Assessing home economics coursework in senior secondary schools in Botswana

Abstract

The aim of this research was to explore how examiners achieve and maintain high quality assessment during marking and moderation of the BGCSE (Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education) Home Economics coursework in Botswana. In 2000, localization of the Cambridge Overseas School Certificate (COSC) to the Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) took place as per the recommendations of the Revised National Policy on Education (RNPE) document. This new certificate system, marked locally, allows for varied modes of assessment, with more emphasis being placed on continuous assessment. This also means that the assessment is school-based, with teachers centrally involved. As is procedure with this kind of assessment, it is subjected to moderation. However, implementation of this new assessment approach exposed, among other challenges, challenges in establishing dependability of teachers’ assessment, possible increase in teacher workload, teachers’ lack of expertise and confidence in undertaking the assessment scheme. This study, among other things, considers the forms of moderation used by the BGCSE to establish consistency in school-based assessment (SBA) and in so doing, it identifies that a dual form of moderation is used. The main research questions guiding this investigation were: <ul> <li>How are teachers and moderators trained so that they may be competent examiners?</li> <li>How is quality assured during marking of coursework?</li> <li>How does the examining body (BEC) Botswana Examination Council ensure that the examiners adhere to the quality control mechanisms?</li> </ul> This was a qualitative study and the sources of data were semi-structured interviews, document analysis and the research journal. The eight respondents who participated in this study were Home Economics teachers, moderators from senior secondary schools and subject experts from the examining body who were all non-randomly sampled from across the country. Purposive sampling was used based on the respondents’ characteristics relevant to the research problem. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis to describe the phenomenon under inquiry and obtain detailed data. Major findings revealed inconsistencies between teachers and moderators’ marks, and that even though there are procedures that underpin a high quality assessment regime, there is little monitoring by the Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) to ensure adherence by the examiners. Other key concerns included examiners’ dissatisfaction about training and inadequate official support and guidance to equip them as competent examiners in general.