The Whole School Evaluation (WSE) introduced to assess the quality of education at schools is comprehensively implemented. Government schools are subjected to WSE which began in 2018 to instil a sense of ownership and accountability in teaching and achievements of students, Minister of Education Yang Berhormat Datin Seri Setia Dr Hajah Romaizah binti Haji Mohd Salleh said.
She explained about the WSE in her response to a query by Legislative Council (LegCo) member Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Haji Awang Suyoi bin Haji Osman at the 20th LegCo meeting yesterday.
Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Haji Awang Suyoi said, “If a school only achieves the minimum standard in the WSE system, this means that there are still weaknesses in the aspect of ‘teaching’ and the preparation of the learning environment.
“The implication is that schools only reach the minimum standard and needs improvement to increase ‘educational delivery’ above the ‘minimum threshold’. Improvements needed to be made include school leadership, curriculum implementation, pedagogy, school facilities, student support services, and strengthening the school’s relationship with parents and the local community. The ministry’s efforts should be for schools to reach more than the minimum standard level.”
The minister said, “Since 2018, 120 schools have been assessed using the WSE approach by the Department of School Inspectorate. The schools assessed comprised 90 primary schools, 26 secondary schools and four sixth form centres.”
From the evaluation, she said, “The total of schools that achieved the minimum standards were 10 primary schools, six secondary schools and two sixth form centres. Fifteen per cent of schools assessed overall, achieved the minimum standard. Meanwhile, 26 schools were required to be reevaluated (20 primary schools, five secondary schools and one sixth form centre) with 88.5 per cent showing improvement.”
The minister said, “Efforts to assist schools to achieve the minimum standard and understand the WSE, cluster officers are deployed to help plan and implement the school improvement plan immediately after the school receives the WSE report. By providing a sharing session with schools that achieved minimum standards with other schools can help the school reach the standards and carrying out the cluster WSE micro validation.”
Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Haji Awang Suyoi said academic staff of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) are rarely is seen at local forums, contributing their expert opinion and delivering research papers.
He believed that contribution and ideas from UBD’s academic will improve the formulation of any strategy and policy of the government.
The minister said many UBD academic staff are of the task force at various ministries while some expert referrals for policy and technical fields. She added, “Their contribution cannot be seen openly like on television or presentations at conferences.”
On queries of the construction of Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali’s (UNISSA) new campus, the minister said, “The MoE hopes the construction of the new campus of UNISSA under 12th National Development Plan, aligns with the objective of establishing UNISSA. We tried not to delay the construction, but the weather and land conditions say otherwise. We will continue to monitor and ensure that the construction will be on schedule.” – James Kon
