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TITLE: Policy – Assessment and ModerationPolicy Number / 0061
Effective Date / September 2006
Revision Date / September 2009
Approved By / September 2006
This proposed Assessment and Moderation Policy supersede the existing Assessment and Moderation Policy and Procedures (Quality Management Operational Manual)
- PURPOSE:
The promotion of an outcomes-based approach to education, and the requirement that should be registered on the NQF/new NCV Curriculum Development, has resulted in relooking of the assessment of students in learning.
The purpose for which assessment is used needs to focus beyond the summative i.e. (the measuring, recording and reporting of end-point achievements) and begin to emphasize the use of assessment for development and/or formative purpose i.e. to inform and strengthen teaching and learning so as to improve the set standards of performance.
This policy is informed by:
SAQA policy document on Criteria and Guidelines for Assessment NAF Registered Unit Standards and Qualifications (SAQA, October 2001)
Requirements and guidelines for education and training quality assurance bodies: Establishing criteria for registration of assessors (SAQA, February 2001);
Assessment practice and procedure for outcomes-based education and training (SAQA, October 2001:7);
National Policy on the conduct, Administration and Management of the Assessment of the National Certificate (Vocational)
Waterberg FET College Vision, Mission, Values and Strategies Objectives.
- DEFINITIONS OF TERMS:
2.1. Assessment – The process for collecting evidence of learners work to measure and make judgments about the achievement or non achievement of specified NQF standards and / qualifications.
2.2. Assessment criteria – The statements that describe the standard to which learners must perform the actions, roles, knowledge, understanding, skills values and attitudes stated in the outcomes. They are clear and transparent expression of requirements against which successful (or unsuccessful) performance is assessed.
2.3. Assessment task – Learning activities designed to obtain evidence about a learner’s level of competence against stated learning outcomes.
2.4. Continuous assessment – A system of assessment by which all aspects of a student’s performance during a module/course/programme are taken into account when making a judgment about the learner’s level of competence.
2.5. Criterion-referenced assessment – The process of using pre-specified criteria or standards against which to make judgments about a student’s performance.
2.6. Critical Outcomes – Broad, generic cross-curricula outcomes that underpin all learning recognized by SAQA.
2.7. Diagnostic assessment — A specialized procedure which is concerned with determining the causes(s) of persistent or recurring learning difficulties that are left unresolved by formative assessment.
2.8. Evaluation - The process of gathering information from learners, peers and educators in order to reflect on the quality of teaching and learning./The process whereby a qualification, or a learning programme is scrutinized in relation to a set of indicators and /or criteria to decide whether or not it meets minimum requirements.
2.9. Formative Assessment - Assessment which is conducted during instruction to provide learners with feedback about what learning they have achieved in order to improve their competence as well as to develop the curriculum.
2.10. Integration - The grouping of specific earning outcomes from different modules/programmes in terms of skills, knowledge, attitudes and values.
2.11. Internal Moderation - A process designed to ensure that assessment methods are appropriate for the standards being measured, the judgments about learner’s performance against stated learning outcomes are carried out in a consistent and trustworthy manner, and to provide assessors with feedback to improve their assessment practices.
2.12. Learning outcomes - High quality, culminating demonstrations of significant learning in context.
2.13. Moderation – The process of ensuring that all assessors who assess a particular qualification are using equivalent assessment methods, and making similar, and consistent judgments about learners’ performance against stated learning outcomes.
2.14. Outcomes–bases education – A learner – centered, results oriented approach to education that requires learner to demonstrate evidence that they are able to achieve stated learning outcomes.
2.15. Peer assessments - The assessment of learners’ learning/performance by other learners in the same class or cohort in order to help each thither improve their learning /performance.
2.16. Portfolio – A portfolio is a deliberate, strategic and specific collection of a student’s work or evidence of a learner’s work over time that demonstrates the learning that has occurred in order to meet stated learning outcomes.
2.17. Self-assessment – The process whereby students make judgments about their own performance against states outcomes and assessment criteria.
2.18. Summative assessment – Assessment conducted at the end of a module/programme to determine a learner’s level of performance i.e. what the learner knows and can do, in relation to stated outcomes and assessment criteria.
2.19. ISAT - Integrated Summative Assessment
2.20. ICASS - Internal Continuous Assessment
2.21. PoA - Portfolio of Assessment
2.22. PoE – Portfolio of Evidence
- PRINCIPLES ON WHICH THE POLICY IS BASED:
This policy is based on the principles that:
Academic staff (lectures are responsible for the teaching and learning standards that they provide for students to achieve the qualifications they are awarded;
Assessment should both enhance students’ learning experience and improve the quality of teaching and learning;
Assessment is an important quality assurance mechanism;
Inclusively in education is recognized and academic staff should strive to provide for inclusiveness in assessment;
Assessment practices and procedures are based on an outcomes based approach to education and training;
- POLICY OBJECTIVES
Assessment of students performance in modules/programmes is a key component of the College’s teaching responsibility. The process of assessing students should have an educational value in addition to being a way level, or be required to repeat. The assessment of students should therefore be designs to achieve as many of the following purposes as possible:
To be an educational tool to teach appropriate skills, knowledge, values and attitudes;
To set educational standards;
To determine minimum levels of competence;
To provide a measure of students’ ability for future employers;
To determine whether students have met the outcomes of a module/programme;
To inform students of their competence;
To inform academic staff about the quality of their instruction and to foster ongoing development thereof;
To contribute towards the evaluation of a course;
To detect learning problems;
To contribute towards decision-making related to student progress;
To provide students with feedback on their progress; and
To inform curriculum development, Academic remedial interventions and review.
