Exploring Teachers’ Awareness Level Concerning Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) in Rural Primary Schools located in Julau, Sarawak

Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) is a continuous assessment of the Teaching and Facilitating (PdPc) rocess to gather details on the students’ development, progress, competence, and achievement in the goals of the m andated curriculum. The students’ performance are evaluated and measured holistically in the Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD). Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore teachers’ awareness level about implementing Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) in low enrollment schools in rural areas based in Julau, Sarawak. The respondents of the study are 38 primary school teachers from three rural schools in Julau, Sarawak. A set of digital questionnaires was used as a data collection instrument. The descriptive data were analysed using The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 26.0) involving frequency, percentage, and mean score. The study's findings showed that the teachers’ awareness level of implementing Classroom -Based Assessment (PBD) from the rural primary schools in Julau, Sarawak is at a very high level.


Introduction
Various reformations have been implemented in the Malaysian education system. One of them introduced by the former Minister of Education, Dr. Maszlee Malek back in 2019 which was the Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD). The Ministry of Education Malaysia (2019) stated that among the goals of Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) is to free the students from the pressure to study for examination in the early stages of schooling, to establish a fun and meaningful teaching and learning culture, to measure students' development holistically and to provide an equal learning opportunity for all students. According to Sidhu, Kaur, and Chi (2018), the Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) can provide an equal learning opportunity for all students as the assessment is carried out continuously in The Teaching and Facilitating (PdPc) process and the students will have room for selfimprovement. This is closely related to the teachers' role as an implementing agent in Classroom-Based Assessments (PBD) in schools. Teachers play a crucial role in determining the learning objectives based on the Learning Standards stated in the curriculum. Hence, the teachers have to carefully plan the instruments used in the assessment, the implementation process, a proper record and the analysis of the results, a convenient reporting system, and the intervention strategy. The systematic implementation of The Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) will provide a clear picture of students' learning progress based on the Learning Standard in the curriculum.

Research Objective
This study aims to explore the teachers' awareness level of the implementation of Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) in the low-enrollment rural schools situated in Julau, Sarawak.

Literature Review Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD)
The Ministry of Education Malaysia has introduced the Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) in the national education system. This change is in line with the global needs as it emphasised the holistic and comprehensive measurement of students' performance in the teaching and learning process. Therefore, the Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) was being introduced to track students' progress in all aspects. The teachers will by assess all subjects via variety of learning activities that cater to students' ability and not by making comparisons between them. Yates and Johnson (2018) mentioned that every student needs to be given equal attention and guidance so that they would not fall behind in their learning process. Arumugham (2020) said that the teachers should be more aware of the goals of implementing Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) and one of them was to prevent students from falling behind in their learning progress. Therefore, the teachers should carefully choose the suitable method and strategy for conducting the assessment. In Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD), the teachers were given the autonomy to implement the suitable assessment method that suits students' proficiency levels.
In Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD), the teachers should use their professional judgement in determining students' performances level. That means the assessment should be carried out transparently and ethically with adequate training and knowledge about the assessment system given to the teachers. As cited in Masfarizan and Yusoff (2020), the teachers in every subject panel in schools are advised to hold academic discussions in school about demonstrating proper steps and guidance in using professional judgement when conducting the assessment. In addition to that, the teachers also need to keep the students' task sheets in the record as evidence of students' performance levels.

Methodology
This study was conducted involving research design, sampling and research instrument. Cohen, Manion, and Morrison (2018) mentioned that a research design is the key planning and strategy in answering the research questions raised through data collection and analysis. This study has used the research design by using a survey. A survey was implemented to explore teachers' awareness level of Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) in rural primary schools, in Sarawak. Table 1 shows the number of participants in this study consisting of 38 teachers who are currently teaching in the low enrollment rural primary schools situated in Julau, Sarawak. There were 21 male teachers (55.26%) and 17 female teachers (44.74%) that took part in the survey. Purposive sampling has been used to determine the participants in this study. As cited in Noorajamsaha Nasrin and Azizah H Morhsidi (2019), the accurate selection of sampling methods will help to determine the suitable and appropriate samples that suited the purpose of the study. Hence, a group of teachers from rural primary schools in Julau was selected as participants in this study.

Research Instruments
The research instrument used in this study was a digital questionnaire form generated from the Google Form. The link to the digital questionnaire was shared via Whatsapp application with the Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) coordinators. There were 12 research questions built based on the Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) handbook provided by The Ministry of Education Malaysia. The data is collected by transferring the results from the google form. The data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) application to calculate the percentage and mean. Each item in the questionnaire was given a choice of five responses based on the Likert Scale. The respondents need to choose one response from five responses whether they strongly disagree, moderately disagree, slightly disagree, agree, or strongly agree. Table 2 shows the details of the Likert Scale. Strongly Agree

Findings and Discussions
The descriptive data were analysed using the percentage and the mean score to explore teachers' awareness level of Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) from rural schools located in Julau, Sarawak. The descriptive statistics in this study were based on the mean scores shown in Table 3 below. Table 3 Mean Score Based on the Criteria Mean Score Criteria 0.0 to 2.33 Low 2.34 to 3.67 Medium 3.67 to 5.00 High Table 4 shows the list of 12 questions that were provided in the digital questionnaire form in this study. The questions provided are related to the objective of this study which is to explore teachers' awareness levels in rural primary schools located in Julau, Sarawak. The overall mean score for all questions was 4.78 which is a very high level. Based on the high mean score, it showed that the teachers' awareness level of Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) from rural primary schools in Julau, Sarawak is at a high level.

Conclusion
The overall mean score is at a very high level which is 4.78. This proved that the teachers from the rural primary schools in Julau, Sarawak have a very broad and deep knowledge of the implementation of Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD). The data also indicated that the teachers were aware that Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) is an ongoing process in assessing students' performances in all aspects. Most importantly, the teachers were also conscious of their roles in determining students' performances level as it should be carried out in a transparent and ethical manner. In conclusion, the remote area of the school and the insufficient learning facilities were not a hindrance to the teachers in implementing the Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) excellently.