Browsing by Author "Njamela, Doris Nomonde"

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    Learning assessment practices in the Education Department at the Eastern Cape Technikon : an evaluative case study
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2003-03) Njamela, Doris Nomonde; Bitzer, E. M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The new education dispensation and the resultant reform movement have set in motion efforts to transform the assessment of learners' work and learning. The shift towards an integrated approach to education and training based on an outcomes model, is an attempt to raise standards of leaming and teaching performance and depends in part on efforts to transform assessment practices at the micro, meso and macro levels. Policy documents and literature note that it is a matter of consensus that the type of assessment used in any education and training system affects both the curriculum and the teaching methodology. In addition, the South African Qualifications Authority (1997) suggests that assessment is increasingly to be seen as a tool for learning. The National Guidelines for Assessment produced by the National Department of Education show the need for a major paradigm shift in assessment including a shift in its main purposes. The aim of this study was to determine the nature of the current assessment practices in the Education Department of the Eastern Cape Technikon and to evaluate them using the principles of sound assessment derived from the literature study. The research strategy for this study was a qualitative case study. Qualitative data was generated through semi-structured interviews with students 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 Cape Technikon do not represent assessment characteristic of the learning paradigm and do not correspond with sound assessment practices. It appears that a shift from the traditional to the alternative paradigm is necessary in order to improve assessment practices currently in use in the department. Particular guidelines to this effect are offered.