216
                                                      APPENDIX 1 
 
 
PILOT STUDY: OBSERVATION AND INTERVIEW SCHEDULE 
 
OBSERVATION SCHEDULE: 
When observing teachers? lessons the researcher was looking for the following 
activities: 
 
- identify strategies adopted for assessing ? focus was on how they are employed in 
the classroom interaction  
- role played by both teachers and students in the lessons i.e how are teachers 
facilitating activities and what activities are students engaged with 
- questions used to guide the above were: what methods of teaching and assessing 
are used?, what is involved when these methods are used?, what is the nature of 
questions or tasks are given? and what is the purpose of assessing?   
 
     
 
 
INTERVIEW GUIDE 
Review of recorded lesson, teachers watch lesson and uses it as a basis for 
conversation 
please take me through the lesson, what were you doing and what were you hoping to 
achieve? 
what does using such [as seen in the video] methods mean for you? 
why do you think the methods you use are important? 
what other assessment strategies do you normally use in the classroom? 
why do you use them?   
when using assessment this way, what do you hope to achieve? 
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
        
 217
                                                     APPENDIX 2 
 
                                       
                      TOOLS FOR ANALYSING MANUALS 
 
 
1.What characterise the manual as a supportive curriculum tool? 
- Features and structure that are typical (expectations ? justifications and reality ?
 identification of consistencies and gaps)  
- other texts drawn upon ? conceptual contextualisation of texts or manuals 
(expectations on curriculum models that should be evident in the manuals, does 
the manuals make it clear where they draw on).    
 
2. What assumptions underlie the manuals with regard to;  
- teaching and learning  
- assessment  
- learners? and teachers? role in the process  
 
3. Manuals as policy tools 
- What is their intention? (What is their role in the teachers? work, for example, are 
they authoritative, enabling, incentives or learning tools) 
- What are the underlying assumptions about teachers as policy implementers?    
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
                                                     
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 218
 APPENDIX 3 
 
            
 
               INTERVIEW SCHEDULE FOR SOCIAL STUDIES DESIGNERS 
 
This schedule includes a set of issues that the researcher intends to discuss with 
participants. The guide is going to be a checklist to ensure that all relevant topics are 
covered for each participant and will not be rigidly followed. The assumption here is 
that ?individual respondents define the world in unique ways? (Merriam 1998:74) 
thus the researcher should respond to the emerging views of the respondents and new 
ideas on the topic.    
 
? What informed the writing or the designing of these new manuals? 
? What processes were involved when the manuals were designed? 
? Who interpreted policy for you as a designer? 
? What essential principles came out of such an interpretation? 
? How do you work with such principles in the manuals? 
? What is supposed to be the role of the manuals on teachers? work or what are 
your intentions with the manuals?    
 
 
                                                          
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 219
 APPENDIX 4 
 
 
              SOCIAL STUDIES DESIGNERS? INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS  
 
 
 
Designer 1 SD 
 
Researcher: Let us start with the designing of the materials. Can you please tell me 
about the processes, who is involved and what are their roles? 
SD: First of all when we are in a curriculum development process there is an 
evaluation department here that conduct ?needs assessment.? They try to find out what 
exactly should be included in the materials. They become our fillers. They come up 
with a report that serves as a springboard for material development. And then after 
that we meet with subject panels to look at the evaluation report. Then we have a 
revision workshop where we look at materials and see if we do need to include 
anything and establish ways of improving it. Then we draft the documents using of 
course curriculum objectives. It is the panel members who decide which topics to be 
included and excluded. They are also responsible for developing the objectives that 
guides the process of developing materials. As designers we then draft lessons and 
when complete a review workshop is convened. In this workshop the panel look at 
the materials to see if the recommendations they made were followed. They identify 
what is missing and what should be deleted. We then refine the material in readiness 
for publishing.  
R: With these books [pointing at the new Social Studies (SS) series] at the back you 
have stated that it is designed in a way compatible with the requirements of the 
National Continuous Assessment programme. Who indicated to you what these 
requirements were, was it the evaluation committee or your interpretation of policy 
document? 
SD: Yes the evaluation people are also part of the whole process. They are there to 
monitor that whatever we are designing is in line with the expectations of the CA 
programme. For instance, they make sure that the objectives we come up with are 
measurable and achievable. The evaluation department monitor so to say the 
relationship between material and the CA programme. 
R: Are they telling you that these are the principles or requirements of the programme 
to be followed in the development of materials or they give you general policy 
documents from which you extract what is to be included in the materials? 
SD: More often than not they are part of the materials development workshops to 
give advice on whether we are going astray or we re on line, so they also do that. 
R: You mean they are part of the revision workshops? 
SD: Yes. One member of the evaluation department is supposed to be in the 
workshops.   For instance, when we have revision workshop for the first time the 
member present delivers the report to the panel members on what should be included 
and deleted in the new materials. Thereafter in every workshop the person should be 
there to guide us on the deliberations with regard to CA requirements and other 
curriculum requirements. 
 220
 R: Was there any instance where your interpretation of CA requirements was 
different from that of the evaluators? 
SD: It is not so common, most of the time we have the same views on issues.  
R: What do you think encourages this? 
SD: We as designers are also involved in the issue of CA in one way or the other. We 
are also kind of aware of the requirements of the CA programme so they do not have 
to tell us all the time. Now there are CA workshops held in the four regions of the 
country, we are also involved as trainers.  
R: So like after going through all this how do you come up with the final material 
that is supposed to go to schools? 
SD: Once the review workshop is finished, we finalise the material then send it to 
Macmillan.  
R: Why do you send it to them? 
SD: We send it for editing, we meet on a regular basis with the personnel from the 
publishing company to refine material and if there are any queries we discuss them. 
We also meet with the curriculum committee that is a body responsible for sending 
books to school. In this meeting we present our book.  
R: What is the committee supposed to do? 
SD: They ask us questions in relation to what informs the revision of the new 
materials as a way of highlighting the difference between old material and ?new? one. 
Then the book is officially sent to schools.  
R: So between you and Macmillan, when they make queries do they look at the book 
as a whole or they focus on particular things.  
SD: They look at language and content, factual information to verify dates etc. They 
also have their own subject specialists to edit the content.  
R: But they would not question how you have worked with the CA principles in your 
materials? 
SD: At times they do but we have to stand our ground because they are not 
enlightened with the kind of programme we follow here in Swaziland. You find that 
their objections are based on their conception of OBE [Outcomes Based Education]. 
R: Can you give me an example on this one?  
SD: Yes, in SA the people function with concepts from OBE and when they look at 
the material they use that perspective so we have to stand our ground on the 
principles we work with.   
R: Can you highlight some of the CA principles you work with or that inform the 
material you develop? 
SD: First, when we design we do materials that are learner centred.  
R: Why is that important for you? 
SD: CA is for the idea that every child must be a successful learner. So we feel that in 
order to achieve that the materials we design should be learner centred.  
R: Can you explain what you mean by learner centred? 
SD: The activities you find in the books are sort of involving learners in groups. We 
try to involve learners in group work. They should be given time to work on their 
own in their groups rather than to be told by the teacher all the time. They sometimes 
have to come up with the information.  
R: And in this case did you think it was necessary to included in the books. 
SD: Yes we had to, it was very important? 
 221
 R: Couldn?t you have taught teachers in CA workshops that now our lessons are 
going to learner centred and then leave it to them to plan. Why plan it for them? 
SD: [laughing he said] I am a bit sceptical about that one. More often than not, not all 
teachers attend workshops. If we assume that everybody will attend we might have a 
problem so rather include it in the books so that every learner and teacher will have a 
copy. We cannot rely on a workshop forum because not all teachers attend and even 
for those who attend do not follow what they have learnt.  
R: Going back a little bit, what do you mean by having a problem if materials do not 
stipulate for teachers what should be done? 
SD: Teachers will not use the methods unless you include it in the texts they use in 
the classrooms.  
R: So the books are a way of pushing them to do what is expected? 
SD: Yes they see it in the book and remember that they were taught such in workshop 
and it becomes easy for them to work with methods.   
R: But at the same time we can expect some kind of difference between somebody 
who has attended a workshop and has been initiated to expectations and those 
teachers who have not attended workshops. 
SD: Yes, it is more advantageous to first learn in a workshop forum because there 
you get equipped with skills on how to go about it in the classroom. So we just hope 
that those who do not attend will use their professional knowledge to implement 
whatever is in the materials. 
R: What else would you like to tell me about the materials? 
SD: We also try to use the background / experiences of the learners when designing 
materials.  
R: Can you clarify what you mean by this? 
SD:  I mean that when making example in the materials we draw from both urban and 
rural contexts.  
R: Why is it important to do that? 
SD: Most of our learners are in the rural areas so we try as much as possible to 
balance especially in our illustrations. We use examples that are traditional and some 
modern.  
R: Do you allow teachers room to use their own knowledge of the context to select 
what may be appropriate? 
SD: Yes we allow teachers that flexibility, what is in the materials is not to be 
followed rigidly.  
R: Are they aware that there is this kind of flexibility? 
SD: Yes we include it in the teacher?s guide. We tell them that they should look at 
their situation and make decisions on how to teach a particular topic. 
R: I will tell you why I am asking this, from my experience teachers did not seem to 
be aware that they do not have to use example in the book if they come with their 
own especially that would be more suitable in the context they were in and then when 
learners have mastered the concept move on to the more unfamiliar ones. 
SD: There is that problem, though I do not know what could be done. We also work 
closely with INSET that is responsible for in-servicing teachers. They co-opt us as 
designers when they organise workshops so that we can help teach or do the training. 
 
R: So from what you are saying the materials show teachers the kind of teaching 
model they are expected to follow? 
 222
 SD: Yes we also highlight methods that teachers can use to teach content however, 
these are suggestions teachers are free to use any method they think will work for 
them in their different contexts.    
                  
    
Designer 2: DG 
 
Researcher: Let?s start with the process of designing your materials, who is involved 
and what are their roles? 
DG: Basically the revision process is informed by a number of things, one of them is 
that it is government?s policy as a major stakeholder that every after 4 years books 
should be revised. We also have the evaluation committee that conducts national 
survey on classroom materials. In principle the inspectors inform us but usually such 
does not happen. Thus we normally depend on the evaluation committee, national 
development strategy and we also have to be reflective enough to decide that when 
there is a new policy or programme then we need to revise materials. And also the 
panel that is consisting of designers, teacher educators from colleges and other 
teachers from schools, as to how they are chosen is an issue I do not want to talk in 
detail about it.   
R: In one of the books [SS materials] it is highlighted that it is designed according to 
the CA programme requirements, can you say that CA has contributed in the revision 
of materials? 
DG: Yes that normally happens if there is an innovation, it does require that we 
revise the materials and in such cases the ministry [education department] gives the 
order.  
R: So the evaluation committee is the one that tells you that this is the new 
programme and these are its requirements and principles to be followed? 
DG: Partially I would say they are involved however, as designers they take us on 
board so that we also have first hand information on what is happening. We get 
recommendations from the Head of Department. 
R: The way you conceptualise CA requirements, is it coming from your reading of 
policy documents or the evaluation committee or Head of Department tell you?  
DG: I would say it?s a combination. It is both designers and evaluation committee as 
they work together. Designers were first helped to interpret policy by the CA unit that 
was separate from us as curriculum designers. However, later on because of 
administration purposes we were then pushed to work on both designing and in the 
unit. Initially CA personnel advised designers on principles they have to work with 
but now we work as one group. Every designer understand what is expected of him / 
her in terms of the programme. 
R: When your material is revised and ready to be sent for publishing do you 
encounter differences in opinion with the evaluators in terms of CA requirements that 
should be portrayed in the material.  
DG: We have got a number of discrepancies because the designing aspect takes into 
account a number of issues for example objectives should be in line with CA style, 
they should be spelt out in detail and clearly thus we end up with a long list of 
objectives. Yet we believe that some objectives can be included in others. Our 
textbooks are completely in line with what they require.  
 223
 R: Can you highlight for me the principles you work with that are related to the CA 
programme?  
DG: It is important in a lesson there should be an objective, content to be taught and 
assessment should correspond with the objective. The objectives should be at 
different levels [according to Bloom?s taxonomy] but that cannot happen unless our 
textbooks have activities that involve group work and the like. But we have a problem 
here. The teachers in schools were not prepared in advance for using such methods. 
As a result the books are not used properly. 
R: Why don?t you orient teachers on how to use the text material that you develop? 
DG: Well we do have orientation workshops. However, the time is not enough, 2 
hours in one day. We need more time so that teachers can be better prepared.  
R: So it would have been much better if there was time to initiate teachers to the 
workbook in advance. 
DG: Yes more time in advance and then bring in materials. But the situation now is 
materials reach teachers first then they are called for a workshop on that material, this 
is a shortfall we have.  
R: Why do you think there is a problem there? 
DG: It is then possible for teachers to use the same materials according to their own 
understanding or interpretation, thus creating a gap between our intentions and actual 
practice due to lack of proper initiation to materials.  
R: Why do you allow this to happen? 
DG: It is more on the side of government not being able to provide resources to 
enable teachers. 
R: Would it make any difference if you as designers did not write materials but only 
explain to teachers what is essential when working with the CA programme in a 
workshop and leave it to them to plan classroom practices? 
DG: I would say partially because teachers as professionals reflect the way they were 
trained at college or university. If they were trained to be technicians it would force 
us or compel us that the books spell out everything for them. But I believe that 
teachers are not the same there are those who are proactive, whether we do have 
books or not they would go ahead and engage in proper practices once such has been 
discussed in workshops. But then to ensure that everything is in place then we are 
forced to develop material that would mediate the essential principles for teachers in 
order to maintain standards.  
R: And how do the materials help those who have not attended workshops? 
DG: In fact even with those who attend not all of them come for learning purposes, 
other things are interesting to them. [Both laughed]  
It is true, this (CA) programme was initiated by people who had a lot of money and 
such attracted teachers. I am not sure that we as an institution sat down to reflect on 
whether or not these workshops had an impact on teachers.  
R: Why don?t you make attempts to find out whether workshops achieve the intended 
aim? 
DG: Well perhaps we could have done it but I believe that whilst we evaluated that 
there should have been teachers to evaluate the workshops also in order to avoid 
biases on the report.  
R: What do you do with teachers who do not attend workshops? 
DG: Even today those teachers who do not attend are never followed. There were 
attempts to follow them but the issue ended up in court and won. 
 224
 R: Who is taking who to court? 
DG: The government has taken teachers to court and threats have been used but there 
is very little change.  
R: Why? 
DG: Because to be precise teachers spelt out clear, remember the research I 
conducted, that they do not accept the programme. Not because the programme has 
anything new, teachers have been doing it even with the traditional ways of teaching 
but now they complained about the tasks that there is too much work yet there is no 
incentive. It is possible to argue that if you are given incentive that does not guarantee 
performance. 
R: What can you say about that?                  
DG: No, that does not necessarily follow. What is important is the motivation behind 
accepting the programme so that they could be responsible for their classroom 
practices.  
R: But may be teachers do not understand what they are supposed to do? 
DG: Yes, that is the problem we are having, you see with teachers they have got 
different conceptions.  
R: What do you think led to the different conceptions? 
DG: Perhaps it is a gap between classroom teaching and colleges. I do not think they 
are doing enough and INSET and us [curriculum centre], we have our selves to blame 
because we have not attempted to make teachers aware of what it means to work with 
CA. We have done it though a little bit with those who attend workshops but even 
with those [some of them] especially grades 1 and 2 it was chaotic. 
R: Why? 
DG: Because they are mainly old teachers who are about to retire who have 
witnessed a number of changes and they are no longer willing to accept change 
anymore. They see an innovation as a problem so that even when attending 
workshops they do not learn much and even the little they get they do not use it at 
school.  
R: May be teachers need to be helped to understand what the programme is all about 
in terms of the nature assessment.  
DG: They do need that because from the look of things they are far from 
understanding what they are to do. 
R: Do you think this is one of the reasons you (NCC) end up writing teaching 
manuals for them? 
DG: Yes because we think it could make the load they are complaining about to be a 
bit lighter when we develop lesson plans that they can relate to in their contexts.  
R: What do you mean by that? 
DG: In the manuals we try to balance the needs of the schools in both rural and urban 
areas when designing lessons, so that the examples draw from experiences in both 
context.  
R: How do you do that? 
DG: Normally, when we write the materials we use the most disadvantaged schools 
in the country, such as rural schools with poor resources and not schools in town. At 
the same time as designers we really have to try to be biased, make sure examples can 
be understood by learners from both rural and urban schools.  
R: So how do you expect teachers to use the materials, do they have the freedom to 
make changes on what you have written in the material? 
 225
 DG: Yes we accept that. We normally advise them to use examples from their 
context and have our lesson plans as a springboard and thus help to move learners 
gradually from the known to the unknown. 
R: Do you think teachers are ready to work with the materials you design the way 
you have just described it now?  
DG: Like I said before there is not enough time to prepare them so they might no be 
ready.  
R: In the coming workshop teachers will be developing item specifications and you 
are going to compile them. What do you think is the advantage of that?  
DG: The examples are meant to enable them to develop their own.  
R: Teachers have been complaining about the tests you designers produce [they are 
easy etc], now they are given skills to develop their own tests but they do not seem to 
be keen, what do you think is the problem here? 
DG: There could be a number of issues one, because they do not own the programme 
why should they suffer. 
R: So it is an issue of lack of commitment 
DG: Yes it is lack of commitment and the other issue might be [especially in lower 
grades] some teachers have standard 7 as their highest qualification then you think 
they would cope with an innovation that demands a lot, it is beyond their reach. 
Government was supposed to think ahead in consideration of such teachers, how 
would they be enabled to understand the programme. So all those things contribute to 
the situation. 
R: But you as designers do you not have the mandate to make recommendations to 
government that these are processes that should be in place if the programme is to be 
implemented effectively. 
DG: With reference to advising government, programmes have a problem in that they 
come with money prospects for some politicians. If one of them is swayed into 
accepting it, forget about making suggestions as they focus on the bread and butter 
for themselves. It is only after a programme has failed that they begin to think. I feel 
that with this programme we have got that kind of a problem. Well we have attempted 
to make government aware of the difficulties but we have been given no attention.     
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
      
