Browsing by Author "Mensah, Frank Joseph"

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    The experiences of primary school educators with the national reading strategy in Mbabane Circuit, iNgwavuma.
    (University of Zululand, 2017) Mensah, Frank Joseph; Sibaya, P.T; Pillay, P.
    Given the need to employ effective reading strategies in the primary school, this article sets out to address the question of primary school educators’ experiences with the National Reading Strategy (NRS). The study focuses on six (6) primary schools in the Mbabane Circuit at Ingwavuma in UMkhanyakude District of South Africa. Forty (40) primary school educators from the selected schools within the circuit took part in a quantitative survey. Pearson’s chisquare was employed to explore the relative effects of teachers’ biographical data and their experiences with the NRS. The findings suggest that teachers’ gender, job title, teaching phase, experience in years and qualifications had an influence on their experiences with the NRS. On the other hand, teachers’ age was shown to have no relationship with their experiences with the NRS. The study confirms the appropriateness of understanding how teachers’ biographical data relate to and impact on reading intervention strategies.
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    The lessons learnt from the administration of the annual national assessment during implementation in the Umkhanyakude district
    (University of Zululand, 2020) Mensah, Frank Joseph
    The Annual National Assessment (ANA) is the largest roll-out of any standardized test within the South African education system especially at the General Education and Training (GET) phase. Teachers generally appreciated ANA as low stakes and a diagnostic assessment when it was implemented, whiles education officials commended the assessment for making schools and teachers much more accountable. As a result of an increased demand for accountability from policy makers in later years, ANA seemed to have replaced the core teaching and assessment practices of teachers and schools. Teachers through their respect unions bemoaned the assessment for becoming high stakes instead of diagnostic. The assessment was therefore put on hold in 2015 pending further discussions with the relevant stakeholders before re-introduction. This study investigated the lessons learnt from the administration of ANA during implementation in the Umkhanyakude district. Mixed methods approach was adopted for this study. Results from this study indicated that ANA had both positive and negative impacts. Some of the positive impacts were that some teachers understood the ANA administration processes because of the workshops attended, and also appreciated ANA’s contribution to exposing them to current trends in assessment. Education officials agreed that ANA was an effective accountability and diagnostic tool and helped to improve the test construction abilities of teachers. Conversely, other teachers were not favorably disposed towards the effect of ANA on schools. Some of the Issues raised were that, ANA exposed schools negatively, put pressure on teachers and was a waste of time. The lack of parental involvement in the assessment was a sore point for teachers as well. This study acknowledges the substantial impact that ANA has had on teachers, schools and the teaching and learning process. Further, the study recommends stakeholder involvement and ownership of any future assessment process. The need for test and curriculum alignment is advocated, in addition to that, ANA must be recognized as a diagnostic test instead of a high stakes test.