Assessment

Overview

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  • Certification or awards, as recognition that a learner has completed a particular course of study and/or has achieved a defined level of competence.
  • Selection, into further study, training or job levels.
  • Diagnosis, to give information to learner and educators on progress, barriers, strengths and weaknesses during the course of study or training.
  • Monitoring and evaluation of the quality of an institution's delivery.
  • Quality assurance, through monitoring and evaluation of education or training systems.

Internationally and in South Africa, the past two decades have seen growing recognition that educational assessment can have powerful effects on the quality of teaching and learning, and on a nation’s education and training systems.

Purposes

Assessment processes gather different kinds of evidence in order to measure or evaluate learning, knowledge or skills. Judgements are then made about a learner’s (or group of learners’) learning progress and achievements. Assessment information is used for a number of purposes, such as:

Assessment and the NQF

The NQF is often described as an ‘assessment-led’ system, in that assessment is seen as a key tool in achieving some of the aims of the NQF. Assessment has a role to play in both the NQF quality assurance model, and in relation to the conceptual framework of the NQF. The focus on clearly described learning outcomes and standards links to a desire for transparent and public assessment practices. Assessment in the NQF is defined as ‘… the process of gathering and weighing evidence in order to determine whether learners have demonstrated applied competence in relation to outcomes.’

Scope

Assessment is a huge and complex field, ranging from the micro level (e.g. class-room based assessments of individuals) to the macro level (e.g. national and public assessment systems and policies). The terrain includes the why, when, what, how and who of assessment, and areas such as forms of referencing, modes of recording and reporting, moderation and verification procedures, and types and methods of assessment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Category: NQF approaches and understandings

1. Why is assessment so prominent in the NQF and education policy generally? click here
2. There seems to be quite a lot of technical jargon around assessment in the NQF: what
essential knowledge for the non-specialist who has to work around assessment? click here
3. What is integrated assessment, and why is it emphasized in the NQF? click here
4. Where can I find an easily accessed guide on the most commonly used terminology in
assessment? click here
5. What are level descriptors, and how do they relate to assessment? click here

Category: Nature and scope of assessment

6. How do assessment and curriculum relate to one another? Surely curriculum comes
before assessment? click here
7. What is the difference between educational measurement, assessment and
evaluation? click here
8. Isn't assessment supposed to be completely objective? How do we ensure complete
objectivity in our tasks, tests and judgements? click here
9. What is the relationship between subject matter expertise and assessment expertise?
Why isn't subject matter expertise enough for good assessment? Or why can't someone
who has assessment expertiseassess any subject? click here
10. Does the emphasis on assessment not undermine our time for teaching and
click here

Category: Assessment personal

11. Who is most responsible for assessment in an education or training
organisation? click here
12. What is a registered assessor and how do I become one? click here

Category: Assessment costs

13. What should be taken into account when costing for assessment? click here

Useful background information

In this section you will find reports, articles and papers of interest on various assessment issues.

Higher Education Qualifications Framework, Government Gazette October 2007. click here

Position Paper. Implementing Engineering Qualifications under the HEQF. Engineering Council of South Africa, February 2008. (This paper gives useful insight into possible application of the new levels in the Higher Education Qualifications Framework). click here

SAQA Bulletin: Special Issue on Levels and Level Descriptors. SAQA Bulletin Volume 4 Number 1 May 2000.    (This journal contains conceptual discussion of issues around level descriptors.) click here

SAQA Criteria and Guidelines for the Registration of Assessors, October 2001. click here
Conference Paper. A National Qualifications Framework (NQF) -  No-Quick-Fix for  life-long learning and assessment. Oberholzer, A. Paper presented at the IAEA Conference, September 2005. click here

Conference Paper. Using Assessment for Quality Assurance. King, M. Paper presented at IAEA Conference September 2002. click here

Summary of Umalusi functions regarding exams and assessment. click here

Umalusi. Quality Assurance of Assessment. Policies, Directives, Guidelines and Requirements. July 2006. click here

Research Report. Options for Quality Assurance in the TVET Sector. Umalusi. October 2003. click here

NQF Support Link Module 4 Seminal Text, The NQF and Assessment. click here

Newsletter Article. What to do when results are hard to swallow: practical guidelines for dealing with results that do not meet reasonable expectations. The Learning Network. Issue 1 of 2008, May 2008. click here

Newsletter Article. The development and recognition of competence. The Learning Network, Issue 3 of 2007, August 2007. click here

Journal Article. Validating academic assessment: a hermeneutical perspective. Graaf J, Reed Y, Shay S. Journal of Education Number 33, 2004. click here

Upcoming changes

In this section you will find notice of any upcoming legislation or policy debates which may impact on the topic on this page.
There are a number of developments taking place in the NQF landscape which will affect Assessments. Key Documents are:
Joint Policy Statement by the Ministers of Education and Labour.
This statement refers to the setting up of the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO). The QCTO will have jurisdiction over all workplace or occupational learning at all levels of the NQF, and will have overall responsibility for learnerships, while working with the relevant SETA. click here
NQF Bill 2008.This bill incorporates thenew thinking around the NQF. click here
Vorwerk, C. 2007. Occupational Qualifications Framework: Proposals for a revised approach to the development and management of occupational qualificationsin the NQF. Q-Africa 2007 Conference, November 2007.This paper gives some insight into the current debates around re-framing the approach to occupational qualifications, including the structure, delivery and assessment of occupational qualifications. Other papers delivered at this conference are also relevant to learnerships, and can be found on the SAQA website. click here
Frequently asked questions on the HEQF.
The new Higher Education Qualifications Framework has some implications for assessment. The Frequently Asked Questions on the Higher Education Qualifications Framework (HEQF) put together by the DoE, SAQA and the CHE is included here to enable discussion and planning. click here

Acts and Regulations relating to Assessment

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  • South African Qualifications Authority Act 58 of 1995 click here
  • GENFETQA Act 58 of 2001 click here
  • Further Educationand Training Act No 98 of 1998 click here
  • Further Education and Training Colleges Act No 16 of 2006 click here
  • South African Schools Act No 84 of 1996 click here
  • Higher Education Act No101 of 1997 click here
  • Higher Education Amendment Bill 2008. click here

Broad policy around assessment will be integrated into key Acts such as the following:

You will find links in the listing of all education and training related Acts and Regulations on the ‘General’ page. You should also refer to the draft legislation noted on ‘Upcoming Changes’.

The national Department of Education and the provincial Departments of Education carry out various functions as assessment bodies, and you will find specific assessment policies and regulations governing the public sector, for schools and FET colleges, on these websites. Umalusi, together with national DoE, has regulatory responsibilities over schooling and FET colleges. Umalusi is also in the process of developing regulations which relate to accreditation and assessment for the private sector.  Regulations regarding assessment in the context of learnerships can be found on the Learnership Page of the NQF Gateway.

How to order and enrol for the NQF Support Link

If you would like more information on the NQF Support Link, please click here.

Discussion Forum

This is your space to comment, to ask questions and to share with other practitioners in the field. Topics could cover any aspects of assessment.  We would also like to encourage users to share any useful resources or information they have come across.