Assessering in gesondheidswetenskap-programme in 'n hoër onderwysinstelling : 'n kritiese etnografiese studie

Abstract

The focus of this study is a strategy for the creation of a teaching-learning culture in higher education that facilitates assessment as learning, in line with constructivist principles and congruent with the outcomes-based approach to teaching and learning. The rationale behind the study was based on the researcher's observation that the assessment practices of learning accompanists in the health sciences tend to be traditional and behaviourist in nature, while the official and dominant approach to teaching and learning is outcomes-based. A critical ethnographic process served as research method. A primary record was compiled from the investigation into the assessment practices of the learning accompanists in health sciences by means of direct observation during academic contact sessions with students, 15 (fifteen) semi-structured individual interviews and analysis of assessment documents. The 30 (thirty) participating students' experience of the assessment practices of their learning accompanists was explored by means of 3 (three) semi-structured focus group interviews as triangulation. The data was qualitatively analysed in collaboration with an experienced qualitative researcher as co-coder; and relevant relationships between concepts were emphasised. Literature (national and international) was continuously explored, interpreted and integrated with the empirical data for enrichment of the findings. The results were reduced to 12 (twelve) condensed statements that served as a basis for a theoretical framework. A conceptual framework, which explains the relationship between the central concepts, is visually presented and discussed. A strategy for a teaching-learning culture that facilitates assessment as learning was formulated on the basis of 7 (seven) goals and a tactical plan to achieve the stated goals.