Some of you may wonder what the PBS stands for and what it means. Well, the PBS is some kind of school based evaluation system where the students will be evaluated by the teachers after every topic that they learn. This system of evaluation will be implemented in stages beginning this year with the form 1 students and the next year with the form 2 students and so on. As all the teachers and students know, this system of education has brought a lot of chaos to the schools. Why chaos? Because it is implemented without proper planning. Because teachers are made to do the impossible. When the teachers were sent for courses (in the earlier part of the year) they were asked to prepare test questions for classroom evaluation. The truth about these questions is, you can open any reference book and simply pick any of the activities in it and you'll find that it is much better than the ones prepared by the teachers. Luckily, we don't have to use those questions if we don't want to as we can always design our own questions based on the students' level. Just how valid are the questions prepared by the teachers? I would really like to know. Well, the students are given 3 attempts for each test before the teachers could fail them. For those students in the good classes the teachers can give them more difficult questions but for those in the weaker classes the teachers would have to give them easier questions for the same test so that they could afford to pass. Do you think it is fair this way?

Needless to say, due to lack of preparation, we started late this year (some time in April or May but going full time in the second semester) but were told that we have to key in all the results by the 31st October 2012. As a consequence, the teachers have to spend all the time chasing after the students to sit for the tests instead of teaching. Chasing after the students is a herculean task especially in the weaker classes. I hope that my readers would be able to give me some ideas how to chase after students who don't want to sit for the tests and who are chronic absentees to sit for each test three times when they are not allowed to come out of their classes during other lessons. During my English lessons, there is always a new test to sit for after each topic that I teach and I find it almost impossible to make them sit for the tests that were already over a long time ago. Remember, there are more than 30 students in each class. If there were only 6 students in each class or 4 teachers in each class it would be a different story altogether.

One of my former colleagues used to say that the students in the weak classes didn't even want to copy the answers that she has written for them on the whiteboard during an exam. When she asked the students to copy the answers, they told her to write for them. That's why the teachers are having great problems chasing after the students to do the tests after each topic. Why? This is because they don't want to do it. When I went for the PMR and SPM invigilations, I found many students sleeping in the exam hall during the exam. We were told to wake them up each time they sleep and the poor invigilators had to walk around to wake the students up. Many of them wanted to leave the exam hall even before they finish the paper but they were not allowed to do so and that was why they slept through the exam. If they don't want to do anything during such an important exam, do you think that they will want to sit for the informal tests prepared by the teachers? In a way, the PBS system is encouraging the students to be irresponsible people. Why is it so? They don't have to bother about the tests as it is the teachers' responsibility to chase after them to make them do the tests. Those who have been chasing after the students would know how hateful their "tidak apa" attitude is. What is even worse is we are not encouraged to fail them. This would mean that the teachers must somehow make the students who don't want to sit for the tests to pass the tests by hook or by crook.

Let me share my plight with you. I was given 3 form 1 classes in the beginning of the year namely 1A, 1D, and 1E. But in the second semester, just after the students sat for an English test, they had to go to different classes based on their results (streaming). The problem is they only change classes during the English lessons but go back to their original classes for other subjects. (Why so much fuss changing classes during the English lessons? If English is so important, why abolish the PPSMI in the first place?) What happens each time the students change classes? Do you think that they will walk quietly to the other classes? Well, they disappeared and the teachers have to go and look for them. One student disappeared from June onwards and reappeared again in October and no one knows where he went during the English lessons throughout those four months. (I was the one who did the streaming and based on his diagnostic test results, I put him in 1G. When he reappeared again in October, the 1G English teacher did not want to accept him. I had no choice but to ask the 1F English treacher to accept him as he is originally from 1F.) Since 1A, 1B and 1C must have English lessons at the same time on Thursday and Friday whilst 1D, 1E, 1F, and 1G must have English lessons at the same time on Monday and Wednesday, I had to give away one of my form 1 classes to another teacher. Why must the good classes have English lessons at the same on Thurrsdays and Fridays and the weak classes have English lessons at the same time on Mondays and Wednesdays? Does it mean that the students' English will improve if all the classes have English lessons at the same time? Whose stupid idea is this? Now, the problem is I have to chase after the students whom I am no longer teaching to sit for the tests they have not completed. Please teach me how to do that - remember they can't come out of their classes because their teachers would not let them. Everyone is chasing after the students to complete the tests. The next problem is, I cannot key in the results for the students whom I am teaching now (1A and IE) because they are not the original 1A and 1E students. I have to give their marks to the English teachers who are teaching 1B, 1C, 1D, 1F, and 1G depending on which class they originally come from and get the marks of the original 1A and 1E students from these teachers. Remember they change classes only during the English lessons and therefore still belong to their original classes. When we key in the marks, we have to key in according to their classes. One more problem is there is not enough English teachers to teach the form one and form two English classes next year since every English teacher can only take two classes of form one (10 periods) and two classes of form two (10 periods) because of the streaming. We normally have five classes of English but next year we can only afford to take four classes of English and teach others subjects to fill up the 25 periods. What stupid nonsense. Already we do not have enough teachers! If the ministry doesn't send more English teachers to the schools, the non English optionists would have to teach English next year whilst the English optionists would have to teach the subjects that they do not know anything about. If I were to teach PJK, I'll just ask the students to play what they want to play during the PJK lessons cos I really don't know anything about PJK. Just give the boys a ball and they will know what to do. As for the girls, just ask them to bring their badminton rackets and let's hope that they will bring! What would the PJK teacher do then? Teach English in Bahasa!

