Why students succeed or fail

May 15, 2014, 12:00 pm , The Island


By Dr. Douglas M King

There have been volumes of research on this topic by many universities throughout the world, although little if any from universities in Sri Lanka. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is rightly concerned about standards of education in his aspirations to promote Sri Lanka as the Educational Hub of South Asia. However, he must realise that this objective is still far from realisation. The recent statements from the Ministry of Education concerning the poor GCE O/L examination results, especially in maths, science and English, where around 50% of the students failed to make even the simple passing grade, are a cause for concern.

These subjects have been studied daily at school for eleven years plus the many private tuition classes that most students attend. By the time students sit for these examinations an estimated 8% have dropped out and many who did succeed in a passing grade did so only by a few marks. Were these two factors included then the percentage failing would appear even greater.

The downside

All is not gloom and doom since a full analysis of the results would show that some schools in some areas did achieve passes for a sizeable majority of their students, with many obtaining credit passes. Such statistical information indicates that something must be right, at least in those schools, to get such results. The downside of this means that in many other schools the failure rate was far higher than the 50%. Is it that easy to divide schools into "good and bad"? Before the Ministry of Education under the influence of the President makes curriculum changes once again, develops new initiatives, and calls upon even more experts to solve the crisis, it would bode well that some basic research is undertaken. It is surprising that with so many institutes of Higher Education that such analytical research has not been carried out in previous years.

It should be obvious that educational failure can be caused by many different factors and curriculum cannot take all the blame. Not all teachers are either experienced, dedicated, qualified or gifted and these attributes do make a difference however good or poor the curriculum. One size does not fit all students as far as learning styles are concerned, yet even from the early grades all students usually follow the same books and levels with little differentiation within the classroom.

Students’ abilities are distributed according to the normal bell curve with 50% occupying the major middle areas. When the socio-economic factors are taken into account, indications point to far more failure among those in the lower stratum. It is very unlikely that the children of highly educated parents will fail in the key subjects. At the opposite end it would not be unusual for the children of a labourer to score low in the examinations.

Of course, there are always exceptions, but they do not alter these facts. The results also show a difference between urban and rural schools. Again there are some superior rural schools and some inferior urban schools, but in general the best schools achieving the best results are in larger urban areas where a greater number of middle class families reside. Parallel to this is the fact that the best and most experienced teachers, especially in the three key subjects, are to be found in the better urban schools. Many rural schools do not even have sufficient teachers for these subjects, let alone their lack of qualifications or experience.

It has become normal for most students to attend extra tuition classes in these key subjects, and many have been attending them for several years prior to the GCE examination. Since these classes are unregulated there is no quality control and parents mostly are unable to assess their effectiveness, and it could be that the best classes cost more than some parents can afford.

The physical conditions in schools under which students learn are far too often unattractive, but more importantly do not provide a quiet atmosphere for learning. Many classrooms are divided by half walls or no walls and several grades share an open hall. Proper windows are still a luxury in many schools and ceiling fans are not often seen.

The style of teaching has hardly changed despite the technological advances of recent years. Thirty or more students at desks still face a teacher standing or sitting in front of a blackboard (or whiteboard). The major part of the lesson is a one-way communication from teacher to students with the textbook serving as the main resource. Although there has been a gradual improvement in recent years, lessons and test marks still rely heavily on memorising information, and much of this will be forgotten a year or two after the GCE examinations as research has shown.

There is the question of relevancy of the curriculum and how this is accessed in the textbooks. Whilst it is unnecessary for learning to be fun and cannot be enjoyed all the time, it should be satisfying and certainly not boring.

Absenteeism

Absenteeism increases in the upper grades, and the difficulties of actually getting to schools can influence the degree of such absenteeism. Poor transportation, overcrowded buses, students’ adverse health, soiled uniform and continual academic failure all combine to the detriment of learning. In some schools teacher absenteeism for important or unessential reasons can be chronic with no substitute teachers to stand in.

The school year is punctuated by numerous holidays which many teachers extend by adding permissible leave. The 200 school days authorised by the government can easily be reduced to 150 or less when various school activities take precedence over lessons and absenteeism is taken into account. Schools can become impersonal factories for education when they have student populations of several thousand and neither the principal or most of the staff can get to know them.

Unsatisfactory preschools

These are many of the factors that can influence how well or how poorly a child achieves. But, authoritative research shows academic achievement in later years is also influenced during the years of early childhood. There is substantive evidence that more learning takes place in the first five years of life than any other period and this can influence later education.

The quality of both the home environment and that of the preschool that an estimated 85% of children attend is a significant factor for later success. All too often an unsatisfactory preschool is worse than a stimulating home environment. Since the majority of preschools are unregulated and many of the qualifications of the teachers have little worth, thousands of children get a poor start in the educational system. Preschools are taking on the academic curriculum that should only be started in grade one. The fact that parents pay from 500 rupees to five thousand rupees a month for these schools might indicate a qualitative divide.

There is a saying that "nothing succeeds like success" but for some children success is never a part of their lives. A careful examination of all the relevant factors needs to be looked at before deciding on a course of action. Any improvements to the results will be gradual but achieving 85% passes in just a few years as hinted at by the Ministry will be very suspect. Teachers are among the most conservative of professionals and the attitude "I know what I do and I do what I know" will be difficult to change.

The President’s educational goal is achievable in the long run, but will take more than a handful of so-called experts to change the system and attitudes. Only by getting into the schools with unannounced visits to experience the problems, conditions and opinions of teachers and students, will real change be meaningful.