Frontiers of Language and Teaching ....

Volume 5 (2014)

English Teachers Voices on the Challenges of the School-Based

Assessment
Kumutha Raman and Hamidah Yamat
Faculty of Education, National University of Malaysia
Corresponding Authors Email: kumutha_r@yahoo.com
Abstract
Todays educational demand no longer focuses on academic merit alone as one needs to have
skills and competencies required in the current competitive world. This also leads to the need
for different ways of assessing the learning process. In line with this, Malaysia has
implemented the School-Based Assessment (SBA) since 17 December 2010.However, there
has been a hue and cry over this assessment because of several challenges in implementing it.
This article reports and discusses the findings of a small scale study on teachers perceptions
towards the SBA in an attempt to understand the uproar. Seventeen teachers from three
established public schools in Seremban district were purposively chosen as participants. A
semi-structured interview method was used to collect the data. Findings revealed that
although the motives of the SBA are positively perceived by the teachers, its implementation
in schools is still unfavourable because of the numerous challenges in implementing the SBA.
Keywords: Implementation of School-Based Assessment (SBA), Teachers Perceptions
Introduction
The present evaluation is basically based on curriculum-achievements we would like to
see a more rounded sort of education achievements among our children.
(Y.A.B. Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Education Minister: 2009)
The above expression indicates that there is a need to change the way we assess and evaluate
our teaching and learning process. This has led to the implementation of the school-based
assessment which has been implemented since 17th December 2010.
The idea of implementing SBA in the attempt to replace the current public examinations has
caused much hue and cry in schools especially among the teachers. This is because teachers
need to prepare extra materials and documents of assessment in line with the intervention
measures to ensure individual students achieve the appropriate band. Hence, teachers feel
overburdened (NST, 2013).
The number of students in a class also makes it difficult for teachers to be sensitive or
observant of individual students progress. In addition, teachers, students and parents
expectations on scores and performances pose another problem. They perceive the number of
As a student gets as an indicator of success. This is due to the exam-oriented educational
system in Malaysia.
Despite these reported reasons, teachers have no choice but to carry out the SBA. In line with
that, this study aims to determine the challenges teachers face in implementing the SBA in
English Language Teaching.
Literature Review
School-based assessment is unlike traditional assessment. The differences between the
traditional assessment and the school-based assessment must be addressed first of all while
exploring the challenges teachers face in implementing the SBA. According to Palomba and
Banta (1999), assessment is the systematic collection, review and use of information about
educational programmes undertaken for the purpose of improving learning and development.

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Hence, school examinations and tests are the main assessment carried out traditionally to
evaluate students performance. The students performances are then typically reported as the
percentages of scores or letter grades (Brown, 2011). Malaysia was one of the countries
which followed this traditional assessment in evaluating students performance at primary
and secondary school level.
Meanwhile, the SBA is an assessment which is rooted in the teaching and learning process. It
involves the teacher from the beginning to the end: from planning the assessment programme,
to identifying and/or developing appropriate assessment tasks right through to making the
assessment judgments. It is carried out in ordinary classrooms and conducted by the students'
own teacher. It also allows the teacher to give immediate and constructive feedback to
students. This assessment has been practised in numerous educational systems
internationally. Developed countries such as United Kingdom, Finland, New Zealand,
Canada, England and many other countries have implemented the SBA successfully for a
long time. In the USA, the SBA has also been developed and implemented although
surpassed by national testing programs. Moreover, SBA has been largely adopted as national
educational policy in Asia and in some developing countries like Ghana and Zambia
(HKDSE, 2012).
The positive significance of SBA in many countries has influenced Malaysia too. Thus, the
Malaysian Government introduced SBA or its Malay acronym PBS (Pentaksiran Berasaskan
Sekolah) as part of the National Transformation Programme to produce world-class human
capital. Through this more holistic, integrated and balanced assessment (Malaysian Education
Ministry, 2012), the ministry aims to achieve the aspiration of the National Philosophy of
Education towards developing learners physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual
abilities. It also aims to reduce exam-oriented learning among learners, evaluate learners
learning progress and enhance teachers integrity in assessing, recording and reporting of
learners learning (KPM, 2012).
In an effort to produce excellent human capital of the country, the Ministry of Education
brought essential changes in the education system. The changes are to be done by teachers
who are the front-liners in the implementation of the SBA (Ahmad 2009). Thus, teachers
positive attitudes and beliefs towards the implementation of the SBA are indispensable in
order to sustain the changes. Meanwhile, teachers acceptance and willingness to carry out
the changes are vital too in achieving the aspirations of the SBA (Jaba, 2013).
However, studies have shown that teachers are unhappy with the implementation of the SBA.
For instance, the study carried out by Fook and Sidhu (2011) revealed that teachers worry
about the validity and reliability of the assessments constructed because of the cut and paste
method.
The Study
As the aim of this study was to understand why teachers are unhappy with the
implementation of SBA, this study employed a methodology that is qualitative in nature;
seeking teachers voices towards the implementation of SBA. This was done through a Case
Study involving seventeen teachers from three established public schools in Seremban
District. The samples were purposively and conveniently chosen on the basis that these are
established schools in the centre of a town with all adequate facilities. A semi-structured
interview was chosen as it is the most appropriate strategy to elicit insights towards
understanding a phenomenon (Creswell, 2007). The interviews were transcribed and analyzed
through thematic content analysis. A list of categories was generated from the data to form
the frame for analysis.
Findings
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Several themes were sorted out from the seventeen teachers voices.
Table 1: The challenges towards the implementation of the SBA
Number of
teachers

