Prathom 1 entrance exams not good for children, poll finds

[rooster59]

Prathom 1 entrance exams not good for children, poll finds

By Chuleeporn Aramnet 
The Nation

 

File photo

 

The requirements for getting enrolled into Prathom 1 is having a negative impact on children, their parents and even schools, a recent Suan Dusit Poll has found.

 

Chanasuek Nichanon, vice president of Research and Education at Suan Dusit University, said parents end up spending more than Bt100,000 per year per child on tuition fees to prepare them for these exams. 

 

Getting children to spend long hours preparing for these exams affects them physically, emotionally and socially, and also hampers their intellectual development, he said. 

 

For instance, getting young children to study during their afternoon naptime or playtime only causes them stress. Getting them to learn by rote prevents proper brain development, and they also lose out on family bonding time. 

He said kindergartens have also been focusing too much on academic content instead of providing learning experiences in line with early-childhood education policies. This results in primary school students who are not willing to learn and are unable to apply lessons to real life because their only purpose for studying has been to pass the Prathom 1 entrance exam, he added. 

 

According to the poll, 51.77 per cent of the parents had no problem putting their children through entrance exams, while 48.23 per cent said otherwise. Of the polled kindergarten teachers, 42 per cent backed the exam and 58 per cent opposed it. However, all academics polled were completely against entrance exams. 

 

The most cited reasons for opposing exams were: an entrance exam cannot assess a child’s potential; it is not in line with early childhood education principles and child development; it causes stress and pressure on young children; and it deprives them from appropriate development. 

 

The reasons for supporting exams were: children got a chance to develop their academic skills; the exam helps schools put children with similar abilities together; and the exam ensures all children get equal opportunities. 

 

Respondents also suggested that Prathom 1 admission should be based on age-appropriate development and performance (22.7 per cent); accepting children zone-wise (22.27 per cent); drawing names (17.5 per cent); interviewing the child (16.39 per cent); testing them (10.9 per cent); interviewing parents (5.97 per cent); and a combination of methods (4.27 per cent).

 

Chanasuek said parents wanted their children to enrol in private schools (56 per cent); schools under the supervision of universities (19 per cent); schools run by the Office of Basic Education Commission (13 per cent); and schools under the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (12 per cent). 

 

Factors parents base their choice of school are: teachers and learning system (37 per cent); convenience (24 per cent); reputation (18 per cent); facilities (7 per cent); tuition fees (7 per cent); classes until upper secondary level (6 per cent); and a sibling or relative already studying there (1 per cent).

 

The number of hours per week children spend preparing for entrance exams: two hours (25 per cent), more than four hours (22 per cent), three hours (20 per cent), four hours (19 per cent) and 1 hour (14 per cent). Preparations for entrance exams in kindergarten include class activity adjustment (44 per cent); after-class tutoring sessions (25 per cent); tutoring during weekends and holidays (16 per cent); tutoring during lunch break (10 per cent). 

 

Paediatrician Dr Suriyadev Tripati, a former director of Mahidol University’s National Children and Family Development Institute, said entrance exams affect children’s emotions, especially in families with two children, one of whom manages to get into a famous school and the other doesn’t. 

 

Nowadays, children also don’t know how to play, because they spend their playtime attending tutoring sessions, he said. Also, parents don’t know how to talk to their children – they fail to ask what their children want, and keep talking about what they want. 

 

“The development of good and able persons should put emphasis on virtue and ethics as well as life skills. The creation of good children should come before the creation of academically excellent children – the entrance exam system is quite the opposite of that,” he added.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30353992

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-09-09

[Lupatria]

Unbelievable! They actually found a flaw in what they call 'education system'?

[Krataiboy]

Nought out of ten to whoever chose the "file photo" used with the article. Has he or she ever SEEN a six-year-old?

[Zack61]

This is a bad bad system when education should be a right and not a competition for a school placement. 

Similar thing happens when they move onto high school. Stress, uncertainty and financial hardship for a basic right. 

[DavisH]

With the intense competition to get into these "good schools" - some having existed for many decades, where are all of their graduates that have now become leading scientists and mathematicians? 

 

They don't exist. Because these students are only taught how to pass a test - and not gain knowledge and understanding of what they are studying. How can understanding be assessed with multiple-choice tests? This problem extends from KG to university entrance. 

[DILLIGAD]

Nought out of ten to whoever chose the "file photo" used with the article. Has he or she ever SEEN a six-year-old?

They should be (re) testing the teachers/staff, not the students


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Quidio]

17 hours ago, DavisH said:

With the intense competition to get into these "good schools" - some having existed for many decades, where are all of their graduates that have now become leading scientists and mathematicians? 

 

They don't exist. Because these students are only taught how to pass a test - and not gain knowledge and understanding of what they are studying. How can understanding be assessed with multiple-choice tests? This problem extends from KG to university entrance. 

I used to have test the students' English speaking ability.   It was a waste of time, but a source of income for the school, which charged each student for the exam.   I don't believe any students were refused.   I saw more than one Thai Teacher telling them the answers for the Thai portions.   

 

[DavisH]

19 hours ago, Quidio said:

I used to have test the students' English speaking ability.   It was a waste of time, but a source of income for the school, which charged each student for the exam.   I don't believe any students were refused.   I saw more than one Thai Teacher telling them the answers for the Thai portions.   

 

They will only be refused if there simply are not enough seats for the number of applicants - though some try to bypass the entrance test and appeal to the school Director to be admitted. Those kids usually end up struggling with the work. 

[My Thai Life]

On 9/11/2018 at 3:06 AM, Quidio said:

I used to have test the students' English speaking ability.   It was a waste of time, but a source of income for the school, which charged each student for the exam.

Really? What school? What test? Validated by whom? What grade? 

 

There are no MoE speaking/conversation tests in Thailand. Nor can there be.

[DavisH]

On 9/15/2018 at 7:36 PM, My Thai Life said:

Really? What school? What test? Validated by whom? What grade? 

 

There are no MoE speaking/conversation tests in Thailand. Nor can there be.

Plenty of teachers do speaking tests for their students. That has nothing to do with MoE  guidelines. 

[My Thai Life]

3 hours ago, DavisH said:

Plenty of teachers do speaking tests for their students. That has nothing to do with MoE  guidelines.

Thanks for confirming my point; and I wonder who is supervising the "speaking tests". We know from this forum that most farang teachers are not qualified. We also know that the class sizes in government schools can be very large. Up to 50 students. The IELTS speaking test is 11-14 minutes. I'll be generous and say that with grading and changeover each test will take 20 minutes. A total of around 17 hours work. Let's say conversational English is 2 - 4 hours per week. That's about 4 to 8 weeks. 8 weeks would be near half a term.

 

And this logistical lunacy would produce exactly what? No contribution to the student progressing in their academic career to upper high school or to university. All unregulated and performed by untrained and unqualified staff on the back fag packet.

 

As I've said before, it's impossible to become a conversationalist in a foreign language in few hour class time per week. Anyone who has ever learnt a foreign language knows this.