Records of Achievement: what are they?-Background and history |08 August 2012

This should include samples of their technical studies work and records of their experience, in preparation for interviews. It was agreed that a ‘model’ student record needs to be developed.

Hence, in the same year, the then education planning division in the Ministry of Education was tasked with the setting up of a Records of Achievement (RoA) committee (which comprised various stake-holders in education ex. schools, the then National Institute of Education and the Polytechnic) to work towards setting up such a system. Work began by examining different models and samples from several sources, namely from England and Wales to come up with a model suitable for our school system.

After several trials, consultations, evaluations and modifications of plans, the RoA was finally introduced in 2005 at S4/S5 level. It was done in line with the Education Act 2004 and, as part of the review of the National Assessment and Reporting System, to coincide with the broad principles of curriculum and assessment laid down in the Policy Statement ‘Education for a Learning Society (2000)’ and the ‘National Curriculum Framework (2001).
Aims

1. Each student at secondary level should have an active RoA file whereby he/she will record his/her achievements as he/she progresses from S1 to S5.

2. Make such RoA files available on the different placement boards of post-secondary institutions to help them in their decision-making and placement work.

3. Make available adequate information on a learner’s achievement to facilitate informed decision-making by interested parties.
Objectives
The RoA system seeks to help in the organisation and delivery of learning experience and should:
1. Encourage record-keeping and teachers to better know their students by making provision for subject teachers to keep a record of their students' progress throughout the year. More reliable and informative reporting ensues from that. Along this line, subject teachers report on the different components of their respective subject rather than in a general sense ex. reading, writing, listening and speaking in English.

2. Encourage emphasis to be placed on teaching for the formation of students rather than teaching for examinations. Here the focus is on formative assessment and teaching in the form of providing students with varied pieces of continuous assessment and acting on feedback that they yield.

3. Encourage students to play an active role in both their learning and personal and social development; the focus being on the development of a record as positive as possible so that its usefulness for future purposes is optimised.

4. Encourage students to have a say in their learning; focusing on the achievements of their targets and what needs to be done to make further progress. Also, students can write comments about how learning has taken place in the different subjects of the curriculum.
Implementation over the years
• Ongoing monitoring of the system by members of the RoA committee whereby each member is assigned to a school for a period of two years and report to the committee in its meetings.
• RoA committee meets at least once a term and when necessary, and functions vis-à-vis a terms of reference. It discusses outcomes of schools monitoring and decides course of actions to assist schools and to ensure continuity and improvement of standard of implementation over time.
• Annual surveys of students and teachers are carried out on their perception of RoA.
• Annual survey of placement board panels regarding relevance, usefulness and the quality of RoA files submitted to them.
• Amendments to documents and procedures are carried out from time to time as and when required.

Benefits of RoA
This system of Record of Achievements will provide each student with an accurate and sustained record of positive achievements, keyed to specified learning objectives and other notable achievements from outside the school setting. It will accompany the learner throughout his/her school career, and provide meaningful evidence of achievements to parents, employers, training and educational institutions.
In sum, it:

- Tells people about a student’s achievement.
- Tells people about the achievements a student might otherwise have forgotten.
- Gives a broad view of a student as a person.
- Helps the student to keep an up-to-date record of their achievements and pinpoint areas where he/she might need support or have extra learning requirements.
- Helps a student to assess himself/herself and work out their strengths and weaknesses and, through action planning, indicate areas which might need working on.
- Acts as a motivator for students in terms of building a good file of achievements.
- Acts as an employment/interview tool for students.
- Is a professional looking document in which to keep evidence of a student’s successes (loose certificates and pieces of paper which may be needed later tend to get lost over time).
- Stimulates teaching and learning and parental involvement.
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Our next Education Page will bring you information on the Introduction of Records of Achievements at S1-S3 Level and the way forward during 2012. Rendevouz next week for more.