Examples of Excerpts from transcripts

Theme

We rush to finish our syllabus and quota. It takes lots of time to

arrange the documents of the SBA for each student. We have to
do extra marking, filing and so on.

13
(76.5%)

There is much work to do compare to last time. But I still can

manage to face it. Another problem is time consuming. It takes
ample of time to complete each band.
Have to finish the quota, complete the exercises in workbook,
term examinations and so on. So, we are afraid whether can
finish all the bands on time or not!

Time constraint
and increased
workload

Im spending too much time to key in the students results.

Its quite tough and time consuming to assess each and every
one in a large size classroom.

5
(29.4%)

I spend a lot of time to do the assessment especially in a class

that more than forty or fifty students. They have to repeat the task
if answered wrongly. So, I have to reassess those students and at
the same time have to manage the classroom. Additionally need
to prepare extra exercises for the rest during the individual
assessment.

Classroom
management/
large class size

Its not easy to handle students with large classes.

Encouraging each student to get involved in the assessment is

challenging!
Students involvement bothers me. They are lazy and always
expect me to write the answers on the board refuse to do it by
their own.
5
(29.4%)

Lack of students involvement causes inaccuracy in the

assessment.
Inattentiveness of students is challenging. Students are not
answering the questions honestly. Most of their answers are more
likely the same. Its quite hard to determine their progress.
SBA is not as effective as expected because students always
depend on teachers and other friends. They do not take this SBA
evaluation as serious as examination. So, lack of attention has
been paid by students during the lessons.

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Lack of
Students
involvement

Frontiers of Language and Teaching .... Volume 5 (2014)

There is no any clear instruction about the assessment. We only
received two courses so far.
5
(29.4%)

Our lack of knowledge on such type of assessment is being a

major barrier for us to implement the new system.

Lack of
training

The mixture levels of English proficiency among students make

me hard to move on to the next level.
2
(11.8%)

Each class has different levels of students. Few students

perform well, few students perform moderately and few students
really need remedial tasks. So, assessing all of them in one
attempt is quite challenging.

Different level
of students

We do not have sufficient materials to implement the SBA. The

materials are also unsuitable to evaluate each and every
student.
2
(11.8%)

The materials of assessment are not concurrent with the existing

text books. We start teaching the first chapter, but ended up with
different assessment.

1
(5.88%)

The SBA website was in the midst of updating the maintenance.

So, we were having troubles to key in the students results.

1
(5.88%)

Teachers attitude towards the good students and poor students

is obvious. Sometimes, I tend to ignore my poor students due to
the reason of they wont understand anything.

