How do secondary students in Bangladesh make sense of SBA?

There has long been criticism of the adequacy of end-of-year summative assessment in secondary schools in Bangladesh. As a result of this, formative assessment arrived in this educational assessment landscape in the form of school-based assessment (SBA) in 2006. SBA aspires to incorporate the use of formative assessment to assess many of the important objectives of secondary education, such as solving problems, expressing thoughts clearly in speech, learning to behave appropriately, and developing sound personal and social values. This study involves exploring SBA from students perspective using a qualitative research design. It aims to identify students understanding of the nature and purpose of SBA, the perceived usefulness of SBA and the factors hindering its implementation. Findings of the study revealed that despite having some factors hindering teaching and learning support, students seem satisfied with and interested in this new assessment system. I would like to recommend that education personnel and concerned government bodies should pay attention to research findings regarding both benefits and pitfalls of SBA at the implementation level.

Autorentext

Nazma Purvin is a lecturer at a government teachers' training college in her native Bangladesh. She obtained her M/Ed.(Educational Studies and Human development) at The University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. Her M.Ed ( Educational Psychology and Guidance) and M.Sc in Psychology at The University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.