The pedagogical validity of the assessment instrument used in the outcome-based education with reference to the : senior phase of education

Abstract

The study's main focus was on the pedagogical validity of the assessment instruments used by educators in the senior phase classrooms to assess learners. The assessment instruments play a major role in determining whether a learner has achieved the required skills, knowledge, values and attitudes as well as whether there can be progression from one grade to the next. The study explored through in-depth interviews and observations the validity assessment instruments has in the teaching and learning tasks that both educators and learners engage in. the study strives to provide core and additional principles that must be met by any assessment instrument, so that educators can be able to successfully guide the learners. In conclusion, the study discovered that the current assessment instruments used in the senior phase classrooms are not yet pedagogically valid to guarantee that learners have acquired the required skill, knowledge, values and attitudes as they progress between grade seven and grade nine.