Insufficient
materials

SBA
management
system

Favouritism

Discussion
The bulk of the respondents cited time-consuming and extra workload as the most common
problems that make them feel unhappy with the implementation of the SBA. Teachers
workload is usually heavy but the interview findings revealed that the implementation of the
SBA is overburdening and causing too much pressure to the teachers. This finding is also
supported by Yip and Cheung (2005). They reported many teachers see the SBA as additional
work imposed on them by the authorities. They also claimed that the SBA is adding extra
workload and pressure to teachers routine of packed timetables. Generally, every day
teachers occupy their time in developing interesting lesson plans and planning different
teaching approaches in order to conduct a lively and enthusiastic class. Besides focusing on
their teaching preparation, they have to do various work too such as keeping record book,
marking, filing and participating in all school activities. With the implementation of the SBA,
teachers believe that their workload has increased. The findings revealed that the SBA needs
extra marking, filing, documentation, paperwork and reassessment. Extensive record keeping
and monitoring of individual learners in the new assessment increases teachers workload
(Sishi and Poliah, 2006; Chisholm et al., 2005). All the additional workload needs additional
time to accomplish them. Teachers evaluation on each band requires ample time. Besides
occupying their working hours fully, teachers still have to work on their extra heavy
workload after school hours. Assessment on each student in each classroom needs additional
time than the usual lesson hour. Reynek et al. (2010) also supported that learners are forced