 
 226
 APPENDIX 5 
 
 
    LETTER TO REQUEST PARTICIPATION IN CA WORKSHOP 
               
The Senior Measurement Officer 
Mr N.  Khumalo 
Continuous Assessment Unit 
National Curriculum Center 
Manzini 
 
Dear Mr Khumalo   
 
RE: REQUEST TO CONDUCT OBSERVATIONS ON CONTINUOUS 
ASSESSMENT WORKSHOPS 
 
I am a PhD student at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg doing 
research on the Continuous Assessment programme that has been introduced in 
primary schools in Swaziland. The focus of my study is on teachers? understanding of 
the principles that underpin this programme. In short, I am trying to find out whether 
teachers understand the kind of assessment practices and procedures that need to be 
put in place when dealing with such principles in their lessons.  
 
I have conducted a pilot study from which it was evident that useful data can only be 
obtained through an examination of the preparation process that teachers are exposed 
to as well. Therefore, I write to request your permission to participate as observer in 
the CA workshops that are going to be held as from the 26th to the 29th of August 
2002 in the Manzini region.  
 
Data obtained through these observations will only be used for the purposes of my 
study and I am willing to make such data available to you if and when required. The 
observations will not interfere with the planning and activities of the workshop.  
 
Thank you in advance 
 
Yours Sincerely  
 
Rejoice N Nsibande 
 
 
Supervisor?s signature ????????????       
Date??????????. 
 
     
 
 
 
 
 227
 APPENDIX 6 
 
 
                     OBSERVATION SCHEDULE FOR CA WORKSHOP 
 
The objective here is to describe the interaction upon which the mediation of CA 
teaching curriculum guidance manuals depends. An important issue here is the 
underlying intention for conducting workshops and assumptions for teachers who are 
expected use manuals.  
 
Spatial arrangement   
? How is the workshop space organised? i.e arrangement of furniture  
? Who is in the workshop? 
? How many people and their roles? 
? What kind of interaction is the setting designed for?  
? What kind of power relations can be read from the setting? 
? What objects, resources and technologies are in the setting and how are 
they used? 
? How much access do teachers have to such? 
Activities and interactions 
? What is going on? (Why is the workshop organised?) 
? Is there a definable agenda followed? 
? Who determines agenda for such workshops? 
? Interaction defined in terms of the role of both teachers and manual 
developers.  
? How are the activities facilitated (what methods are used) What is involved 
when the methods are used? For example, 
? Who controls interactions at this level? 
? To what extent is the control asymmetrically exercised by one participant? 
? How are topics introduced, developed, and established?  
? Is topic control symmetrical or asymmetrical ? are teachers allowed time 
enough to ask questions and be clear with what they are introduced to?  
? What is the role of teachers in the workshops? 
Subtle factors 
? Informal and unplanned activities 
? What does not happen especially if it ought to have happened? 
Observer?s comments 
What thoughts are you having about what is going on? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 228
                                                  APPENDIX 7 
 
 
                    WORKSHOP OBSERVATION NOTES  
 
 
 
CA WORKSHOP FOR GRADE 6 TEACHERS (PRIMARY SCHOOL) 26th to 
29th of August 2002  
 
Venue: Mjingo High School 
Members present: about ten facilitators (NCC and Inspectorate personnel) and 
Grade 6 teachers (about 35 coming only from the Salesian-Kukhanyeni zone and 
20 from other regions) 
 
DAY ONE 
 
I got to the workshop hall 20 minutes early so that I could observe the physical setting 
of the working space. I stood at the back and started sketching the diagram of the hall. 
There were only 10 teachers by then and they were still having their breakfast. I took 
a seat at the hall and waited for the facilitators. After 5 minutes one of them arrived 
and I talked to him about my presence. He later on introduced me to the senior 
inspector who was in charge of the workshop. The diagram below shows the 
arrangement of the working space. 
 
                                                            ?????  
                                                            ?????    
       ?    ?   ?   ?   ?    ?    
        1     2    3    4    5     6  
___________________________________         
                           ??                                              
?   
? 
 
*************        **************** 
*************         **************** 
*************         **************** 
                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
Key 
?   Kitchen Area                          ??  Flip Chart used by presenters 
?   Dinning space [tables also used by groups during discussions] 
?    Table used by presenters  
 229
 ***Teachers sitting in rows facing the presenter 
^^^ Extra chairs in case more people came 
___ Steps separating working and dinning space 
 
Registration started at 8:45 am. In this process teachers registered their schools and 
they were given files with papers and pens to use when they were working. I also 
registered as somebody taking part in the workshop and was given a programme of 
the workshop. The chairperson apologised for the delays and the absence of some 
facilitators.  
 
Opening prayer ? teachers sang a hymn and one teacher opened the workshop with a 
word of prayer.  
 
Welcome remarks ? The chairperson told teachers that they were still expecting the 
Regional Education Officer to come and talk to teachers. She asked teachers to keep 
time and always attend activities planned for them, participate and respect each other. 
The facilitators were introduced to the teachers. I was also introduced as an observer 
and given the chance to talk to teachers about who I was and my work. I introduced 
myself as a PhD student at Wits University in Johannesburg who has interest in how 
teachers work with CA and how they are prepared for classroom situation. 
 
The chairperson then asked teachers, what are your expectations of the workshop? 
[some of teachers? responses] 
- to acquire the necessary skills for setting a test  
- to know or understand why there is a difference in testing strategies of the 
NCC and those of the teachers in schools. 
- How to contextualise test items in terms of learners? capabilities.  
- NCC tests do not provide learners with a sense of what the final examination 
will be about.        
 230
 Chairperson said, yes we have called you to help you on how to construct good 
quality test. This is a reminder on what you were taught in colleges. Currently tests 
are set by the NCC but now teachers have to do it in order to solve some of the 
problems linked to CA tests. [such as they are too easy, not prepared on time and they 
are only multiple choice thus not encouraging learners to think] The purpose of this 
workshop is to enable you [teachers] with the skills to prepare your own tests at 
schools.  
 
The objectives of the workshop are as follows: [they were written on flip papers] 
By the end of the workshop teachers will be able to  
- develop good quality test items using item specifications 
- construct different types of test items 
- develop test items that are of different cognitive levels.      
The chairperson?s last comments before the first presenter were, teachers should stop 
dwelling lower order questions as they do not help learners to think, teachers should 
develop items that covers all the levels of Bloom?s taxonomy. 
 
FIRST PRESENTER [by EDG from NCC] 
 
His presentation was focused on defining testing, measurement, assessment and 
evaluation.  
EDG: what is testing?  
T: one way of finding out if learners have mastered a particular objective or not 
EDG: a test is an instrument, then measurement are the different scores that we attach 
to test results [it is the numerical or quantitative description of behaviour]. Any 
comments that teachers make on the measurement are called evaluation. They are 
comments of value. When talking about an individual learner we talk of assessment. 
Why then do we need to understand these terms or concepts? 
T: concepts are important to us as teachers because we are involved in setting and 
marking of tests.  
EDG: the essence is to enable teachers to make a difference on the concepts and be 
able to use them appropriately. Any questions?  
[There were no questions] 
 
TEA BREAK 
 
SECOND PRESENTER: PURPOSE OF TESTING [by JF from INSET]      
When giving a test it is important to know why you are testing. Help me come up 
with purposes of testing. 
[Teachers responses were as follows and the presenter wrote them on the flip board] 
 
T1- how much learning has taken place 
T2: if objectives have been achieved 
JF: yes you are right! These are focusing mainly on the learners? side. 
T3: for record keeping 
JF: excellent  
T4: if you want to scrutinise your teaching strategies  
 231
 JF: yes the teacher is doing introspection, start by reflecting on your teaching 
strategies before diagnosing learners? difficulties. 
[She continued to list the other purposes of testing] 
- identify learning problems (areas that need emphasis) 
- to group learners according to their abilities for certain purposes 
- for guidance and counselling of learners 
- motivation of learners 
- for accountability purposes 
- curriculum evaluation, is the topic acceptable for the level of learners  
[She then continued]  
Let us move on to types of tests, they are in two categories, essays and objectives. 
Essays involve compositions, summaries and other. They are open-ended questions. 
They require synthesis, analysis and evaluation. Then we have objective tests that are 
mainly on recall of knowledge (such as multiple choice and true/ false). What are the 
characteristics of multiple choice questions?   
 
T: it should have a key and options called distracters. 
JF: good! Remember teachers your distracters should not be ambiguous because it 
can lead to awarding learners marks unnecessarily since it?s not their fault.  
 
JF: Let us move on teachers, how often should we test?  
[Silence among teachers, she then continued] it depends on the purpose of testing. For 
example, when we test for motivation and diagnosis, we do it more frequently almost 
everyday [in both written and oral form]. Then when we do it for placement, selection 
and summative assessment it becomes less frequent such as once a year. Now how is 
this going to help you in the classroom? 
T1: it is helpful because tests are for different reasons, especially for updating the 
teacher on what is happening in the classroom.  
T2: how to construct proper quality tests 
 
[Teachers seemed a bit restless, especially with the smell of food coming from the 
kitchen] 
 
JF summarised what was said and allowed teachers to go for lunch.   
 
  
 
LUNCH 1:00 ? 2:00 pm 
 
 
THIRD PRSENTER- OBJECTIVES [by MH from the Inspectorate] 
 
MH: I will avoid making assumptions about teachers? knowledge on objectives 
because this is the last workshop for CA Let us revise or remind each other the goals 
of CA [he pins up a chart with the objectives of the programme] 
The goals of the Swaziland Continuous Assessment programme  
- to improve learning among primary school pupils 
 232
 - to improve teaching by helping teachers to teach towards clear objectives, to 
prepare tests based on these objectives and give effective remedial instruction 
or enrichment activities.  
- To provide information that will help MoE to make decisions that will 
improve primary education in Swaziland. 
- To help those who finish basic education get the skills they need in order to 
earn a decent living and be a useful and participative citizens. 
- To help reduce the number of pupils who repeat grades or drop out of school  
What then is an objective, asked MH 
T: it is a simple and precise statement that indicates what learners are supposed to 
learn 
MH: [draws a triangle on the flip board] he said, there is a relationship between 
objectives, teaching and testing. You are expected to teach and test what is in the 
objectives. Let us remind each other on the quality of objectives [he writes on the flip 
board] specify the task and give clear instructions. Can you give an example? 
T: the learner will draw and label the parts of a flower 
Accurately! added MH, this is important. [He continued] Objectives indicate 
limitations within a given topic. They guide the teacher to ask questions that will help 
learners realise objective. They should be behavioural, any comments?  
[There was no response from teachers] 
 
JF commented, all these things are not new we have been doing such even before CA. 
It is the terminology that has changed. 
 
 
FOURTH PRESENTR ? ITEM SPECIFICATIONS [by DA from NCC]  
 
DA: I am sure some of you have had a chance of developing item specifications when 
teaching Grade 5. I will talk about two types of item specifications and deal in depth 
with each of them. What do we mean by specifications? 
T: the things we put together to form a test 
DA: they are guidelines for writing a test, such as, where will learners write their 
responses. The two types of item specifications are objective item guide and 
performance item. 
Objective item guide: i) the teacher should start by writing statements of the 
objectives to be tested. [she gave examples on Home Economics as it is her area of 
speciality] 
Given the necessary utensils / equipment and ingredients the learner will bake a cake 
using the creaming method. 
 
ii) Sample instructions and test items 
 Choose ingredients you used for making the cake from the list given. Write 
ingredients on the lines provided. 
 
Cake flour, Brown sugar, White sugar, Milk, Margarine and eggs 
 
 
 
 233
  
 
 
 
 
iii) Content rules which specifies how much content will be covered in the particular 
level of the learners 
 
iv) Rules telling the learner what he/she must do when answering the questions, such 
as where should they write their responses. 
 
DA: is it clear teachers?  
[All the teachers shouted yes] 
 
DA: Now let us move on to performance item guide. This is important because some 
learners cannot express themselves properly in writing thus oral tests are very 
important. Unlike the objective item guide this one (performance) has got five parts. 
i) objective: pupils will respond correctly to oral statements such as what is 
your name? Or Good morning! 
ii) Administration: at this stage give instructions or directions about how test 
will be given. For example, in the case of no response I will ask the 
question again. Each learner will have a minute to respond to each 
statement. And each learner will respond to five items. 
iii) Indicate how test will be scored, thus a criteria table is very important.   
                  Criteria                                                                        Yes                    No  
                  Respond correctly to what is your name 
                  Respond correctly to good morning 
                  Respond in a minute 
iv) at this stage in precise terms state the instructions you will give to learners 
(what will you tell them). For example, today I will ask you some 
questions and I want you to answer questions by talking to me.                        
v) Sample of items: This covers a list of sample items to be used by the 
teacher, they are the test questions.                     
 
