Perceptions of Educators on the Implementation of Continuous Assessment at the Secondary School Level in the Bulawayo Metropolitan Province

Abstract

The importance of assessing learning outcomes using a variety of assessment strategies or techniques and containing data from many sources, rather than the sole dependence on the one-shot examination, has long been recognised worldwide. This has led to major assessment policy changes in both developed and developing countries. Continuous Assessment (CA) has been introduced as part of the examination and assessment innovation in the Zimbabwean education system. CA is intended to be added onto the traditional assessment, that is, summative assessment in order to improve the assessment and evaluation of pupils’ performance, and ultimately the whole process of teaching, learning and assessment. Qualitative data was generated through the researcher as a data generating instrument, questionnaires, interviews, Focus Group Discussion, documents analysis, and observations. The generated data was analysed through Thematic Content Analysis. Results showed that the CA practices done by most of the teachers were faulty and deviated remarkably from policy guidelines except for practical learning areas. Teachers do not possess the required competencies for the implementation of CA. It was also observed that the tasks weighed the teachers down. Their greatest attention was on measuring cognitive attainment rather than including the affective and psychomotor behaviours of the pupils. The study concludes that the majority of the teachers in the secondary schools exhibited a high level of incompetence in the use of statistical tools, a skill which is necessary for presenting the pupils’ performance in a neat and logical manner.