{"id":{"repo_id":"cape-town","oai_identifier":"oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10306"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cape-town/oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10306","repository":{"repo_id":"cape-town","name":"University of Cape Town","base_url":"https://open.uct.ac.za/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Standards of South African Senior Certificate Biology examinations : 1994 to 2007. Volume 1 : Chapters and references.","abstract":"Public examinations, such as the South African Senior Certificate (SC) examinations at the end of Grade 12, signal two messages to the society in which they operate: first, the competencies that are valued, that is, its standards; second, the required level of mastery in these competencies that are construed as indicators of success. The SC examinations certified successful students as competent to enter the workforce and, if they obtained a matriculation exemption, qualified them for admission to tertiary study. The SC was not a part of an explicit standards-based curriculum, and there is thus little understanding, but much public speculation, about the relationship between student achievement in the SC examinations, competency and standards. In an attempt to understand this relationship - with a particular focus on the role of standards - in the SC Biology examinations over a period of time, the answer to the following research question was sought: What did the SC Biology examinations in South Africa assess; did their focus change during the period 1994 to 2007; and, if so, what did this change mean?. Both in South Africa and internationally, \"standards\" is an often-used educational term, the meaning of which has become confused in the literature and by public use. In this study, a methodology to make explicit the standards inherent within the SC Biology examinations - and the relationship between standards and student achievement - was developed, described and applied.","abstract_html":"Public examinations, such as the South African Senior Certificate (SC) examinations at the end of Grade 12, signal two messages to the society in which they operate: first, the competencies that are valued, that is, its standards; second, the required level of mastery in these competencies that are construed as indicators of success. The SC examinations certified successful students as competent to enter the workforce and, if they obtained a matriculation exemption, qualified them for admission to tertiary study. The SC was not a part of an explicit standards-based curriculum, and there is thus little understanding, but much public speculation, about the relationship between student achievement in the SC examinations, competency and standards. In an attempt to understand this relationship - with a particular focus on the role of standards - in the SC Biology examinations over a period of time, the answer to the following research question was sought: What did the SC Biology examinations in South Africa assess; did their focus change during the period 1994 to 2007; and, if so, what did this change mean?. Both in South Africa and internationally, "standards" is an often-used educational term, the meaning of which has become confused in the literature and by public use. In this study, a methodology to make explicit the standards inherent within the SC Biology examinations - and the relationship between standards and student achievement - was developed, described and applied.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Crowe, Anna Aletta"],"institution":"School of Education","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Laugksch, Rudiger C","Dunne, Tim"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012","date_published":"2012","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:05Z","subjects":[],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10306","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Laugksch, Rudiger C","Dunne, Tim"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Crowe, Anna Aletta"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-12-27T19:52:30Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-12-27T19:52:30Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2012"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["School of Education"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cape Town"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Doctoral Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["PhD"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10306"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Includes bibliographical references."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Public examinations, such as the South African Senior Certificate (SC) examinations at the end of Grade 12, signal two messages to the society in which they operate: first, the competencies that are valued, that is, its standards; second, the required level of mastery in these competencies that are construed as indicators of success. The SC examinations certified successful students as competent to enter the workforce and, if they obtained a matriculation exemption, qualified them for admission to tertiary study. The SC was not a part of an explicit standards-based curriculum, and there is thus little understanding, but much public speculation, about the relationship between student achievement in the SC examinations, competency and standards. In an attempt to understand this relationship - with a particular focus on the role of standards - in the SC Biology examinations over a period of time, the answer to the following research question was sought: What did the SC Biology examinations in South Africa assess; did their focus change during the period 1994 to 2007; and, if so, what did this change mean?. Both in South Africa and internationally, \"standards\" is an often-used educational term, the meaning of which has become confused in the literature and by public use. In this study, a methodology to make explicit the standards inherent within the SC Biology examinations - and the relationship between standards and student achievement - was developed, described and applied."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Standards of South African Senior Certificate Biology examinations : 1994 to 2007. Volume 1 : Chapters and references."]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Laugksch, Rudiger C","Dunne, Tim"],"dc:creator":["Crowe, Anna Aletta"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-12-27T19:52:30Z"],"dc:date.available":["2014-12-27T19:52:30Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2012"],"dc:description":["Includes bibliographical references."],"dc:description.abstract":["Public examinations, such as the South African Senior Certificate (SC) examinations at the end of Grade 12, signal two messages to the society in which they operate: first, the competencies that are valued, that is, its standards; second, the required level of mastery in these competencies that are construed as indicators of success. The SC examinations certified successful students as competent to enter the workforce and, if they obtained a matriculation exemption, qualified them for admission to tertiary study. The SC was not a part of an explicit standards-based curriculum, and there is thus little understanding, but much public speculation, about the relationship between student achievement in the SC examinations, competency and standards. In an attempt to understand this relationship - with a particular focus on the role of standards - in the SC Biology examinations over a period of time, the answer to the following research question was sought: What did the SC Biology examinations in South Africa assess; did their focus change during the period 1994 to 2007; and, if so, what did this change mean?. Both in South Africa and internationally, \"standards\" is an often-used educational term, the meaning of which has become confused in the literature and by public use. In this study, a methodology to make explicit the standards inherent within the SC Biology examinations - and the relationship between standards and student achievement - was developed, described and applied."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10306"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher.department":["School of Education"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Cape Town"],"dc:title":["Standards of South African Senior Certificate Biology examinations : 1994 to 2007. Volume 1 : Chapters and references."],"dc:type":["Doctoral Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["PhD"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:05Z"}