DA: teachers move away from recall questions, you need to include higher order 
questions in your test items. 
[at this point another presenter was called to define for the teachers what is item 
specification] she said, it is a guide for formulating tests. Pamphlets of item 
specifications (for the different subjects) were given to teachers. They were too few, 
teachers were supposed to share but most of those who did not have the item specs 
did not participate in what was being done. [May be teachers were tired by now since 
it was about 4:00 pm]. Teachers were then told that item specifications are meant to 
maintain same standards for learners in both rural and urban schools. 
 
Chairperson summarised what was done and requested that teachers close the day 
with a word of prayer. After prayer teachers were provided with tea before going to 
their respective homes for those who were not on residence.      
 
 234
  
DAY TWO 
The workshop was supposed to resume at 8:00 am, but there were only a few teachers 
in the hall discussing what they were doing and how it was helping them. In about 15 
minutes later the facilitators of the workshop arrived and called teachers to order. 
Session was opened with a word of prayer. Teachers were sitting in the same position 
as yesterday and so was the researcher.  
 
First presentation for the day was by FM from NCC. It was on Assembling a Test. 
Her first comments were ?teachers are intelligent, they are our colleagues and they 
know more about classroom situation and interaction. Thus we cannot impart 
knowledge about classroom practice but we will share information with you? 
FM: Is there a rule on how many items a test should have? 
Ts: No! 
FM: No, it is up to the teacher?s judgement who knows what has been covered. Then 
what is essential when putting a test together?       
T: Make it at the level of both capable and weak learners 
FM: yes, you must consider your audience group. It is never a homogeneous one, you 
have both fast and slow learners. A test meant (suitable) for slow learners only is not 
good for high achievers and same with the opposite. With this in mind, what can we 
say about the types or kinds of items? 
T: Some items should be easy and some challenging  
FM: talking from experience, teachers like that their learners pass the test thus 
questions are of lower order. What else should we consider? 
[no response- teachers were quiet for some time] 
FM: Different types of test items are also crucial in this case, for example, multiple 
choice, matching, true/false etc. Why are teachers not interested in open-ended 
questions? 
T: Lazy to read 
T: It is time consuming since learners have many mistakes thus making marking to be 
demanding. 
FM: Let me tell you this one, learners bring up their opinions in such responses and 
teachers are not comfortable with such since it challenges their knowledge. Teachers 
refuse to become learners but they want to be masterminds. When open-ended items 
are in a test teachers should be ready to discuss opinions (learn to accept learners? 
observations).  
Okay always start with simple items and proceed to complex items. Teachers what is 
a good test? 
T1: most children should score high marks 
T2: no not really, at least above average not really high marks. 
T3: a good test should cover all objectives taught 
FM: Yes, a test should be based on objectives taught. The technical language for this 
is valid. This means that the test is testing achievement of objectives. It should also be 
reliable. What do we mean by reliability?   
 [it is quiet ? teachers cannot respond to this one]  
The presenter continued: it is when test produce constant scores when administered to 
different groups. Therefore, a marking guide is important. When learners fail a test it 
 235
 may mean or reflect on the way you taught, how the test was constructed etc. 
However, teachers have a tendency to punish learners as if it was their fault.  
T1: learners are lazy, they do not study thus I will punish them. 
FM: Learners should not be punished heavily as such makes them to be scared of 
assessment. 
 
SECOND PRESENTER [ET presented on Item banking and analysis]  
ET: Item banking is about collecting and storing test items for future use. How does 
this help teachers?  
T1: it helps during or when preparing for final examination because you can draw on 
what you already have in the bank. 
T2: you can twist questions around to be asked differently. 
ET: yes that is true. When preparing learners for examination we use items in the 
bank. Teachers should collect test items and store them for future use. How do we 
prepare an item bank? 
[No response from teachers and ET continued] 
We have people who specialise in producing test items and such should be revised 
now and again, such can be done with other teachers. Items in the bank also need to 
be refined for reliability and validity purposes, then they can be stored. Where do we 
store items? 
We can keep them in our files or in computers etc. Why is item banking important? 
[Again teachers were quiet] ET continued, obviously we want more time to teach and 
also have a good test. [By this time teachers were making noise. They did not seem to 
be interested to what was being said or it may be that they did not understand what 
the presenter was saying] Presenter asked if there were any questions but did not get 
any response. 
 
After this presentation teachers were divided into groups so that they can start 
developing test items for the different subjects. [Here teachers were expected to draw 
on the knowledge they have been taught by the presenter since the previous day] The 
different subjects are: Agriculture, Maths, English, Social Studies, Religious 
Education, Home Economics and Science. Each group had about 6 members. 
Teachers from the same school were to join different groups. Group leaders were to 
be selected by members so that they can lead discussions and also collect material 
from the facilitators. Teachers were to start working in their groups after tea break.  
 
The rest of the day was focused on the activity. I joined the group that was 
developing Social Studies items. It had 8 members. They were all grade 6 teachers 
that also taught other subjects in the school curriculum.  
Task given to groups: 
- each group was to go through objectives and pick one they could use to 
develop items. 
- They were to develop items guided by the item specifications and the 
objective 
 236
 - They were all to produce multiple choice items 
- They were to use information from the presentations such as how to develop  
items and also use classroom texts that they had brought with them for the 
particular subjects.      
  
The researcher joined the group that was developing items for Social Studies. 
Observation in the group was focused on how teachers were developing items. For 
example, were they following specifications given to them during presentations by 
the facilitators. [Teachers were looking for objectives they considered easy] This was 
the process:  
Teacher1: let us do objective 6 H3 on HIV/AIDS.  
Teacher2: no we cannot use that one because it is not good for multiple-choice items 
but would work very well with open responses. I think we can do objective 6 H 2 
which is: state /discuss importance of water/ states in which water can be found/ 
causes of water pollution/ causes of acid rain/ diseases that are caused by water 
pollution/ methods of water purification/ how water cycle is affected. They all opened 
the page.  
Teacher3: I do not think we will be sure of the subject content as this objective is 
more into Science than Social Studies.  
Teacher5: What if we do objective 6 H3 on food which read like this: Explain ways 
of handling food properly / causes of malnutrition / food shortage / functions of the 
MOAC in food production. I think this one seems to be easy we can all try it.  
One teacher said, we have to be careful that the distracters are not ambiguous because 
it confuses learners. For example, when the question is what is AIDS? And the 
learner says it is a killer disease yet you were expecting them to write AIDS in full.  
Another one said, yes in my case it was Jesus died on ????? some learners were 
writing on the cross and some Friday and I had to mark all of them correct yet I was 
expecting them to give me on the cross.  
 
Here are the items they produced, 
1. One of the following is the proper way of handling food. 
     a) touching nose 
     b) uncovered food 
     c) wash hands before eating  
     d) eat with dirty hands 
 
2. ?????? is a body building food 
    a) An egg 
    b) Bread  
c) Cabbage 
    d) Apple  
 
3. A lack of balanced diet cause???????? 
    a) Tuberculosis 
    b) AIDS 
    c) Obesity  
    d) Malnutrition 
 237
  
4. Malnutrition is caused by ?????????? 
   a) eating too much proteins 
   b) the lack of a balanced diet  
   c) kwashiorkor 
   d) both A and C 
 
5. All the following are food borne diseases, except one. 
   a) diarrhoea 
   b) scurvy 
   c) kwashiorkor 
   d) goitre 
 
 
 
LUNCH BREAK 
 
After lunch groups returned to their tasks, continued with developing their test items. 
Teachers were in the ?normal? sitting arrangement and presentations by 
representatives of each group started. Presentations were facilitated by chairperson. 
After a presentation was made the audience (other teachers) responded by analysing 
whether test items had been developed in an appropriate way, using the principles for 
developing test items (see DA?s presentation). A lot of corrections were done as 
teachers needed help on features of quality test. 
 
 
DAY THREE ? 28-08-2002 
 
I arrived at the hall at about 7:30 am leaving me with time to talk to some teachers 
before work started. [The following are some of the conversations]  
Researcher R: What do you think about what has been done so far? [Referring to the 
workshop] 
Teacher (T): Mh [she sighed] I haven?t learnt much, especially what I was expecting 
to learn.  
R: what were you expecting to learn?  
T: I thought they will tell us how to formulate tests and also help us understand why 
their tests are simple and mine are difficult for the learners. 
R: but they have given you a presentation on how to formulate tests especially the 
presentation by the Home Economics designer. 
T: Yah she was good but the presentation on item banking was not clear 
R: Why didn?t you ask when you were given the opportunity to ask questions? 
T: I was tired by then [it was still early in the morning before tea break]  
By 8:30 am facilitators were in and the workshop started. It was opened with a word 
of prayer. In today?s agenda teachers were supposed to develop item specifications 
and do presentations.  
 
 
 238
 Teachers were to retain their groups but change subjects, for example, if yesterday the 
group was doing Social Studies today they had to take another subject. Again I joined 
a Social Studies group [which was group 8]. All groups were to look at the item 
specifications before they decide on the test format to use. They were to develop (5) 
five items in one hour 45 minutes. The focus of the observation was still on whether 
they (teachers) took into account what they have been taught when formulating items.  
 
It was difficult for teachers to come up with the required items [as they tried to follow 
the principles of quality tests]. Another issue was that teachers were not sure of 
subject content thus to formulate one question on the objective chosen took them a 
long time. [All members were participating]. When they finished their work I asked 
them: I s this the way you formulate tests in your schools?  
Ts: no! the way we do it at school is much  easier than what we do here.  
R: How is it different?  
Ts: at school we set questions at the same level [recall with no application, synthesis 
and evaluation], there are a lot of follow through [questions linked in such a way that 
the learner can get an answer for the next question from the previous one] and we do 
not bother with marking guide. 
R: How has the workshop helped you? 
Ts: By improving ways of formulating tests.  
 
We went for tea break and thereafter had presentations until lunch time.  This is what 
happened; 
Teacher (Presenter for S.S group): We chose objective 6H3 on HIV/AIDS. The 
objective is, the learner should explain what is HIV/AIDS and describe how it is 
spread and not spread. We have 5 true/false statements. The first one is, we can get 
AIDS by sharing utensils at home with an infected person. Presenter paused for 
comments. Other teachers felt it was a good question. 
Comment 1: I think the statement is clear, the learner cannot interpret it wrongly. 
Comment 2: It falls within the requirements of the objectives. 
Presenter: The next one is, we can get HIV/AIDS when caring for an infected person. 
Comment 1: There seems to be a problem here this statement can be both true and 
false thus it needs rephrasing otherwise learners might be confused. 
Comment 2: Yes because we can look after infected people without getting the virus 
as long as we protect ourselves by using gloves and not touch their body fluids. At the 
same time if we do not use protection we can be infected in the process. So learners 
can respond either ways depending on how much they know and still be correct.  
Presenter: May be we need to rephrase it after the presentation so that it was clear for 
the learners.  
There were very few corrections to make on the items developed. After lunch 
teachers were in groups developing items in different subjects. This continued until 
end of the day. 
DAY FOUR    
 
On the last day as usual I came in early and talked with the teachers already present. 
Teachers felt more comfortable talking to me about what they were doing [for further 
studies] and requesting help on their projects. However, I did mange to talk to a few 
teachers about the workshop before presentations started, this is what some of them 
 239
 said:  
R: How did you find the workshop?  
T: it was helpful since we have been taught how to prepare quality tests.  
R: Anything new you have learnt? 
T: Not really since most on the things I learnt when I was teaching grade 5. This is 
my second time attending such a workshop. [She saw a fried and dashed to talk with 
her before workshop proceedings start. She was not the only one who attended such a 
workshop for the second time. Most of the teachers had attended such a workshop 
previously whilst teaching another grade. This may mean some teachers in schools 
have not had a chance to come to such workshops. The question then becomes how 
are they going to work or rather know what others are taught in the workshops].  
 
The next teachers I talked to had this to say: 
R: What did you learn from this workshop?  
T: I learnt how to construct a test 
R: were you not constructing tests before attending this workshop? 
T: I did but I did not follow most of the things they taught us here like having 
objective, writing a marking guide and the others.  
R: Are you going to practice what you have learnt here [in the workshop] in your 
school?  
T: Ah I am not sure 
R: Why?  
T: [She laughed and went away] 
 
Work started by 8:30 am with a word of prayer. Teachers were then told to continue 
with presentations on the items they developed on the previous day. Each group had 
one person to present and the rest of the teachers were to analyse items focusing on 
what was the content objective, instructions given to learners, the item itself, marks 
allocated to it and why?, the expected answer and at what level were the questions. 
 
After presentations the chairperson summarized workshop objectives and what 
teachers were able to do. A representative from regional office talked on behalf of the 
REO and encouraged teachers to attend workshops when called to. Teachers were 
then given an evaluation form to fill in.  
Evaluation Table 
TOPIC Excellent Very 
good 
Good Bad 
The purpose of testing     
Types of tests     
Frequency of testing     
Teaching objectives v/s testing 
objectives 
    
Item specifications     
Items and item formats     
Assembling a test     
 240
 Item banking and item analysis     
Group work     
 
And this was followed by discussions and concerns where in teachers commented on 
the workshop. Teachers mainly talked about transport claims that the ministry was 
not paying, indicating how it affects attendance in workshops. Here are a few 
comments: 
Teacher 1: We appreciate the idea of being called during holidays to attend 
workshops but can government do something about our transport claim forms. 
Teacher 2: We live very far from this place that means we pay a lot of money to come 
here and we want that money back.  
The workshop chairperson tried to talk to teachers about the issue and promised to 
attend to it as soon as possible. Meeting was closed with a word of prayer and then 
teachers were dismissed. 
                                                            
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 241
  
APPENDIX 8  
 
 
 
              LETTER TO REQUEST TO CONDUCT RESEARCH IN SCHOOLS 
 
                                                                                  University of the Witwatersrand                                   
                                                                                  School of Education  
                                                                                   P/B Wits  
  
 
The Head Teacher 
Name of school 
Private Bag  
Manzini 
 
Dear Sir/ Madam  
      RE: REQUEST TO CONDUCT A RESEARCH STUDY IN YOUR 
SCHOOL 
I am a student at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg doing research 
on Continuous Assessment in primary schools in Swaziland. This research is a 
requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy I am registered for. I would like 
to obtain your permission to conduct this research in your school. The selection was 
based on your teacher (s)? attendance on the CA workshop over the holidays (26 ? 29 
August 2002).  
 
I would like to work with Grade 6 teachers who attended the last workshop. The 
observation is a follow up on what they learnt. Teachers involved in the research will 
be observed in their normal lessons daily and follow up discussions will be conducted 
with the teacher concerned on suitable times after school hours and in a venue agreed 
upon. This exercise will not interfere with the way things are done in your school and 
hopefully your teacher?s involvement will be beneficial. 
 
