Ministry of Education insists on easier tests for public school teachers

[Dolores]

Agreements had been reached to maintain the international standardized tests used for the public school system. Diario Libre reports on 26 July 2021 that the agreements are being overridden.

The Ministry of Education had been using international tests to ensure higher levels of the newly hired public school teachers. Advocates argue that better teachers translate into better quality education.

Diario Libre says that the Ministry is reaching an agreement with the Association of Public School Teachers (ADP) so that aspiring teachers need only to pass locally-made tests. With the international tests, more than 50% of those who sat for the tests had failed.

Darwin Caraballo, executive director of Educa, a local pro-education ONG, stated: “It is not recommendable that the better practices be disregarded.”

The Ministry needs to select 15,000 teachers for the 2021-2022 school...

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[chico bill]

The dumbing down of society continues.
You think we would evolve to smarter species but the opposite is occurring

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

A truly Dominican solution. The test is too hard and compressive for an educator to pass so get rid of the test as a requirement to teach children. I don't think it is possible to teach that which you do not know.

 

[NanSanPedro]

We do the same in the USA. This is not just a Dominican thing.

 

[drstock]

Well I suppose it's better to have teachers with a lower education than none at all.

 

[LTDan]

this guidance comes from the U.S. Department of Education

 

[NanSanPedro]

this guidance comes from the U.S. Department of Education

Why am I not surprised?

 

[Ecoman1949]

We do the same in the USA. This is not just a Dominican thing.

Very true. Also in Canada. Students never fail now regardless of what credentials the teachers have. They just get shuffled on till they exit the system. Many poorly educated and ill equipped to enter the real world.

 

[Auryn]

Very true. Also in Canada. Students never fail now regardless of what credentials the teachers have. They just get shuffled on till they exit the system. Many poorly educated and ill equipped to enter the real world.

This may be true for specific provinces or
school divisions, but it is not true across Canada. Although it has become a more difficult process, I have failed students within the past 5 years.
I’m a successful, practicing, veteran teacher and I will say that a good educator will learn subject matter as required. Your knowledge of information comes second, your ability to actively engage, properly manage, and meaningfully connect to students comes first. Learning the stages of mitosis does not occur if the teacher cannot engage the Biology class.
The Dominican education system needs to invest in teacher training and development. Having public school teachers sit tests when they are products of that same public school system is quite simply a paradox and lacks common sense.

 

[Ecoman1949]

This may be true for specific provinces or
school divisions, but it is not true across Canada. Although it has become a more difficult process, I have failed students within the past 5 years.
I’m a successful, practicing, veteran teacher and I will say that a good educator will learn subject matter as required. Your knowledge of information comes second, your ability to actively engage, properly manage, and meaningfully connect to students comes first. Learning the stages of mitosis does not occur if the teacher cannot engage the Biology class.
The Dominican education system needs to invest in teacher training and development. Having public school teachers sit tests when they are products of that same public school system is quite simply a paradox and lacks common sense.

Many private schools across Canada are still centres of Academic excellence. A large percentage of the private schools run by the Catholic Sect still adhere to the basics of a good education.

I have friends who are University Professors. They are amazed and upset at the level of education of students who qualify for entrance these days. Especially their lack of communication and critical thinking skills. They require a foundation year to get them up to speed for their remaining years of study.

We wrote CHE exams in our final year of high school. Standardized exams developed by the Council of Higher Education. Failure was guaranteed if you didn’t do the course work.

 

[Duece]

When you use what another country does or doesn't do as an excuse for what your country will or want do you have set a trap for yourself. Truth and excellence are not debatable. If all you want is manual labor for your country, family or friends, then dumb it down. Do you realize a ten year old in 10 years will be 20 years old. Their life course will have been set based on what they have learned. If they learned to be uneducated they will have little or no future. If they learned to excel they will be achievers. There is an old adage, "When the student is ready the teacher will appear." Or in the case of not demanding the best, "The teacher will never appear."

 

[USA DOC]

Well I suppose it's better to have teachers with a lower education than none at all.

Well now... none at all could be the answer.......

 

[Auryn]

Many private schools across Canada are still centres of Academic excellence. A large percentage of the private schools run by the Catholic Sect still adhere to the basics of a good education.

I have friends who are University Professors. They are amazed and upset at the level of education of students who qualify for entrance these days. Especially their lack of communication and critical thinking skills. They require a foundation year to get them up to speed for their remaining years of study.

We wrote CHE exams in our final year of high school. Standardized exams developed by the Council of Higher Education. Failure was guaranteed if you didn’t do the course work.

I have only taught in private schools in the Dominican Republic, so I cannot say for Canada. I know teachers in Ontario private schools who have encountered parents and administration making threats if their spoiled or undeserving child is failing. I personally did not see that nonsense in the DR, but heard about it in other schools.
I currently teach in a Catholic division in western Canada and they do not allow failures like the public system - at all.
From my perspective as an educator, the decline you speak of has more to do with a change in homes than in education. Parents increasingly depend on screens to raise children and some are generally less accountable.
If only 2 generations in a family have the opportunity to see value and support education, it makes the most incredible difference. So when that change in homes occurs, real progress can happen. I have seen it in my own family as well as in the DR.

 

[zoomzx11]

Depends on the relevance and quality of the test.

Unless a teacher has effective classroom management and discipline they cannot teach.

 

[La Profe_1]

Depends on the relevance and quality of the test.

Unless a teacher has effective classroom management and discipline they cannot teach.

I absolutely agree! I am a veteran of 30 years in an urban public school district. The school where I taught the longest is on the edge of one of the ghettos.

Without classroom management skills and the ability to "reach" the unmotivated students it would have been impossible to advance their education.

On the other hand, it is a given that the teacher must have mastery of not only the subject matter but also of language and communication.

I have had more than one former student return to thank me for insisting on proper English in writing and speaking - and I taught science!

 

[bob saunders]

Many private schools across Canada are still centres of Academic excellence. A large percentage of the private schools run by the Catholic Sect still adhere to the basics of a good education.

I have friends who are University Professors. They are amazed and upset at the level of education of students who qualify for entrance these days. Especially their lack of communication and critical thinking skills. They require a foundation year to get them up to speed for their remaining years of study.

We wrote CHE exams in our final year of high school. Standardized exams developed by the Council of Higher Education. Failure was guaranteed if you didn’t do the course work.

That was the function of Grade 13 in Ontario. My stepson did two years of Grade twelve, with the second year all university prep courses. He had no problems in University, one because he has his mothers work ethic and he is intelligent. Dominican and Colombian.