Teaching Comparative

When non-teachers write tests

Making policy is a tricky business. If policies achieve the purposes for which they are made, they are successful from the perspective of the policy makers. Of course, the policy makers might not be the only people who need to be satisfied.

If policies fail to achieve their goals, there are many possible reasons for failure. How many reasons for failure could your students identify in this example from Iran reported by Robert Tait in The Guardian (UK)?

What would your students say about the educational objectives of the test writers? (You'll have to see the whole article for more sample questions.)

Could your students describe who might think that this examination was going to be successful? Could your students describe a realistic scenario to describe how this test was created and how it became a political issue?

As a teacher, I noted a couple things: the choice of the assigned reading and the focus of the quoted questions on details of facts. Since the book's author was a philosopher, I'd expect to see some questions about ideas. Of course, there might have been some and the news reports didn't include them. (And that might raise journalistic questions.)

Iranian MPs enraged over test accused of mocking Muhammad

"Iranian MPs have demanded an apology from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after teachers were given government-sponsored tests deemed 'insulting' to the prophet Muhammad.

"The exam - sat [taken] by teachers seeking promotion - provoked outrage by posing questions which appeared to degrade Islam's holiest figure by alluding to personal habits and proclivities. Most of the 40 multiple-choice questions have been judged so mocking that Iran's state-controlled media has refrained from publishing them.

"One less offensive question, reproduced by local newspapers and websites, lists four choices when asking how Muhammad compared himself with the prophet Joseph. They are: 'A) I am more beautiful than Joseph; B) Joseph is more beautiful than me; C) I am cuter than Joseph; D) Joseph is more beautiful than me but I am cuter than him.' Others refer to his hair and beard colour..."

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Labels: Iran, policy

posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:19 AM