Thank you 
 
Yours faithfully 
Rejoice N Nsibande  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 242
 APPENDIX 9 
 
                   University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 
                                         School of Education  
 
 
                            Classroom Observation Schedule  
  
 
The following particular classroom activities are the focal point of the 
observations 
 
Physical setting: arrangement of furniture, material on notice boards    
 
Organisational frames: class size, composition of class (learners are of mixed 
abilities or streamed according to capability) 
 
Setting the scene: Introduction of lesson focusing on objectives 
? how are the objectives framed (do they have all the four requirements) 
? at what level are they in (Cognitive levels ? Bloom ) 
? Does the teacher communicate the objectives to learners  
? How well are the objectives explained to learners    
 
Interaction in the classroom: defined in terms of the role played by both teacher and 
learners in the lesson.  
How is participation distributed among the classroom members? 
? patterns of unequal participation may follow lines of teacher domination and 
sometimes gender (boys talk a lot)     
? teacher and learners? roles in the lesson (i.e teacher explains and ask questions 
? learners answer) 
? learners talk ? in response to teacher?s question or they can initiate it 
? learners communicate with each other 
? learners are given opportunity to work by themselves 
What characterise classroom talk ie exploratory  
How is knowledge constructed and shared in the classroom 
? Disputational 
? Cumulative 
? Exploratory 
What kind of speech acts do learners perform do they assert, challenge, explain or 
respond to teacher?s question 
What is the nature of reasoning that is encouraged in the classroom 
 
Assessment strategies or tools 
? What is the purpose for assessing in the lessons? 
? Does the teacher clarify the nature of the assessment criteria to learners? 
? What is the nature of the assessment tasks used by teachers? 
 243
 ? The relationship between the chosen assessment task and the specific 
objectives 
? What forms of assessment strategies do teachers engage with and how are 
they used? 
 
Feed back 
? Does the teacher praise or encourages learners  
? How is feedback communicated to learners? 
? Does it provide the learners a realistic picture of their progress? 
? Does it provide learners a sense of how to improve?  
 
Remedial activities 
? How is remediation planned?   
? Are slow learners given ?corrective? attention or additional assistance 
? How is remediation conducted? 
 
Enrichment activities 
? How is enrichment planned?  
? Are the ?masters? given constructive extra work? 
? How is enrichment conducted? 
 
                         
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 244
 APPENDIX 10 
                                                                  
TRANSCRIPTS FOR TEACHERS? LESSONS  
 
N.B:  Coding teachers by using surname initial and the first alphabet of the school?s 
name 
The following are lesson transcripts for each teacher that was observed 
Lesson transcript 1 [Teacher DL] 
Lesson topic: Manufacturing industries in Zambia 
Class setting: lesson was held in the Grade 6 classroom. This was a classroom they 
use for all the subjects. It was a big classroom with enough space for teacher to move 
around between tables. The teacher had a table at the front that he also used during 
teaching. There were few cupboards in the corners where other learning material was 
kept until when needed [such as atlases]. Learners in the classroom were sitting in 
pairs [two by two] regardless of their gender and capabilities. The bulletin board had 
notices on classroom rules, Maps and other posters.  
 
Teacher: [Writing the lesson topic on the board asked] Are there any minerals you 
know found in Swaziland? 
Learner: Coal 
Teacher: Where is it found? 
Learner: Maloma 
Teacher: Is that the only mineral? 
[Copper shouted someone] Do we have copper in Swaziland? 
Class: No! 
Learner: Iron ore 
Teacher: We used to have iron ore in Swaziland a long time ago where was it mined? 
Learner: At Ngwenya 
Teacher: What do we use iron ore for? 
Learner: to make glass 
Teacher: Glass and iron ore [he laughed and pointed to another learner] 
Learner: steel 
Teacher: What is the most important mineral in Zambia? 
Learner: Coal 
Teacher: Coal! What do we say coal is in Zambia? 
Learner: It is the heart of Zambia 
Teacher: And what is the heart of Swaziland? 
Learner: Sugar 
Teacher: What do we call it in Swaziland? 
Learner: We call it the Swaziland Gold 
Teacher: No! 
Learner: We call it the Swazi gold. 
Teacher: What other minerals are found in Zambia? 
Class: Coal, manganese and zinc 
Teacher: Now if there was a piece of iron ore or gold would you say it is ready for 
use? 
Class: No! 
Teacher: What do we do?  
 245
 Learner: You must cook it [grind it somebody else shouted] 
Teacher: Somebody said cook and the other one said grind but you have to process it. 
What is that process called? [Teacher writes on the board] These minerals are taken 
raw to factories, first they are washed then mixed with chemicals and thoroughly 
heated before it becomes a product. Do we have manufactories in Swaziland? 
Class: Yes in Matsapha. 
Teacher: Have you ever been there? [A few learners have been to the place] What is 
done in the factories? 
Class: Sowing clothes, baking some bread, make sweets and coca-cola 
Teacher: Listen carefully in Matsapha they manufacture goods. Likewise in Zambia 
they manufacture goods from the minerals they mine. They are doing the same thing 
we do here in Matsapha but slightly different. Why? Because in Zambia they have 
bigger industries like the car assemble. They also have a plant, what is a plant? [There 
is silence as learners are not sure what is the teacher referring to here] It is a heavy 
factory and we do not have such here in Swaziland, maybe the Swazi paper mills. The 
factories in Zambia produce what? 
Class: beverages 
Teacher: What are beverages? 
Learner: Something to drink 
Teacher: What else? 
Class: Tobacco 
Teacher: In Zambia they also grow tobacco we saw that in the last lesson. In what 
type of soil do they grow tobacco? 
Learner1: Loam soil 
Teacher: No! not loam soil 
Learner 2: Red soil 
Teacher: No 
Learner 3: Clay soil  
Teacher: No! 
Learner 4: red-sandy soil 
Teacher: Yes, like the Shiselweni area. In Zambia they also have manufactories for 
wood and rubber. What is made out of wood? 
Learner: Poles like we have them here [pointing upwards], furniture and desks 
Teacher: Yes they also process wood in Zambia. From wood they also produce 
tannin. This is produced from certain bucks of trees and it is used for softening skin 
hides when they make leather shoes, jackets etc [Teacher writes on the board what he 
is talking about]. What other things are manufactured in Zambia? 
Learner: Rubber 
Teacher: What is rubber? 
Class: It is an eraser [referring to the one they use to erase pencil] 
Teacher: No when talking of rubber here we refer to what is used to make car tyres. It 
is from a tree grown around the equatorial region. What else do they do in Zambia? 
[There is silence, teacher continues] chemicals, what are chemicals? [Silence again] 
this refers to fertilizers and others, even the tannin for softening hides. Cotton, do we 
have cotton in Swaziland? 
Class: Yes! 
Teacher: Where is it grown?  
Class: In the Lubombo region 
 246
 Teacher: Can you point to the direction of the Lubombo region. We talk of the copper 
belt in Zambia, and here in Swaziland we have a cotton belt that is the Lubombo 
region. Silk is produced by a certain worm and it is used to make clothes. Clothes 
made from silk are very expensive. Then there is footwear, meaning that in Zambia 
they also manufacture shoes. You cannot take hides and make a shoe you need to 
soften them first. What chemical is used for that process? [Teacher points to a number 
of learners but they did not know the answer until one who was raising his hand said 
tannin. Teacher continues to write on the board whatever that is being discussed] 
Paper mill do we have that in Swaziland? 
Class: Yes in Matsapha 
Using a map of Zambia hand drawn on the blackboard, all the manufacturing 
industries that were discussed are located. Teacher calls for the name of the factory 
and learners look in their books where it is located and then volunteered to come up 
front to show where it is located. Learners were told to do exercise on page 154 of 
Social Studies book.  
1. Use your atlas to draw a map of Zambia in your exercise book. On it locate 
and label all the places listed below:   
a) Livingstone                            e) Kabwe 
b) Chilanga                                 f) Lusaka 
c) Ndola                                      g) Kitwe-Nkana 
d) Kafue                                      h) Mufulira 
    2. Make a list of all the manufacturing industries found in Zambia. 
Learners were to trace the map of Zambia and locate the places. They were first given 
pieces of paper on which to do the work. The teacher moved around to check on 
learners? progress, helped those who needed help and comments were made to guide 
learners on what they should do. It was only after work was checked by the teacher 
that a learner was given a go ahead to transfer work into class work exercises.                
 
 
Lesson transcript 2 [Teacher MM] 
 
 
Lesson Topic: The location of Egypt 
Setting: lesson was held in the Grade 6 classroom. This was a classroom they use for 
most of the subject except for science and library time. It was a big classroom with 
enough space for teacher to move around between tables. The teacher had two tables, 
one at the back of the class where personal belongings were kept and one at the front 
that she used during teaching. There were few cupboards in the corners where other 
learning material was kept until when needed [such as atlases]. Learners in the 
classroom were sitting in pairs [two by two] regardless of their gender and 
capabilities.  
 
The lesson started with the teacher hanging up a map of Africa in front of the 
blackboard. She said our lesson today is on the location of Egypt, what do we mean 
when we talk of a location of a country? [Learners raised their hands and one was 
called to answer. She stood up and then responded to the question] 
Learner: We mean where the country is found. 
 247
 Teacher: Where do you think Egypt is found in this map? [she said pointing at the 
map] 
Learner: In the Northern part of Africa 
              [teacher repeats the response before writing it on the board] 
Teacher: How is Egypt different from the other countries we have done so far? 
               [Learners were quiet and teacher continued] Which countries have we talked 
about? 
Shouting together the learners said, Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique, Swaziland, 
Zambia and the Republic of South Africa.  
Teacher: Now how is Egypt different from these countries? 
Learner: Egypt is found in the Northern part of Africa.  
Teacher: Very good! Egypt is in the Northern part of Africa and the others were in the 
Southern part of Africa. What do you know about Egypt? 
Learner 1: [she has been pointed at after raising hand] it is known for the river Nile 
[teacher writes responses on the board] 
Learner 2: It is known for its pyramids 
Learner 3: It is known for its Pharoahs 
Learner 4: It is a desert 
Teacher: How then is this country different from those we have studied before? 
Learner: It is like Botswana because of its desert 
Teacher: What is the name of the desert in Botswana? 
Learners: [they shouted together] it is the Kalahari desert 
Teacher: So Egypt also is a desert country. Now let us find meanings of the words 
written on the board i.e, pyramids, pharaoh, desert, monuments, ancient.  
[Learners looked for definitions from their dictionaries and read it for the class when 
chosen to] 
Teacher: Who can tell me what the pyramids were used for? 
Learner: That is where the kings of Egypt were buried 
Teacher: Yes that is where the kings of Egypt were buried. But first something would 
be applied on their bodies otherwise they would rote. What was that process called? 
Learner: They would embalm the bodies 
Teacher: Yes that was done so that whenever people want to go and see them anytime 
it would be possible. Now we have said Egypt is in the Northern part of Africa, it is a 
desert country. What is lacking in a desert? 
Learner: It is water 
Teacher: So where do you think the people in Egypt get water? [Learners are quiet 
and teacher continues] common someone has already given us the answer.  
Learner: They get their water from the river Nile 
Teacher: Yes in a desert there is no rain so the river Nile provides water for Egypt. 
The river is the longest in the whole world and they also use it for irrigation purposes. 
Who can come and find the river Nile on the map.  
[One learner is chosen to locate the river in the map though her hand was not up and 
she cannot find the river and another learner is called to come and help out. At the 
same time two learners distributes atlases to the rest of the class so that they can also 
locate the river on their own]  
Teacher: Open your atlases on the map of Africa. Using your fingers find Egypt and 
the Nile river and also look at Swaziland. What is the difference between the two? 
Learner: Swaziland is smaller than Egypt 
 248
 Teacher: Just smaller, what do you mean? [She points at another learner]  
Learner: It is far too small compared to Egypt 
Teacher: Yes it is said that Egypt is 60 times bigger than Swaziland. What is the area 
of Swaziland? 
Learners: [chorus] it is 17400 square kilometres. 
Teacher: If Egypt is 60 times bigger what is its area? Somebody must come and 
calculate. [One of the active learners is picked to calculate on the board whilst the rest 
of the class watched. Then she read out the answer] 
It is wrong, shouted the other learners. [She was made to correct it with the help of 
the rest of the class]. 
Teacher: Is it correct now. Yes! Shouted the class. 
Teacher: Which other country is as big as Egypt?  
Learners: The Republic of South Africa 
Teacher: The population in Egypt is about 40 million yet in Swaziland people are 
about 1 million. So you can see the bigger the country the larger is the number of the 
population. Another thing we should know about Egypt is the skin colour of the 
people. In the other countries we have studied what colour were the people found 
there?  
Learners: They were black 
Teacher: But there was one country with three racial groups, which country was that? 
Learners: South Africa 
Teacher: Which are those? 
Learners: Blacks, Whites and Asians 
Teacher: Egypt is an Arab country. What kind of clothes do they wear? [silence and 
teacher continues] there is one man who has alighted from a plane wearing Arab 
clothes. Who was that? 
Learners: [chorus] King Mswati the third 
Teacher: Yes that is how Arabs wear. It is their dress code. Why do you think they 
have to wear like that?  
Learner: I think it is to protect them from the desert sand 
Teacher: Yes to protect themselves from the desert sand stones. Let us open our 
books on the lesson on Egypt. [All learners have textbooks in front of them and 
teacher continues] we are going to read the summaries. The whole class read the 
summaries aloud and teacher corrected them with pronunciations and meanings of 
new words. Then they engaged in an exercise that was part of the lesson [on page 173 
in their books].  
 
Activity 1 
Use your atlas to help you do the following exercises: This is how the teacher went 
about the task.  
Teacher: The first question is locate the country of Egypt on a map of Africa. Can we 
all point at Egypt. 
Class: Yes teacher! She moves around to see if all are pointing at Egypt. Now we are 
not going to shade the following places but I want you to show me where they are in 
the map. 
Learners point at places each time the teacher calls out [teacher check all pairs] 
a) Egypt                                 f) the Atlantic and Indian Ocean 
b) the River Nile                    g) Cairo 
 249
 c) Lake Victoria                     h) the Great Pyramid of Giza 
d) the Mediterranean Sea       i) Swaziland 
e) the Red Sea  
Let us move on, on the map, locate three more African countries which boarder on 
the Mediterranean Sea and whose people are Arabs [learners were encouraged to 
point at these countries on the map. The teacher checked and confirmed answers] 
 
Now, in Grade 4, you studied the rivers of Swaziland. Use the map in your atlas 
showing rivers of Swaziland to answer the following, first which river in Swaziland 
may be called ?The Nile of Swaziland??  
Learner: it is the Mbuluzi River 
Teacher not responding and then calls another learner to give the answer.  
Learner: It is the Great Usuthu River 
Teacher: Yes! The Great Usuthu River. Why is it called the Nile River of Swaziland?  
Learner: It is long 
Teacher: just long, somebody help! 
Learner: It is the biggest river in the country 
Teacher: what are its tributaries? 
Learner1: mkhodvo river  
Teacher: Yes! Next  
Learner2: mbuluzi river 
Teacher: No, don?t you know what a tributary is! 
Learner3: Mhlatuze river 
Teacher: Yes. Use your hand to trace the Usuthu River. Where  does it start?  
Learner: In South Africa into Swaziland then to Mozambique 
Teacher: Very good      
 
If you were flying between Swaziland and Egypt, which city might make a 
convenient half-way refuelling station?   
a) Nairobi 
b) Lagos 
c) Johannesburg 
d) Khartoum 
Before you answer me what do we mean by convenient? You need to know this first, 
use your dictionaries. 
Learner: [reading from dictionary] easy to reach, easy to use 
Teacher: Convenient in the context I am speaking, what do you think it means 
[pointing at  another learner]  
Learner: it is a place in between 
Teacher: Yes and which one of the four is convenient 
[silence for sometime, the one learner said, Nairobi 
Teacher: Yes! We are done   
 
This work was done orally although its nature required that learners wrote something 
down. The teacher led the activity by asking [reading out] the questions and learners 
responding. The latter were using their books and atlases to find answers to the 
 250
 questions asked. The teacher moved around to check how learners in their pairs were 
finding or identifying their answers. Learners were then given homework to do that 
was exercise on page 174 of their books.         
 
