| Abstrakt: |
Sri Lanka is a nearly industrialized country (NIC country) in transition from a tradition-bound agrarian and cheap labour economy into the era of building a knowledge-based economy. The school system reflects a traditional society, especially in its features of an examination-steered system. The question posed for the article is what meaning the examination-steered system has, particularly in Sri Lanka, and also in general. New modalities of assessment that occur in Western countries are mentioned in contrast to Sri Lanka. The method is to apply the conceptual framework of Émile Durkheim to empirical findings and follow his lines of reasoning. The concepts of mechanical and organic solidarity are central for understanding assessment systems. The development of more diversified and specialized production of goods and services in Sri Lanka will be accompanied by a growing middle class which will probably be less tradition-bound. If so, education will change piecemeal and become more individualized and learner-centred, with new modalities of assessment. This will be so, if Durkheim is right in his claim that some social facts are caused by other social facts, not just connected to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
