Estudio de caso transfronterizo: Paso Canoas – Chiriquí (Costa Rica – Panamá)

This study explored formative assessment in classroom practice. Short classroom observation sessions, analysis of teachers’ written feedback to learners; and short interview sessions with four Grade 4 English teachers were used to determine:

 What the teachers’ understanding of formative assessment is?  How teachers experience formative assessment?

 How teachers use formative assessment in the instruction process? The data was analysed using Morais’ theory of evaluative criteria which in turn is based on Bernstein’s concept of framing. The findings were interpreted within the context of Bernstein’s theory of instructional practice, that is, acquisition-evaluation- transmission where the evaluative criteria is at the core of instruction within the evaluative context.

An overarching interpretation of this study show that the three respondents who were trained in South Africa showed different levels of misperceptions in the modalities of practicing and administering formative assessment. In contrast, the teacher who was trained in Zimbabwe transmitted knowledge within an evaluative context as described by Bernstein (1990) in Chapter Four. This difference may be explained by different teacher education systems.

Two teachers were more recently qualified in post-apartheid South Africa while Lash had been trained and qualified during the apartheid era. T4 was trained as a teacher in Zimbabwe. One may argue that teacher training within the scope of the post-apartheid era has teachers corresponding to a stronger degree of framing

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evaluative criteria in instruction. In view of the above, this study has shown the following:

a) That race and age were factors that did not influence teachers’ lack of understanding and skills in using of formative assessment.

b) That the training period of the teachers had no impact on the way they understood or used formative assessment.

c) Teachers are not reluctant to use the new approach to assessment. They acknowledge that assessing learners during the teaching process is crucial in identifying learners’ understanding of the skills and knowledge. Teachers are aware that learner achievement and understanding of the knowledge and skills are important.

6.5.2 Key Emergent Ideas

While the teacher who had a good understanding of formative assessment, conceptualized the process of explicit evaluative criteria in the context of transmission and acquisition, the teachers who did not conceptualize the significance of evaluative criteria in the transmission-acquisition process, were unable to use formative assessment in classroom practice.

However, the interview discussions showed that teachers were not reluctant in the usage of formative assessment methods. They wanted their learners to learn. But one may argue that there were other underlying factors that could have prevented the three South African teachers from effectively using formative assessments, namely, the large classes and time constraints. However, it is necessary to point out that the Zimbabwean teacher was exposed to the same conditions.

Therefore this study concludes that a section of teachers do not understand formative assessment and they still hold on to the traditional assessment methods because they are either poorly trained in the evaluative context of transmission–

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acquisition or their mind-set is of the old school of thought. Whether they were trained in the pre or post-apartheid era had no implications on the teachers’ understanding of formative assessment.

6.6 Recommendations

The findings of this study may serve as a platform for the Department of Education of South Africa to review the teacher assessment training programmers and to develop skills development programmers to make certain that all teachers are proficient in understanding and using formative assessment in classroom practice. In addition, further investigations could be undertaken at institutions for higher education and teacher training colleges to assist and train teachers in applying the new assessment processes.

Further comparative studies between Zimbabwean and South African teacher training institutes could be undertaken in order to investigate and establish assessment training programmes that will facilitate formative assessment in the South African context. The findings can serve as a body of knowledge for future studies in the field of formative assessment.

6.7 Limitations

A study of this nature is invariably plagued by various limitations. My position as an Education department official impacted on the study. During the study, I observed that the teachers were very formal in their teaching and addressed me in my capacity of an official of the Department of Education even though this study was in no way related to my role in the department. The teachers’ response to me in my official capacity instead of that of a researcher could have influenced the findings of my study.

A further constraint was that my research was affected by the on-going teachers’ strike action. It was my intention to conduct this study at a primary school in

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Soweto that had an all-African management staff, teachers and learners. At the beginning of this study two of the four African teachers who volunteered to participate in the study withdrew. They withdrew because of the industrial strike action that was taking place at the time. As a result I had to find two more participants in a second school.

An added limitation was the limited samples and participants that I had access to. As a novice researcher I did not have the expertise to probe into many of the responses and observations during the interview sessions. During the analysis period the responses of some of the participants were rather vague.