Mura pero nasa mataas na antas ang pagkilala ng mga tinatawag na selective entry public schools sa buong Australia. Dahil ang mga eskwelahang ito ay dinesenyo para matulungan silang mga batang matatalino, na higit na mailabas ang kanilang kakayanan.
Highlights
- Ang Victoria, NSW, Queensland at Western Australia ay mayroong tinatatawg na "selective entry schools".
- Ang pagpasok sa mga piling paaralan na ito ay ginagawa sa pamamagitan ng labis na kompetibong entrance exam.
- Magkakaiba ang antas ng pagpasok, mga petsa ng pagsusulit at mga kinakailangan para sa mga paaralang ito depende sa kung nasaang estado.
Sa buong Australia, tanging ang New South Whales , Queensland, Victoria at Perth sa Western Australia lang may eskwelahang tinatawag na selective entry public schools, kung saan nagbibigay ng mura ngunit may mataas na antas ng pag-aaral sa akademya para sa mga batang matatalino.
Hindi madali ang makapasok dito sa eskwelahang ito, dahil maliban sa limitado ang bilang tatanggaping estudyante, may entrance examination ito at hindi lahat ng estado may ganitong klase ng eskwelahan.
Sa New South Whales, meron lamang 21 fully selective at 26 na partially selective schools, tatanggap sila ng higit apat na libong estudyante sa year 7.
Selective entry high school tests
Ayon kay NSW Department of Education’s Chief Education Officer Ben North nag-uunahan ang gustong makapasok sa mga selective schools.
“In total, there is a little bit over four thousand places in each Year 7 cohorts spread across the 47 schools, and the Department of Education receives over 15,000 applications. The test process involves a very challenging and hard test. It’s designed to really be able to assess students with very high ability, and for that reason, it’s quite a hard test.”
Dahil dito, gumawa ng bagong Selective High School Placement Test ang kagawaran ng edukasyon para sa taong 2021, kabilang sa focus topic na dapat pag-aralan ng mga estudyante na gustong makapasok sa selective school ay ang mga subject na emphasing thinking skills, mathematical reasoning, at problem-solving.
“We have a new test developor which is a Cambridge assessments, that’s part of the University of Cambridge. So, the test is made up of four components at the moment: the thinking skills test, a reading test, mathematics and also a writing test. The number of questions and the time allowed for each test can vary year to year, and the questions change from year to year as well.”
Ang Perth Modern school na isang selective school sa Western Australia ay may higit 200 estudyante sa year 7. Sila ang mga estudyanteng nakapasa sa Academic Selective Entrance Test.
Samantala sa Queensland, isang partially selective high school lang ang naroon, kung saan ang mga napiling estudyante ay pumapasok sa hiwalay na klase sa English, mathematics at science na klase. At tatlong eskwelahan naman ang matatawag na fully selective high schools kung saan nag-aalok ng selective classes.
Habang sa Victoria, apat ang selective school na umaabot sa 1000 estudyante ang kaya nilang tanggapin sa year 9 hanggang year 12 basehan dito ang resulta ng eksaminasyon at na-achieve sa junior high school. Hindi rin hihigit sa limang poryento sa Year 8 ang tatanggaping estudyante sa isang eskwelahan, dapat kasi pantay ang pagtanggap ng estudyante mula sa iba’t ibang eskwelahan.
Iba naman ang patakaran sa Victorian selective entry school examination, ang pagsusulit na ito ay may limang tests, may "verbal reasoning, numerical, persuasive o creative writing, reading comprehension at mathematics".
In NSW, there is a little bit over four thousand places spread across the 47 selective schools for which over 15,000 students compete. Source: Getty Images/SolStock
Laking tuwa naman ni Adi Joshi na sa kabila ng kaba noong kasagsagan ng exam, naging maganda ang resulta at nakakuha siya ng slot sa isang selective high school sa Suzanne Cory High School sa Werribee.
“I remember I was very nervous; I could feel my arms shaking; my heart was thumping, and I remember like my weaker out of the subject was writing, and it was a pretty hard topic. I’m pretty sure the topic was: there was a mysterious object in a shop, and we had to write about what that object was, and we were given four images, and we had to relate to those images a narrative, and yeah, I would say that was the hardest thing for me.
Nagbibigay-inspirasyon sa mga mag-aaral
In Victoria, the selective entry high school examination comprises five tests. Source: Getty Images/SDI Productions
Pero iba ang karanasan ni Dr Majeda Awawdeh dahil noong nakarating dito sa Australia taong 2005 wala siyang alam tungkol sa selective high school para sa kanyang mga anak, kaya ang panganay nyang anak nakapag-aral sa non-selective school at ang bunso na nya ang naka-pasok sa selective school sa New South Wales.
“The one who went to a non-selective school, now, since then she stopped performing, she stopped studying, she said: ‘Well, I’m doing well. All my friends are getting 40, 50, 60 in their exams and I’m getting 90, so I’m doing ok. I don’t need to study.’ Well, that’s her reasoning, while the one who went to a selective school she was surrounded by the ones who were performing well, so she had to study more, she had to study hard, she had to be more ambitious to be compared to them.”
