The Pedagogy of Examination

This ongoing research entitled “Pedagogy of exams: A phenomenological study of Chinese students’ experiences on exams” aims to explore how exams are experienced by Chinese students and how these experiences and underlying school practices may be pedagogically interpreted and understood.

Students’ lived experiences are the starting point of the study. The study is to suspend available arguments about outcomes and focus instead on the lived dimensions of student exam experiences. Interpretive examination of students’ lived experiences is an attempt to approximate the meanings of educational exams, thus enhancing the understanding the pedagogy of exams. The hermeneutic phenomenological research methodology is used as a main approach for the study.  

The recent restored interest and tendency in nationalizing, regionalizing and even globalizing educational tests in many countries in the world, especially among industrial countries have drawn people to the ongoing topic of educational tests. Competing in the age of globalization is perhaps one of the important elements that keep the examination legacy alive as a very key to maintain accountability and measurability in a globalized context. China’s long tradition of competitive exams had long drawn interest from outside the country and was introduced to many other countries. Like Korea, Japan and Singapore and many other east and south Asian countries, China is well known/notorious for its strong exam-driven educational system. Whereas we often hear people say that students from Korea, Japan, China and other east Asian countries demonstrate very good academic achievement results in many of the international contests and standardized tests (See TIMSS 1999, PISA 2000 Tests Results, for example), very often we also hear people criticize their educational systems severely, such as high suicide rate among students, rote memorization, high marks with low capability, less creative thinking, etc. Yet, with these assumptions and criticism, little is known about how Chinese students experience the exams and how should we understand the pedagogy of exams.

This research aims to contribute towards a thoughtful pedagogy of examination.  It will provide an experiential understanding of the exam pedagogy and contribute to a fuller understanding of pedagogy. By turning to the lived experiences of students and by reflecting upon them, the dimensions of pedagogical meanings that underlie the students’ exam experiences can be explored and further understood by teachers, parents, education scholars, test design experts, education administrators as well as education policy makers. We may become more sensitive, thoughtful and tactful in discerning what is appropriate and what is not appropriate in our daily interaction with students. 2.The study will provide useful input for educational policy makers and administrators to develop more appropriate curriculum and test programs. It could be a timely study in a world of educational trend that moves fast towards internationalization and globalization. 3. The research will also create a space for intercultural dialogue between East and West. As the schools in Northern America are moving fast towards standard-based and test-driven reform at the beginning of the 21^st Century, Chinese schools are moving away from such emphasis in order to develop “quality education”. Lessons can be drawn by other countries from the Chinese experiences to avoid downfalls in the their own ongoing school reforms. In turn, Chinese educators can benefit from understanding the educational experiences in the West.