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by their teachers to complete the prescribed assessment tasks within certain time limits.
Hence, the tasks do not always flow naturally from teaching and learning.
Another teething problem among teachers in the implementation of the SBA is classroom
management due to the large class size. Generally, large class size causes many obstacles that
hinder optimal teaching and learning (Word, 1990). When a teacher has too many students in
a class, it becomes difficult for the teacher to get to know each students strengths and
weaknesses. Teachers may also have no time to dedicate adequate knowledge by noticing
each students learning disabilities and special needs in the large class. Similar worries were
shared by the respondents of this study. They claimed that assessing each student in a large
class size is really challenging. Moreover, they stressed that they have to utilize a lot of time
for the preparation and evaluation. Kapambwe (2010) supported that marking and keeping
records of the progress of all learners is difficult. Harmer (2005) also agreed that large classes
bring difficulties to both teachers and students and the process of teaching and learning
sessions.
Moreover, the respondents in the current study also insisted that it is hard to handle students
in the large classes. Kennedy and Kennedy (1996) also shared the same view. It is common to
find classes of forty and above in the secondary schools in Malaysia. The situation of the
classroom might be too noisy and poses practical difficulties in handling all the students in
the classroom. Thus, the respondents found that noisy and inconvenient environment as a
barrier for them to implement the SBA successfully. Another frequent complaint of the
respondents is students lack of involvement in the SBA and studies. They indicated that
students involvement in studies is becoming poor after the implementation of the SBA.
Previously, the students compete against one other and they performed well in order to get
many As in the examination. Now, there is no room for the competition. According to a
respondent, competition among students will result in great achievements. A number of
studies also show that competition in studies is good for students. For instance, Lawrence
(2004) found out in his study that competition encourages active learning and increases
motivation. Moreover, Fasli and Michalakopoulos (2005) also supported the above statement.
They revealed that a competitive element acts as an incentive for all students to put in more
effort and even weaker students persist with participating in the activity.
The respondents also claimed that students lack of involvement in the studies causes
negative attitudes towards studies such as students becoming lazier, dependent, inattentive
and not serious during the lessons in the classroom. Once a task has been assessed, proper
feedback needs to be given so that both teaching and learning can be enhanced (Black et al.,
2003; Green, 2006). Therefore, the SBA needs active learners to make it successful. The
successful implementation of an outcome-based approach to teaching, learning and
assessment involves active participation of learners (Botha, 2002; Spady, 2005). The findings
also revealed that students different background is one of the barriers hindering the teachers
to implement SBA successfully. This is because a classroom consists of students who come
from different educational and language proficiency background. According to Roberts
(2007), teachers must consider the varied proficiency levels of students in planning
instruction and assessment. Generally, many students perform at the similar level; however,
there are always students who perform below average level and others who perform
above average level. Students levels of prociency cannot be completed without rst
addressing their abilities in each of the four language skills - reading, writing, speaking, and
listening. A teacher must be cognizant of each students strengths and weaknesses during
instruction and when assigning tasks.
Lack of training for teachers is also another challenge in implementing the SBA successfully.
It is impossible to implement change in an education system effectively if serious
investments are not made in the professional development of teachers (Hargreaves, 2003;
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OECD, 2005). Norzila (2013) also pointed out similar findings that lack of training is one of
the major issues in the implementation of the SBA. She supported that teachers skills have
been found to be inadequate especially in the aspect of developing various assessment
instruments other than written tests which they are used to. It is difficult to implement any
new curriculum successfully if teachers have not undergone thorough training (Todd &
Mason, 2005; Chisholm, 2000). Another problem was concerning the lack of resources and
supporting materials. As Norzila (2013) stated, materials on SBA are found to be insufficient
for the teachers to refer to whenever they meet a problem or have uncertainties on how to
implement the SBA successfully. Kapambwe (2010) also supported the above comment. He
indicated that the difficulty with learning materials mainly affected the availability of
appropriate teaching and learning materials in the new curriculum.
Lack of maintenance of SBA website is also one of the challenges encountered by the
teachers in the current study. One teacher (5.88%) commented that the online system has
become troublesome for teachers, forcing them to occupy more time on paperwork, while
reducing the time spent on class preparation and teaching directly. Thus, it has affected the
effectiveness of teaching. Norzila (2013) mentioned that the management system of the SBA
(SPPBS - Sistem Pengurusan Pentaksiran Berasaskan Sekolah) which is supposed to be
helpful to teachers in reducing their workload has raised this machine-related issue. Thus,
teachers have a difficult time accessing the system due to slow connections and bottled up
server and hosting. The findings also found out a surprising challenge which is favouritism.
Teachers favour some students over others at school and especially in their classes.
According to Aydogan (2008), favouritism in the classroom is one of the most important
reasons affecting teaching and student success.
In brief, the respondents reported facing many challenges in implementing the SBA such as
time-constraint, increased workload, large class size, students lack of involvement, lack of
training, different levels of students, insufficient materials, problematic SBA management
system and favouritism.
Implications
Overall, the findings found out that although the motives of SBA are positively perceived by
the teachers, the implementation of the SBA in schools is still unfavourable because of the
numerous challenges in implementing the SBA. First of all, teachers should possess ample
knowledge on the SBA. They must receive sufficient training and courses to run the
assessment successfully. The education ministry and schools must ensure that all teachers
obtain adequate knowledge to carry out SBA. Teachers must exhibit high level of
professionalism in accomplishing their duties.
Besides that, teachers negative perceptions towards the SBA implementation should be
diminished. Moreover, teachers should get sufficient and suitable materials to carry out the
SBA smoothly. The education ministry should create a greater awareness among teachers
about the positive impacts of the SBA. Teachers, students, parents and public should know
the current updates such as the SBA for Lower Secondary (PBSMR) replacing the Lower
Secondary Assessment (PMR). Thus, the students motivation towards studies will not be
lowered. Furthermore, there is a need for standardization of assessment among teachers and
schools. Teacher must have uniformity in terms of methods and materials in order to produce
standard achievement among students. In addition, favouritism and victimization of pupils
during instructional measurement, assessments and evaluations must be avoided. Finally,
there is a need for reliability at all times.
Eventually, in order to perform the SBA successfully, on-going trainings for teachers,
standardization of the SBA materials and methods of assessment, distribution of workload,
adequate maintenance of the SBA management system, awareness of currents updates and
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modification of the SBA implementation, students active involvement and teachers positive
attitudes towards the SBA are essential.
Recommendations and Conclusions
This study explored the voices of teachers towards the implementation of the SBA. This
study is obviously a small scale study carried out in three established schools in Seremban
district. This study also is limited in its scope as it to only have respondents from three
secondary schools. There is indeed room for further research by including a larger participant
size from schools in various states in the country.
Although, examination plays a role in determining students future, the School-Based
Assessment is implemented to prevent students from becoming examination machines. As
each implementation receives positive and negative feedbacks, the SBA has also been
receiving numerous applauses and criticisms. The Governments aim is to produce human
capitals who acquire holistic knowledge. Therefore, the education system is transformed in
order to achieve this aim. Teachers play a vital role in ensuring the success of implementing
this new assessment. With adequate knowledge, and positive perceptions and attitudes they
will be able to face the challenges to carry out SBA successfully.
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To cite this article:

Raman, K. & Yamat, H. (2014). English Teachers Voices on the Challenges of the
School-Based Assessment. Frontiers of Language and Teaching, 5(1), 66-74.

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