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This thesis presents the findings of a project with the overarching aim of exploring the role of School Based Assessment (SBA) in mathematics as a component alongside external written examinations for qualifications. The research was carried out in New Zealand during the implementation of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). The NCEA was implemented in 2002. The NCEA is targeted at three levels: Level 1 for Year 11 (fifth form) to replace the School Certificate Examinations (SC); Level 2 for Year 12 (sixth form) to replace Sixth Form Certificate Examinations (SFC) and; Level 3 for Year 13 (seventh form) to replace University Bursaries (UB). The NCEA uses standards based methods of assessment as opposed to its predecessors (SC, SFC, and UB) which used norm referenced methods of assessment. The examination at each level is divided into internal and external assessments. The internal assessment called Internal Achievement Standards (assessed by teachers in schools) is an SBA component. It is this component of the NCEA Level 1 examination which formed the focus of the study. A qualitative approach was used in the research through interviews, school visits part of which involved participant observation in assessment situations, and participant observations at professional development (PD) workshops for teachers. Four different groups of participants were interviewed for this research: policy-makers at the New Zealand Ministry of Education (MoE) and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), The Mathematics Expert Panel, the facilitators of professional development (PD) workshops for teachers, and teachers of NCEA Level 1 mathematics. A total of 58 persons were interviewed. The perspective of each of these groups was necessary since each group had its specific role to play in the implementation of the NCEA. The policy-makers were asked to articulate the rationale for the SBA component of the NCEA. The Mathematics Expert Panel, which had decided on the areas of the secondary school mathematics best suited for SBA were asked to explain how this was done. The facilitators of the PD workshops recounted their experiences as they facilitated the teachers on how to assess against standards. Teachers who had the role of practical implementation were asked to articulate what they thought the rationale for an SBA was. They were also asked about the issues they confronted and the challenges they faced as they were introduced to a new regime of assessment. Both policy-makers and teachers are agreed that the rationale for an SBA component is to assess those objectives of the curriculum which are not appropriately, adequately and validly assessed in an external examination. A Framework was developed to gauge suitability of topics in the secondary school�s curriculum for SBA. The topics of the secondary curriculum found to be best suited for SBA are some parts of Geometry and Trigonometry, Measurement, and Statistics and Probability. The findings of this research provide adequate evidence that SBA has the potential for making a wider range of the school mathematics curriculum open to assessment. School Based Assessment also has the potential to get teachers at the secondary level to use pedagogical approaches that they rarely use when they teach for external examinations only. Facilitators of the PD workshops and the teachers of NCEA mathematics were of the opinion that the NCEA was too hurriedly implemented. Teachers confronted many teething problems and had many concerns during the first year of implementation. However, after three years, most of the teachers believe that the concerns they had during the first year are no longer issues for worry. There are implications for education systems wishing to implement innovative ideas that place heavy demands on teachers. The results here suggest that teachers need time before they are expected to change their normal manner of doing things in school. If adequate time is given at the initial stages then the process become a bit less hectic for them. |
