Opportunities and challenges in school based assessment: Tourism learners’ views

• Main Authors: Zanele Dube-Xaba, Rosemary Xulu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AfricaJournals 2020-03-01
• Series: African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure
• Subjects: school based assessment; tourism education; tourism; learners; south africa
• Online Access: https://www.ajhtl.com/uploads/7/1/6/3/7163688/article_41_vol_9_2__2020_ukzn.pdf

Assessment has become an integral part of teaching and learning in the school curriculum. Curriculum changes in South Africa since 2006 have embraced the new School-Based Assessment system (SBA). Given the importance of SBA, the value of learners’ voices in contributing to assessment practices is crucial if we are to promote quality teaching and learning. This study focuses on the views of learners about SBA in the context of Tourism in an under-resourced secondary school. The study captures learners’ voices through an interpretive qualitative case study. Data were generated from eight Tourism learners through focus group discussions and reflective journaling. The findings suggest a wide range of opportunities and challenges in SBA. In general, learners revealed that they did benefit from SBA. They highlighted that SBA in Tourism provides opportunities for them. These opportunities were seen in the light of viewing SBA from a largely summative function where the marks obtained for SBA tasks and the Practical Assessment Task (PAT) in Tourism were used for promotion. However, learners also viewed SBA tasks as challenging. The main challenges were the difficulty level, the time-consuming nature of these tasks, and a lack of resources to complete the tasks effectively. This study suggests the need to plan SBA in such a manner that maximise the learning opportunities for learners.