- Title
- Implementing the annual national assessment at an ordinary public primary school in the Eastern Cape: a case study analysis
- Creator
- Lascelles, Philippa Anne
- ThesisAdvisor
- Wilmot, Di
- Subject
- Educational tests and measurements -- South Africa
- Subject
- Educational tests and measurements -- South Africa -- Case studies
- Subject
- Education, Elementary -- South Africa
- Subject
- Elementary schools -- South Africa -- Makhanda
- Date
- 2017
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MEd
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7713
- Identifier
- vital:21288
- Description
- This empirical study describes in rich detail five teachers’ perceptions of the Annual National Assessment [ANA] at one level of the school system (Grade Three of the Foundation Phase [FP]) at an ordinary public primary school in an urban area of the Eastern Cape. Secondly, the study described the process of preparing for, implementing and assessing the 2014 ANA at the selected school. In order to generate insights for a deep understanding of how teachers perceive, prepare for and implement the ANA, the challenges that arise, and how the ANA is impacting on curriculum and pedagogy, an interpretive qualitative research approach and case study method were adopted. The researcher, a participant observer operating from an insider position, used ethnographic techniques to describe, document and analyse teachers’ perceptions and experiences of implementing the 2014 ANA tests in a specific context (one school) and at one level of the school system (Grade 3). Data gathered through observations, semi-structured interviews and document analysis were coded and analysed in order to identify emerging themes. These are compared to trends and developments in contemporary literature on educational assessment. The findings revealed that while the teachers were compliant and efficient in their implementation and administration of the ANA, they have a narrow perception of the ANA as a summative assessment serving systemic purposes. There was little, if any, evidence of them using the ANA for the formative assessment purposes intended by policy. As a result, opportunities for using the ANA to enhance teaching and learning were lost. The study illuminated the roles and responsibilities of the teachers, the school management team and Eastern Cape [EC] Department of Education [DoE] in the ANA preparation and implementation process, and the need for strengthening the support provided by the EC DoE. Although context specific, the study sheds light on how Grade 3 teachers in an ordinary public school perceive and implement the ANA. The insights afforded and lessons that can be learned from this case study may be relevant to other Foundation Phase school contexts.
- Format
- 173 pages, pdf
- Publisher
- Rhodes University, Faculty of Education, Education
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Lascelles, Philippa Anne
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