Sunday, March 6, 2011

Testing...Testing...1, 2, 3

Quite wisely, I think, the Bhutanese government loves assessment. As I just experienced, the Prime Minister travels the country to personally assess the development progress of every single gewog (community). As I just learned, I will sit for five 1.5 to 2 hour teacher tests over the next few weeks, one each in Math Content, Math Pedagogy, English Content, English Pedagogy, and General Knowledge. The results of that battery will be used to determine the direction of professional development programmes. And as I just photographed, all students in class five and above are given a standarized fitness test. It includes six measures of physical health and ability. They warm up with stretches:


Each student then his or her (1) height and (2) weight measured and completes a (3) timed 100 metre dash:


The Phys. Ed. instructors record (4) how many push-ups each student can do in a unit time and (5) how far each can reach down:


My favourite measure, of course, is (6) the long jump because I took these cool mid-air shots:








I think it is must be really valuable to have that much data about the health of your nation. I'll let you know how my tests go!

3 comments:

  1. They ARE really great shots!
    And it certainly does seem like the goal of the government is health and happiness.
    What a place!
    Hope you show well on your tests!
    Mom M

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  2. good luck in your tests

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  3. Good luck in your tests! And what does that boy have on his face in the forth picture down on the long jump pictures?
    -Love Brianna B

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