From High-Stakes to Formative: Malaysia's Assessment Balancing Act

Dr Shafiza Mohamed describes herself as someone who has fallen in love with assessment. As Exams Officer and Head of Assessment Innovations at the Malaysian Examinations Council, she spends her days exploring how digitalisation, AI and technology can transform examination and assessment. She joined the Test Community Network podcast to talk about what's changing in Malaysia — and what's proving harder to change than expected.

Watch the interview in full >

"I don't know, I'm just falling in love with assessment, about testing, about examinations. It's going to be never-ending stories to talk about it."
— Dr Shafiza Mohamed, Exams Officer, Malaysian Examinations Council

Why is Malaysia rethinking its approach to examinations?

Malaysia, like much of Asia, has a deep cultural attachment to high-stakes examinations. Parents value standardised measures of their children's progress. Society sees exam results as visible proof that the government's investment in education is producing outcomes. Assessment, as Dr Shafiza puts it, is the mechanism through which every ringgit spent on public education can be seen to be working.

But the world is moving in a different direction — towards formative assessment that involves teachers and students more actively in the process, rather than relying solely on summative examinations at the end of a course.

"In Asia, we parents love examination, we love high-stakes assessment. We love a more standard way to measure our kids' progress. That's the issue — now in the world, we are talking about moving away from high-stakes examinations."
— Dr Shafiza Mohamed, Exams Officer, Malaysian Examinations Council

Dr Shafiza describes this as an evolving situation. Malaysia wants more involvement from teachers in measurement — not only from the examinations body — but the shift requires navigating a society that has placed enormous trust in the exam system as it stands.

Does workforce readiness start in the classroom?

The Asia ATP Annual Conference 2026, taking place in Kuala Lumpur from 1–3 November, is built around the theme "Stepping Into the Future and Powering Asia's Workforce". Dr Shafiza's argument is that workforce readiness cannot begin at the point of adult assessment — it has to be built from the school years upwards.

"It doesn't start at the adult assessment. It should be inculcated from the school levels and move forward to the workforce level. The readiness should be from the school level to the workforce level."
— Dr Shafiza Mohamed, Exams Officer, Malaysian Examinations Council

That means assessments need to go beyond the traditional measures of knowledge, skills and attitudes. Dr Shafiza argues that AI literacy skills and digital literacy skills now need to be covered within assessment, because these capabilities are essential for the workforce. Assessment providers, she says, also need to ensure that everything they deliver covers the non-negotiable principles of fairness, validity and reliability — regardless of what new skills are being measured.

Can AI be used inside a high-stakes examination?

Tim raised the argument that the internet was rejected as an in-exam tool because it provided data access, whereas a calculator functioned as a bounded tool. He asked whether there would ever be a position where a chatbot could be used during a high-stakes examination — or whether the better path was to move towards teacher-led continuous assessment instead.

Dr Shafiza's response was pragmatic. She does not think AI can be avoided — and she reaches for an analogy that makes her position immediately clear.

"We cannot avoid AI, as we can see that we cannot avoid last time using calculators. But how actually we can use AI in a more meaningful way in learning."
— Dr Shafiza Mohamed, Exams Officer, Malaysian Examinations Council

She sees a future where chatbots could be embedded in assessments, but only once the groundwork has been laid. The principle of AI needs to be understood by teachers, students and assessment providers first. Students need to learn to use AI critically, responsibly and ethically before it becomes part of the exam hall. The practice, she says, must be inculcated in schools and then embedded throughout the whole system — from education into the workplace.

What does assessment security look like across Asia?

Security is a major concern across the region. Dr Shafiza highlights data privacy, data protection and question leakage as the core issues — and expects them to feature prominently in discussions at Asia ATP 2026. She notes that delegates come from across Asia with different cultural contexts and different assessment structures, which makes the sharing of best practice both more challenging and more valuable.

On proctoring, the Malaysian Examinations Council currently runs a hybrid model: traditional paper-based exams alongside online and computer-based testing. Dr Shafiza sees a role for AI in proctoring, but is clear that human oversight is still essential.

"I do feel we still need human, even though we can let the AI be the proctor as well. But AI must be trained to be a good proctor and probably it takes years to understand so many kinds of cheating mechanisms that can happen. We still need human to review and make judgment."
— Dr Shafiza Mohamed, Exams Officer, Malaysian Examinations Council

Why are school exams still paper-based?

Despite the innovation agenda, Malaysia's school-level examinations remain paper and pencil. Dr Shafiza explains that Malaysia has both an East and West geography, and in rural areas the internet coverage simply does not reach. The MEC already offers online exams for adults, but not yet for school students.

"We have to look into whether the schools or the test centre can have access to the technology and the communications system. We have to make sure that inclusivity and fair access is given to the candidates."
— Dr Shafiza Mohamed, Exams Officer, Malaysian Examinations Council

She also raises a practical point: reading on screen is different from reading on paper, and doing calculations on screen is different from working them through with a pencil. Assessment providers need to ensure that candidates have the best possible experience, and that the mode of delivery does not get in the way of what is actually being measured — a student's knowledge of the content they learned in school.

When Tim asked whether full digital delivery might happen in five years or thirty, Dr Shafiza suggested starting with digital as an option alongside paper, with a full rollout possible within ten years.

What can delegates expect at Asia ATP 2026?

The conference takes place during Visit Malaysia Year, and Dr Shafiza is clearly proud to be welcoming delegates to Kuala Lumpur. She sees it as an opportunity to bring together representatives from across Asia and beyond — to share, to network, and to reconnect with old friends while making new ones.

"I hope that everybody can have the best experience and hospitality by the Malaysian people. This is going to be the best event ever for Asia ATP."
— Dr Shafiza Mohamed, Exams Officer, Malaysian Examinations Council

Asia ATP Annual Conference 2026 (1–3 November, Kuala Lumpur): a-atp.eventlinx.hk/2026

IAEA 2026 Conference: iaea2026.org

Connect with Dr Shafiza Mohamed: LinkedIn