Challenges Affecting the Implementation of Continuous Assessment at the Secondary School Level in Bulawayo Metropolitan Province

Abstract

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. This change has led to the introduction of standardised CA at secondary level. The qualitative study was to analyse CA practises in secondary schools of Bulawayo Metropolitan Province. The study specifically sought to find out the different assessment strategies and their contribution to the pupils. The qualitative methodology and a case study method were employed. 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. The results show that the majority of the teachers in the secondary schools exhibited a high level of incompetence in the use of statistical tools, a skill for which is necessary in presenting the pupils’ performance in a neat and logical manner. The benefit of CA is that, it is guidance oriented since it involves data generating over a long period of time and yields more accurate data for the teacher to modify instruction. The study concludes that the challenges in the implementation of CA included that, some teachers do not possess the required competences for the implementation of CA.