Another problem with streaming is the keying in of the nilam (reading) records. I will never be able to record the number of books that my original 1A and 1E students have read because I don't get to see them at all. Experience have taught me that I can't rely on the other English teachers to record the number of books that my original 1A and 1E students (who are in their classes) have read. It took them so long and there was so much problems chasing after them to force them to give me the PBS results of my original 1A and 1E students. How can I expect them to give me the nilam records every month? So what did I do with the nilam records? I had no choice but to play the "Toto" game when filling in the nilam records. Other teachers are also doing the same thing because the librarian told us to "pandai-pandai" key-in. How "pandai-pandai" is "pandai-pandai' is up to the teachers. I am wondering how I am going to play the "Toto" game next year. This year, at least, I have been with my original 1A and 1E students for 6 months and I can guess how many books they should have read. Next year, streaming will begin in January and I will never get to see the "original students" of whichever classes I may be teaching next year. How can I play the "Toto" game then? Chasing after the other English teachers for the PBS results of my original 1A and 1E students is another herculean task. One of them did not give me the results until the last day of school and if it wasn't so difficult to key in the results online I would have assumed that all the original 1E students whom this particular English teacher is teaching have passed up to band 4 and keyed in up to band 4! (I have been updating this article from time to time whenever there is new information about the PBS) When it comes to streaming like this, playing the "Toto" game is inevitable. For instance, the PLBS (oral) forms of the original 1A and 1E students are still with me as my ketua panitia suggested that each English teacher should keep and fill up the PLBS forms of their original students as it would be very problematical to distribute these forms to the teachers who are actually teaching them now. This means that although I am not teaching the original 1A and 1E students, I still have to assess them for their oral test. The consequence is, of course, another "Toto" game. Is this what is meant by the beauty of PLBS (Pentaksiran Lisan Berasaskan Sekolah)? But what about next year? How can I grade the students whom I have never seen if streaming begins early in January? At least this year I can make some wild guesses and assumptions based on what I know about the students but how am I going to guess or assume anything about the students whom I don't know next year? One more thing is - it would be impossible for me to key in the PBS results every month since the other English teachers only give me the results for the whole year once a year at the end of the year (perhaps on the last day of school). Chasing after the other teachers for the PBS results is a "mission impossible" and they don't normally entertain me until the last minute. This is what is happening in other schools as well.

Every student has a file and the tests that the students have completed must be put in their files. This is another big problem. I have to keep two files for each class - one for the 1A and 1E classes that I am teaching now and one for the original 1A and 1E classes. I cannot put the testpapers of the students whom I am teaching now in their files before they are not the original 1A and 1E students. I have to give their testpapers to the teachers who are teaching in 1B, 1C, 1D, 1F, and 1G depending on where they originally come from and get the testpapers of the original 1A and 1E students from these teachers. The files are arranged according to the original classes in different cupboards that are securely locked. So it seems that the teachers are always busy sorting out the testpapers and putting them in the files all the time as though they have nothing to do. If what the teachers are suffering now is beneficial to the students, it doesn't matter but the truth is they can't even teach a proper lesson because all the time is spent chasing after the students and making them do the tests.

Here I have a silly joke to share with my readers. Silly though it may sound, it's the truth and nothing but the truth. One of my friends who is teaching in another school told me that she had no choice but to photostat many sets of the completed tests belonging to a good student and gave them to the students who have not completed the tests to take home and copy. She really couldn't afford to chase after these students due to lack of time. The problem is, many of these weak students not only did not copy the tests given to them but also lost the samples that they took home to copy. As we all know, it is not easy to make the students do their schoolwork and the PBS is just like some kind of schoolwork to them. The difference is, when the students do not want to do their schoolwork, the teachers can still proceed with the lessons. However, with the PBS, the teachers have to chase after the students to do their "schoolwork" not just once, but twice or even three times for the same topic if they don't do well. Making the weak students do the tests once is enough problem and doing them 3 times is like attempting the impossible. How can one teacher chase after 30 or 40 students in every class given such limited time? Another question is: How can the teachers chase after the students who are no longer in their class (the students changed class in the second semester) to do the tests when they can't see them anymore? If the teachsers couldn't make them do the tests when these students were still in their class, how could they make them do the tests now?

Would this kind of assessment be recognized world wide? Just how valid is the PBS? The tests for each topic differs according to the teachers who set them taking into account the level of the students. If I were still a student, I would definitely want to be in a weak class as the tests would be easier to pass. One of my friends in SMK D told me that since it is most unlikely that the teachers in her school would be able to key in the results of the first few bands by 30 September 2012 and finish all the tests by 31st Oct 2012 (there are so many students to manage with so little time), they have decided to key in the results first assuming that all the students have passed the tests and then only let the students do the tests. This would mean that the students would pass the tests even before they sit for them. Is this what we mean by "Malaysia Boleh?"

The PBS is a very subjective thing and most of the teachers would not want to fail their students no matter how weak they are. Why? Because if they fail the tests, it would mean that the passing rate of the school would fall and no one would like to answer for that. Already Harvard is not accepting our students this year - I heard that none of our students could get into Harvard this year even though our As are so overwhelming and can even drown the whole world. If the PBS were to proceed, what will happen to our education system in the future? What our students need is a valid education system that would enable them to compete globally and the PBS will not be able to help them to do so. On the contrary, the PBS will only become the laughing-stock of the world due to the stupid way in which it is being carried out!

Gone were the good old days when even the young housewives and taxi drivers could speak good English. The truth is most of our young graduates of today cannot speak good English even after so much have been done to improve the level of English in this country. Can we say that our education system is better than before? With the PBS, the situation is even worse. The teachers can't even teach as they are always busy chasing after the students who don't want to do the tests and make them do the tests. When the tests are so easy to pass, do you think that our students can really learn anything at all? Do you know that many teachers are asking their students to just copy something from their friends or give them something to copy and pass up just for the sake of passing the exam? This has been happening all the time for the subjects that require the students to do 'folio' or whatever it is. The same thing can happen to the PBS. Being school based, we cannot avoid these flaws since teachers are humans too.

Winners in the Olympics are given a lifetime pension and great financial rewards by the Malaysian Government. Why is it that those who won the inter-school or inter-state matches are not given such rewards? We want our 1Malaysia nation to be able to compete globally and not only amongst people of our level. Similarly, if our students can score straight As for the O-levels or A-levels, then they are really good. Perhaps it's time for the policy makers to reconsider this option instead of lowering the standard of our education system to suit the needs of the students who don't want to learn. Why is it that the PPSMI is a failure? Because it doesn't matter whether the teachers or the students want to learn English or not. If the teachers were not given their annual increment if they couldn't master English, then, I bet you, they will learn in no time. If English is made a compulsory subject that every student must pass if they want to pass the PMR or SPM examination, then no doubt everyone can speak good English!

