TTUTA: SEA exam too stressful, wants review

PRESIDENT of the TT Unified Teachers Association Martin Lum Kin is again calling for a comprehensive review of the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination.

In an interview on June 28, Lum Kin said a few years ago there was an attempt to review the examination.

However, he said he had no information on what became of that process.

“Every year we are faced with this same situation which places undue pressure on students, parents and teachers. For this and other high-stakes examinations, there should be a comprehensive review of the system as well as the Constitution.

“There should be another and better way of placing students at secondary schools. There was an attempt to look at it a couple of years ago. TTUTA is not privy to the results.”

In a release, chairman of the National Parent Teachers Association (NPTA) Walter Stewart commended the efforts of the students who wrote the exams, although the NPTA was yet to analyse the results.

NPTA applauded the Ministry of Education for putting systems in place for students and their parents to access the results on the ministry’s online portal even before midnight.

“It was seamless and we applaud the ministry. It is noteworthy that this year's cohort would have experienced challenges as a result of the pandemic exacerbated by online learning and loss of teaching time.

“It is significant therefore that they persevered and are able to progress to the next stage of their educational journey.”

Nevertheless, NPTA said it is deeply concerned that the mean scores in all three subject areas were below 60 per cent, that only 1.42 per cent of students scored above 90 per cent and that there was a decline in mean raw scores in English Language Arts.

“NPTA is heartened that the performance at the focus schools has shown an increase in the average weighted score and that there was a decline in the percentage of these schools of students scoring less than 30 per cent.”

A total of 18,177 students – 9,127 boys and 9,050 girls – sat the exam this year.