Has curriculum reform in South Africa really changed assessment practices, and what promise does the revised National Curriculum Statement hold?

Abstract

This article examines the extent to which outcomes-based education, Curriculum 2005 and the Revised National Curriculum Statement provide guidelines for assessment that are consistent with principles of high-quality assessment. It illustrates that important principles such as reliability, validity and fairness are embodied in these curriculum frameworks, but that the principles are not always made explicit. It is claimed that this shortcoming is one of the reasons that concerns about why, how and when to assess learners have been evident in much of the debate surrounding recent South African curriculum reform. The paper argues that if teachers understand the fundamental principles of high-quality assessment, then they will have little difficulty in adapting their assessment practices to the broad guidelines provided by OBE or to the specific guidelines provided by Curriculum 2005, the revised National Curriculum Statement or any future curriculum framework. The paper uses examples from case studies to suggest that when teachers ignore sound assessment practices, assessment becomes a meaningless activity divorced from learning.