Teachers’ Level of Use of Continuous Assessment Practice in Kwekwe District Secondary Schools, Zimbabwe

Paul Chanda
Department of Policy Studies and Leadership
Midlands State University, Zimbabwe
Email: chandapaulos@gmail.com

Abstract: Recent curriculum reforms in the new global economy have emphasised the importance of continuous assessment as a theoretical basis for measuring the progress and achievement of learners in a holistic manner. The aim of this study was to try to establish the teachers’ Level of Use of the continuous assessment model at secondary school level in Zimbabwe. In adopting a small scale investigation, the researcher was limited by financial constraints, time limitation and the Covid-19 restrictions on movement. The researcher explored the teachers’ level of use of the CA model through branching and focused interview protocols involving 15 secondary school teachers purposively selected from three secondary schools. The findings were categorised according to themes predetermined by the literature review and then analysed. The findings revealed that nearly all teachers that participated in the study were clearly users of CA, though mostly operating at LoU III. The study further established that collaboration among most teachers was not embedded within the culture of their schools. The most important finding was that CA was brought in without consultation and sufficient guidelines, a scenario which might have brought in confusion and pushback by teachers to implement the new practice. Recommendations for promoting higher LoU included organising intensive ongoing training on CA and that the Zimbabwe Examination Council (ZIMSEC), for the meantime to take charge of designing CALAs and get them marked in the same way as the public examinations are done until such a time when teachers have attained higher levels of using CA.