UAE: Alternative Assessments Replace IB Examinations This Year

On the 23^rd of March as of last year, the IB examinations have been cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak, as learning has moved to online for safety measures which caused chaos. The IB (International Baccalaureate) exam results are accepted by universities internationally.

Following last years news, the ministry has decided to come up with an alternative solution as the UAE Ministry of Education has decided to provide 'alternative assessment methods' for international examinations to British curriculum and the IB curriculum schools for the academic year 2020-2021.

The ministry tweeted on Tuesday that the step reflects the confidence in private international schools to prepare or adopt solid evaluation methodologies that benefit from their long experience in the evaluation procedures of the curriculum they follow. It also follows their ability build on the methodologies in light of the changing circumstances, the tweet added.

أقرت وزارة التربية والتعليم إتاحة أساليب تقييم بديلة عن الامتحانات الدولية لطلبة المدارس الخاصة التي تطبق المنهاج البريطاني ومنهاج البكالوريا الدولية للعام الدراسي 2020/2021. pic.twitter.com/ren5g2EtHI

— وزارة التربية (@MOEducationUAE) March 23, 2021

The tweet did not clearly imply whether schools currently have the choice to not hold school-leaving tests as like IGCSEs, A-Levels and those for IB Diploma and rather utilize alternative assessment methods, such as predicted grades and continuous internal assessments throughout the term.

This is good news in comparison to last year with students receiving grades based on a combination of teacher-predicted grades and computer models of their schools’ performance historically in the exams.

Image Source: Supplied