Departmental heads’ and teachers’ understanding and implementation of the assessment policy statement in the foundation phase

Abstract

South Africa has had several changes in the curricula from the time it became a democratic country. The implementation of changes in the curricula has been problematic which made it necessary to introduce further changes. This study explored how Foundation Phase teachers and Department Heads (DHs) understand assessment and implement assessment policy. A total of three primary schools in the Gauteng, district of Ekurhuleni North was chosen as the sites of the study. Three teachers and three DHs from Foundation Phase (Grade 1-3) were chosen to participate in the study. Two participants (one teacher and one DH) were selected in each school. Data was generated through interviews with the participants. A thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data from the interviews. Thematic analysis was suitable for this study because it is a technique that enables the researcher to systematically identify, organize and give an in depth understanding of themes across the generated data. The findings of this study show the different ways in which the teachers and the DHs understand assessment and how they implemented the assessment policy. The teachers perceived assessment as a tool that is used to determine the progression of the learners as well as identifying the learners who are not performing well and assisting them. While the DHs perceived assessment and assessment policy as a tool for planning as well as obtaining feedback of the teaching and learning process. While teachers played the role of developing learners to improve in their performance, the DHs performed the leadership and management role in the implementation of the assessment policy. The challenges that the teachers experience as well as the support that they need are also presented. This study gives recommendations that other stakeholders like parents should play a supportive role in the pre-assessment, during assessment and post-assessment periods of the assessment policy to improve the performance of learners.