I am writing this article to give feedback to the Ministry as a responsible citizen who is concerned with the future of our education system . It is no use asking the teachers to answer 'yes-no' questions about their readiness for the PBS. The truth cannot be discovered this way. For instance, does the Ministry know that the teachers are trying to avoid teaching the PBS classes and pushing it to those not so influential ones because these not so influential teachers have no right to say anything other than to accept what is given to them? Even the ketua bidang and ketua panitia of many schools are pushing the PBS classes to other teachers and even to non-optionists just because they don't want to get involved with the PBS. This is the ultimate truth about the PBS whcih the yes-no answers cannot reveal.

Theory is different from practice. The PBS may sound ideal theoretically but is practically useless or at least it is not suitable for a Malaysian classroom. As a PhD student, I have done a lot of research in this area (how to upgrade our education system) and I hope that my forthcoming PhD thesis would be able to contribute towards a better education system for our 1Malaysia nation. It is not my intention to criticize. As a veteran teacher, I want the best for my students. Are we giving them the best? During these last few days of school, every teacher is busy forcing the students to simply copy something just for the sake of completing the tests and passing them. Is this what we call quality education? I will be following the PBS as a participant observer and continue to provide the Government with the necessary feedback from time to time so that the Ministry will know what is actually happening in the schools and take the necessary steps to upgrade our education system.

This post has been edited by pivoine: Nov 13 2012, 12:26 AM

I think they expected the teachers to cooperate and help each other out. From TS's post, it sounds like they don't even talk to each other.

this is the american system. teachers are directly responsible not just to the students' achievements, but also what they actually learn. it shifts the burden of teaching to the teachers, meaning they are no longer drones who teach based purely on syllabi given by the policy makers.

this is also the common practice in universities. if lecturers who have absolutely no training in teaching or education in general can do it, teachers can too.

i think the problem here is the interpretation of the implementation by the schools. i dont think your school is doing it right. or perhaps the mindset of doing it is probably not right. in the american system, also in our local university system, students enroll on subjects that they need, not what the school or the government tells them they need. of course, in this case, they have a preset subjects that they need to cover, but u are given the flexibility of the level of studies, like the english class example.

in a university, each subject has different sections. lets say section 1 is for the top students, section 9 for the weakest. teaching methodology and pedagogy differs. top students can be given more freedom to do individual assignments, while the weaker should engage on more peer learning with guided tutorship.

if PBS is a laughing stock in the world, then i'm sure we wont have any problem hiding behind the shadow of the united states.

As far as I know, the university students are very much on their own where learning is concerned. And we all know that we can't rely on the lecturers. In fact, many university students would agree that they should be thankful if the lecturers don't plagiarize their work. Contrary to the situation in the schools, it is the students who are going after their lecturers because they are difficult to find! The situation of the schools in America is different. Here in Malaysia, we have more than 30 or sometimes 40 students in each class. How many students are there in a typical American classroom?

This post has been edited by pivoine: Sep 28 2012, 11:39 PM

Depends on how much you pay.

Low class one's have more than 250 people in a class (yes, kinda like lectures , in a huge hall)

But if you pay lots, you can get 1 to 1.

needs must be established before money is spent on something.

we NEED to revitalize the current education for primary and secondary schools. so they shifted the policy into something that's more open ended, less exam oriented, and more importantly, shifting the burden of learning to the students rather than the teachers. then whatever needs that comes with it, be it more schools, more teachers etc.

the government have been spending on stuffs they dont need (in relation to education) because they thought it might help. but without proper plan, most of the things arent being utilized fully. now there's a new policy. there is a new NEED. so if it calls for smaller class sizes, they would need to hire more teachers, provide more classes, and possibly more schools.

u cant change something in a day.

btw, are u aware of the educational approach that the government are adopting now?

Good students do not need the PBS. The PBS is intended for the weak students. However, the problem is the weak students do no not care about the PBS.

that's one assumption.

In the good old days, our good students did well in the MCE/SPM and HSC/STPM without the 3M and PBS. Our As were really much treasured by the world then. In actual fact, the PBS is killing their intelligence. Please take a look at the new English literature syllabus and you will know what I mean. Many of our form one or even year 6 students are already reading the unabridged versions of Harry Potter and some other novels. Do you think their English will improve by studying the present literary text? The housewife next door who is in her fifties can speak fluent English even though she did not even pass form 5. What about this former colleague of mine (a young teacher) who did her TESL in the UK with a scholarship who cannot speak English? Each time someone speaks to her in English, she will respond in Bahasa. What was so effective in the old education system? In those days, there were no tuition claases at school, no 3M and of course no PBS.

This post has been edited by pivoine: Sep 29 2012, 12:51 PM

then u should come to my school and take a look at the last class of form 5. they cant even read and understand that "Peter and Jane" kindergarten storybook.

That's why I am wondering what was so effective with the old education system. The taxi driver in his 50s can speak good English but many of our straight A students nowadays can't do that!

This post has been edited by pivoine: Sep 29 2012, 10:27 PM

I guess the hardship of life last time really meant something for them. They value education more than today's generation.

Plus, most teachers 50 years back are Britons. So like it or not, they gotta learn it, or they're gonna be left out. As for now, the students will said "Ala cikgu cakap Melei la. Tak faham." So the whole PnP that were supposed to be in English, turned into a translation class.

Language learning is slightly different. Most people who learn to speak any language, do not usually do it in school. They do it by "absorption". The way a baby learns. School can speed things along. But by itself, English classes will rarely be able to teach you to speak English.

How did I learn Malay? I learnt it the "natural" way. A bit older than normal, but basically the same way. By immersion. Age 7, I was left in a school where all the other kids only speak Malay. I learnt the language very quickly. Faster than what was being taught by the teacher in BM class. In any case, the BM class was structured differently. It was mostly aim at teaching you how to read and write, assuming that you already know how to listen/speak the language.

