Territory-Wide System Assessment

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The Territory-Wide System Assessment (TSA) has recently become a controversial issue. TSA Ng (2015) points out that there are voices from parents against TSA due to its difficulty and excessive amounts of TSA exercise practicing which create pressure to primary school students. But the government insists to have TSA for both primary school and secondary school students because it can provide schools with date of performances of students in Chinese Language, English Language and Mathematics at the end of Key Stage 1-3 (Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, 2004). It raises the concerns about this issue. Therefore, the pros and cons of Territory-Wide System Assessment (TSA) will be introduced in the essay so as to see whether TSA is…show more content…
Unlike the teaching plans of teachers and parents, the schools’ policies should be more reliable and it should be a long-term policies. As mentioned, the TSA can provide objective data about students’ performances in each subject. As a result, it helps schools to take actions to strengthen their weaknesses. Apart from schools, the government can also make good use of the results of TSA by providing support to those schools in need of assistance, and monitoring the effectiveness of education policies (Education Commision,…show more content…
“Under a school-based assessment system, teachers are under pressure because they wear two hats, as facilitators of learning and as examiners” (Choi, 1999, p.405). As facilitators of learning, it is believed that teachers should not give too much pressure to students, but as examiners, they want their students to get high marks. Teachers may probably feel stressful when they are facing the Territory-Wide System Assessment (TSA) with students. Either teachers or students are affected by the Territory-Wide System Assessment. As Cheng (1997) mentioned, in Hong Kong schools, cramming for examinations is natural. A large number of students in Hong Kong need to attend extra tutorial classes after schools and do excessive homework in order to do a better preparation for examinations. As a result, it is believed that the Territory-Wide System Assessment will increase the pressure and workload for

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