Primary and secondary school children in Hong Kong are currently in the midst of mid-term exams. Tests and exams often provoke polarised reactions: they can motivate and stimulate, or lead to anxiety and, sometimes, demoralisation.
Exams are necessary to identify students' progress. They are also needed at certain points in the educational cycle to determine selection to the next stage, such as university entrance.
But how tests can best be used in the early years is more open to debate because early experiences deeply affect how children approach education. The kind of assessment for six- or seven-year-olds should be different from that for 17-year-olds preparing for tertiary education. The risks of demoralisation from negative experiences are a particular concern in the early years, as damage can be difficult to rectify later.
My recent research has focused on the response of young children to testing. We collected data from a wide variety of primary schools and the dominant messages were that negative perceptions of tests outweighed the positive ones. A painful life involving a diet of homework, tutorial schools and tests was evident.
Some eight-year-olds reported studying until midnight before a test. Memorising work for Chinese and English dictation tests was highlighted as particularly challenging.
Parents were identified as central to the children's experience of assessment. Some were said to be encouraging and supportive, but the majority exerted pressure and stress on their children. One student described her mother as 'like a policewoman, watching over me'.
Another theme was marks and grades. It was evident that getting a high mark was a primary aim of schooling, irrespective of whether students actually learned anything useful. Memorising for a test, regurgitating answers, then forgetting them, was a common phenomenon.