How did I learn English? English classes in school helped here (although by itself, it wouldn't have worked. If you don't believe me, I have many classmates from back then who today do not speak English). After a few years, I learnt enough to read English books. Then I hit the library, and read as many book as I could. This brought up my reading skills. Listening skills, I learnt from watching TV. Lots of cartoons, plus English and American shows. All of them had subtitles in Malay.

I did not speak any English though. If anyone speak to me in English, I would reply in Malay. And of course, the other person will switch to Malay as well. I was stuck at this point for a while. I believe this is where pivoine's friend is stuck at. As an adult, she might find it harder to get unstuck. I was only 12, and when I moved from primary to secondary schoold, made a deliberate decision to start speaking English then. How long was she in the UK? How could she be there all that time and not speak the language.

The problem is many English teachers are finding excuses to teach English in Malay. What are their excuses? The students are very weak. They don't understand English. So the English lessons become Malay lessons with a few English words here and there! The PBS cannot change this situation so what's the use of it?

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Added on September 29, 2012, 10:48 pmMaybe she was there for one or two years under some kind of twinning program. I am not so sure about the exact length of time. Learning English has got nothing to do with where she is. She may be in the UK but what if she only mixed around with her own race as is the usual case? Much would depend on herself and whether she wants to master the language or not. Some time back there was an article about Asian students speaking broken English even after they graduated from the western universities. Did you read it? I have a friend who graduated from a university in the US. When she wrote her masters thesis, she asked me to help her. Why me? I am only a local product. Made in Malaysia!

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Added on September 30, 2012, 9:51 amWe can't blame the teachers for not allowing the students to go out during their lessons to sit for the tests because everyone is chasing after the students to sit for the tests. I wouldn't let the students go out during my lessons either because I want them to do my tests first. When the teachers happen to see the chronic absentees, it's like a great blessing to them and everyone will be chasing after these students and make them do the tests. This is also one reason why these students are afraid to come to school.

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Added on September 30, 2012, 1:56 pmWhat I mean is the number of students in a typical secondary school classroom and not a lecture hall. Needless to say, the schools in America have fewer students per class compared to Malaysia.

This post has been edited by pivoine: Sep 30 2012, 01:56 PM

In my school. We stopped streaming the students. Its close to the ond of the school term, so the students are asked to stay in their own respective classes during English period so as to allow their default teacher to complete the PBS assessment. Even I don't actually follow the assessment in order of each Band due to the reasons tou mentioned. Say if I've completed one assessment for Band 3, there will be several students missing out onthe assessment due to MC, absence, etc. moving on to BNd 4 assessment, I will still conduct the assessment on all students inclusing those who haven't finish out their Band 3 assessment. Why? Because its a waste of lesson period if I were to try and finish up all the student's assessment before moving on to the next level. Having 1 teacher to manage 40 students (yes, I have 40 students in my class) and trying to conduct several PBS assessment in 2/3 periods is impossible. Its possible if you're willing to close one eye and just ask the students to plagliarize other students work or simply copy the answers from the board.

PBS isn't exactly new. Its been done before. It failed the first year because of so much materials needed to be printed and photosated (incurring high cost to school and/or teacher) and spoonfeeding the students with answers. I'm not saying its a bad concept, but the implementation is very poor and 80% of the teachers have no clue to how to properly assess the class.

Supposeably, the PBS was meant so that good students will make an exta effort to raise their proficiency while helping the weaker students. But as it turns out, its the teachers who are more concern of the students and having to chase those lazy students into completing their tasks. Already i have one studens who never pass Band 2 because of frequent absence in class. It will be me who will have to asnwer to the school as to why I allow my students score poorly in PBS.

What im saying is, the number of people in a classroom depends on how much you are willing to pay.

If you pay as much as malaysians are paying, even if you pay 3x what malaysians are paying, you will probably only get 250-300 people in a class.

If you are willing to pay USD 40,000 for primary school, then MAYBE you will get 10~15 people in a class.

I dont know if they are better or not.

I tried doing the way you did when I started band 4 with my weak class. I said to myself that I had to proceed with my lessons somehow. Just couldn't afford the time to chase the students who did not complete the tests due to various reasons. It ended up with so many of them not having completed the tests in this band. As you know, there are many absentees in those weak classes. I had to spend 3 periods just chasing after them to finish their tests today. It was like starting with band 4 all over again. Yet there are those who still haven't completed the tests. Not only band 4 alone but bands 1,2, and 3 as well. How am I going to teach like this? If I don't chase them to do the tests, then I have to fail them. Oh my God! What should I do? Just chasing, chasing, and chasing with minimal teaching - this is the meaning of PBS!

dude, 250 people is call a lecture. 1on 1, 1 on 5 or smaller groups is called tutorials.
All Unis have it regardless of your fees. Cant say the same bout local Unis though.

This post has been edited by babyrabies: Oct 2 2012, 12:51 AM

no one is talking about university.

Left handers were punished too......and the instances of questioning teachers were frown upon then.

I think we must understand that the concept of education has changed over the years. Current circumstances require new solutions.

After so many years there is still no solution and it seems that the "golden era" of English can only be found during the reign of the old education system.
The new solutions that we have pamper the students so much that they don't want to learn. The new solutions that we have teach the students to be irresponsible people. The teachers are responsible to chase after them to sit for the tests because they have no responsibility for themselves. If I were a parent, I would love the PBS. Why? Because it is easy to pass and I don't have to worry about my children failing the exam. In fact, the teachers dare not fail the students for fear that the parents would make a big fuss especially if the student's father is an influential man in the school or the mother is one of the teachers in the school. If the student's father is a Mr Nobody, then perhaps failing him is not so much of a problem. Being school-based, the PBS is very subjective. The teachers are in a vulnerable position where the PBS is concerned and it is better to pass the students than to create trouble. What then is the standard of education in Malaysia?

This post has been edited by pivoine: Oct 3 2012, 10:18 PM

Sometimes I do wonder whether it is the teachers or the students who are studying. Whenever the teachers are asked to come back to school to give extra tuition to the weak students free of charge, very few would turn up. I had only three students the week before. Better than my colleague. She had only one student. Sometimes, none of them would turn up. This is happening in many schools. Once, one of my former colleagues came back on a Saturday to give tuition to the weak students but none of them came. This clearly shows how irresponsible our students are towards themselves. The present generation is over-pampered. Maybe that's why our Malaysian bosses prefer to take foreign workers. They don't have to chase after the foreign workers to make them do their work! Being borught up in a hard way, these foreign workers know how to treasure their job. This was what I told my students today when they didn't want to do their PBS.

