The lessons learnt from the administration of the annual national assessment during implementation in the Umkhanyakude district

The Annual National Assessment (ANA) is the largest roll-out of any standardized test within the South African education system especially at the General Education and Training (GET) phase. Teachers generally appreciated ANA as low stakes and a diagnostic assessment when it was implemented, whiles education officials commended the assessment for making schools and teachers much more accountable. As a result of an increased demand for accountability from policy makers in later years, ANA seemed to have replaced the core teaching and assessment practices of teachers and schools. Teachers through their respect unions bemoaned the assessment for becoming high stakes instead of diagnostic. The assessment was therefore put on hold in 2015 pending further discussions with the relevant stakeholders before re-introduction. This study investigated the lessons learnt from the administration of ANA during implementation in the Umkhanyakude district. Mixed methods approach was adopted for this study. Results from this study indicated that ANA had both positive and negative impacts. Some of the positive impacts were that some teachers understood the ANA administration processes because of the workshops attended, and also appreciated ANA’s contribution to exposing them to current trends in assessment. Education officials agreed that ANA was an effective accountability and diagnostic tool and helped to improve the test construction abilities of teachers. Conversely, other teachers were not favorably disposed towards the effect of ANA on schools. Some of the Issues raised were that, ANA exposed schools negatively, put pressure on teachers and was a waste of time. The lack of parental involvement in the assessment was a sore point for teachers as well. This study acknowledges the substantial impact that ANA has had on teachers, schools and the teaching and learning process. Further, the study recommends stakeholder involvement and ownership of any future assessment process. The need for test and curriculum alignment is advocated, in addition to that, ANA must be recognized as a diagnostic test instead of a high stakes test.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Zululand

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Mensah, Frank Joseph

• Annual National Assessment (ANA)
• General Education and Training (GET)

Licence

• https://devspace.unizulu.ac.za/bitstreams/82cc099f-4987-4dc2-a1ee-4ef6ae9e76e8/download