Values in education 

The long years children spend at school are not only about acquiring key knowledge and skills. At school, children also learn to work together, share, exchange opinions, disagree, choose fairly, and so on. We could call these abilities social skills as they help children live and flourish in a wider community than their family circle.

Social skills are not necessarily the same as social values. Children acquire social skills from all kinds of settings. The tools they use to resolve problems will often come from examples. In the playground, children observe each other and notice behavior. They realize what is acceptable to the other children and which strategies are successful. Some of the things they observe will not reflect healthy social values. 

Part of a school’s mission is to help children learn social skills firmly based on a shared set of values. Many schools recognize this and have a program for education in values. 

What values are we talking about? 

Labeling is always tricky when dealing with an abstract concept such as social values. General ideas include:

• living in a community, collaborating together
• respecting others in all of human diversity
• caring for the environment and the surroundings
• having a sense of self-worth.

At the root of these values are ethical considerations. While it may seem that primary education is too early for ethics, children from a very young age do have a sense of fairness and a sense of honesty. This doesn’t mean that children never lie or behave unfairly. Of course they do! But from about three years old, children know that this behavior is not correct, and they complain when they come across it in others. 

In the school context, social values are too often reduced to a set of school rules and regulations. Typical examples are:

• 'Don't be late!'
• 'Wait your turn!'
• 'Pick up your rubbish!'
• 'Don't invent unkind nicknames'.

While all these statements reflect important social values, if we don’t discuss them with the children, the reasoning behind each statement gets lost. They become boring school rules. And we all know that it can be fun to break school rules if you can get away with it. These regulations are not enough to represent an education in values.

School strategies

At a school level, successful programs often focus on a specific area of a values syllabus. These programs involve all members of a school community: students, teachers, parents, and administrative staff. 

Here are some examples of school programs:

Caring for the environment

Interest in ecology and climate change has led many schools to implement programs focused on respect for the environment and other ecological issues. Suitable activities could include:

• a system of recycling
• a vegetable garden
• initiatives for transforming to renewable energy
• a second-hand bookstore.

Anti-bullying programs

As bullying can have such serious consequences, many schools have anti-bullying policies to deal with bullying incidents. However, the most effective programs also have training sessions for teachers and a continuous program for the children to help them identify bullying behavior. Activities include:

• empathy activities to understand different points of view
• activities to develop peer responsibility about bullying
• activities aimed at increasing children’s sense of self-worth.

Anti-racism programs 

Combating negative racial stereotypes has, until recently, relied mainly on individual teacher initiatives. However, as racial stereotypes are constructed in society, it would be useful to have a school-wide program. This could include:

• materials focusing on the achievements of ethnic minorities
• school talks from members of ethnic minority communities 
• empathy activities to understand the difficulties of marginalized groups.
• study of the culture and history of ethnic minorities.

As children learn from observed behavior, it’s important that everyone in the school community acts consistently with the values in the program.

Managers and HR professionals have a global workforce at their fingertips – and now, nearly 50% of organizations plan to let employees work from home. This makes adopting a secure English language test for employment more important than ever.

An online English test enables organizations to assess candidates’ language proficiency from anywhere in the world, screen more applicants, and standardize the hiring process. They also help HR professionals and managers to save time – ensuring only people with the right language skills advance to the interview stage.

But how can employers be certain these tests are safe? And how easy is it for people to cheat? In this article, we’ll explore a few of the top security concerns we hear, and share what features make online language tests secure.

What is an online English test?

An online English test measures how well a job applicant can communicate in English, focusing on speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. They also assess a candidate’s specific English for business skills – for example, how clearly someone can communicate on the phone with clients, or understand what is being said during a conference call.

Online tests can be taken in a controlled environment – in a testing center with in-person proctors – but also from a job applicant’s personal computer or mobile phone at home. When tests are taken at home, they can be made more secure using virtual proctors or powerful AI monitoring technology.

Cheating, grading and data security

When many people think of taking a language test, they imagine the traditional way: students in a large testing center scribbling away with pen and paper. No mobile phones are allowed, and if test-takers are caught cheating, they’ll be flagged by a proctor walking around the room.

So when managers or HR professionals consider the option of an online English test – taken digitally and often without human supervision – it’s no surprise that many have questions about security. Let’s take a look at some common concerns:

Is cheating a problem?

A large number of test takers admit to cheating on their tests. According to research by the International Center for Academic Integrity, 68% of undergraduate students say they’ve cheated on a writing assignment or test, while 43% of graduate students say they have.

But how easy is it to cheat during a Versant test?

The truth is, not very. With Versant, exam cheating is actually quite difficult, and test takers would have to outsmart a range of AI monitoring technologies.

If a verified photo is uploaded to the platform, HirePro’s face recognition technology can compare the live test taker with it. This ensures test takers are who they say they are, and haven’t asked someone else to sit the exam for them. It is the institution’s responsibility to verify the original photo.