 
  
Lesson transcript 3 [Teacher NA] 
Lesson Topic: Location of Zambia 
Classroom Setting: Although this was a huge classroom it was so squashed no one 
could possibly move. This is a case where there is a shortage in staff and the one 
teacher has to combine two grade 6 classes and teach them at the same time. Some 
learners were writing on their knees because there was not enough space for all of 
them. The teacher was compelled to stand next to her table that was near the 
blackboard as there was no space to move. At the back of the class was a notice 
bulletin board with charts, maps, and class notices   
Teacher: As you know we are talking about countries in Southern Africa, how many 
countries are found in Southern Africa? 
Learner: There are ten countries 
Teacher: All of you [say it aloud] 
Class: There are ten countries in Southern Africa 
Teacher: Can you name them, those that you know or remember? [She points to a 
learner who hasn?t been raising her hand, she could not answer and teacher continues] 
You will go back to Grade 5. Okay yes [she points at another learner] 
Learner: Namibia and the rest we mentioned randomly, Botswana, Zimbabwe, 
Malawi, Mozambique, Angola, Lesotho, Swaziland [learners are silent now] 
Teacher: Which country is divided into provinces and you did not mention here? 
Class: South Africa 
Teacher: It is divided into how many provinces? 
Class: four provinces 
Teacher: Do you still remember them? Name them. 
Class: Cape Province, Natal, Orange Free State and Transvaal.  
Teacher: The map that I will put up here for you will also show you these provinces. 
[She hangs up a map of Southern Africa] This map is not complete it lacks some 
things that are important when you draw a map. What are those things? 
[Learners raise their hands and teacher chooses who will respond to question] 
Learner 1: there is no key 
Learner 2: no cardinal points  
Teacher: Now let us look at this map showing the countries of Southern Africa. 
[Teacher points to countries in the map and learners say which country is that] The 
shaded country in the map is the one we will talk about today. [She writes on the 
board] Our topic today is the Location of Zambia. By looking at this chart what things 
can you say are important when finding the position of a country. [There is silence, 
then one hand slowly goes up and the learner is allowed to speak] 
Learner: It is the lines of latitude 
Teacher: Yes! Why are the rest of you so quiet because we did learn about this in 
Grade 3. Here we have four lines of latitude. The tropic of Capricorn is in the 
Southern part. How can we find the position of Zambia. First let us open our atlases 
 251
 to see the lines of latitude. Open page 39 on the map of Africa, the lines of latitude 
are clear. Look at Zambia, can you all see it?  
Class: Yes 
Teacher: Which line of latitude is above Zambia? Read the degrees.  
Class: 23 degrees [teacher interrupts, above Zambia] 
Class: 10 degrees 
Teacher: Use that line to locate Zambia, it is about 8 degrees not really 10. Anything 
you can say about Zambia looking from your atlases or what you learnt previously. 
Tell us anything you know about Zambia? 
Learner: It is in the Southern Africa 
Teacher: Anything else   
Learner: Zambia is bigger than Swaziland 
Teacher: Yes comparing it with our own country 
Learner: Zambia is a landlocked country 
Teacher: Good! Zambia is a landlocked country. Just look at Zambia, there are 
countries in all the sides. What is a landlocked country? 
Class: A country that is surrounded by other countries 
Teacher: Yes! It means people from Zambia have to cross boarders when going 
outside their own country. Another thing about Zambia is that it is between the 
tropics, the tropic of Capricorn and the tropic of cancer. That is why Zambia is called 
a tropical country. [Teacher placed flash card on the table for learners to use. They 
have names of countries and learners are supposed to place each card on the correct 
place in the map. Learners were not chosen but they volunteered] Are these cards at 
the right position asked the teacher. 
Class: Yes! 
Teacher: Exactly! [Then she made learners read what was written on the cards] One 
country is left out. [A learner volunteered] That is Malawi. Look into your books [All 
learners open their books] read on your own silently. The passage is about what I 
have just said about Zambia.  
As learners were reading silently, the teacher wrote summary of the lesson [copying 
from the book] on the board for learners to copy when they finish reading. When they 
finished reading they started to copy the notes from the board and work on the 
exercise at the end of lesson in their textbooks on page 142.   
1. Draw or trace a map of Southern Central Africa into your exercise book. 
2. Provide a scale for this map and show the four cardinal points. 
3. Also do the following on your map.    
a) write down the name of each country in the appropriate space 
            b) shade in the position of Zambia 
            c) write the names of all the countries bordering Zambia, in block letters 
            d) indicate the river that begins in Zambia, runs through Mozambique and into 
the         
                Indian Ocean.   
4. Describe the position of Zambia according to the latitudinal lines. 
5. What is the name of the river after which Zambia was named?  
As learners were writing the teacher moved around marking the work and offering 
help to those who needed it in terms of where to look for answers in the book. It was 
not all learners who got their work checked. This was due to the number of learners in 
 252
 the classroom. It was also such conditions that made it difficult for the teacher move 
around easily as there was no space.   
 
 
 
Lesson transcript 4 [Teacher DM] 
 
 
Lesson topic: Dr Nelson Mandela 
Classroom setting: The classroom was so squashed that movement for both teacher 
and learners was very difficult. This was a result of another Grade 6 teacher having a 
car accident thus this one had to combine the two grade 6 classes and teach them at 
the same time. The teacher was compelled to stand next to her table that was near the 
blackboard as there was no space to move. At the back of the class was a notice board 
with class notices and next to it was a cupboard. 
 
Lesson started with making corrections on previous exercise before going into the 
new lesson.  Teacher: As I was marking your exercise books I could see that some of 
you cannot copy correctly from the book. At grade 6 you must be careful of spellings 
and capital letters where they are supposed to be. The teacher led the discussion by 
asking the questions [reading them from the book], learners responding to each 
question and the correct answers were written on the board for everyone to copy. 
Teacher: You were to, write down the names of five African countries that have 
regular air services with South Africa. Tell me which are those countries? Use your 
books! 
Learner: Kenya 
Teacher: Is that correct? 
Class: No [they shouted] 
Teacher: Open page 135, let us read them out loud. 
Class: Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. [As 
learners read the names of the countries the teacher wrote both the question and the 
list of the countries] 
Teacher: The goods that are carried by spoornet are??????., 
????????.. and  ?????? 
Learner: minerals, agricultural produce and manufactured goods 
Teacher: Very good! Write down the names of the four ports found in South Africa. 
Learner: Durban Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and East London 
Teacher: That is correct. The two international airports in South Africa are 
????????.and ????????.   
Learner: Jan Smuts airport in Johannesburg and DF Malan airport in Cape Town.  
(N.B: These are no longer the names used for the airports, the books had outdated 
information and the teacher was not aware of it) As learners responded to each 
question the correct answers were written on the board for everyone to copy. Then the 
teacher said:  
Good people this is how it was supposed to be. I will give you five minutes to finish 
copying. Don?t worry if you are not finished I will not erase what is on the board I 
have enough space to write on. Let us start our lesson, today you do not need your 
atlases but only your Social Studies books. Sit up please! [Learners responded to this 
 253
 by clearing up their desks and looking at the front] Teacher continues, our lesson 
today will be an example of how certain people who fight for independence in their 
countries face problems. There are some hardships they face. Close the books please 
do not hurry to open them before the teacher explains because you will not 
understand. We are also independent in Swaziland. Who led Swaziland to 
independence? 
Class: It was King Sobhuza II 
Teacher: Yes! It was King Sobhuza II [She writes answer on the board]. What did he 
do, there is one important thing that he did? Before I ask that question let us start with 
from whom did Swaziland gain independence? 
Class: From the British 
Teacher: Very good, Britain had colonised Swaziland that is why today English is our 
second language in the country. Once you are colonised by a certain nation it is likely 
that you will also adopt some of their habits. Most people gain independence through 
fighting. Did Sobhuza fight? 
Learner: No! he did not 
Teacher: What did he do? 
Learner: He negotiated with the British 
Teacher: Very good, that is why in his praises there is that phrase that says ?magwaza 
nge peniseli tonkhe tive tigwaza ngetikhali? [roughly translated it means ?peaceful 
negotiations, no wars like in other nations] this has a meaning. King Sobhuza did not 
fight but negotiated peacefully with the British. He was clever because Swazis did not 
have arms to fight against Britain. Now we are crossing the boarder to South Africa. I 
will not ask you when they got independence but who led them to independence. [She 
held up a picture of Mandela] Who is this man? 
Learner: Mr Nelson Mandela 
Teacher: Yes, it is Mr Mandela. He is the man who led SA to independence. The 
black people were under great oppression under which nation? 
Learner: The Boers 
Teacher: Yes the Boers did not want to see a black person next to them. I do not see a 
reason why there was supposed to be enmity between the two groups. We are going 
to read in our S.S books on his struggles as I said before he had great problems. It is a 
very short lesson but interesting, where he was born, how he joined the African 
National Congress [ANC] how he got into prison and his release. One volunteer will 
read a passage at a time and the rest of us shall follow the reading in our books. 
As the learners read the teacher correct mistakes where possible, until all passages 
were read.  
Teacher: There are songs on this struggle which you also sing ?Oliver Tambo thetha 
no Botha akhulule uMandela azobusa? [roughly translated, Oliver Tambo speak to 
Botha so that he can release Mandela from prison] Now copy the following notes into 
your note books. [She started writing a summary of what was read about Mandela 
from the S.S Books] Those are the most important points about Mandela, said the 
teacher. 
 
After copying notes learners were given an exercise to do.  
Teacher:  Now take out your class work exercises and do the exercise on page 138 of 
your S.S books.  
1.Complete the following sentences in your exercise book: 
 254
 a) Nelson Mandela was born???????????? 
      b) He was sentenced to life imprisonment together with his colleagues for 
????. 
      c) Dr Mandela was imprisoned on ???????????..Island 
2.  When was Dr Mandela released from prison?  
 
Teacher: It is a short exercise you should be finished in 15 minutes so hurry up. No 
discussions, everybody must work on his / her own. There is a bit of maths in the 
exercise so you must watch out and do it properly. Underline topics do not leave them 
hanging. [She tries to move around but only on the sides because they are squashed]. 
I have prepared my answers last night so I am ready to mark. Workout the years he 
was in prison. If you have finished raise up your hand I am ready to mark. Please 
hurry up this is simple subtraction, you should not have problems.            
 
 
Lesson transcript 5 [Teacher MN] 
 
Lesson topic: Position of Mozambique 
Setting of the classroom: It was a huge hall divided by a sliding door to make two 
classrooms. The grade 6 group occupied one of these spaces. In this classroom there 
were two cupboards one for the teacher and the other one for extra learning material 
used by learners. Each learner had his or her own desk and chair. They sat in rows 
facing the teacher. The teacher?s table was in front and she taught whilst standing 
next to it as she referred now and again to the books laid out in that table.  
 
The lesson started with teacher asking learners a question, where do we find 
Swaziland? 
[Learners raise their hands and teacher points at one to respond to the question] 
Learner: In the Southern hemisphere 
Teacher: Where exactly? 
Learner: It is found in the continent of Africa in the Southern hemisphere 
Teacher: Yes! Today we are going to talk about Mozambique. It is also found in the 
continent of Africa in the Southern hemisphere [teacher writes information on the 
board]. Let us take our atlases and open page 29. Can you see the map of Africa 
there? 
Class: Yes! 
Teacher: We all know what we mean by Southern Africa. Look at the map and tell 
me the countries in the southern part of Africa.  
[Learners shouting randomly] Botswana, Swaziland, Mozambique, Lesotho, 
Zimbabwe and Namibia. 
Teacher: Those are the countries in Southern Africa between the two tropics. Can you 
give me those tropics? [Silence, teachers continues please use your atlases] 
Learner1: Tropic of Cancer  
Learner 2: Tropic of Capricorn 
Teacher: So I hope you see the lines there. Which one is in the South and which is in 
the North? [Silence and teacher continues] Cancer is in the North and 
 255
 Capricorn is in the Southern part. Mozambique is in the eastern part of 
Southern Africa. Can you see that? 
Class: Yes! 
Teacher: There are countries that surround Mozambique. Can you give me those 
countries?  
Learner 1: Swaziland  
Learner 2: Malawi 
Learner 3: Zimbabwe 
Learner 4: Tanzania 
Learner 5: South Africa 
                [Teacher repeated learners? responses before she wrote them on the board] 
Learner 6: Botswana 
Teacher: Is Botswana a neighbour to Mozambique. Let us look carefully, which one 
is missing? 
Learner: Zambia 
Teacher: Yes it is Zambia. What is in the Eastern part of Mozambique? Is there a 
country there? 
Class: No! 
Teacher: In the Eastern part of Mozambique there is the Indian Ocean not a country. 
Can we say Mozambique is a landlocked country? 
Class: No! 
Teacher: Mozambique is not a landlocked country because it has an outlet to the sea. 
What is a landlocked country? 
Learner: It is a country that is surrounded by other countries and has no outlet to the 
sea.  
Teacher: Yes! [She repeats response before writing it on the board] People in 
Mozambique have access to the sea. Mozambique is also a Republic there is 
no king but a president. Earlier on we said Lesotho and Swaziland are 
kingdoms. Why did we say they are kingdoms?  
Learner: Because they have monarchs, meaning they are ruled by kings 
Teacher: Yes! In kingdoms a king is born but in a Republic the President is elected by 
the people. Any questions! [There is silence, learners look at their books then 
teacher continues] Where is Mozambique found? 
Learner: In the continent of Africa in the Southern hemisphere 
Teacher: Which countries surround Mozambique? 
 [Learners read countries from the board] 
Teacher: Mozambique is a republic why do we say that? 
Learner: Because it has a president 
 
Teacher: There is an exercise on page 113 in our books, let us do it.  
Answer questions in your exercise books: 
1. Which countries in Southern Africa are bigger than Mozambique?         
2. Which countries in Southern and Central Africa are smaller than Mozambique? 
3. Write the following sentences in your exercise book and fill in the words correctly.  
    Choose the missing word from the list given below each sentence:  
    a) Mozambique is found in the ?????????part of Africa. 
         (Eastern; western; southern; northern) 
   b) A greater part of Mozambique is ?????????..the tropics. 
 256
            (Outside; within ) 
4. List six countries that share boarders with Mozambique.  
 
This exercise was done orally with the teacher leading by asking questions, learners 
responding to questions and teacher commenting on the responses. [Teacher 
continues] Now I want you to take you Social Studies exercise books and 
trace the map of Southern Africa in page 112. Colour Mozambique in the map 
and after that you will copy notes. [Teacher writes a summary of lesson 
content taking it from the pupil?s book] Learner drew the maps and when 
finished copied notes from the board. The teacher moved around to check 
learners? progress, mark their work and make corrections with those who need 
help.    
 
