Implementation of SPN21 Curriculum in Brunei Darussalam: A review of selected implications on school assessment reforms

Abstract

In the past twelve years (1997-2009), Brunei Darussalam has implemented three major educational policies: (1) inclusive education, in 1998; (2) the National Education System for the 21 st Century known in Malay as Sistem Pendidikan Negara Abad 21 or SPN21, 2008; and (3) education for the gifted / talented students, 2009. These changes are partly designed to diversify and broaden the provision of education and the development of the country's human resources. However the success of these reforms will depend on many factors such as the suitability of the teachers, availability of funds, quality of schools, and changes in examinations. The present qualitative study analyses and reviews selected technical innovations to examinations that need to be undertaken concurrently with the ongoing curriculum reforms to support the new initiatives. The issues discussed include over-emphasis on examinations; assessment of affective skills; assessment of vocational and technical subjects; use of informal assessments in school-based evaluations; moderation of marks for borderline students; the relationship between formative and summative assessments; changes to teacher education courses that deal with school assessments; and nationalization of the senior secondary school examinations. A content analysis of the skills measured by current school examinations and a needs assessment research to reform the present school evaluation procedures were recommended to gain in-depth insights. 1. Introduction Most of the knowledge and skills taught formally in schools end up being assessed in tests. This relationship between teaching and examinations applies to many education systems and implies that mere reform of the curriculum alone may not succeed without also innovating the assessments. A great deal of effort and careful work has already been undertaken in Brunei to refine school examinations which are now much improved. Following the implementation of the policy of inclusive education (Ministry of Education, 1997; 1998), examinations were adjusted to accommodate the needs of students with disabilities. Brunei students with mild, moderate and severe special needs now attend regular schools and write the same examination papers as their non-disabled peers. Some of the accommodations that need to be made for such students are discussed in detail by Murray (1996). Another major change undertaken was the removal or abolition of the " N " Level examinations. In 2008 Brunei implemented the National Education System for the 21 st Century known in Malay language as Sistem Pendidikan Negara Abad 21 code-named SPN21 (Ministry of Education, 2007). With implementation of the current and ongoing curriculum reforms and the program for the education of the gifted and talented students in 2009, Brunei is poised to make more adaptations to school assessments. For example the Ministry of Education (2007) has promised to reform the emphasis of the national examinations from norm-referencing to criterion-referencing. This has wide ranging implications. The Department of Examinations in the Ministry of Education will need to define and develop new criteria or benchmarks for success at various class levels in the system of education. New items tapping the new contents and skills will, in turn, need to be constructed and pre-tested to determine their quality (reliability, validity, and bias). The whole process may require creating a new item bank for each subject. The new tests will need to have adequate predictive validity (as an additional quality) to help school authorities in making realistic and meaningful counseling, remedial, selection, and placement decisions. If continuous assessment (CA) was adopted to supplement / complement final examinations, then CA assessments will also need to be criterion-referenced to equally emphasize the achievement of desired competency or mastery levels. In addition, an appropriate formula (way or procedure) for linearly combining CA and final examination marks meaningfully will need to be found or worked out. This might require standardizing marks or equating the scores before combining them to obtain composite scores.