• A young person's life should not be determined by a single exam in their teens
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Hundreds of thousands of teenagers across Kenya are marking the beginning of 2023 with either joy or gnashing of teeth, depending on their performance in the very critical KCSE examination. The results were released on January 20.
KCSE has been described as a "high-stakes" elimination barrier. Learners who fail to achieve the pass mark required to proceed into tertiary institutions will most likely end up in low-paying, low-skilled jobs. Those who successfully jump over the barrier land into tertiary or university education, from which well-paying jobs and scholarships will open up to them.
High-stakes examinations, such as KCSE, attract both praise and criticism. Proponents argue that, in a formal education system, examinations are the only way of assessing whether learners have achieved the required level of competence.
Critics say that a young person's life should not be determined by a single examination done during the teenage years. Besides, students are failing KCSE because of factors outside their control, such as parental unemployment, poorly equipped schools, lack of a conducive environment and dysfunctional families.
Simon*, a high school teacher in Nairobi, recalls his experience invigilating chemistry practicals at a school surrounded by informal settlements. After making sure everything was ready for the practicals, Simon and his fellow invigilators called the candidates into the laboratory to get ready for the test.
"The practicals started on time but after a while, we noticed the candidates didn't seem to know what they were doing," Simon says. "On asking them what was going on, they told us they had no experience in a laboratory. They had been in secondary school for four years and didn't know what to do in the lab." In essence, those candidates were doing the same exam as candidates in better schools who had at least one laboratory session per week.
Subcounty secondary schools are the worst hit by the disparity in school facilities. Most of the schools in that category do not have enough teachers, libraries, laboratories and computer classes. This is despite the fact that subcounty schools host 60 per cent of all secondary school learners in Kenya. In contrast, national schools host less than 5 per cent of all secondary school students but are the best-equipped schools, with enough teachers to handle the student population.
MORE DISPARITIES
Research carried out by the London School of Economics shows the lifetime costs of failing to achieve the minimum grades in a high-stakes examination. Affected learners are more likely to drop out of education early, which worsens their prospects of employment and earnings in the longer term. Students who don't make the cut "end up in institutions with a worse academic environment", the researchers wrote in their report.
High-stakes examinations are a source of stress to learners, caregivers (parents and guardians) as well as teachers. Several cases of suicide have been reported in the past after learners were not satisfied with their KCSE results. As of the writing of this article, no suicide cases had been reported arising from the 2022 KCSE results, but there are no doubts exam results can be a source of huge disappointment for candidates who got less than they expected.
Apart from school facilities, many other factors contribute to poor performance in examinations. Personal motivation, health, home circumstances and study methods can determine the success or failure of a learner in school. For example, learners who are frequently absent from school for reasons such as school fees or illness often do not perform well academically, compared to learners who are always present in class. Frequently absent learners are expected to catch up on schoolwork without the benefit of classroom instruction. Remedial classes have been shown to help such learners achieve better scores.
A conducive home environment is critical for success. Family stability is important in easing stress among learners. Following the release of KCSE results, many of the high-performing candidates acknowledged the support they got at home. A father to a top student told journalists he had been waking up at 4am everyday for three years to help his son with early morning studies.
A little-discussed aspect of learners' academic performance is their personality profile. Behavioural problems, low self-esteem, anxiety, maladjustment, peer pressure and poor relationships with teachers all contribute to low grades. Education experts have found that physical and mental health problems can hamper bonding between learners and teachers, which may explain why adolescents with such problems are at risk of academic failure.
BAD STUDY HABITS
Just as important as good home and school environments are the study methods learners are using. "Rereading old material and cramming for tests are easy strategies to use, and they may help students on memory tests given soon after the cramming, but they don't lead to long-term remembering and even less to understanding," say education consultants Rebecca Brent and Prof Richard Felder in a publication titled "Why Students Fail Tests."
Re-reading homework and class notes, redoing old test problems and studying the night before an exam are bad habits of studying, according to the education consultants. Why are those tactics bad when so many people have adopted them? It is because cramming does not get knowledge embedded into long-term memory. Instead, the consultants recommend study methods that get learners to interpret what they read by elaborating on it in their own words. Instead of reading a piece of text as though reading a novel, learners should periodically stop and quiz themselves by restating what they have learnt in their own words.
There's no substitute for classroom learning. Learners should attend classes regularly, interact with teachers and ask questions where necessary. Learners and their caregivers should, as much as possible, avoid situations that may lead to absenteeism from class.
Another important study habit is doing assignments (homework) thoroughly and completing those tasks on time. This is a good habit that will be useful to learners in their future careers. As noted in this article, cramming the night before an exam is pointless if you want to learn anything. Learners should review their notes regularly even when exam dates are far off. A study timetable helps learners keep up with all their studies.
The wide differences in the quality of secondary schools call for greater investment to narrow the gap, a fact acknowledged at high levels of government. The government is currently recruiting 30,000 teachers in a move aimed at addressing acute understaffing in schools. More needs to be done to equally equip all secondary schools with libraries, classrooms, laboratories and computers.