Cepa to be in English curriculum for Grades 10 to 12

The new resources will support teachers to develop students’ skills and this will be implemented at the start of the 2014-2015 academic year.

by

Olivia Olarte-Ulherr

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Published: Tue 4 Mar 2014, 9:46 AM

Last updated: Fri 3 Apr 2015, 9:49 PM

Common Educational Proficiency Assessment (Cepa) skills will be fully integrated into the English curriculum for Grades 10 to 12 as part of the efforts to improve student score in English for the Cepa test.

Cepa is the exam taken into account by universities as part of their admission criteria. Minimum Cepa score is 150 for English and Maths.

According to the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec), about 60 teachers in Cycle 3 from across the emirate are “developing resources” to support this endeavour. The new resources will support teachers to develop students’ skills and this will be implemented at the start of the 2014-2015 academic year.

“The new resources will ensure that Cepa requirements become an integral part of students’ daily learning in English from Grade 10 to Grade 12, and support their general English language development at the same time,” according to an Adec statement on Monday.

“By starting the programme in Grade 10, it is hoped that students will have a solid foundation in Cepa requirements by the time they reach Grade 12,” Adec added.

“Cepa requires that students have a good grasp on English grammar, as well as reading and writing skills necessary for university study through the medium of English. By supporting teachers to effectively embed the development of these skills into their daily teaching, we are not only preparing our students for Cepa, but are meeting the goals of the Adec English curriculum,” Dr Karima Al Mazroui, curriculum manager at Adec, said.

Cepa scores of students in public schools have been improving in the past five years. From only five per cent of all exam takers in 2008-2009, Band 1 (scores above 180) passers increased to 10 per cent in 2012-2013.

“A significant jump compared to previous years,” Dr Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, director general of the Adec, said. He attributed this to the hiring of native English-speaking teachers who dedicated two periods a week to teach Cepa skills.

Despite the improvement in Cepa scores, he stressed the need for more efforts to increase the number of passers to higher education without going through the foundation programme.

olivia@khaleejtimes.com


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