 
 Lesson transcript 6 [Teacher DN]  
 
 
Lesson Topic: Climate and drainage in South Africa 
Classroom setting: lesson was held in the Grade 6 classroom. This was a classroom 
used for all the subjects. It was a big classroom with enough space for teacher to 
move around between tables. The teacher?s table was at the front in a corner and 
during teaching it was where teacher placed some of the material he referred to. There 
were no cupboards and extra learning material like books and atlases were pilled on 
the floor next to the teacher?s table where material was kept until when needed [such 
as atlases]. Learners in the classroom were sitting in groups of three regardless of 
their gender and capabilities.  
 
At the beginning of the lesson the teacher went through exercise questions used on 
the previous lesson putting emphasis on how learners should have responded. Then 
he wrote lesson topic on the board. Group leaders were told to distribute atlases to all 
learners.  
Teacher: We are going to look at climate and drainage of South Africa. We will start 
with climate. When talking about climate what exactly do we mean? [Silence for a 
while, then learners raise their hands. One was picked on to answer the question. 
Whenever they respond they stand up] 
Learner: We are talking about the weather 
Teacher: Not really. The climate of a country ?alright may be let us start with 
drainage, what is this? 
Learner: drainage is about the rivers of a country  
Teacher: Yah Rivers that flow in the country. In the previous lesson we learnt about 
South Africa. Climate means how hot or cold is the country in winter and summer. 
Alright, so it is how hot or cold in winter and summer. How is the climate of 
Swaziland? [Silence] Who can tell me the climate of Swaziland?  
Learner: Summers are hot and in winter it is fairly cold and windy 
Teacher: What is the area of South Africa? 
Learner: 1 200 20 kilometre square 
Class: No! 
Learner: 1 221 037 square kilometres.   
 257
 Teacher: Yes! So this is SA [Pointing to a map of SA that he hanged up on the 
blackboard]. What are the names of these provinces? [Pointing to the divisions in the 
map] 
Class: Orange Free State, Cape Province, Transvaal and Natal 
Teacher: Now in each province there is a city or two, name them. [Pointing at 
Transvaal] 
Learner: Johannesburg and Pretoria 
Teacher: What about in OFS? 
Learner: Bloemfontein 
Teacher: In Natal? 
Learner: Durban 
Teacher: And lastly, the Cape Province 
Learner: It is Cape Town and Port Elizabeth 
Teacher: Now come and locate these towns in the map. [Teacher pointed randomly at 
learners without them raising their hands] Let us discuss climate. The climate of SA 
is generally warm [He writes on the board and calls on learners to repeat after him 
what he has just said] Can you tell me the climate in this part of the Cape? 
Learner: It is Mediterranean 
Teacher: Mediterranean! Very good and it is different from the inland of the country. 
Temperatures range from zero degrees Celsius to 20 degrees Celsius in winter. 
Temperatures in summer range from 15 degrees Celsius to 35 degrees Celsius. What 
does the C means, it means we are measuring what?  
Class: Centimetres 
Teacher: No! Temperature. Okay summers are hot and winter is cold. Now let us look 
at the drainage system. We are talking about rivers. We are talking about what? 
Class: Rivers 
Teacher: A quarter of SA has got perennial rivers. [He writes on the board] What do 
we mean by perennial rivers? [Silence, learners could not respond to this question and 
teacher continues] It means rivers flow throughout the year, they do not dry. South 
Africa has got many rivers but the main one is the Orange river and it flows 
throughout Southern Africa and goes to the Atlantic Ocean. In our atlases let us open 
a map of South Africa. Can you find the Orange river? [All learners start looking at 
their maps. They look in groups as they are sited. Teacher moves around to check if 
they can all see the Orange River. When a group has seen it, it raised up hands for the 
teacher to come and see whether they have got it right]. This river has tributaries. 
They are the Vaal river, now look for the Vaal river in your maps and see how it 
flows. [Same process as before until all learners have showed teacher that they can 
see the river in question]. Then the Caledon River, look for it in your maps. [When all 
learners could identify that in their maps the teacher continued] So we have the 
Orange River with tributaries that is, the Vaal and Caledon Rivers. That is all about 
the climate and drainage of SA. [Teacher then read what he had written on the board] 
Okay to see if you have understood take your books and open page 123 and let us 
answer the questions at the end of the lesson.  
 
Teacher: The ???????..temperatures of South Africa range from 0 degrees C 
to 20. (winter, spring, summer) [Silence, learners could not respond to this question 
and teacher continues] use your textbooks to look for the answers.                                                               
 258
 Learners: [They looked as groups using one textbook. Teacher moved around to 
check if they were all looking at the right page in the text. When a group had 
identified the answer, they raised up hands to provide the answers]  
Teacher: Let us all say it! 
Learners: Winter [in chorus] 
Teacher: Yes!  In summer the temperatures range from ?????.to 
??????.. (30degrees C, 15 degrees C, 0 degrees C)  
Learners: [all three] 15 degrees C to 30 degrees C  
Teacher: Good! In South Africa there is more rain along the ?????Coast than 
in the ???????. A?????????..type of climate is found around 
Cape Town. (east, west, north, Mediterranean, sub-tropical) 
Learners: [the pair pointed at by teacher] there is more rain along the West than North 
coast. A Mediterranean type of climate is found around Cape Town   
Teacher: Are they correct? 
Class: No! they shouted 
Teacher: Who can help them, what is the correct answer here? 
Learners: [another pair] There is more rain in the east coast than in the west coast. A 
Mediterranean type of climate is found in Cape Town.  
Teacher: Yes! Now the main drainage system in South Africa is the 
????????River. (Caldeon, Vaal, Orange) 
Learners: [another pair] Orange river  
Teacher: That is correct, he continued, the last question is, The 
???????????and the ???????.are the main tributaries of the 
Orange River. (Vaal River, Tugela River, Caledon River) 
Learners: [another Pair ] The Vaal and Caledon River  
Teacher: Yes it is the Vaal and the Caledon River.   
 
As learners were identifying responses, teacher moved around to check on what they 
were doing and helped them to correct mistakes where possible.  
 
 
 
Lesson transcript 7 [Teacher NB] 
 
 
Lesson topic: Position of Ghana                         
The Grade 6 classroom was huge and allowed easy movement for both the learners 
and the teacher, with large windows for sunlight and air. There were cupboards on the 
side-wall where learning material was kept such as, Atlases, Workbooks and maps of 
different places [both hand drawn by the teacher and those bought from Macmillan]. 
Learners sat in pairs of two [each having his / her own desk] facing the board where 
the teacher was standing. At the back was a bulletin board with class notices, 
newspaper cuttings, examples of work done in class, a poster of every child is a 
successful learner and maps.        
 
The teacher started by asking questions on the history of Ghana (previous lesson) so 
that all learners could have correct answers. Then he said, ?we are going to look at the 
 259
 position of Ghana.?  He asked learners to take out their atlases and instructed them to 
open the map of Africa. The teacher moves around to help learners open on the right 
page. Going back to the front he said I want you to identify Ghana. ?Can we all see 
Ghana?? The class responded, yes teacher. Teacher using his big map pinned on the 
wall points at Ghana, this is Ghana in the western part of Africa. Now I want you to 
look at Ghana and identify all the countries that are neighbours to her or share 
boarders with her. Let us name them?  
Student 1: its Nigeria 
Teacher: is he correct class. Try to look carefully Nigeria does not share boarders 
with Ghana. He walks towards the learner and help him identify Ghana and Nigeria. 
He then continued he has made a mistake Nigeria does not share boarders with 
Ghana. Then he moves to the front. 
Student 2: Togo 
Teacher: Yes Togo and on which side of Ghana is it found? 
 
Class: in the eastern part 
Student 3: Bukina Faso 
Teacher: Is he correct 
Class: yes 
Teacher: On which side 
Class: on the northern part 
Teacher: the other name for Bukina Faso is the Upper Volta. Which other countries 
share boarder with Ghana. Put your hands on Ghana in the map then you will see  
Student 4: its Benin 
Teacher: Benin is far away from Ghana there is a country between the two. 
Student 5: Ivory Coast 
Teacher: yes Ivory Coast now let us look at which side of Ghana is this country 
found? He writes on the board the list of countries that share a boarder with Ghana. 
Now let us all look at the western part of Ghana. What do we see there? 
Class: Acra 
Teacher: Acra is the capital town of Ghana. Can you see that blue colour. By the way 
what does the colour blue stand for in an atlas? 
Student 6: Ocean 
Teacher: Do we all agree? 
Class: Yes 
Teacher: now tell me what is the name of that Ocean 
Student 7: it is the Atlantic Ocean 
Teacher: yes it?s the Atlantic. Then he repeated all the countries listed as neighbours 
to Ghana reading from the board where he was writing.  
 
Using your atlases I want you to point the line of latitude that runs over Ghana. 
Class: 10 degrees 
Teacher: I said raise up your hands so that we can identify those who cannot see. Do 
we all see the line of latitude? 
Class: yes 
Teacher: can we all say the answer together 
Class: 10 degrees 
 260
 Teacher: are we correct to say 10 degrees. He continued, point at the equator and if 
you do not see it raise up your hand. Which cardinal point do they follow from the 
equator? 
Class: North 
Teacher: so you are supposed to say 10 degrees North. He continued, which line of 
longitude runs over Ghana? 
[Learners are silent. The teacher moves around to talking to some and in some cases 
simply pointing]. He continued, can we all see now? 
Class: yes 
Teacher: how many degrees class? They responded together, it is zero degrees.  
Teacher: what line of longitude is marked zero degrees? 
Student 8: it is the equator 
Teacher: is the equator a line of longitude and latitude? No I don?t think so. Teacher 
goes to the student and said can you show me the equator.  
Student: he points at the map here it is 
Teacher: can you see why you are wrong. He moves to the front points to another 
student, tell us the line of longitude marked zero degrees.  
Student 9: it is the Greenwich meridian 
Teacher: can we all see that? 
Class: yes 
Teacher: is it East or West 
The class is silent. Teacher continues it does not have East or West because it it found 
in the middle.  
 
Teacher: now let us look at the climate of Ghana, he writes the topic on the board. 
This was done through simply reading from the book. The teacher started reading on 
the climate of Ghana and then he pointed to a student to read the summary. The rest 
of the class follows the reading by looking at their books. Teacher then gave his own 
summary on what has been read and also wrote it on the board in a point form. 
Teacher: can you compare the size of Ghana to Zambia? The class started shouting 
the numbers in square kilometres. 
Teacher: no I need somebody who will come and make calculations on the board. I 
will not point at anyone, people can volunteer. We are looking for the difference in 
size between Zambia and Ghana.  
One student came up and did the sum on the board involving the others by asking 
them questions on the sum. 
Teacher: let us clap hands for him the answer is correct. [Then he picks on a learner 
to read the answer to the rest of the class].  
Teacher: Do you have questions on what we have done so far? Learners were quiet. 
He continued are you ready for my questions? Let me summarize what we were 
talking about first. [He read the points he had written on the board which were 
generally on listing countries that are neighbours of Ghana. Then he asked learners 
questions orally on page 161 of the textbook. He asked questions, learners responded 
and then commented on the response. As learners were responding to questions the 
teacher moved around looking at how each one of them was using the atlas to identify 
countries and talked to some about what was being done].  
Teacher: Which countries and body of water border Ghana: 
To the North?  
 261
 Learner: Bukina Faso  
Teacher: Good! The other name for Bukina Faso is Upper Volta. And which country 
is in the South?  
Learner: The Gulf of Guinea 
Teacher: Yes! What about in the West?  
Learner: Ivory Coast  
Teacher: Good! Which country is in the East? 
Learner: Togo 
Teacher: Good! Now we have finished and I want you to take your class work 
exercise book and answer these questions.   
 
 
Lesson transcript 8 [Teacher KM] 
 
Lesson topic: Farming in Zambia 
Classroom setting: It was a huge classroom that allowed easy movement. Teacher?s 
desk was in front next to the blackboard. Learners were sitting in long desks that 
accommodated about 4 to 5 learners each. They were arranged such that they were in 
rows and learners sat facing the teacher. Those learners with certain disabilities were 
made to sit in the front rows such as, the blind, one on wheel chair and one with a 
lump on his back.  
 
Teacher started lesson with what she called a ?little game? Learners were divided into 
three groups. Each group was asked a question and if they responded correctly they 
earned themselves points.   
Teacher: Remember last time I said go and find out who is the Head of State in 
Zambia. Group 1 who is the Head of State in Zambia? 
Learner: Frederick Chiluba 
Teacher: Is she correct! 
Class: Yes! 
Teacher: Who is the Head of State in Zambia? 
Learner: Samora Machel  
Teacher: Samora and Zambia no! For your homework go and find out who is the head 
of state in Zambia. Zambia is a tropical country, what does this mean? 
Learner: It means it is situated between the tropics 
Teacher: What is the name of the river after which Zambia was named? 
Learner: The Zambezi river 
Teacher: List the four main lakes found in Zambia? 
Learner: Mweru, Bangweulu, Kariba and Tanganyika. 
Teacher: List the three climate seasons of Zambia. 
Learner: The cool dry season, hot dry and warm wet season. 
[All groups had the same points]  
Teacher: Now let us move on our lesson today is on farming in Zambia [then she 
writes topic on the board] What does the word farming mean? [Learners raise their 
hands and one is chosen to respond to the question asked] 
Learner: It means growing crops       
 262
 Teacher: Crops for what? 
Learner: For consumption and selling. [Teacher writes definition of farming on the 
board] 
Teacher: What do we mean by pastoral farming? [Silence as learners copy what the 
teacher is writing on the board] Stop writing and close your books, let us discuss. 
What do we mean by pastoral farming?  
Learner: Farming so that you can sell crops 
Teacher: Is this correct? 
Class: No! 
Learner: raising animals 
Teacher: Yes it is keeping livestock. Swazis are pastoral farmers as they keep sheep, 
goats and cattle. What then is subsistence farming? [Teacher writes on the board and 
continues to ask the same question. There is silence for some time then learners start 
raising hands] 
Learner: It is growing crops for consumption 
[Teacher writes response on the board] 
Teacher: What about commercial farming? 
Learner: grow crops for selling 
Teacher: We do have a farm in our school and what they do there is commercial 
farming because they produce crops that are sold to shops like shoprite, checkers etc.  
Now I want you to form five groups of eight, listen to me first [learners had started 
moving around and making noise] use your books, look for crops grown in Zambia 
and compare them with those found in Swaziland. Any similarities and differences 
should be noted. Choose somebody to write notes for you and another one that will 
make a presentation of your discussions. I will give you twenty minutes to discuss 
and get ready to present. [The teacher then wrote on the board the questions or topics 
to be done by each group] The following are topics given to each group;  
Group 1: Crop production 
Group 2: Maize 
Group 3: Tobacco 
Group 4: Groundnuts 
Group 5: Cotton 
[Since the teacher had initially asked learners to form groups some picked on their 
friends and they were playing]. The teacher then moved around to remix the groups 
before they started with the work, however, only a few groups had to be reconstituted, 
they were mainly comprised of boys. The disabled learners were helped by others to 
join discussion groups. Learners chose one person to write down what was being said 
in the group and another one who was to present the work. Generally all learners were 
talking to each other. They read from their books about the topic and responded to 
their questions. Teacher moved from group to group to see if they were focusing on 
what they were to discuss. She reminded them to speak English during discussion.  
 
After twenty minutes discussions were stopped and presentations started. The teacher 
said, you are free to write on the board when you need to. I will assist the presenters 
when there is need. Group members will also be free to make additions or corrections 
when the presenter has finished. And the rest of the class can have their comments 
and questions directed to all members of the group not just the presenter. During 
presentations learners read what was written on the pieces of papers, copied from the 
 263
 Social Studies books. [There were no comments by other group members and the rest 
of the class. The teacher?s comments on the presentations were focused on making 
corrections, for example,  
 
Group 1 ? Crop production  
[Reading from a paper] Zambians practice crop rotation. This means sometimes they 
do not cultivate their fields to replenish the soil. The main subsistence crops grown in 
Zambia and Swaziland are maize, finger millet, sorghum and cassava.   
[After presentation] Teacher: Do we have finger millet in Swaziland? Class have you 
seen such in Swaziland?  
Learners: No! [in chorus]  
Teacher: I know what it is but it is not grown in Swaziland. [She continued]  Group 
members your homework is to enquire at home whether finger millet is grown in 
Swaziland and where? [Learners were to first establish if at all the crop was grown in 
Swaziland and if it was, was it in the high veld, middle veld or low veld]   
Clap hands for them    
 
Group 2 - Maize 
In a very soft voice [reading from the paper] the presenter said, In Swaziland we also 
produce maize like in Zambia. It is produced well in places where the soil is red-
 brown loam and plenty rainfall. Maize is grown in rotation with leguminous crops 
like beans. This helps to conserve the soil nutrients.  
Teacher: Presenters must try and speak loud. Let me ask you this, when we rotate 
crops we avoid what? 
Class: [they all shouted] monoculture 
Teacher: Yes, thank you go back to your sit.  
 
Group 3 - Tobacco 
In Swaziland and Zambia tobacco is produced for commercial purposes. The 
production of tobacco prefers sandy soil and moderate rainfall. In Swaziland tobacco 
is grown in the Shiselweni region. 
Teacher: Is that all! Why didn?t you tell us about the types of tobacco and where they 
are grown in Zambia. Read your books again.  
 
In other instances the teacher made corrections and added information that presenters 
had left out, for instance: 
Group 4 ? Groundnuts  
Presenter: Groundnuts are mostly grown for subsistence but there are places where 
people grow them for selling. In Swaziland they are mainly grown in Hhohho.   
Teacher: is it true that groundnuts are grown in the Hhohho region (High veld) 
Class: Yes [in chorus] 
Teacher: No! Just because there is a lot of rainfall in Hhohho does not mean they 
produce groundnuts better than in the Middle veld. You did not tell us what they are 
used for. 
Learner: [from another group] they are used for making oil. 
Teacher: Yes instead of using sunflower oil, we pound ground nuts and add them to 
our food like spinach and meat when cooking. They cannot cause diseases like the 
other cooking oils that we normally use.   
 264
   
And in cases where learners gave correct responses to their topic nothing was said by 
the teacher with regard to nature of response. For example,  
Group 5 [they worked on Cotton in Swaziland]  
Like the others the presenter was reading but much more clear and loud and she said, 
We also grow cotton in Swaziland as in Zambia. It is grown as a cash crop. Swazis 
sell their cotton to get money. This crop does not need to be irrigated. It is grown in 
the Low veld because of its long dry season.   
Teacher: Good but I saw you 
Class: [shouting] they copied from an agriculture book 
Teacher: Anyway they were clever enough to copy.  
 
Teacher gave a summary of work done for the lesson and gave learners homework 
[exercise on page 151]      
Use the following words to complete the sentences: monoculture, pastoral farming, 
commercial farming, subsistence farming. 
1. a) Livestock farming or rearing of domestic animals 
is????????????.  
    b) Growing crops for sale is???????????? 
    c) Growing crops to eat (home consumption) is ?????????????? 
    d) Growing the same crop all the time, as opposed to crop rotation, is?????..      
2. List three crops grown for home consumption in Zambia. 
3. List four animals reared by the Zambians. 
4. List four commercial crops grown in Zambia. 
 
 
 
                                                 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 265
  
 
                                         APPENDIX 11 
 
               University of the Witwatersrand ? Johannesburg 
                                          School of education 
 
                     Interview schedule for primary school teachers 
 
Teachers? understanding of the programme and its principles ? these questions should 
be integrated with post lesson interview schedule  
 
What does Continuous Assessment mean to you? 
 
According to your understanding what are the aims of the Continuous Assessment 
programme in the country? 
 
Lets talk about what is crucial for you to do when using the programme in the 
classroom?  
 
Objectives: 
? what elements are important in an objective? 
? Why are objectives important? 
? What do you do with your objectives during the lesson? 
? Why is it important that you do that?   
 
Assessment: 
? would you tell me why you assess your learners? 
? Are there any other reasons for assessing besides the one we have just talked 
about? 
? Can you tell me a little bit about them?  
? Why do you think the nature or form of assessment you used in the lessons 
was suitable for the purpose of your assessing? 
? Are there any other forms of assessing learners that you normally use? 
? What is their advantage and when do you use them? 
? How do you use assessment to help learners to develop themselves?  
 
What responsibilities does the programme place on you as a teacher? 
 
What changes do you experience in your teaching as you use the programme?  
 
What are the disadvantages of using the programme? 
 
How do you make an attempt to overcome them? 
 
If you were asked to advice a teacher who has just started using the programme what 
would you say? 
 266
  
 
APPENDIX 12 
 
 
      INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS - TRANSCRIPTS  
 
Teacher DL?s transcript  
N.B:  He watched and talked at the same time   
 
DL: On the introduction particularly I usually take the countries we have done before 
as examples. Industries are the same so since we have done South Africa and other 
countries I use such to remind them. On the presentation I try to give the learners a 
range or wide choice on questions related to what we have learnt before. For example, 
when I asked who is the president of Zambia, in the book it is Frederick Chiluba yet it 
is not true any more [it is Mwasa]. To ask that South Africa has how many capital 
cities is because such things they should know about a country before learning other 
things. On the presentation I always follow the book sometimes though you find that 
they have incorrect [outdated] facts. What we did was to try and look into industries 
in Zambia and compare them with those in Swaziland. Then learners were to draw the 
map of Zambia and locate each of the industries discussed. I further made them aware 
that we do sell goods to Zambia and also buy some that we do not have. 
R: Can we look at the way the lesson was presented. 
DL: In the book! 
R: No the way you have presented it in the classroom when teaching 
DL: The method of teaching changes from time to time. So that the methods I use 
usually are aimed at helping the weak to grasp what should be learned. Then in 
assessing them the way I have done it, making them draw the map and label it the 
way I know them if you can do it for them they will never learn. So I like to make 
sure that they do things for themselves because in the process they get to learn 
something. When doing this they are to use pencils so that later on when we make 
corrections they can erase wrong answers and put in the correct one. I always ensure 
that they do what I want because if they write something wrong then it will stick in 
their minds. In the conclusion we summarized all that we had done. Draw the map 
and label it appropriately.  
R: What is the purpose for assessment in the classroom? 
DL: The purpose is to make sure that what they have learned sticks in their minds 
they should know it because it will help them when they are taking examinations.   
R: When they were doing the class work, I saw you moving around checking on what 
they were doing. What can you say about that? 
DL: Yah you cannot trust a child. You cannot tell a child that do this and not follow 
up because some will not do it or some will do it the wrong way. So when I move 
around I want to tell them to do what I want which I have taken from the book. The 
 267
 learners should have an idea of the perfect thing and on their own they cannot do 
such. 
R: So when you move around it is a way of checking?. 
DL: Yes to check if they are doing the right thing and be able to help them. 
R: Can you please tell me briefly, how you develop your assessment items. 
DL: I use the ones in the book, most of the time we have to follow the book. I only 
add something if the information in the book is outdated. For example, the issue of 
the president of Zambia, the book still refers to somebody who is no longer president. 
The learners then have to be made aware that there is the former and the current so 
that they know how to answer questions during examination.  
R: In your Social Studies lessons what important CA requirements do you always 
keep in mind? 
DL: This programme although it has come at a time that is not right, it is good with 
certain bad elements. It is good in the way learners are helped in the classroom but 
also bad in the sense that now the teacher has a lot of work to do. When I prepare a 
lesson I do that with the knowledge of what I want the learner to master at the end of 
the lesson. Those are the objectives. Then the map and the blackboard drawings are 
my teaching aids. I use these to show learners what is being discussed they can point 
in the map where the different minerals and industries are found.  
R: If we can go back a little bit to the objectives, how are you supposed to frame 
them? 
DL: You frame them such that they are in topics. They should not mix up content, 
thus it will be easy for the learners to grasp content. Even when it is a test, objectives 
should be in a sequence.  
R: What is that sequence? 
DL: For example, you start with recall, comprehension followed by the rest until 
evaluation.  
R: How do you use the objectives in the classroom? 
DL: They should be used in a way that the learners are moved from the known to the 
unknown. I don?t know how I can put it. The learner should not always depend on the 
book, my objective is for them to be aware of the current. 
R: Going back a little bit, I meant how do objectives help you to plan your lessons. 
DL: I always follow what is in the book, it highlights for me what to do and how.  
R: Okay when you use the objectives in the classroom how do you engage with 
them? 
DL: I do when I am concluding the lesson, when they are writing. They become 
aware of the objectives when I give assessment.  
R: Don?t you think it would be helpful to the learners to know the objectives at the 
beginning of the lesson.  
DL: Yes I think such could help a lot 
R: Why do you think it can help? 
DL: May be it can help learners as the lesson progresses they would be assessing 
themselves on whether they have mastered what is important in the lesson.  
R: But why did you not do it in the classroom? 
DL: The objectives are in the learners? books they can read for themselves? 
R: What about being able to understand the meaning of the objective, do you think 
they managed to do that on their own? 
 268
 DL: I do not think so, more than half of our learners cannot read and understand from 
their books with the help of the teacher and expecting them to be able to read on their 
own would be too much.  
R: Then how confident were you to assume that learners could read and understand 
the focus of the objectives for the lesson? 
DL: I guess it is some of those things that you know you should do but at the same 
time take for granted. 
R: How do you think you can help learners understand the focus of objectives? 
DL: May be we should read them together as a class. 
R: What will be involved in this reading, for example, how do you intend to do it?  
DL: We will read them together, then I will try and highlight its focus and what 
learners will be expected to do by the end of the lesson.      
R: I see! what other CA requirements should you always have in mind in the 
classroom? 
DL: I am not sure I understand.  
R: What are you expected to do when you work with the programme. As we have 
already discussed objectives, the programme emphasise on objectives, it requires you 
to assess, remediate and enrich etc. These are some of the things I would like us to 
discuss, what it is about and how it should be done in the classroom.   
DL: The reason why it is so difficult to answer your question is because right now I 
am fighting to make sure that the learners cover all the content in the book so that 
they achieve something in preparation for the examinations. Things like remediation 
and  other requirements of CA are very difficult to attend to, what really is troubling 
us is that it needs a lot of time. There is a lot of work in a very short space of time. 
We have very slow learners who are below average even if now we can ask them 
questions on the last lesson they would not answer. When you teach you need to 
attend to these slow learners and let us say they are twenty, this can make your work 
very difficult. Because when you try to pay attention to such learners end of term CA 
tests will be far ahead in content thus jeopardising the performance of all the learners. 
We know our learners need help but sometimes it becomes difficult to help them due 
to time constraints. 
R: Can you tell me briefly about remediation since it seems to be your major concern. 
DL: You need to cater for the individual learners. They should be given work. Let us 
say twenty of them are slow learners if I do remediation it might require a lot of time 
such that I might need after school time. This time we would repeat the same thing 
that has been done in the lesson, trying to explain in more detail. 
R: So when you remediate are you supposed to repeat the lesson? 
DL: You try to put it in a very simple way to help them grasp and those who are 
masters are now being delayed. You try to simplify the best you can. 
R: Let us say there are twenty non-masters, do we really assume that they all did not 
understand what was said in the classroom or there are other factors to consider. 
DL: There are different problems. For example, in my class there are 38 learners now 
most of them are not at school because they have not paid school fees, when they 
come back they want to write exams like the others. They have been out of school for 
about 4 to 5 weeks and such learners are expected to pass or perform well. Let me 
give you an example, in such cases some learners who do not perform well have 
reasons ranging from poverty at home, not being keen to learn, lack of support from 
parents and some naturally are not gifted. As a teacher I need to understand all this 
 269
 and then try to help the learners according to their specific needs. This is supposed to 
be done in a very short time that is why I say it is very difficult. Some learners cannot 
even read and understand what is in the book due to what I have pointed out earlier 
[lack of commitment on the part of some staff members] so that you do not only deal 
with mastering content but you have to also do reading writing and spelling at grade 6 
level. May be those in town are much better off.      
R: When you simplify the lesson, do you think there is a chance that you manage to 
help learners with their different learning problems? 
DL: Yes because what is important is for them to be able answer questions and be 
ready for the exam. 
R: But if the learning problem has not been sorted out it will remain a stumbling 
block to further learning.  
DL: Yah I see, I think what I should do is work with learners as individuals but again 
there is no time we have to be ready for the exam.  
R: In all your lessons I have seen you give learners some work to do, can you tell 
why you do this?   
DL: I cannot teach without assessing. The CA programme requires that at the end of 
each lesson I assess in order to be sure that the work has been done and done 
correctly.  
R: What exactly is emphasised in the programme about assessment? 
DL: Other ways of assessing besides writing. There are certain things that learners 
know and I do not know especially when discussing tress. I can give them homework 
[project like] to go and get whatever we need.  
R: How can you connect the assessment with objectives? 
DL: An objective highlights what learners should be able to do by the end of the 
lesson and I assess to check if that has been done appropriately and if not corrections 
have to be made. 
R: When looking at all that we have talked about as factors that are crucial to CA can 
you say your efforts to work with such in the classroom are successful? 
DL: I am not successful and I am successful. Concerning remediation and enrichment 
we cannot have such like in other schools because we lack the required resources 
such as electricity in order to use audiovisuals and slides and we do not have a library 
for the masters to enrich themselves. When we plan for school trips to enrich our 
learners [going to educational places] it becomes a flop since parents cannot afford 
even to pay for the basic school fees. So the best we can do for them is to help them 
with the textbook in order to get ready for examination. 
R: How about assessment? 
DL: This one is fine although most of them cannot perform then you have to help out 
thus taking a lot of time even teaching time. Ever since I came to this school I tried 
teaching during holidays but my efforts has brought me problems, parents were happy 
about it but there are some people who always want to cause trouble. Even now being 
with you here in the staff room for the interview could result in some strange talk 
though they know the purpose of your visit. Thus working after school hours to help 
learners is not something I am keen to do any more. 
R: Let us talk about the last workshop, how did you find it? 
DL: The workshop was very good though I was not feeling well. I did achieve 
something from the angle I was in. It was my first time to attend a CA workshop 
besides those where we get infused into learning material. This has been due to the 
 270
 problems the school is experiencing, this school is different from other schools. 
[Talks about a number of problems the school is facing].  
R: Generally what do you think of the programme?  
DL: The CA programme is not a new thing, the only thing they have changed are the 
words. What they have done is they have added the reports, one child has about seven 
report cards and where are we supposed to get time for this. You still have 
remediation teaching and other things in addition to the reports. At least now we as 
teachers will examinations, previously learners wrote our examination because theirs 
was late. This meant that they were to be written the following term giving teachers 
more work, especially due to the holidays learners come back having forgotten what 
was done in the previous term. CA is good provided we are going to do it ourselves. I 
know what I have taught and my examination will cover just that. That is why we are 
thankful on the part of being given the chance to set our own examinations. They can 
give us questions as samples. CA allows us to reflect on what we have done thus find 
a way of correcting it in the next lesson but it has a lot of work.  
R: Does it mean from now on you will be developing your own assessment items? 
DL: Yes but this thing with objectives and others need typewriters and photocopiers, 
resources that we do not have especially in schools like ours due to a lot of paper 
work. Even when preparing learners for examinations we need to revise certain past 
papers, such cannot be written on the board but should be photocopied, thus the 
school has a problem.  
R: Is there anything you would like to talk about?  
DL: There is a lot but there is no time. I have your number and Gule?s number I will 
get in touch should there be a need. The problems I have faced whilst in this school 
have made me to be off line with my teaching. If I can go to another school may be 
things will change.  
              
