Feedback amidst New Assessment Culture in Malawian Primary Schools ()
ABSTRACT
The study investigated primary school teacher feedback practices amidst
the new assessment culture. This was in an attempt to understand how teacher
feedback meaningfully contributes to assessment for learning under the umbrella of continuous assessment.
The study used a qualitative approach in order
to understand feedback practices through classroom observation, face-to-face interview and document analysis. The findings of the study revealed that
teachers in the study dominantly used oral feedback and grades as a form of
informal and formal feedback respectively. With regards to value of feedback,
five out of eight participating teachers did not attach value of using feedback
in order to inform learning. These teachers
merely considered learners performance as a tool to meet the administrative
requirement of promoting them to another class which is a summative dimension.
The assessment results were neither used to change the teaching approaches nor
assist learners in their learning gaps. Three participants attempted to use
assessment results to improve the learner’s performance by engaging them in
remedial lessons in order to fill their learning gaps. While some teachers
attempted to use assessment results to inform learning, high-class sizes and
workload hampered their efforts. The study reveals that the operating context
for effective implementation of CA feedback practices is still hostile in the
participating schools which needs to be addressed.
Share and Cite:
Chiziwa, W. and Kunkwenzu, E. (2022) Feedback amidst New Assessment Culture in Malawian Primary Schools.
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
10, 100-116. doi:
10.4236/jss.2022.101008.