ministry of Education to formulate and implement a national policy of nurturing and assessing well-defined 21st-century skills for Ugandans.

The researchers argued that the absence of a policy has created room for the wastage of resources and duplication of roles by non-governmental organizations that are pushing for the assessment of life skills.

Some of the top skills that were listed are; critical thinking, problem-solving, and creative thinking which the country needs to rank to skill learners.

The researchers made the resolutions at the Regional Education Learning Initiative East Africa (RELI) policy dialogue on learning assessments in Uganda held at the Resilient Africa Network offices in Kololo last week. RELI is a network of about 73 organizations in the East African region.

The executive director of JM Education and Research Center, Dr John Mary Vianney Mitana, noted in the recommendations that the current policies in the education ministry are not explicitly clear on nurturing and assessment of life skills.

“There’s still lack of a clear policy on assessing life skills in schools. As a teacher, I should be guided to know that I am assessing critical thinkers, and not robots who are supposed to cram History topics like Napoleon to be reproduced in an examination,” Mitana said.

He said the revised lower secondary curriculum that is hinged on assessment and nurturing of life skills would be a game changer but teachers are still struggling with its implementation – three years since it was operationalized.

“The revised curriculum is an excellent one but to what extent are teachers prepared to implement it? When we talked to teachers teaching humanities – and this is where most of our life skills lie – they are demotivated and lamenting after increments for their science counterparts. Sadly, these are the same teachers we have entrusted with the education of our children. The government needs to motivate teachers and capacitate them on how to nurture life skills among the learners,” Mitana, also a lecturer at the Makerere University College of Education
and External Studies,” said.

There were also calls for a review in the annual placement exercise of S1 and S5 learners that is entirely based on grades. They want the ministry to incorporate skills while selecting learners so schools can admit more holistic students.

“UNEB READY”

Although Uneb – the national examinations body – was partly faulted for not assessing life skills, Salimah Namigadde, a research officer with the board, expressed the willingness to partner with RELI members to improve assessments.

“Uneb is ready to implement the new curriculum. I am aware that there have been several trainings with NCDC officials and the British Council to train test developers – the ones that are going to work with people meant to set the questions,” Namigadde said.

In this just-concluded first-term holiday, she said, the training was done at one of the top secondary schools for people who are going to set or item writers for the revised curriculum.

However, schools were concerned that Uneb has delayed sharing sample questions of the new curriculum whose candidates are expected next year.

“We have observed that oftentimes, schools follow the Uneb syllabus by coaching learners specifically on how to answer the questions. This is more reason why sample questions of the new curriculum have not yet been sent to schools. As soon as we send in these samples, teachers will start focusing on the questions and thus, they will drive us back to the old curriculum which is not competence-based, yet we are pushing for life skills,” she said.

nangonzi@observer.ug