The new integrated proposal provides for a Submission Committee and an Audit Committee.
The members of the two committees will not leave the subject area until forty minutes have elapsed since the beginning of the examination.
The Minister of Education, Costas Kadis, and OELMEK reached an agreement that will ensure the process of integrity in the Pancyprian Examinations. The agreement was reached at a meeting held last Thursday (the day after the discussion of the issue in the Education Committee of the Parliament) and this will further ensure the integrity of the process.
According to the proposal, two Committees are set up for each course examined, the Subject Committee and the Audit Committee.
1. Candidate subjects will be obliged to attend in advance special training seminars on evaluation issues, organized by the Examination Service in collaboration with the Directorates of Secondary Education and the Pedagogical Institute.
2. The Head of the Examination Service shall submit to the Competent Authority for approval the members of each Subject Committee, who shall be notified of their work on the eve of the day on which they take office.
3. The two Sub-Committees shall take all necessary steps to avoid any errors or omissions or ambiguities in the matters, to ensure that they have the greatest possible degree of validity and reliability, that they cover different levels of difficulty and that they can be answered. at the time available for the examination.
Criteria for selecting topics
The selection criteria of the subjects are the following:
(a) To have a permanent and at least eight years of service recognized by the Educational Service Committee.
(b) Have taught the course in question for at least five years in the DG class of Lyceum or DG class of Technical Schools, one of which is the current or previous school year from the exam.
(c) Not to teach tutoring courses and not to teach courses of the Pancyprian Access Examinations at the State Training Institutes, in the evening departments of the Technical Schools or elsewhere, not to be owners of a Tutoring Center, nor to have a direct or indirect relationship with an owner.
(d) Not to take on assignment tasks, where possible, in more than two courses.
(e) Participate in mandatory training seminars that will be organized in advance for this purpose by the Examination Service, the Directorates of Secondary Education and the Pedagogical Institute.
It will meet 24-48 hours in advance
The Subject Committee will meet 24-48 hours before the specified day and time of the examination of each course. The place and the exact time will be determined by the Competent Authority in order to fully ensure the integrity of the Pancyprian Access Examinations.
Each member of the Subject Committee will prepare, under conditions of absolute confidentiality and confidentiality, a topic for two different parts of the test paper, to ensure that there will be two topics for each part of the test piece.
The members of the Subject Committee will complete the preparation of the topics assigned to them. At the same time, they will record their assessment of the degree of difficulty of their topics and will prepare a Correction Guide, which includes the solution or solutions and the way of grading.
The Subject Committee will then meet in its plenary session and will examine one by one all the subjects that have been prepared, in order to prepare the complete examination essay, which it will submit together with all the subjects that have been prepared to the Audit Committee. The members of the Submission Committee will remain in the subject area, to then cooperate with the Audit Committee.
Control Committee
The Audit Committee will consist of two members - and will include at least one experienced Public High School teacher - who have taught the course in question for at least five years, one of which is the current or previous school year. from the year of the examination, while where it is possible for an inspector or an academic to participate.
The work of the Audit Committee will take place in the same place where the Submission Committee meets and under the same security conditions, in order to fully ensure the integrity of the Pancyprian Access Examinations. The Audit Committee will meet no later than 3:00 p.m. of the previous day of the examination of each course.
Terms of Reference
The Audit Committee will have as its mandate the detailed evaluation and control of the examination essay proposed by the Submission Committee, of the additional issues submitted by the Submission Committee, as well as the control of the adequacy of the time for its resolution.
The Audit Committee will submit in writing to the Submission Committee its observations or objections or suggestions for corrections or changes in the subjects of the examination essay, submitted by the Submission Committee.
Finally, it is noted that in the event of disagreement during the procedure, the new proposal provides for decisions to be taken by vote.
It is jointly attended by all members of both Committees (Subject - Control), as a single body. The members of the Subject Committee and the Audit Committee will not leave the subject area until forty minutes have elapsed from the beginning of the course examination and the delivery of the topics to the examinees.
Source: sigmalive.com