- PRINCIPLES OF GOOD ASSESSMENT PRACTICE
Assessment is viewed as an integral part of teaching and curriculum development. This means that it should be used to develop as well as measure learning. Since assessment can be used both to maintain and challenge existing institutional social structures, assessment practices need to be transparent and assessors need to be accountable.
Credibility in assessment is assured through the assessment practices being governed by the following principles of assessment:
5.1. Fairness
Assessment practices that are reasonable and procedures that are conducted in an equitable manner.
5.2. Validity
Validity concerns the accuracy and appropriateness of methods of assessment and the meaningfulness of the inferences made from the assessment results. Validity seeks to answer questions such as ‘Are we assessing the right things?’ and ‘Are we assessing things in the right manner?
5.3. Reliability
Reliability concerns issues of consistency in assessment, such as whether the same results would be achieved on another occasion or by another assessor; whether the assessor has influenced the results in any way; and whether the results can be generalized to other performances.
5.4. Flexibility
There may be circumstances in which the way the assessment is actually given may need to be a little different for some students because of, for examples, a disability. The assessment must still assess for same skills.
5.5. Sufficiency
There must be enough evidence for the assessor to be able to make the judgment. There must also be sufficient evidence to be sure that the competence is truly embedded in the person.
5.6. Authenticity
The evidence provided by the student should be his/hers and not someone else. A certified copy of students Identity Document/Birth Certificate must be submitted for PoE’s.
5.7. Currency
The evidence that is gathered must be evidence of the skill/knowledge that the student possesses at present.
5.8. Transparency
Assessment practices need to be clearly communicated to the student through notification on agreed assessment criteria and open to scrutiny by stakeholders.
5.9. Practicability
Assessment practices must be feasible and reasonable given the context and resources available.
5.10. Recognizing creativity
In spite of the focus being on assessing previously identified learning outcomes; it is acknowledged that assessment is a creative process in terms of the assessor’s role in responding to unexpected and unstated outcomes. It is to be expected, especially at further education and training level that students will respond creatively and unexpectedly in the learning process. Assessors need to be responsive to this, and be prepared to reward innovative and creative thinking.
5.11. Inclusively in assessment
The South African Constitution values human dignity and is non discriminatory. It aims to develop a human and caring society. The College embraces this philosophy. In line with this thinking, the College should have in place a system wherein students can declare the aspects in which they are challenged. These could be physical and emotional challenges. The College undertakes to put in place assessment practices that will ensure that such students are not disadvantaged or unfairly discriminated against.
- ASSESSMENT
The above principles inform the points of policy listed below.
6.1. Learning outcomes
In an Outcomes-based approach, assessment procedures determine whether or not students have met the stated learning outcomes of a topic/module/programme. Assessors/facilitators therefore need to ensure that their assessment is valid in terms of the outcomes it is intended to assess. Thus learning outcomes need to be clearly identified in each module, and validity in assessment is achieved by aligning assessment tasks and assessment criteria with the stated learning outcomes.
6.2. Assessment task(s)
Assessment task (with assessment criteria/requirements) that facilitate student learning must be agreed upon by respective subject committees for each module/programme and must be submitted to, and be approved by, the appropriate subject expert/HOD, prior to the implementation of the assessment task(s). Approval of the assessment tasks will be based on the extent to which the assessment task meets the requirements as prescribed by assessment guidelines and weighting of each topic in subject guidelines. Each student is expected to complete all scheduled assessment task (ICASS – 7 Assessments as a minimum, and for vocational core the ISAT). Absenteeism or non/late submission of task should be evidence in the student’s portfolio of evidence (Report on absent without a valid reason, or apply for re-assessment and provide proof). (See Students support policy/code of conduct of student as well as the National Policy on Conduct of Assessment for National Certificate Vocational.)
6.3. Assessment criteria
Assessment criteria should be openly and clearly communicated before the assessment task is given to students, both in the interest of transparency and accountability, and to enable the students to use the assessment criteria to monitor and develop their own learning. In other words, students must be informed as to the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes they need to demonstrate in order to achieve the stated learning outcomes of the task.
The learning outcomes and assessment task with assessment criteria should also be communicated to the internal-and external moderators to enable them to make informs judgments.
6.4. Variety of assessment methods
Assessment should be varied i.e. a range of assessment methods should be used to cater for student different learning styles and multiple intelligence. When assessing stated learning outcomes e.g. practical, reports, oral presentations, portfolios, posters, case studies, projects, observations, essays, ect.