This post has been edited by mountainphoenix: Oct 3 2012, 10:38 PM

hellow my frens,

Malaysia education is a world quality education. we have one of the most well established education system. all subjects are taught in our national languages (Malay) and malaysia university will be one of the top 200 in the world soon. we should be proud of our education system.

make sure u sent ur kids to study in Malaysia and malaysian dun waste so much money senting their kids overseas for "quality" studies. Top quality education can be found right here in malaysia!!!



.

this is rather subjective not all teachers are equal to begin with. and don't forget not everyone can get a place in public uni.

I don't want to sound like a troll, I'm not. But I think, sir, you are dreaming.

Malaysia has world quality education? When students who learnt English since their Primary 1 days till university can't even speak proper english with proper grammar? If this is some isolated cases, nvm, it's okay. But the majority of students/graduates belong to this category, and this is a serious matter.

Just look at our graduate teachers in the secondary schools. More than 90% of them cannot speak proper English. Many of them, especially the young teachers, can't speak English at all. This is the outcome of the 3M. And now the PBS is even worse than the 3M!

We just had a PBS meeting today. We were told that it is up to the teachers whether to pass or fail the students. The people in the Ministry said that they trust the teachers. But then there is also a contradictory view of their meaning of 'trust'. They said that they would come to the schools to check if the teachers simply pass the students. We were earlier told that the students in the weak classes could be given easier questions to pass the test. For instance, to introduce onself, it is enough if they could say, "Hi, I'm John and I live in Kuala Lumpur." As for the intelligent students, the teachers could even make them write an essay about themselves. This is very subjective, right? Then how could the officer say that the teachers simply pass the students if they happen to come to school and check? Didn't they say that they leave it to teachers to set questions based on the level of the students? So confusinglah!

This post has been edited by pivoine: Oct 6 2012, 12:11 PM

this is disturbing.... why the double standards?

well i really don't agree if your school decides to make double standard exams like that.

What the weaker students need are different way of learning things, not different set of tests.

The "double standard exams" as you call them are not the decision of the schools. This is what we call the PBS (Penilaian/Pentaksiran Berasaskan Sekolah). Many people still don't understand what this new system of education is. Under this new education system, the tests are set according to the level of the students we are teaching. Clever students have to sit for more difficult tests but weak students are given much simpler tests for the same paper. The schools just follow what the Ministry says. They can't decide anything.

This post has been edited by pivoine: Oct 6 2012, 12:06 PM

Let the PBS go ahead and if it doesn't work, it will be abolished when the time comes just as the PPSMI is going to be abolished after more than a decade after its implementation. As teachers, it is better to do what the ministry wants us to do and as long as we get our salary it doesn't matter what we do. This is what we call survival and many of us would have to learn it the hard way. There are many things in this world that we cannot afford to see clearly. Maybe we will be happier if we just keep one eye close. You don't have to worry for the students. For those intelligent students who want to learn more, they will find a way to do so. The parents are very clever nowadays. Many of them hire personal tuition teachers to teach their children the Singapore syllabus. (I used to give tuition last time and one of the parents asked me to teach her son Singapore's Year 5 English after the UPSR. I just couldn't believe what I saw. I thought I didn't have to prepare for the lessons but it ended up taking a lot of my time for the preparation. It's much easier to teach our form five students here!) If the students are intelligent and want to learn more to improve themselves, the parents would think of a way for them. Nothing for the teachers to worry about. For instance, my cousin sister and her husband went to work in Singapore just for the sake of their children's education. For the weak students or those who don't want to learn, they will be happier with the PBS.

This post has been edited by mountainphoenix: Oct 6 2012, 10:15 PM

i went through the PBS documentations, and nowhere did it say the assessment must be based on the level of the students. do point me to the right direction.

 PBS_LS_B1_lowyat.doc ( 47.5k ) Number of downloads: 63


Then you don't understand what the PBS is. The JUs went for a meeting last Friday morning and reconfirmed this method of testing with the teachers during the school meeting that afternoon. I attached above the first two tests prepared by the teachers when they went for the PBS course earlier this year? Just look at the first test and you will start laughing. Every student has to say, "Hi, I'm ___. I'm from ___." and if they could say that they have passed the first test. What about the intelligent students? My Form 1A students started laughing when I asked them to say that one by one. (If they were still in year 1 then maybe they don't mind saying that) I couldn't make them say that. Since they had earlier written a long essay about themselves (some could even write more than 200 words) I assumed that they have passed the test by making them rewrite the essay again on a foolscap paper (it will be a tedious task to photostat the exercise books one by one and no one will do that for me) and put it in their files as evidence. Under the PBS system, everything the students do must be supported by evidence. I'm actually supposed to tape the students' voices in a CD and put the CDs in their files as evidence that they could speak such sentences but I'm not going to do such a stupid thing. Who is going to buy me an MP3 recorder and pay for the CDs? Just make them write on the foolscap paper would do. As for the weak students, I made them write "Hi, I'm ___. I'm from ___" on a foolscap paper and put it in their files as evidence. The tests attached here are just a guide for the teachers. We had earlier (sometime in April or May) been instructed to test the students according to their levels by the JUs much to the disagreement of the teachers. So you can't believe it? Neither could I. You can't accept it? Me too. We were told last Friday to spend the holidays preparing test questions for the form 2 PBS next year. So every teacher prepares their own tests and there is no standard test. If the students are clever, make the tests more difficult and if they are weak, make the tests easier to pass. This means that for the same test, every teacher will do it differently with their students. This is what we call the PBS. Check with the ministry if you still don't understand.

