Exploring FET District Subject Advisor's understanding of the tension between formative assessment and summative assessment during the shift from the National Curriculum Statement to Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement

The purpose of this research was to explore the District Subject Advisor’s (DSAs’) understanding of formative and summative assessment. DSAs understanding will play a significant role in assisting teachers to implement assessment in schools. The understanding of the existing disconnection between formative assessment (FA) and summative assessment (SA) will address the discrepancies between school based assessment (SBA) and the final examination mark. Much as DSAs understand different forms of assessment and their purposes, it was evident that there was shortage, or lack, of teacher development. It was observed that what DSAs know and understand in theory does not translate into practice in schools. The findings of the study suggest that the problem might be systemic. The role of DSAs is more one of monitoring policy compliance, than one of development and support. Exploring FET DSA’s understanding of the tension between FA and SA during the shift from NCS to CAPS 10 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ANA: Annual National Assessment CAPS: Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement CASS: Continuous Assessment CIF: Curriculum Information Meeting CRA: Criterion-Referenced Assessment CTA: Common Task Assessment DBE: Department of Basic Education DSAs: District Subject Advisors FA: Formative Assessment FET: Further Education and Training GDE: Gauteng Department of Education GET: General Education and Training LPG: Learning Programme Guidelines LTSM: Learner Teacher Support Material NCS: National Curriculum Statement NPRR: National Protocol on Recording and Reporting NQF: National Qualifications Framework NRA: Norm-Referenced Assessment SA: Summative Assessment SAGs: Subject Assessment Guidelines SBA: School Based Assessment SSIP: Secondary School Improvement Plan Exploring FET DSA’s understanding of the tension between FA and SA during the shift from NCS to CAPS 11 LIST OF FIGURES Pg. No. Figure 1: Relationship between assessment, teaching and learning 82 Figure 2: Relationship between formative assessment and learner achievement 87 Figure 3: Relationship between assessment, teaching and learning 90 Figure 4: Tension between formative and summative assessment 93 Figure 5: Position of policy: NCS-CAPS regarding implementation of formative assessment.97 Figure 6: Examination driven assessment 98 Figure 7: Relationship between summative assessment and standardized testing 106 Figure 8: Standardized testing and teaching to the test 108 Figure 9: Relationship between formative assessment, CASS and SBA 110 Figure 10: The responsibility to develop assessment task 111 Exploring FET DSA’s understanding of the tension between FA and SA during the shift from NCS to CAPS 12 LIST OF DIAGRAMS Pg. No. Diagram 1 Triangle: curriculum, assessment and pedagogy 22 Diagram 2 Range of testing techniques for assessment of attainment 32 Diagram 3 Organizing, coding and analysing data 69 Exploring FET DSA’s understanding of the tension between FA and SA during the shift from NCS to CAPS 13 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION