A decision by the National Sport School to hold entrance examinations, rather than grade applicants on their assessment, has left parents and children fuming.
The move is in contrast with the approach adopted by the education ministry which, in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, has cancelled all exams in primary and secondary schools and is grading SEC students on a predictive assessment.
However, in the case of the sport school, the ministry is insisting entrance exams are necessary following the cancellation of annual and benchmark exams. Prior to the outbreak, these were the standard academic selection criteria used by the school.
Faced with a barrage of criticism, the school has been forced to upload a notice on its Facebook page saying any questions on the matter should be directed to its selection board rather than the administration.
Scheduled for the end of August, the entrance examinations will be held in Mathematics, English and Maltese and will have a weight of 30 per cent of the overall mark.
The other components will be based on the performance assessment carried out by the respective national sport association which contributes to 60 per cent of the final mark, and an interview by an independent selection board which contributes to the remaining 10 per cent. Sources said the decision affects around 300 students, mostly from Year 6 but also Year 8, who aim to join this specialised school in September.
The decision affects around 300 students
Aggrieved parents who spoke to Times of Malta, but preferred to remain anonymous, accused the educational authorities of “double standards”.
“Why is the sport school insisting on exams while students wishing to enter the equivalent institution in arts, the Malta Visual and Performing Art School, will not be sitting for such an exam?” one asked. Parents also point to the lack of a level playing field due to differing online teaching standards across schools.
“While some have been receiving live proper one-to-one interactive lessons, others were limited to receiving handouts or some videos,” another parent said.
“Students being tested on material which was not covered properly after schools closed will be at a severe handicap.”
Parents say applicants from Church and private schools should be evaluated on half-yearly exams and those in state schools on the assessment.
The education ministry insisted the process was fair. It pointed out that the exam would be in a “reduced format” based on work done in Year 5 and in the first term of Year 6.
The examination will be designed to cover skills and competences which all students would have covered, a ministry spokesman insisted.
However, no reason was given as to why the sports school has discarded the possibility of using assessment as the selection criteria.
The spokesman pointed out that no predictive assessment method was used in Year 6 for the benchmark assessment while in the case of SEC exams, MATSEC would be issuing a predicted level, not a grade.
Such an exercise, while serving the purpose for entry in post-secondary schools, would serve no purpose in the context of the NSS exercise whereby an examination mark, and not a level, is required for each student to contribute for 30 per cent of the final result, the ministry said.
Questions sent to the selection board were not answered by the time of going to print.