Johannesburg - With this week dominated by the release of matric results, there have been mixed views on what comprises the true measure of “educatedness”.
Independent Examinations Board chief executive Anne Oberholzer said being educated implied the scope of added skills learners acquired throughout their schooling. The IEB administers assessments in private schools.
She also listed additional skills, or soft skills, such as perseverance, prioritisation, persistence, working in collaboration with others, problem-solving strategies, debate and discussion, tolerance of different views, critical engagement with ideas, ownership of thought and responsibility.
Oberholzer said many schools adopted the “drill and practice”, which encouraged learners to write an endless number of exams.
She questioned whether high marks were a true indicator of the learner’s educatedness.
“When educators focus narrowly on teaching and assessment as a process of achieving good examination results, we do our profession and, in turn, our learners a major disservice.
“We start believing that narrowing the learning experience to that
which will contribute to achieving excellent examination results is educationally sound.
“Yet this is a complete antithesis to what quality education is all about,” Oberholzer said.