Caution Call On Repeat Grades

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Caution call on repeat grades

By Wannapa Khaopa

The Nation

Educational stakeholders yesterday agreed that grade repetition measure should be implemented carefully with basic education students.

The agreement came up after mixed experience of schoolteachers, school administrators and parents were presented to find out their problems and suggestions towards the measure for policymakers at a meeting hosted by Office of the Education Council (OEC) at Suan Dusit Rajabhat University.

Thailand has been facing the problems regarding the grade repetition for years. Lots of students seem they do not pay enough attention to lessons as they no longer fear the grade repetition.

Education Ministry issued a ministerial announcement in 2005 that it allowed teachers to have their students do grade and subject repetitions if the students could not pass the criteria.

However, many teachers at the meeting said not all schools followed the announcement. They had heard that some schools let their students pass and move up to higher educational level even though their educational performance was not good enough to pass their current grades just because they did not want the schools to have bad records.

"Technological tools, including the internet cause students unable to write," Usa Supiyapan, director of Watpho Municipal School in Chon Buri said, while Udon Thani's Huay Kerng Pittayakarn School (HKPS) Teacher Plernpit Wisetsiri added that mobile phones attracted students' attention - they use the phones' entertainment applications when teachers were teaching in classrooms.

Plernpit said some students obviously showed they ignored classes. They attended the classes just at the beginning of a semester, then waited to take midterm and final exams, and later take remedial exams. "They believe teachers will let them pass finally no matter how the performance is."

"Grade repetition is like a double edged sword. We have to do casebycase consideration because each student is not the same," said Choosak Wisetsiri, acting deputy director of HKPS.

Anong Amrod, deputy director of Saipanya Rangsit School in Pathum Thani, said she agreed with strong enforcement of the announcement, but it should be implemented carefully. Hence, a school committee should be set up to consider having students repeat a grade.

"A hundred per cent of our students do not have to repeat grades. We have a practical system taking care of them, which matches free times of teachers' teaching schedules with free times of students' studying schedules to ensure that each student with poor educational performance in many subjects can join the teachers' remedial teaching of every subject. I want other schools to do the same," she added.

"Grade repeating students will feel embarrassed to sit in classrooms with younger students so they will decide not to continue studying. This will cause half of the failed students to drop out. Grade repetition is not the only answer, but teachers should seek and implement different methods to improve their responsibility," said Anong.

To do that, Yupaporn Chuachinda, deputy director of Satrinonthaburi School, urged to reduce teachers' burden of doing administrative work so that they could devote more time to help low potential students.

Prapa Yooseubuchua, a parent, recommended OEC to hold a meeting with students to listen to them. So, it would see the reasons behind their unwanted behaviour before it made proposals and propose to policymakers.

Prof Tongthong Chandransu, OEC's secretary general, who chaired the meeting, agreed with Prapa.

He said he would have a meeting with students who faced such problems.

"Teachers can implement grade repetition measure, but should do it carefully to prevent pushing students away from education system. Technological tools should be integrated with memorising, the old style of teaching, as both have different good points," Tongthong concluded.

-- The Nation 2011-08-10

[kanderson]

I don't think it's a good idea to hold children back - maybe Summer school = some fear.

The latest, most used learning methods can include "memorising, the old style of teaching".

New styles of teaching also include memorising.

Check out "Communicative Language Teacher" (CLT).

As a native English speaker learning Japanese (for example) I have to memorize large chunks of sounds - so complicated mentally.

It's a hard subject - depends on the motivation of the student.

If I am saying hello to a Japanese person - I memorized hajimemashte - I memorised it.

I memorised counting to ten in Thai - more than a few months. I memorised it.

It's quite possible I have memorised some 500,00 phrases or words - just as an average educated English speaker.

Memorisation can be fun and just take a few minutes a day.

Teachers shouldn't be afraid to add memorisation - can be homework now days.

I actually think that having internet access can help students learn language.

Repitition and memorisation have a place - no doubt.

One motivation for learning English is that 80 % of the internet is in English.

For Thai students it's easy.

ZZZ sound - as in zoo

ssss - sound as in snake

rrrr - as in rat

Phonemic Charts - American and British posted (headphones requirered).

etc. - for a few minutes a day.

Some sounds are not a part of your mother language and have to be practiced / memorised.

I can see the benefit from some kind of kinithetic approach more - incuding music and relaxation.

Students must be ready to lean - we know this.

I believe the teacher needs to be learning their students L1 .

After about a year the teacher can control the classroom much better - if that was the problem

Many ESL teachers have made the effort to study their students Mother Language.

On the other side - speek only english. I don't get that point of view so much.

Imagine how much more effictiant it can be. A real time saver.

We can learn other languages starting with motivation possibly.

I think all kids should be having problems with their computer.

Just think whats going to happen in 5 or 10 years.

[Ijustwannateach]

At many schools it is basically understood as an unspoken message from administration to teachers: the students will not fail. This is true for nearly every case, even the most outrageous cases of failure to work or even failure to attend.

The problem is both administrative and pedagogical: the administrations don't want bad statistics and there are few (if any) resources available to provide for extra care of needy (failing) students or to motivate extra work on the part of teachers to continue to re-teach and re-teach them outside normal hours- especially if the students aren't really interested or motivated themselves (or have rarely recognised learning disabilities) and especially if the students have failed more than one grade (sometimes EVERY grade up to high school!).

The smarter students, naturally, are starting to figure this out and asking themselves why bother? As I've said before, pass-fail systems are not the ideal educational tool for motivation- but if you're going to USE them, you can't just throw out the fail without throwing out the pass effectively, too.

The harsh truth is that failing out of school inherently limits a person to very, very downmarket work and class lifestyle, possibly for the rest of their lives, and it is a hard thing to doom a child to that for anyone. What is needed is an effective economy that has rewarding roles for those who aren't so brainy- but that need is nothing new here.

[culicine]

Or how about something novel, like giving students the grade they actually earned. If they get 30% then that's what they got - Like an "E" on the IGCSE's - no one 'fails', just reward the grade that was earned.

Every year I must retest students - just to turn that 30% into a 50%. It goes some why to explain why scores are so low on entrance exams and are not congruent with school based grades.

Note that I really dislike the Thai curriculum - perhaps the MoE should provide a wider variety of subjects suited to a wider range of ability, and allow students to become more specialised. Why are my M6 students still learning 'dance'???

[Scott]

In a lot of countries, by the time you are in high school, you do fail subjects. If you fail, you repeat the subject--or take one that is less difficult or more to your liking. Can't pass Algebra, then take business math.

In Thailand most students can't repeat a subject without repeating the entire grade, because of the manner in which the classes are structured and scheduled. So, the easiest thing is to keep passing them.

[Kilgore Trout]

"Technological tools, including the internet cause students unable to write," Usa Supiyapan, director of Watpho Municipal School in Chon Buri said, while Udon Thani's Huay Kerng Pittayakarn School (HKPS) Teacher Plernpit Wisetsiri added that mobile phones attracted students' attention - they use the phones' entertainment applications when teachers were teaching in classrooms.

This is an incredibly ignorant statement; if teachers are keeping students engaged and monitoring them properly, I don't see what the internet has to do with anything; in fact it can be a powerfull teaching tool if used properly. If they are using it to cheat on homework then teachers aren't checking for learning properly, or doing any sort of proper assessment.

If a student is caught using a mobile phone in class for anything less than an emergency then it should be taken and only the parents can retrieve it.

These kinds of statements are such an obvious ploy not to take responsibility for poor teaching practices. Also the lack of accountibility from administration (as it is their job to properly assess teacher performance)