Are FODE subjects Standards Based as required or still Outcomes Based? There seem to be no standards and no outcomes. Health aspects seem to have been put together by amateurs.
The key criterion in the Personal Development curriculum is that students learn adult skills on selecting a spouse, rights and responsibilities of husbands and wives, the first task of a woman diagnosed pregnant, immediate task of a raped woman, importance of a positive diet, dangers of HIV/AIDS, antiretroviral medication and rules to follow for Positive Living.
School is where students basic skills for marriage, parenthood and careers. FODE courses tend to be up in the clouds on basic adult skills.
I have been involved with Education in Papua New Guinea for almost 40 years, but angered and frustrated by school studies that were difficult, unfair to the average student and gave no practical advice particularly on health.
The key criterion in the Personal Development curriculum is that students learn adult skills on selecting a spouse, rights and responsibilities of husbands and wives, the first task of a woman diagnosed pregnant, immediate task of a raped woman, importance of a positive diet, dangers of HIV/AIDS, antiretroviral medication and rules to follow for Positive Living.
School is where students basic skills for marriage, parenthood and careers. FODE courses tend to be up in the clouds on basic adult skills.
I have been involved with Education in Papua New Guinea for almost 40 years, but angered and frustrated by school studies that were difficult, unfair to the average student and gave no practical advice particularly on health.
Some PNG teachers are incompetent and uncaring about students. They see it as their job to process the failure of weaker students.
Many students have suffered over the last 30 years with the foolish focus on teaching the early grades in the vernacular that was a massive failure and gave students a poor understanding of written and spoken English.
They struggled through Outcome Based Education that was too difficult with a focus on theory rather than practical skills. Now they will struggle through Standards Based Education that will also suffer from the lack of valid graded exercises to be mastered.
Students who miss out on selection to higher grades are sent by parents to the Flexible and Open Distance Education (FODE). But they may well hit another brick wall with subjects that are too complex and presented in ways that students may be unable to handle.
FODE studies can be conducted through distance or face to face teaching. There is confusion about the techniques of promoting class room learning.
I have come through my educational studies at the University of Queensland with a focus on the Mastery learning strategy designed by Dr Benjamin Bloom.
Older teachers know well the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives that promoted Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation. The subjects devised by FODE show no awareness of this taxonomy.
There is a graded scale of objectives to assist student mastery that builds on success with teacher support. Exercises proceed from (1) simple to complex (2) concrete to abstract and (3) known to unknown.
The teacher has a key role in mastery learning to present basic skills and knowledge to students. Teachers teach and students master.
This is totally absent in FODE courses. The teacher does not teach concepts but students are required to read summaries and take in the knowledge by themselves. In schools, students read summaries on electronic tablets that cause pain to their eyes.
FODE courses are far too difficult and theoretical for students who are presented with a foreign body of knowledge. They proceed from the unknown to the unknown.
There is no "lock-step mastery" with teachers presenting the knowledge in class and helping students to practise the exercises. In past years, students have taken to copying the assignments of present and past students. The FODE syllabus never changes.
Students are not taught the writing skills and vocabulary that accompany each course. The writing skills are poorly taught in the FODE English curriculum.
PNG teachers think they are teaching English by practising students in nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs, conjunctions, tense, active and passive voice with clauses and phrases.
But students are not practised in putting sentences together in polished structures. Many students do not understand the English in the subjects they study. They do not understand the explanation of the teachers.
FODE studies are too complex and theoretical. Students have no opportunity to master a range of skills. They are left to their own devices and once again hit the educational brick wall at great cost to their parents.
There is no "lock-step mastery" with teachers presenting the knowledge in class and helping students to practise the exercises. In past years, students have taken to copying the assignments of present and past students. The FODE syllabus never changes.
Students are not taught the writing skills and vocabulary that accompany each course. The writing skills are poorly taught in the FODE English curriculum.
PNG teachers think they are teaching English by practising students in nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs, conjunctions, tense, active and passive voice with clauses and phrases.
But students are not practised in putting sentences together in polished structures. Many students do not understand the English in the subjects they study. They do not understand the explanation of the teachers.
FODE studies are too complex and theoretical. Students have no opportunity to master a range of skills. They are left to their own devices and once again hit the educational brick wall at great cost to their parents.
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