More changes are expected in the Fijian education system next year.

This includes a review of the Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (LANA), a diagnostic assessment that equips teachers with a factual basis for determining which concepts a particular student has mastered.

Education Permanent Secretary Selina Kuruleca said the review, to help students improve, would see LANA taking place earlier in the year to allow time for remedial tests before students’ progress to the next level.

“The proposal is to have LANA at three levels: Year 3, 5 and 7—to track the performance of primary school students in numeracy and literacy before the FEYE and progress to Year 9,” Ms Kuruleca said.

She said they had Moodle platforms where resources and videos from webinars were deposited for teachers’ access and viewing when they needed them.

“We have recruited an officer at the Curriculum Development Unit to specifically target the teaching of phonics in our schools and provide training for teachers.

“There is no pass rate in LANA. It is a diagnostic tool used to identify the performance of students in literacy and numeracy at those levels. They are ranked from critical being the lowest level to proficiency being the highest,” Ms Kuruleca said.

She said the challenge was to have more students performing at the advanced and proficiency levels instead of the critical and the basic.

Feedback: sosiveta.korobiau@fijisun.com.fj