This post has been edited by pivoine: Oct 7 2012, 04:24 PM

i believe i understand what the ministry is trying to implement now: the assessment is based on bands. this is the same system used in university level.

yes, it does mean people on the top band will have different or higher level of attainments than the lower band. as long as the student maintains the minimum standard of a particular band, they will stay there. if they achieve higher levels, they move on to the higher band until they maxed out.

it does imply that the assessment is no longer examination based, but continuous assessment, possibly through several weeks. which is the whole point anyways - making it less exam oriented and actually assess the attainments itself.

i'm sure u are aware of outcome based education (OBE)? about bloom's taxonomy and stuff? i'm quite interested because u didnt mention them even once, but the evidence all points to the implementation of OBE here.

When I was doing University of London's external LL.B. degree many years ago, my friends advised me to enrol for Wolverhampton University's external law degree program instead because it was very easy to pass and one could easily score As. I thought of doing that at first but before I got the time to enrol for the Wolverhampton external law degree course, the Malaysian government did not recognize the degree anymore. Why not? Because it was too easy to pass. No doubt, every university has its own examination system. Some may be of a higher standard and some may be of a lower standard. Just like the PBS, every teacher sets her own questions and it is up to her whether she wants her students to pass or not. For a weak class, the questions are easy and the students can pass easily. However, students in a good class have to answer more difficult questions to pass the same test. In the end, they are on a par with their weaker counterparts. They all pass the same test even though the intelligent students have to write an essay and the weak students need to write only a sentence for the test. Can we say that Harvard University is on a par with University Tenaga Nasional (just to quote an example)? If every school has its own examination questions, then we would have schools which are of a higher standard than others just like the universities. If every teacher sets her own examination questions then we would have classes that are of a higher standard than others just like the universities. Are the schools in Malaysia going to attain university status soon? If so, Victoria Institution University is certainly of a higher standard than SMK Seri Pantai University but can we say that the certs given by the ministry through Victoria Institution is of a higher standard than that of SMK Seri Pantai? No, they are the same. In the end, the clever and weak students are assumed to be of the same level.

This post has been edited by pivoine: Oct 8 2012, 11:16 PM

the band system introduced is a different assessment system that is NOT based on examination system. school A may have bands 1-3 (where higher is better), but school B may have bands 1-6. it doesnt matter if a lower band student passed the same subject as the upper band student; they're NOT the same band even though in the same subject.

so using your example:

UNITEN may offer the same course as Harvard, for example, in civil engineering. however, harvard is obviously upper band, while UNITEN is lower band. but both are offering civil engineering, nonetheless.

it's fine that teachers design their own examination questions as long as they fulfill the learning outcome (LO) required. and these LOs are usually very clearly stated. for example, it might say "student must be able to identify oneself" as the LO for a lower band. but for an upper band, it would say something like "student must be able to identify oneself using accurate 1st person reference". however the teacher wants to design the exercise will be up to them. and there's nothing wrong with that as long as it is fulfilled.

and if the student performed well beyond the marked LO, then they should move on to the upper band, until they're maxed out. that's where a teacher would recommend/nominate them to be elevated to a special class or something, if the ministry accommodates. what if they out perform a university student? well, good for them! with this system, we could move them to the special levels without being limited to exams like PMR. can a 15 year old sit for their undergraduate degree? if they've fulfilled all the requirements, why the heck not?

why are we being too limited because 'they didnt go through what we went through'? how do we know what we learned is the BEST? you're an educationist, go read piaget.

What if the teachers have to pass the intelligent and weak students alike up to band 6 which is the highest band? We are not encouraged to fail them. For band 6 - you can write an essay without guidance (for the good students) or given a guided essay such as filling in the blanks (for the weak students). In the end everyone passes the exam up to band 6. The weak students are as clever as the intelligent students where passing is concerned because they pass the same tests up to the same level even though their levels are far apart. Do you take what I mean?

This post has been edited by pivoine: Oct 8 2012, 11:20 PM

no, they DONT pass the same test. like u said, they are tested using different measuring scales. pass them based on their scales, and stop them if they're not capable of achieving the higher attainments. the weak and the strong will never be in the same band.

it's like motorcycle license. there's B2 (where u can ride a bike up to 500cc), and there's the full B where u can ride any bike regardless of its cc. if u took the B2 license, u still cant legally ride a superbike.

remember, at the end of the day, everyone will end up in a single exam: SPM. i know you're worried if teachers are allowed to skew the grades and move a weaker students into the higher band. it will achieve nothing: the student will be given false hope that he/she is better than he/she really is, the school's graphs were skewed unnecessarily towards the upper band when it should not, and eventually the students will achieve low grade during SPM, which is the prime indicator of whatever attainments that they have received.

 PBS_W_B6__lowyat_.doc ( 28k ) Number of downloads: 42


I attached above the highest level of the English test for the PBS this year. This test is from Band 6 (the highest band) B6DT1E1. This paper can be modified depending on which class the teacher goes in. The good students have to write an essay to pass B6DT1E1. This is what I normally ask my 1A students to do. But what about my 1E? Can they write this essay? No, they can't. In the end, I would have to give them a fully guided essay i.e. filling in the blanks in order to pass B6DT1E1. Do you understand what I mean? It's the same test (B6DT1E1) but more difficult for 1A and much easier for 1E. Unlike the motorcycle license analogy that you mentioned above, it is as though they are given a license when they cannot ride a motorcycle. This year is nearly coming to an end and many teachers still havent't finished their PBS yet. You think it's very easy to chase after the students to make them sit for the tests? Looks like the students will be given a license even though they can't ride a motorcycle! What to do? If they fail the students, they would have to answer for that. Too many failures would mean that the teacher is useless. Nobody wants to be useless. Some parents, especially the VIPs, cannot be offended. The teachers would only get into hot soup if they dare fail their children. I saw my colleague's son copying during the spelling and dictation test. If I fail him, I will have to give him another 2 attempts and I know that he would never be able to pass no matter how many chances I give him. Already there is no time left for the remaining tests. Wonder how I'm going to finish that. The other consequence is his fierce mother would give me a tough time proving that I'm wrong and her son is right. Why create trouble for myself? Just give him a license irrespective of whether he could drive or not. If everyone is doing it, then why not follow the crowd? Try going against the tide and see how it would be like? If anything happens, the school or the ministry would not defend the teachers. If, as you said, the PBS will not be taken into consideration at all for the SPM results, then why waste time with the PBS? Remember, the teachers spend more time chasing after the students to make them do the tests than teaching them. Don't you think it is a waste of time and energy?

