[Assessment is broad, just like curriculum, it has many facets to apprehend. Thus, this is a follow up article from ” Practicalization of assessment mechanism – getting rid of exams and tests” intending to further explain how practicalized assessment is designed to operate]

The article “Practicalization of assessment mechanism- getting rid of Exams and Tests” discusses a number of assessment dynamics. The need for a tailored/personalized curriculum system in order to make assessment practicable is one of the article’s key takeaways. Practicalized assessment is not possible without the personalization of the curricular system. This indicates that a personalized curriculum system and a practicalized assessment system are mutually exclusive. In order to demonstrate how PECS and Practicalized assessment complement one another for the benefit of the students, this publication aims to investigate the relationship between PECS and practicalized assessment. To promote a proper grasp of the two terms, this article will begin with separate definitions of PECS and practicalized assessment, often known as practice-based assessment.

Personalized education curriculum system (PECS) refers to the education model that is tailored to cater to the unique personality traits and future desires of every individual pupil. It is an individualized curriculum system that seeks to fuel pupils straight to their career path through a carefully designed program of assessment and an innovative teaching plan. With a personalized education curriculum, learning is rigorously future-focused and theoretically and practically balanced. In contrast to a mass education system where aspiring attorneys, physicians, pilots, legislators, actuaries, cooks, etc. are all mixed together in one classroom and taught by one teacher with one teaching style, this curriculum model is a flexible tool that promotes uniqueness and is career path focused. This curriculum system aims to divide classrooms into intentionally diverse student career groups. The goal of PECS is to prevent students from participating in a curriculum that is imposing unrelated subjects to the students` intended career paths. For example, an engineer doesn’t need to study mundane English literature to be successful in the engineering field. Aspiring journalists and lawyers may find it difficult to move past trigonometry and solve for x, yet this is imposed on them. This comprehensive curricular framework aims to put teaching and learning in the proper context – A personalized education curriculum system.

Learning from the article titled “Practicalization of assessment mechanism – getting rid of exams and tests” by Xaba, (2023), practicalized assessment is concluded to be a form of assessment that is designed strictly to assess if the pupils understand the operations of the field of work they chose for themselves. It is further evident that practicalized

assessment is experience-gaining rather than sit-in exams and tests that continuously worship theoretical learning over practical learning. From this article, it’s clear that employers in the country; industries, organizations, institutions, etc will have education operations/ education and training offices where their corporate social investment program is educational and gives back to the community by working hand in hand with the education board to execute school assessment by providing facilities and expertise to run those career-focused assessments for pupils. This means that in-depth communications with potential employers in the country should be held, education vision shared and stakeholdership roles explained in order to achieve the mandate-education is the responsibility for everyone, which then is equated to inspiring the education community at large. Briefly, practicalized assessment is concerned with skill transference and the adoption of relevant aptitudes to build a healthy society for all, through a relevant personalized education curriculum system.

Combining the two definitions, it is discovered that PECS cannot succeed without the practicalization of assessment and vice versa. It is therefore hard to have a practical- based assessment while working within the theoretical generic “one size fits all” curriculum framework, which is why the assessment under the NCS remains primarily theoretical (exams and tests). While a tailored and practical curriculum system like PECS thrives when it comes to practicalized evaluation, a curriculum system that is primarily theoretical will scarcely function without exams and tests. Because of this, it raises concerns to see NCS working in the manner that they are. The subject of consumer studies is a perfect illustration of how practicalized assessment operates under PECS. For those interested in becoming chefs, it has been noted that the subject has a culinary studies component, and students have been seen preparing excellent meals as part of their subject related task. Unlike consumer studies, PECS wants subjects to stand alone without having many components in one subject with the intention of ensuring full attention to provisions to every career path of every pupil in order to cultivate every form of relevant information needed for the career development of all pupils. PECS wants education to be provided exactly that way for all desired career paths. This merely indicates that NCS is operating in the background of what PECS perceives to be the mirror.

The School of Hospitality and Tourism under the PECS (curriculum) is an explicit example of a personalized school and its practicalized assessment, where students are evaluated for progress. Culinary experiments (cooking different dishes) facilitated by an educator under the overall supervision of a culinarian, and or a professor in the field, are how those pursuing various careers in this field will be evaluated in the Culinary class underpinned by Hospitality and Tourism. These assessments will not only be based on material from the textbook but strictly work related. To achieve an accurate and insightful assessment process, schools must coordinate with the hospitality sector, academic institutions, and the Department of Tourism to send chefs, professors, and even Department of Tourism officials to the field. To assess a specific practical task that the student is expected to

complete, the assessors and facilitators must utilize a rubric. The progression of a student to the next grade will then be determined by the results of these assessment with a practical focus, rather than exams and tests. The only way to ensure that students have a thorough understanding of the sector of work they are in is for them to learn skills by carrying out tasks that are linked to it.

The market (banks, companies, organizations, institutions, etc.) must be on board and aware of their role in education for this to become a reality. To have a good impact on education, employers in society must collaborate with educational institutions (the Department of Education and the private education sector). The consultation of all education stakeholders prior to the curriculum system’s official promulgation as a national curriculum will help the market and society at large to apprehend its role in executing educational tasks in our country. As a result, everyone is on board and aware of the nature of the educational system, which depends on all role players in order to create a cohesive society. Due to a skills gap, South African firms are not employing, which highlights the education system inadequacies. This illustrates how the NCS neglected to engage the market before implementing the curriculum system because the unemployment crisis is speaking volumes to that regard. As a result, NCS is still a choice for the poor, who upon graduation stay jobless, while private education is flourishing and alluring to those who can afford it because it is market-inclined. This is due to the graduates having propositional knowledge rather than practical knowledge, which leads White (2018) to argue that exams woefully fall short of achieving practical knowledge, such as learning how to ride a bike, and instead only concentrate on propositional information, such as knowing that you have to push the pedals in order for the bike to move. This is propositional knowledge, which does not assess a student’s practical expertise, is the reason the market is not hiring.

It is for such reasons the Personalised Education Curriculum System (PECS) was conceived as a curriculum system strictly rooted in quality, foundations of competency oriented education, and focused on practically assessing students for relevant skills, aptitudes, and values to maneuver modern-day society successfully. PECS was developed to be at the forefront of curriculum relevance issues. Just like the birth of postmodernism, PECS is the product of dissatisfaction with the modernist curriculum system in South Africa. PECS is meant to rescue students from the monstrous curriculum that fails to implement progressivism and provide differentiated learning that suits all students. Just like progressivism in the past, PECS is a disruptive and qualitative curriculum system that aims to end the confusion around the inconsistencies of the curriculum. PECS seeks to restore the value and dignity of our education system by making it responsive to the needs of society through the liberal education-based curriculum system. PECS aims to give students the opportunity to gain an insight into the world of work during their school years. This makes PECS unique and highly relevant in inspiring the education community of our country, South Africa, and Africa as a whole. And we believe that the education system can be improved in this way

Bibliography:

White, J. 2019. Will school exams one day be as outdated as the slate and the birch? https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333614630_Will_school_exams_one_d ay_be_as_outdated_as_the_slate_and_the_birch. Date of Access: 4 June 2023.

Xaba, SS. 2023. Practicalization of assessment mechanism – getting rid of exams and tests.https://simnandisolutions.co.za/2023/06/11/practicalization-of-assessment- mechanism-getting-rid-of-exams-and-tests/. Date of Access: 10 June 2023.