From the Vancouver Secondary Teachers Association (November 2007)

On behalf of all Modern Languages teachers and Department Heads in Vancouver, and as the Modern Languages Representative for the VSTA, I wish to express serious concerns over the implementation of the new provincial E-exams. Last year was the first year for the implementation of the new Japanese Provincial Exams, with Spanish to follow this year, and French in 2009.

At a Provincial Exam review session I attended in September, the Ministry representative told us that everything went perfectly with the E-exams, and that there were no problems and no complaints.

We Department Heads and language teachers know this is not true. We are aware of the difficulties the Japanese teachers encountered trying to administer the exam, and of their efforts to express their concerns to the Ministry. These concerns have basically been ignored.

We have tried to be receptive to the new guidelines from the Ministry, as we support the idea of an oral component to the provincial language exam, but we continue to be concerned about the following:

• The Ministry has directed that the actual teachers of the language courses must administer the oral assessment component. This is inconsistent with the implementation of all other provincial exams.

• We have been directed to invigilate these exams even when we did not even teach the students.

• We have been directed by the Ministry to mark the oral components of the exams.

• When is the teacher to do the oral assessment? While some teachers have been released from the Provincial Exam schedule, which is approximately 3 hours of supervision, a teacher with 30 – 90 students would need several days just to administer the oral component to the students!

• When is the teacher to do this marking? It is not equitable for us to do this marking on our own time, when English 10 teachers mark the Eng. 10 exams and receive release time. Further, Socials 11 teachers mark the exams and are renumerated for their time. If there is a marking scheme, it should be equitable for all subject areas.

• The biggest concern, of course, is the technology available in the schools. Most schools in Vancouver do not have the technological capability to handle the implementation of the exams, and when steps are taken to update and ensure the appropriate microphones and speakers are available, there is no guarantee that the system will work, or that the Provincial web-site can be accessed. When the Ministry representative came to Templeton last year for the Modern Languages Conference, we had refurbished the computer lab with all the necessary equipment, and tech. support. On the day of the conference, the Japanese teachers were to do a trial run through the oral assessment section. These teachers were even unable to do a trial run, as there were numerous technical difficulties.

• Our concerns regarding technology have essentially fallen on deaf ears at the Ministry; they responded to our concerns by stating that each district receives funding for technology and so we should go to our school boards.

There are many issues of concern with regards to the administration of the new Provincial E-exams. All required materials for the administration of all other Provincial exams are provided by the Ministry, or the School Board; this should be the case with Modern Language Provincial Exams as well. In order to administer these exams we must have the appropriate functioning technology. In addition, a system for marking these exams should be in place to provide language teachers either with release time or remuneration that is equitable with other subject areas.