The role of school managers in the implementation of continuous assessment in the further education and training band in Mopani district, Limpopo province

Abstract

This study focuses on the role of school managers in addressing challenges associated with the implementation of continuous assessment (CASS) in the Further Education and Training (FET) band in Mopani District. It furthermore investigates to what degree school managers in the district engage in performing the “traditional” leadership and management roles which create a conducive atmosphere for the implementation of CASS. A thorough literature review provides an understanding of the emerging trends and challenges in the implementation of CASS internationally. Most of these challenges are analogous with those constraining the implementation of CASS in Mopani District. The data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires from purposively sampled district educators and school management teams (SMTs) who came from randomly selected schools. The findings enumerated the insufficient training for school managers and infrequency of performing “traditional” leadership and management roles as some of the factors hampering the implementation of CASS in the district schools.