This post has been edited by pivoine: Oct 9 2012, 11:06 PM

oh my god, what rubbish is that? you are a teacher, i expect you to stand for what you believe in and fight for your right. if your student is rubbish even after you've done everything you can for them, you should FAIL them.

look, i come from a long line of teachers. both my parents are teachers, their fathers were teachers, and so are my uncles and aunts. i cant believe i'm going to have to lecture you about what's right and wrong. you even had the audacity to open this thread and whack the government?

come on grow a backbone!

My grandparents were teachers. So were my parents. I know very well what I am doing and that's why I am writing this article. Where the PBS is concerned, I am just doing what everyone is doing. SMK D is going to key in the results without even asking the students to do the tests. At least I asked my students to write something for the tests. The only difference is they are doing it secretly and I am honest enough to give feedback to the government (not a whacking). I guess this is also what the government wants. It's no use asking the teachers to answer 'yes' 'no' questions to find out if they are ready for the PBS. Why not look into the entire situation? When it comes to school based, this is what happens. A few days ago, I confiscated one of my students' sejarah folio because he took it out during my English lesson to decorate it. Guess what I saw? Well, he photostated somebody's work and was about to put a nice cover on it. Just imagine this has been going on for years and I only bring it to light today. What if the marks were to be added up to the PMR sejarah paper?

This post has been edited by pivoine: Oct 10 2012, 10:16 PM

it doesnt matter if it adds or subtracts from PMR because that's not the point. the point is, at the very end of the day, everybody goes through the same SPM. i dont wanna have to repeat myself about the whole no-more-exam-oriented agenda.

if u believe there is loophole on conducting PBS, i'm sure u and i know fairly well than /k/ is NOT the place to report it to, unless u urself have ur own agenda.

Irrespective of whether it is the SPM or PMR or PBS there is surely some kind of foul play when it comes to school based exams. Remember, we are all humans. This is what I am trying to say. PBS or not, the teachers would only be too glad if the students have something to submit to them irrespective of how they get it done. I am sure you know what the present generation is like. And if the PBS results would not be taken into consideration at all for the SPM, then why waste time and effort on it? Better spend the time teaching the students meaningful lessons than chasing after them to do the tests all the time! Well, let's see if the PBS works. Maybe I can come out with something better with my PhD thesis in the near future!

This post has been edited by pivoine: Oct 9 2012, 11:51 PM

when u do start on ur thesis, do start off with everything constructivism, then look into OBE as well. chances are u wont end up that far from what the government is already imposing right now.

Maybe the teachers would need some advice from you. You see, this year is coming to an end but the teachers still have a lot to catch up with the PBS tests. This is because much of the time is spent on chasing after the students to do the old tests and it is not easy to start a new topic since every new topic is burdened with the old tests which the students did not not complete. Many teachers (even my ketua bidang bahasa) have resorted to the idea of asking the students to take the tests home to do (the tests can no longer be regarded as tests anymore in this case) but many of them ended up losing the testpapers. When the teachers asked the students to come back during these PMR holidays to complete the tests, only a handful of them turned up. I may be honest enough to key in only the results of the tests which the students have completed but other teachers are not so honest. Giving the students a license even though they can't ride a mortorcycle is probably the only way out. Is this fair for my students?

This post has been edited by pivoine: Oct 12 2012, 12:29 AM

i'm sorry, are u saying that u SHOULD allow ur students to break the rules?

is it fair that others earn money by stealing other people's handbags? stick to ur principles and do the right thing.

It's no use arguing about the PBS. Time is the best witness. In actual fact, the PBS can be a very interesting area of research. That was why I volunteered to take 3 classes of Form One. I'll focus my attention on the PBS just like what I've done for the PPSMI. Today, I have a very detailed report of the PPSMI based on genuine research which I have followed for one decade. I will get it published in the journals in the future. In actual fact, I have written many research articles for the journals which are in various stages of development waiting for the right time to be published. As an educationist, I do not criticize without reasons. The reason why I choose to stay in the school till now is because I want first hand information for my research. I don't want to sit in an air con room and suggest something just because America is doing it. One must know what is actually happening in the schools before giving any suggestions for change. This is Malaysia and our 1Malaysia nation has our own identity. We don't have to follow others. Even if the suggestions for improvement in my research articles are not accepted by our government, maybe other countries may find them useful -who knows?

This post has been edited by pivoine: Oct 14 2012, 11:41 PM

The PBS will be fine if:
1) we have less than 20 students in a class
2) there are always 100% attendance
3) all the students do their work and there is no need to chase after them

This post has been edited by mountainphoenix: Oct 16 2012, 10:29 PM

It is already the end of the year. We are having big problems now. Because of the streaming, we don't have enough English teachers to teach the form one and form two classes next year as each teacher can only take four classes instead of five. Further, the more influential teachers in many schools are now pushing the PBS classes to the less influential teachers who have no right to say anything but to accept whatever is given to them by force. Even the ketua bidang and ketua panitia in many schools are trying to avoid the PBS classes and push them to the non English optionists. It seems like a war is going to begin in many schools. And during these last few days before the school holidays, every teacher is busy forcing the students to copy something just for the sake of completing the PBS tests and passing them. Is this what we mean by quality education? I think this is the real feedback that the Ministry needs!

This post has been edited by pivoine: Oct 29 2012, 11:48 PM

I don't understand why the teachers teaching form 3, 4 and 5 English have only 20 periods (4 classes) of English whilst those teaching form 1 and 2 are given 5 classes of English (25 periods). According to Edelweiss56, all the teachers at her school want to teach the upper forms because if they teach form 3 they can start shaking legs in July and if they teach form 5 they can start shaking legs in September. But if you teach form 1 and 2, you cannot finish your work until after the holidays have begun because of the PBS. To be fair, the form 1 and 2 teachers should also be given only 20 periods (4 classes of English) each. My ketua bidang took one PBS class this year but it seems that she is the slowest one amongst all the English teachers in the afternoon session. She doesn't want to teach PBS again next year and is forcing a non English optionist to teach the English PBS classes next year. It seems that the English teachers in the morning session prefer to teach PJK and moral in the morning instead of the form 1 and 2 English classes because they fear the PBS!

