By Mohammed Manfalouti – HIBAPRESS
The Ministry of National Education, Preschool, and Sports announced a package of measures aimed at establishing a system for evaluation and examinations in primary and secondary education, seeking to monitor and accompany students and evaluate their performance according to their situations, to ensure the provision of real and indicative indicators of their level of learning achievement.
The Ministry stressed that this requires activating a contractual nature in the field of evaluation between various actors and stakeholders and emphasizing its importance within the various reference documents framing evaluation and examination operations, in order to ensure the quality of planning, preparation, and implementation of operations related to evaluation in general, and school examinations in particular.
In this context, and in order to reduce the margin of error in estimating the level of control of learning among students, which allows for an accurate determination of their level of academic achievement at the end of the educational cycle in primary, secondary preparatory, and secondary qualifying schools, two main approaches can be adopted to ensure the quality and reliability of school examination results. The first approach is to improve the quality of the tools used in certification school examinations, while the second approach focuses on controlling the conduct of tests while ensuring the implementation of all operations related to their conduct and correction in accordance with the procedures.
In connection with these two approaches, during each session of these examinations, all framing and organizational measures are taken at various national, regional, and regional levels to verify the preparation and development of several choices in accordance with the required quality standards.
Also, all measures aimed at securing the process of conducting and correcting examinations are taken from some potential violations that may result in an expansion of the margin of error in estimating the level of performance of the learner, and thus producing inaccurate estimates of this performance, which negatively affects the quality of the teaching-learning process directly, and is reflected in the future of the academic achievement of learners.
In connection with this, the practice of cheating during examinations is among the shortcomings that negatively affect the quality of certification examinations and their results, as this behavior takes on multiple forms, including the habit of some students on unsound practices that directly affect their will and motivation to learn, and this situation also contributes to the production of inaccurate educational indicators, which hinders the taking of the necessary corrective decisions by the administrative and educational staff.
The ministry confirmed in a memorandum, "HIBAPRESS has a copy of it," that reducing these practices effectively will have positive effects on the academic future of learners in its various stages, and therefore, addressing this behavior firmly and effectively at the appropriate time, especially in the first years of schooling, and especially during passing the tests of certification examinations, has become an urgent necessity to ensure the preservation of the quality of education and the level of academic achievement of learners.
Considering the negative impact of the phenomenon of cheating on achievement throughout the student's academic career, and considering the pivotal role played by the educational institution in social upbringing and the consolidation of the values of integrity and integrity, addressing this issue requires the involvement of all relevant actors, and the implementation of a continuous and long-term strategy based on several approaches and pivotal and multi-dimensional measures, which are as follows:
1: Educational measures:
This approach relies on raising the level of control of basic competencies in order to reduce the percentage of failing students.
Through the following measures:
* Ensuring that students benefit from the full learning time, as it is a basic procedure for strengthening the assumption of improving their level of achievement.
* Considering the individual differences between students during the implementation of the curriculum as a basic field for achieving equal opportunities in learning, which allows for immediate intervention to address the difficulties during classroom activities, and contributes to enabling each learner to progress according to his (her) own pace, and thus (her) motivation to strive is enhanced, which helps him (her) to achieve effective and successful learning.
* Ensuring that all students benefit from institutional support sessions supervised by educational institutions under the guidance and follow-up of the regional directorates, which enables them to control the minimum content and skills targeted by certification examinations.
* Ensuring educational guidance that takes into account the student's abilities and motivation, and is in line with his (her) personal project.
2: Communication and awareness measures.
In the context of securing the credibility of examination results and ensuring their integrity, the regional academies for education and training and their affiliated regional directorates work to prepare and develop an action plan that includes a set of communication and awareness measures aimed at preventing practices that may negatively affect the credibility of examination results and includes
These measures are as follows:
* Organizing educational meetings for the administrative and educational staff of educational institutions to identify the mechanisms adopted to confront the negative phenomena that may affect the conduct of examinations, including the practice of cheating in examinations.
* Including the problem of cheating within the points of deliberation of the educational councils at the level of each educational institution to discuss it and raise awareness of its seriousness, and taking appropriate decisions to address it based on the guidelines contained in this memorandum.
* Supporting students psychologically and educationally before and during certification examinations, to motivate them and strengthen their confidence in themselves and urge them to rely on their own capabilities during the tests.
* Mobilizing various media and communication means to engage in awareness and awareness campaigns organized before the certification examinations.
