The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) has released the guidelines on how Grade 3 teachers will conduct and score various tasks under the Integrated Learning Assessment (ILA) for their Kenya Early Years Assessment (KEYA).
The tasks which will revolve around this year’s theme of developing and nurturing moral values in learners for an ethical society basically target general learning outcomes for early years’ education.
Under the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), by the end of early years’ education (ranging from Pre-Primary 1 to Grade 3), the learner should be able to demonstrate basic literacy and numeracy skills for learning; communicate appropriately using verbal and/or non-verbal modes in a variety of contexts and demonstrate appropriate etiquette in social relationships.
They are also supposed to be able to apply creativity and critical thinking skills in problem-solving, explore the immediate environment for learning and enjoyment; practice hygiene, nutrition, sanitation and safety skills to promote health and wellbeing.
They should also; demonstrate the acquisition of emotional, physical, spiritual, aesthetic and moral development for balanced living; demonstrate appreciation of the country’s rich and diverse cultural heritage for harmonious co-existence and further apply digital literacy skills for learning and enjoyment.
According to instructions given to schools by KNEC, the task will be carried out within duration of two months which will culminate in an exhibition day where Grade 3 learners will showcase activities that promote moral values.
The teachers on the other hand have been instructed to guide the learners to carry out every step of the task as required, with core competencies and core values embedded in the sub-tasks being assessed.
Each learner will further be required to develop and maintain an assessment portfolio which maybe physical, electronic (e-portfolio) or both as evidence of achievement with entries in the portfolio reflecting samples or evidence of the learner’s work on each of the sub-tasks; teacher’s scores and comments on the learner’s work, learner’s reflection on their work and date when each sub task was undertaken and assessed.
Further, teachers will use the assessment tools and scoring guides provided for each task to assess the learner’s work and also assign a facility or a resource in the school to each group of learners as expounded in subtask, however, KNEC has instructed schools to ensure that learners are guided to observe safety while undertaking the tasks with Assessment of learners being done prior to the Exhibition Day.
Performance Task
In this year’s theme, Grade 3 learners are expected to demonstrate responsible ways of taking care of facilities and resources in school, understanding the story they read or was read to them in order to get its teachings (Kufahamu hadithi aliyoisoma au aliyosomewa ili kupata mafunzo ya hadithi) for Kiswahili task, use new words in a familiar tune for effective communication and observe rules when pushing and pulling for own and others safety.
With the guidance of teachers, parents or guardians, Grade 3 learners will be expected to observe photographs and use digital devices to watch selected video clips with messages that can help develop and nurture morals values among learners.
In this task, teachers will be expected to provide photographs or video on activities that develop and nurture moral values among the learners.
They will also be required to identify various facilities or resources (classrooms, furniture, toilets, school bus, school playground, school garden, animals, laboratories, staffroom, library, stores, kitchen, dining hall and dormitories among others) found within a school environment in groups of 10 to 15 learners.
Further to that, they will also be tasked to source for locally available tools or materials for use in maintaining the school facilities or resources, with KNEC warning schools not to charge learners, parents or guardians towards the accomplishment of the ILA task.
Another task they will be required to perform is demonstrating ways of taking care of one of the facilities or resources identified, and in groups of 10-15 learners they will further be guided by the teacher to come up with words and phrases that portray moral values, select an existing familiar tune and set the text for the identified words and phrases, learn and prepare the song for presentation and perform the song to communicate their messages on moral values.
School Exhibition Day
Also, they will be required to participate in a tug of war while observing rules of pulling and pushing with teachers being mandated to decide the number of learners on each side, with each learner being required to individually keep a weekly log of the activities undertaken in the performance of the sub tasks.
After that, schools will be required to organize for an Exhibition Day where Grade 3 learners will sing the Kenya National Anthem and the East African Anthem at the beginning of the Exhibition Day; display posters, charts and patterns bearing messages that promote moral values in the society; present the various songs to communicate their messages on moral values, participate in the tug of war for entertainment and showcase their assessment portfolios.
The core competencies being targeted here are; communication and collaboration as learners work in groups and participate in the pull and push games; creativity and imagination as learners make posters, charts and patterns with messages that promote moral values in the society.
Critical thinking and problem solving as the learners identify facilities in the school and as they devise appropriate tools and methods that would aid in the care of the facilities, digital literacy as learners search for video clips that help to promote moral values, self-efficacy as learners make various presentations.
The values being linked include; responsibility as learners observe safety measures as they undertake various activities, love and unity as learners assist one another as they work in groups, patriotism as learners take care of school facilities and resources, integrity as learners dutifully take up their respective roles and respect as learners take instructions from the teachers and accommodate each other’s opinions while undertaking the tasks.
By Education News reporter
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