Learning assessment practices in the Education Department at the Eastern Cape Technikon : an evaluative case study

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The new education dispensation and the resultant reform movement have set in motion efforts totransform the assessment of learners' work and learning. The shift towards an integrated approachto education and training based on an outcomes model, is an attempt to raise standards of leamingand teaching performance and depends in part on efforts to transform assessment practices at themicro, meso and macro levels. Policy documents and literature note that it is a matter of consensusthat the type of assessment used in any education and training system affects both the curriculumand the teaching methodology.In addition, the South African Qualifications Authority (1997) suggests that assessment isincreasingly to be seen as a tool for learning. The National Guidelines for Assessment produced bythe National Department of Education show the need for a major paradigm shift in assessmentincluding a shift in its main purposes.The aim of this study was to determine the nature of the current assessment practices in theEducation Department of the Eastern Cape Technikon and to evaluate them using the principles ofsound assessment derived from the literature study. The research strategy for this study was aqualitative case study. Qualitative data was generated through semi-structured interviews withstudents and lecturers in the Education Department of the Eastern Cape Technikon.The study concluded that the assessment practices in the Education Department of the Eastern CapeTechnikon do not represent assessment characteristic of the learning paradigm and do notcorrespond with sound assessment practices. It appears that a shift from the traditional to thealternative paradigm is necessary in order to improve assessment practices currently in use in thedepartment. Particular guidelines to this effect are offered.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University