Internal school moderation in the national curriculum statement : an application on grade 10 and 11 tourism in district schools of the Western Cape Education Department

Abstract

Research has shown that there are a significant percentage of educators and school management teams who do not apply internal moderation of assessment as quality assurance process in the Western Cape Schools. This study is aimed at the Further Education and Training Band (FET) of the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) and Tourism as subject will be used in order to do the research. From the literature it is evident that the concept of internal moderation of assessment can be interpreted differently. Amongst schools and school management teams there are also often different opinions about the process and application of the internal moderation of assessment. Two questionnaires were given to selected schools to complete. The first questionnaire was completed by Tourism subject teachers and the second questionnaire by the principal and school management team. Checking regulations were built in to check the educators’ answers. This ensures that the questionnaires can be interpreted reliably. The emphasis on internal moderation as a function of quality assurance shifts to the school in its unique context. The importance of a moderation system in schools has already been proven. From the research it is clear that schools are on different levels of development in terms of internal moderation. The data analysis indicated clearly that there are also different needs in terms of internal moderation at schools. Firstly, subject educators and subject heads indicate their own needs on micro-level and then also the school management teams on meso-level. Instruments were developed for both groups in order to support them with the moderation process on their levels. Although quite an amount of training in internal moderation was done in the Western Cape schools, there are no intervention programmes based on the guidelines of the NCS to enhance and support the moderation process in schools. The Quality Monitor programme (which also consists of a number of checklists), is aimed at simplifying the examination system for educators and school management teams, as required by the NCS and Umalusi. During the evaluation of the Quality Monitor, the effect of the programme on the examination results of the experimental group of Grade 11 learners was compared with those results of the previous year. Although there was an improvement in the examination results, all schools in the experimental group had grown from a low basis. To summarise, it can therefore be said that the Quality Monitor programme is a very useful interim solution for the enhancement of the quality of assessment tasks and examinations for Western Cape schools. The long term effect of this Quality Monitor programme will have to be determined.