And since Versant tests are monitored using specialized AI algorithms – without a human present – even the slightest suspicious behaviors are flagged for review. For example, Versant notices if a different face appears in the video, or if the camera goes dark. With video monitoring, our platform also flags if the test taker moves from the camera, or looks away multiple times. And we’ll see if someone changes tabs on their computer.

Finally, the entire test is recorded. When suspicious behavior arises, HR professionals will decide whether to accept or reject the results – or have the candidate retake the test.

Are scores accurate?

We’ve all had frustrating experiences with AI. Chatbots don’t always understand what we’re trying to say, and speech recognition technology sometimes isn’t up to par. This leaves many wondering if they should trust AI to grade high-stakes tests – especially when the results could be the difference between someone getting the job, or not.

Versant uses patented AI technology to grade tests that are trained and optimized for evaluating English language proficiency. It evaluates speaking, listening, reading, writing, and even intelligibility.

Our AI is trained using thousands of fluent and second-language English speakers. With these models, we’re able to not only evaluate how someone should be assessed but also understand when they’ve mispronounced words or have made another mistake. Using all this information, a candidate’s final score is evaluated based on more than 2000 data points.

Do online tests follow GDPR standards?

HR professionals and managers deal with sensitive personal information every day. This includes each job applicant’s name, full address, date of birth, and sometimes even their social security number. The HR tools they implement therefore must also keep this data secure.

Most importantly, it must follow GDPR standards. The data must be gathered with consent and protected from exploitation. With Versant, test-taker data is securely stored and follows all GDPR guidelines.

All our data is encrypted at rest and in transmission. Versant assessment data is stored in the US and HirePro, our remote monitoring partner, stores the proctoring data in either Singapore or Europe, depending on customer needs. Both systems are GDPR compliant.

Versant: a secure English language test

The Versant automated language test is powered by patented AI technology to ensure the most accurate results for test takers and employers alike. Even better, our remote testing lets HR professionals securely and efficiently assess candidates worldwide, 24/7 – and recruit top global talent to help more companies scale.

Max Kortrakul is CEO and co-founder of StockRadars, a premier mobile application (app) for stock investors in Thailand. The company was one of Southeast Asia's most well-funded technology start-ups and won an Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Award in 2014.

Technology start-up companies are flourishing in Southeast Asia, where record deals were made in 2015. According to a report released by Temasek and Google Singapore, within ten years, the internet economy in the region could reach US$200 billion annually. Here, Max recounts how he recruited investors for his app and went on to build his start-up company from scratch – and how his knowledge of the English language has helped him create a company worth an estimated US$15 million. 

Why did you decide to develop an app for stock investors?

“People tend to shake their heads at the mention of the stock market; it involves big numbers, lots of data and is high risk. I thought about investing but there weren’t any helpful tools to do so. My idea was simple: make investment easier for myself and for others in Thailand and that led to my idea for the StockRadars app.”

How did you know your idea was a good one?

“It was the one that kept me awake at 3am, so I put all my energy into finishing the app. Trusting your own intellect is crucial because sometimes you have to actualise your idea before you can even tell if it’s a good or bad one. If it works, then good for you. You never know, you could be standing in line to be added to the The Unicorn List – private companies valued at more than $1 billion. If your idea bombs, you can always move on and try another one.”

When you pitched your idea to investors, how did you approach it?

“I made sure that potential investors could see the value of my idea, not by presenting the projected numbers but by showing how much dedication, time and energy I had put into the project. When you’re able to prove that you have invested in yourself, the investors will invest in you too. I also pitched hard with facts about the importance of the product – I wanted investors to understand that if the app can balance the risk of stock investment, then we can make it less complicated for our users.”

What was your greatest fear when you were in the meeting?

“I tried not to think of myself as a small, powerless business from a small country with very few successful technology start-up companies. Thoughts like that could have hindered me when I was pitching – but I try not to be the kind of person who overthinks things. Of course, you have to pitch your idea in English, which can be daunting. People often believe that you have to use big words and jargon to give the impression that you’re clever but that’s not necessarily true. Investors are people, too, and people want to listen to something simple, with clear facts. Luckily, I had learnt to speak English while I was working for an IT company in Vietnam.”

Has working in a multicultural workplace shaped the way you think?

“I learnt to embrace diversity. Many people speak English but will speak their version of it – Thai English, Singlish (Singaporean English), Vietnamese English, and so on. The more you understand the English language, the better communication you will have. We may not be a fully multicultural workplace at the moment but we lean in that direction. We took on interns from Nepal and England, which was great as we gained new perspectives from other cultures with different beliefs and mindsets than our own. It’s very beneficial when we’re brainstorming – and that’s how we came up with a variety of ideas to adapt our platform.”

Do you think learning English can help other technology start-up companies in Southeast Asia achieve more?

“English is the language that connects you to the world and if you can speak it, it means more opportunities and you’ll meet more people. There are many tech start-ups in Southeast Asia and now is the time when start-up ideas are likely to become a reality – and knowing the English language will help.”