3: Organizational measures
The measures related to the selection and management of examination centers and the conduct and correction of tests are among the measures that have been adopted in order to ensure the credibility of examination results and implement the principles of merit, fairness and equal opportunities.
Raising the effectiveness of these measures and applying them on the ground requires reviewing the criteria for selecting examination centers, as well as activating the role of observers, enhancing the role of administrative and educational staff and teachers in charge of guarding and providing a reference guide to frame their interventions, and improving the organization process requires ensuring the effective contribution of these teams and raising all types of embarrassment about them, which enables them to carry out the tasks assigned to them with the required neutrality.
First: Selecting examination centers and appointing the administrative and educational staff to manage them.
* Examination centers and the administrative and educational staff in charge of managing them are determined by adopting the following criteria:
** For the unified regional examination to obtain the primary school certificate:
Examination centers are selected from among secondary preparatory education institutions or secondary education institutions. Qualifying the task of guarding the candidates during the examination is assigned to secondary preparatory or qualifying education teachers belonging to the institution hosting the examination.
** For the unified regional examination to obtain the preparatory school certificate:
Examination centers are selected from among secondary qualifying education institutions receiving these students:
The task of guarding the candidates during the examination is assigned to secondary qualifying education teachers or primary education teachers.
As for the cases of primary and secondary preparatory educational institutions belonging to the rural and semi-urban environment, which are an exception, and in which the guidelines mentioned above cannot be respected, the following criteria can be applied:
Keeping the candidates in their original institution, provided that the administrative and educational staff is appointed from outside the institution, and this staff includes the head of the examination center, the examination center writing, as well as the teachers in charge of guarding. Selecting secondary preparatory education institutions as examination centers to conduct the unified regional examination to obtain the preparatory school certificate, in the event of exhausting the capacity of secondary qualifying education institutions.
The authorization is granted by the director of the Regional Academy for Education and Training with informing the National Center for School Examinations and Learning Assessment of all cases in which examination centers were adopted exceptionally.
*** For the unified regional and national examinations to obtain the baccalaureate certificate
The procedures related to the selection and supervision of examination centers are adhered to through:
Selecting examination centers by adopting one of the formulas stipulated in the baccalaureate examination organization procedures book.
Respecting the capacity of examination centers based on twenty (20) candidates in each hall.
Allocating isolated and special examination halls for candidates benefiting from adapting the topics, as well as those licensed to accompany companions.
Second: Selecting correction centers and appointing the administrative and educational staff to manage them.
The Regional Directorate prepares a limited number of correction centers for each examination, which ensures the good organization of the correction process and care is taken to distribute the envelopes of the writing papers in accordance with the controls that ensure integrity and transparency, which are as follows:
* Conducting the correction process in accordance with the reference procedures stipulated in the certification examination organization procedures books.
* Adopting the mechanism of secret numbering, which is mandatory before starting the process of correcting the achievements of the candidates, and teachers are not assigned to correct the achievements of candidates from the educational institution in which they work.
Third: Follow-up procedures
Improving the quality of certification examinations and ensuring the credibility of the results thereof, a set of measures aimed at addressing cheating in examinations are adopted, and thus the successful disposal of the principle of merit and equal opportunities among students, and these measures include the following:
* Organizing the process of accessing examination centers while obliging the candidates to hand over mobile phones and electronic means before entering the examination center, and the examination center staff works to allocate a space at the entrance to the examination center to keep all the means that can be used in cheating and they are recovered at the end of the examination session.
* Generalizing the electronic system to help monitor and control cheating cases in all baccalaureate examination centers. This will help control cheating cases in which mobile phones and electronic tools are used, which are difficult for the guarding teams to control.
* Ensuring the activation of the role of local committees to monitor cheating at the level of all baccalaureate examination centers and frame their work.
* Strengthening the role of the observer in controlling cheating cases and assessing the extent of compliance with the procedures for its deterrence and preparing a special report on that at the end of each test session.
* Activating the role of mobile committees to monitor the extent of compliance with the procedures for deterring cheating inside examination centers and framing their interventions when necessary.
* Activating the central role of the General Inspectorate of Educational Affairs to monitor the extent of compliance with professional and organizational controls during the conduct and correction of examinations.
* Establishing a "Green Line" at the National Center for School Examinations and Learning Assessment, as well as at the regional academies for education and training, which is identified through communication campaigns, in order to report any potential violations during the conduct of examinations, which enables quick and effective intervention by educational officials at the regional and regional levels.