This post has been edited by mountainphoenix: Oct 31 2012, 11:43 PM

this is why we should have just stick with tadika,dont need sekolah

I tried to key in the PBS results online last night and after trying the whole night I managed to key in the results of only four students. Today I tried again and after trying for two hours, I only managed to key in the results of six students. I wonder if the teachers in America are facing the same problems.

After the trauma I have gone through, I have learnt how to key in the PBS results now. Since I have two computers side by side on my table, I'll focus on typing my PhD thesis whilst at the same time trying to log into the PBS system online. It's not easy to log in and sometimes it may take up to 10 attempts to log in and after keying in the results for a few students the system would log me out automatically and I have to spend another half an hour or perhaps one hour or more to log in again. So if I were to wait to get logged in I may end up doing nothing the whole day. If I write my thesis whilst waiting to key in the results, at least I have written something and my time is not wasted since keying in the PBS results is almost an impossible task.

For those of you who are not doing your PhD, maybe you can start baking a cake whilst trying to key in the PBS results. By the time your cake is ready to be eaten, you may have keyed in the results of about 4-6 students if you were lucky. If luck is not on your side, you may not even get the chance to log in after you have eaten your cake! But at least you have a cake to eat instead of getting nothing at all sitting in front of the computer just waiting to key in the PBS results.

This post has been edited by pivoine: Nov 9 2012, 01:56 PM

What you're describing is not a problem with PBS itself. It's computer problem

1) badly designed UI on the website

2) system adminstrator asleep and not ensuring the system is running properly

Get your principal to complain. It should not be "we don't want to use PBS anymore because it's so difficult to key in". That will get you nowhere.

Instead, try "please get the people running the website to fix it. It's so hard to key in data. I was on it for hours ... {paste what you said above here}".

i think what the guy above me meant that its not PBS's fault.its malaysia website's problem.bad UI like he meant.yeah they suck.i dont know who designed the website.

Have you read my entire article and all the comments that followed? If you did, you will know what the PBS's real problems are. Keying in the results is but a very minor part of the PBS!

This post has been edited by pivoine: Nov 12 2012, 12:20 AM

Yes. When I said "this", I was referring to your immediately preceeding post, where you described the keying part of the problem.

I did not mean to imply that the PBS has no other problem. Frankly, that is not something I am even remotely qualified to comment on. But when it comes to UI, web design, and system administration, most definitely I'm qualified. You can't get me to shut up.

I received an sms from my former colleague at SMK B this morning and she told me that despite getting up at 4 a.m. in the morning to key in the PBS results, she still couldn't log into the system. Whenever we complain to the Ministry, the officers-in-charge would tell us to get up at 4 a.m. in the morning to key in the PBS results as most of the teachers would be sleeping then and the system wouldn't be so jam. But it seems that getting up at 4 a.m. in the morning to key in the PBS results also doesn't help. Maybe the teachers in America are used to it already that's why they never complain. Or maybe they are super extra patient!

This post has been edited by mountainphoenix: Nov 17 2012, 12:05 PM

LOL at the key in system right now.

As expected, will never can handle the load.

Urm, we are talking about kids who are old enough to understand what they need to do and that their education is important not toddlers. You should NOT chase them for these things. If they don't care, then sorry, fail them. That's what we do at uni level anyway - at least when I was a lecturer.

As for grading them according to band, there is nothing wrong with that. Weaker students have different needs and the band is to help you identify weaker students and help them accordingly. Yes, it's a lot of work but aren't you supposed to be doing that in the first place?

Well, if their standard reply is to tell everybody to key in at 4am, what did they expect was going to happen at 4am?

Anyway, that's not the solution. The solution is to go shout in the ears of the administrators and system designers to fix it. Telling teachers to wake up at 4am to key in data is just stupid.

The people who made the system should have designed it to be able to handle the expected load. This is just incompetence. It's not like they couldn't count how many teachers would be expected to use the system simultaneously.

It can and should be fixed. Get all your colleagues to all complain and call. Yes, you already know the answer they're going to give you. But that isn't the point. The point of the complaints is to prod them to go kick IT to get off their asses and go fix the problem. ASAP. The number of complaints they receive will figure into how much of a priority they put on this.

I really pity teachers these days. Aside from teaching, they have to handle the administrative works and such.

I admit, this is the first time that I've heard of PBS. The idea is there, however the practicality is still questionable. It looks great on paper, but the outcome---I believe only the teachers have the answer. I am not saying that PBS is bad, I think that this system requires more fine-tuning in order for it to be more "teacher-friendly" in the future

The teachers are supposed to ensure that every student is given three attempts to pass the tests. If they fail in the first test, the teachers must give them easier questions in their second test so that they could pass. If they fail again, then the teachers must make the questions even simpler for them in their third attempt. Is this what they are doing in the universities?

I was thinking to do a temporary teaching role after I complete my masters..

look at the other hand, Singapore student cant even read Chinese Newspaper after attending mandarin subject for so many years. These has something similar to our situation right?

This post has been edited by Sky.Live: Jan 14 2013, 02:40 AM

Hi there..

I hope you can take the time to read the following link as it serves as a platform for teachers, students, parents or anyone who is concerned of the situation of our education system. We should be given the opportunity to voice out our concerns, doubts, frustrations, hope or include anything else we wish for everyone to see, to know and be aware of.

What have you been wanting to say? What are your doubts? What do you wish for a change? What can we do to help or let others understand the situation we're currently facing; as a teacher, as a student, as a parent or even just another audience towards the Malaysian education.

Do we really need some of the suggested programs they've introduced to us? What about the results of previous program that we know of? Where was the follow up on that? Do we need to implement new technology and innovation to 'enhance' the learning experience? Should we not instead focus on the basic needs and ensuring a positive school climate first before trying to make it to the top?

You can drop in your experiences, your ideas, your opinions, your views, your frustration, your solutions or anything at all by clicking the 'leave a comment' button at the bottom right of each post. We appreciate your replies. Thank you!


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