Ayon sa kanya, iba ang approach ng pag-aaral na naranasan ng kanyang bunsong anak.
Bagay na sinang-ayunan ng Year 10 na si Adi Joshi mula sa Suzanne Cory High School.
“I like the fact that I’m in a group of like the smartest students generally. Competing against them makes me want to do better, and I feel like that’s a really good push to have in selective school as compared to like a public school. As far as I know, most of the students who attend selective schools, they’re very studious and academically talented, so they want the best for themselves, and they don’t go to school just have fun, like they want to have fun off course but education is a priority for them.”
Makakabuti ba para sa mga mag-aaral ang mga selective schools?
Pinag-aaralan ng Associate Professor ng Social and Political Sciences sa University of Technology Sydney na si Christine Ho ang iba't ibang aspeto ng sistema ng edukasyon ng Australia, partikular ang mga selective schools.
Ayon sa kanya, karamihan ng mga pumapasok dito ay mga migrante o ang mga pamilya ay mula sa ibang bansa kung saan binigyan ng halaga ang edukasyon.
Pero may babala siya para sa mga magulang, dahil ang matinding pagtulak sa mga anak upang maging magaling sa larangan ng akademya, sa mahabang panahon, ay may negatibong epekto sa kalusugan ng pag-iisip ng mga bata.
“I like the fact that I’m in a group of like the smartest students generally. Competing against them makes me want to do better, and I feel like that’s a really good push to have in selective school as compared to like a public school. As far as I know, most of the students who attend selective schools, they’re very studious and academically talented, so they want the best for themselves, and they don’t go to school just have fun, like they want to have fun off course but education is a priority for them.”
Ayon kay Dr Majeda, taong 2011 nang itatag niya ang isang research- based learning centre, kung saan ang mga guro ay nagbibigay ng personalised tutorial para sa mga selective school entrance exam.
Pushing any child to perform at a high level over a long period could negatively impact mental health. Source: Getty Images/Carol Yepes
Aniya, 80 porsyento ng mga estudyante na pumapasok sa kanilang isang-taong programa ay nakakakuha ng magandang resulta base sa Selective Placement test sa New South Wales.
Pero kalahati sa kanilang mga mag-aaral ay kabilang sa matatawag na average student sa kanilang paaralan.
“Now, these 50 per cent, when we actually benchmark them against other students who we know they’ve made it to selective, we see high potential but what they lack, they lacked the structure, they lack the framework and the tools, and of course, the confidence. And once you lack these few components, you cannot perform well. They are average in their performance, but they are very high in their potential.
Dagdag pa ni Dr Majeda, dapat pumili ng 3 eskwelahan na papasukan ng anak para mas tiyak na may mapupuntahang magandang eskwelahan ang bata.
“From the data of their performance, and other students’ performance, and progressing from one test to the next test, we can predict what they will have in their actual test. We then work with parents to say: ‘we think they would get this mark, let’s see what order of schools you put in your application. And this is where it plays a really good part in their likelihood of getting that offer. So be realistic and be informed. That’s the key point.”
Pero ayon kay NSW Department of Education Chief Education Officer Ben North, dapat maglista ang mga magulang ng paaralan na nais na pasukan ng anak, basehan nito ay kung malapit ito sa tinitirhan para hindi mapagod ang anak sa madalas na pagbiyahe papasok at pauwi ng bahay.
Selective schools are competitive and result-oriented environments where students are nurtured to become the world’s future leaders. Source: Getty Images/SDI Production
Dagdag na tuition, kailangan ba?
Binigyang-diin ni G North na hindi inirerekomenda ng Department of Education na ipasok sa mga mahaba at mahal na tutorial classes ang mga bata bilang paghahanda para sa selective school test.
"In general, the Department doesn’t recommend or endorse that student do preparation courses or tutoring courses. On the Department selective high schools’ website, sample papers or sample test exams are up and available," aniya.
Sabi naman ni Dr Ho ang mga estudyanteng hindi kaya makapasok sa mga tutorial classes ay kadalasa'y hindi nakakakuha ng slot sa selective school.
“Generally, it seems like, you know, we are on a path that is leading to greater and greater inequality in our education system. If you can’t afford to send your kids to tutoring, you are probably not going to get into a selective school.”
Bagay na sinang-ayunan ni Adi Joshi na nakapasok sa selective school sa Victoria. Dahil kahit siya ay pumasok siya sa pribadong tutorial classes ng walong oras kada Sabado at Linggo, anim na buwan bago ang pagsusulit.
“If I didn’t attend the tutoring classes, I would have been quite surprised as to what was on the test because what they teach in actual school and what’s on the test is completely different. Yeah, the tutoring classes prepped me very well for what was on the test.”
Para sa karagdagang impormasyon tungkol sa selective entry high schools at sample test, bisitahin ang Department of Education website sa NSW, Victoria, Queensland at Western Australia.
BASAHIN DIN/PAKINGGAN