6.5. Frequency of assessment
Assessment needs to be frequent to provide guidance to students on their performance and to provide assessors with guidance on how to improve their assessment practices and to feed back into curriculum development. Each programme (subject committees) should draw a schedule for assessment activities and this should be communicated to students at the beginning of the cause/ NCV programme. The frequency will be determined as per programme requirements.
6.6. Integration of assessment
There must be evidence of the integration of knowledge, skills, value and attitudes across assessment tasks. In addition, there must be opportunities for students to demonstrate the achievement of a number of learning outcomes within a single assessment task.
6.7. Formative assessment
6.7.1. Formative assessments should be conducted to provide students with feedback on their performance, and to provide guidance to students on how to improve their performance in future. As such, formative assessment is designed to be for the benefit of student learning rather than being educational decision-making. Formative assessment serves to support the student in the learning process, even if barriers/special needs are identified towards achievement of outcomes, and to inform curriculum development. Each programme should therefore introduce interventions into the curriculum for students in need of support as and when the need arises. See (Educational support in students support policy)
6.7.2. Feedback on formative assessment: Upon being assessed feedback must be given to the students within 14 days of the date of assessment.
6.7.3. Examinations can only be conducted at an approved Department of Education Exam Centre.
6.8. Continuous assessment
Assessments should be designed to take into account all aspects of a student’s performance at various stages of learning processes during a module/programme.
6.9. Monitoring and Moderation of Internal Continuous Assessment and the Integrated Summative Assessment Task.
6.9.1. All Internal Continuous Assessment and Integrated Summative Assessment Task marks must be subjected to internal and external monitoring and moderation. Lecturers PoA must be available at all monitoring and moderation processes for every Level trained.
6.9.2. Guidelines aimed at providing assistance to lecturers in ensuring greater reliability and validity to Internal Continuous Assessment and Integrated summative Assessment Task are issued by the Department of Education or an accredited examination body.
6.9.3. Assessment should be designed to take into account all aspects of a student’s performance at various stages of the learning process during a module/programme.
6.10. Summative assessment
6.10.1. Assessment will be conducted in the form of an external year semester/trimester examination. Details of such are outlined in each programme of study.
6.10.2. Examinations can only be conducted at an approved Department of Education Exam Centre.
6.11. Re-assessment
The assessment system should allow for re-assessment. Re-assessment will be done as agreed between the assessor and student. The number of re-assessments will be determined by the National Policy to conduct and administer assessments for NCV programmes.
- MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS - ABSENTEEISM
Where the student fails to comply with the minimum requirements as indicated in the subjects- and assessment guidelines of any component of the Internal Continuous Assessment and Integrated Summative Assessment Task, the following must apply:
7.1. In the event of a valid reason for failure to comply, the student should be allowed the opportunity to redo the task or, where impractical, the mark for that particular component of the internal assessment mark will not be taken into consideration. “Valid reason”, in this context, constitutes the following:
7.1.1. Medical reason as supported by a valid medical certificate issued by a registered medical practitioner;
7.1.2. Humanitarian reasons, e.g. the death of an immediate family member, if supported by valid written evidence;
7.1.3. The student appearing in a court hearing; supported by written evidence; or
7.1.4. Any other reason as may be declared valid by the Department of Education or his or her nominee.
7.2. In the event of a student failing to comply with the Internal Continuous Assessment or Integrated Summative Assessment Task assessment requirements of a particular subject on the basis of valid reasons, evidence of such valid reason must be included in the student portfolio of Evidence for that subject.
7.3. Absenteeism: Procedures when leaving class or being absent from class
7.3.1. When a student arrives back, he/she reports to the guardian lecturer with written proof/valid reason for being absent or why he/she left the class/centre during class time.
7.3.2. The guardian lecturer submits the written proof to Student Support to keep on the students file and inform other lecturers for re-assessment purposes.
7.3.3. If the student is absent more than 20% with or without a valid excuse, he/she will be refused to write the final exam.
7.3.4. For admission to exams, a minimum of 80% attendance MUST BE OBTAINED. All outstanding money must be FULLY PAID, before the commencement of the examinations.
7.4. Where the student does not comply with the minimum requirements of Internal Continuous Assessment or Integrated Summative Assessment Task for a subject without a valid reason,”0”(zero)is recorded and 0 is used in compilation of the mark for the particular component of internal assessment as a whole.
7.5. Where the lecturer does not comply with the minimum requirements for Internal Continuous Assessment or Integrated Summative ASSESSMENT Task in the subject that he she is responsible for, and students are disadvantaged through no fault of their own, this constitutes an act of misconduct and must be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Employment of Educators ‘Act and related policies. Such students will be accommodated in terms of fair administrative and certification practices and marks adjusted appropriately.
7.6. The Provincial Departments of Education must monitor the implementation of Umalusi’s directives and report Any irregularity without delay to the Department of Education in writing and make recommendations to deal with the irregularity.
7.7. The Department of Education must report any irregularity to the Director General and Umalusi as indicated in terms of section 18(h) of the General and Further Education and Training Quality Assurance Act, 2001 (Act no.58 of 2001).
- MONITORING
8.1. Individuals lecturers, assessors and Heads of department (HOD) are responsible for monitoring the progress of cohorts of students and for introducing curriculum interventions to address challenges as and when these arise.