       
Transcript for teacher MM 
 
R: Can you please take me through your lesson, what are you doing and why? 
MM: I started reviewing the previous lesson that is something I normally do to see if 
learners still remember what they did in previous lesson. Then we moved on to the 
introduction. In this part of the lesson is where I ask learners if there is anything they 
know about today?s lesson, how much they know, where I should start and what to 
accommodate. It is where I get a clear picture of the whole situation. Then the next 
step involves explaining the content of the lesson. At this stage I still use the learners 
as they respond to questions they get to talk to me about anything they know about 
the topic we are discussing. Then interesting things should be part of the lesson that is 
why I brought along the map. They should use it to locate the country being studied. 
This is also an activity, learners should not just sit down for the whole lesson and the 
teacher talking all the time otherwise they get bored. Somehow they should be 
involved in the lesson. Normally in my lesson I write summaries on the board. In the 
evaluation then I give the learners an activity to test how much they understand the 
lesson.  
R: When planning the lesson and during presentation what CA requirements did you 
have to keep in mind? 
 271
 MM: When planning for a lesson I take into consideration the three groups of 
learners in the classroom. Apparently there are the fast achievers, the middle group 
and the slow learners. The lesson should ensure that all the groups are going to 
participate, lesson should not be one sided. For example, in questions there should be 
at the levels for the different groups so that they can all engage in the discussions and 
nobody is left out.        
R: Any other things that you consider crucial when using the CA programme? 
MM: Also mm em [seem to be thinking but cannot bring herself to remember] 
R: What I would like to know is, what is required by the CA programme that is the 
things you always have to keep in mind during planning and lesson presentation?  
MM: First it would be objectives, they are important. 
R: Would you like to tell me why they are important? 
MM:  Because we use them for planning assessment items. 
R: Before we go to issues of assessment can you tell me how you frame and use your 
lesson objectives? 
MM: In our Social Studies books objectives are written for us and when preparing a 
lesson I only pick those that I think I will cover for that day.  
R: Okay the objectives are framed for you in the Social Books, however, I believe 
you also have to look at them before you teach the lesson. Can we look at them and 
you can talk to me about the way they are framed in relation to how objectives are 
supposed to be in the CA programme.  
MM: I think they are framed well.  
R: Let us take an example of the objectives on Egypt. [Using objectives in the Social 
Studies book] At the end of the lesson pupils should be able to locate the position of 
Egypt. Think of when you were taught how to frame objectives in the workshop, does 
this one fit the criteria given to you?  
MM: No it does not. 
R: What do you think is missing? 
MM: I think it does not have the other parts such as measurement. 
R: Why is it important that objectives indicate measurement? 
MM: May be to enable the teacher to tell who is a master and who is not. 
R: Then if the objectives in the textbook do not have certain important parts do you 
attempt to add them when planning your lesson? 
MM: No I just take what has been provided in the book. 
R: Why not, because you know how important it is? 
MM: In this case I did not think that I needed to add it because I am going to measure 
the objectives at the end of the lesson. According to CA at the end of each lesson 
there should be assessment to find out if they have mastered or not so that you can 
provide remedial work before you move on.  
R: How then do you make the decision on who is a master and who is not? 
MM: I guess I just look at their work, it will give me a sense of who is a master and 
who is not.  
R: If you just look, do you think your learners will know what you were expecting 
from them and how it was supposed to be done. 
MM: I did not think of that may be I should have made an attempt to add it to 
facilitate the assessment process.  
R: How then do you think your objective should look like? 
 272
 MM: It could be like ?by the end of the lesson you should be able to locate Egypt 
accurately or correctly using the lines of latitude and longitude.  
R: Do you think if you phrased it that way it could have been helpful? 
MM: Yes because when learners are asked to locate Egypt it is possible to have some 
of them saying ?it is in the North of Africa? and have others providing more details 
than just saying it is in the North. Then it becomes difficult to say one is a master and 
the other is not because the criterion was not specific in the first place. [She paused, 
and continued] but how will they know because it will be in my lesson plan. 
R: How do you think you can make them aware of it? 
MM: May be talk to them about the objectives at the beginning of the lesson   
R: I see, still on the objectives what are they for? 
MM: They are for the teacher to find out how much the children have learnt, what 
can I say, they are for guiding me [she said laughing]. 
R: Would you like to tell me how they guide you?  
MM: They are for guiding me in lesson presentation and in assessing so that 
everything I say and do is linked to the objectives. 
R: Since you have touched on assessment, let us talk about it why do you have to 
assess? 
MM: You have to assess to find out how much knowledge learners have acquired in 
the learning process thus helping to highlight those who need help. I use assessment 
to find out if learners have any problems.  
R: How do you identify learners with problems? 
MM: They will not be able to respond to the questions asked in the exercise given to 
them. 
R: Then what do you do after identifying them?  
MM: Normally what we do in our school is that we offer extra lessons for those who 
need remediation. We take them after school when the others have gone home. What 
is common with our learners is that they do not have learning problems as such but 
they are lazy, they do not want to work when others do so. There are very few cases 
of learners with real learning difficulties. And this form of remediation does help 
them a lot.  
R: Doesn?t it affect them that they have to remain at school when their friends go 
home? 
MM: No they are happy as they see the rewards for being part of the classes. Also 
this is done through parents, they are informed about the situation of the learner at 
school so that they can also talk to them. Usually some parents cannot help their 
children at home because from work they are tired or some are just not literate 
enough to help thus they suggest getting help from us. Of course there is a charge, we 
make them pay some money. School time is not enough for the work that is supposed 
to be done so after hours proved to be the only time to do remediation. 
R: Do you think that repeating the lessons helps them to workout what seems to be 
problems that impact on learning?  
MM: Yes, because they can now respond to the questions. 
R: Please tell me, how do you define a learning problem?  
MM: It is failure to respond to questions posed by the teacher after being taught on 
that topic. 
 273
 R: What do you think causes that? 
MM: It is a number of things but it is very difficult to find out what exactly because 
we do not have time. 
R: If you had time, what would you do to find out the problems that were impacting 
on learning?  
MM: I cannot really say because I have never thought about it, what can I do? 
R: You need to think about it and may be talk to other teachers so that you can come 
up with ideas that will work in your classrooms. Still on assessment how do you 
assess? 
MM: In grade 6 my assessment is always a test or class work exercise. 
R: Why do you always use such forms of assessing?  
MM: Because I have to know whether the child is able to write correct spellings, 
display a good handwriting, is the child able to read on the board and respond 
correctly to questions asked. Another reason for assessing this way is because the 
office [referring to the head teacher] is always pushing, she wants to see work done 
by learners and the record book. If you do not have written work it would seem you 
are not doing your work. I have to give about five written tests a term so that the 
office will not say I am lazy [she laughs]. 
R: How then do you cater for the interests and needs of the learners in terms of what 
they are capable of doing?  
MM: They will just have to try and write because the examination is written and not 
oral. 
R: Yes I appreciate the impact of examinations in how you work, but may be at some  
point if you had devised another way in which the learners could show you what they  
knew would have been much better.  
MM: I have tried for instance, to sometimes give them work that would involve 
projects to be done in pairs as a way of assessing. 
R:  I realise your learners are sitting in pairs.  
MM: Yes I have done it purposely so that they can help each other and sometimes I 
tried to make them work in their pairs on a topic or a small project but it was not 
working properly. 
R: Why was it not working?  
MM: Sometimes you find that when students are given group work they do not put in 
effort, they do not bring the required project material or it is incomplete. 
R: You know that learners put a lot of effort on something they know will be graded 
and it will reflect in their report card. Have you made the effort to follow up on the 
projects? 
MM: No not really, when they say they did not do it, I always end up forgetting 
about it.  
R: Don?t you think that the attitude with projects is because more often teachers do 
not grade such work so for them it becomes something they can do when they feel 
like or ignore.  
MM: It is highly possible because any other work like class work or homework we 
always make an attempt to follow up and mark it.  
R: So what do you think? 
MM: I think it is a question of getting used to it as a way of assessing because you 
might find that it is not only helpful for the learners but also relieves me from the 
stress that comes with tests. 
 274
 R: What about the workshop, how did you find it? 
MM: The workshop did help me but not very much because in our school we are 
doing CA. Fortunately in our school we have CA assessors [trainer]. Most schools do 
not do CA there is a lot of work but our school was doing it. Most of the things I was 
familiar with. It is difficult but since we are at school to work we decided to try on it. 
Even if I did not go it would have made no difference for me because our school is 
strictly CA. Even the reporting system we have objectives and the learner?s 
performance reflected by master, boarder liner or non-master. And one other factor 
that contributes to teachers refusing CA is the material, like you need photocopiers 
and type writers yet there are no funds. But here at school we have all such things 
may be that is why it is easier in our case. 
R: Then you even better trying these other ways of assessing with all the resources 
you have. Lastly do you see any benefit of CA? 
MM: Yes I do [she said emphatically] because during our days the teachers would 
just teach, mark and give you a grade that you would not know where it was coming 
from. You would not tell what was right and wrong with your work. It helps us 
identify learners? problems and talk to them about it. It does help since even our 
objectives are now specific and we know exactly what the learners are capable of. 
You know when and where to help. 
R: So you find the programme to be helpful when teaching?  
MM: It is really helpful, it was difficult at first but now we are doing it.            
 
       
Interview transcript NA 
 
R: Please take me through your lesson, what was happening? 
NA: My intention was to let students know where about Zambia is, especially in 
which continent. After that we used our books to get more information, then learners 
copied notes. 
R: What could you highlight as important factors to keep in mind when you work 
with the CA programme in the classroom? 
NA: Objectives! Follow the objectives and also have materials so that learners can 
see. 
R: Now lets talk a bit more about the objectives, how should they be framed? Do you 
ever formulate your own objectives? 
NA: No I don?t! I take them from the book. However, I do know how to formulate 
objectives. 
R: How should they be formulated? Can you do one for me? 
NA: You first write 3 representing third term, number of country and the lesson 
R: Now let us say you are to write an objective, how should that one be written? 
NA: The learners should be able to know the position of Zambia in the map of Africa 
R: But objectives in CA are supposed to be behavioural, what verb can we use 
instead of know 
NA: Locate ? yes locate where about is Zambia. 
R: Then how are you going to see or measure whether objectives have been achieved. 
NA: [teacher is silent] 
R: In other words how are you going to tell if your learners have mastered the 
objective or not?  
 275
 NA: I can tell from their performance whether they have achieved the objectives, 
what they will provide as answers will indicate if the expected change in behaviour 
exist. 
R: What exactly will you be looking for in their performance? 
NA: I will be looking for cases where learners have responded well to questions and 
if they do not give the correct answers then it means they are non-masters.  
R: What else can you say about objectives, how are you supposed to use them? 
NA: Objectives are for the teacher 
R: What about the learners? Don?t they need the objectives of the lesson they are to 
learn? 
NA: No! Learners do not know anything about objectives. It?s you as a teacher who 
needs objectives for guidance. 
R: What about learners can they not be guided by objectives during the lesson? 
NA: Ah no! learners know nothing, they take what they are told by the teacher. 
Anyway when using a map it is very easy, you put your map up and learners can see 
Zambia in relation to other countries and where it is geographically. They can see all 
these things that?s why visual aids are important. Learners are able to locate countries 
this way.  
R: How should you work with this objective, that is, ?learners should be able to give 
the latitudinal position of Zambia? [Here reference is made to the relevant section in 
the text-book used by the teacher], so that you can be in a position to tell if your 
learners are able to position Zambia on a map of Southern Africa?   
NA: I am going to measure it at the end of the lesson because according to CA we 
need to assess at the end of each lesson.   
R: What I was hoping you could tell me was at what point could you say the learner 
has mastered an objective? For example, if your objective is to position Zambia, now 
that you have taught them, do you think the learners have an idea of what they need to 
do to locate a place or country on a map if they have no flash cards?   
NA: But by the end of the lesson learners were able to list the neighbouring countries 
of Zambia. 
R: Yes, but other than repeating what is in the book, do you think if you gave them a 
different exercise, they would still be able to provide correct answers?   
NA: Well, they generally did well in the exercise I gave them. They know the 
answers. What do you mean with a different exercise? 
R: Remember your objective was to help learners locate Zambia, do you think being 
able to indicate practically on the board is for example, an indication of being able to 
tell where Zambia is in relation to the other countries?   
NA: Now, I can see your point, but they knew the answers how else could I have 
determined whether they understood what these answers meant in real life.      
R: Yah! Can you clarify what you mean with real life?   
NA: I mean the learners? everyday life. 
R: On the basis of having provided correct answers in this exercise, do you think your 
learners will be able to position any country or place without the help of a map in 
front of them, outside the classroom?  
NA: Yes, that is what they say to us at workshops. ? perhaps the objectives could be 
fulfilled in another way but I cannot think of anything now. I wanted to assess 
?[quiet for sometime] so that I can be in a position to help those learners who are 
non-masters.   
 276
 R: And what do you think? Were you able to tell who the non-masters are? 
NA: I thought so but now I am not so very sure  
[pause] 
NA: Yah! it?s possible to end up awarding marks to students who can just repeat 
answers but do not deserve them. 
R: What do you mean with awarding marks where they are not deserved? 
NA: Like giving a learner full marks even when the answer provided is not complete.   
R: Okay going back a little bit to the objectives [reference is made to the objectives as 
stated in the textbook], how can we use them in the classroom?  
NA: I suppose to guide both the teacher and the learners on what they should be able 
to achieve at the end. That?s what they tell us? 
R: Then how else can we use it to ensure that the learners become aware of what is 
important to do in order to position places on a map? You as a teacher knew the 
lesson objective, and how did you ensure that learners had a sense of it as well?   
NA: Okay, I see now, this is what we struggled with during my training. We were 
taught that before you start teaching, learners should know the objectives of the 
lesson. Tell them exactly what is expected of them by the end of the lesson.  
R: How were you taught to do this? 
NA: We had to analyse the objective. 
R: What did this analysis involve? 
NA: Finding out what learning something has to bring about in terms of first thinking 
and then acting? 
R: Now let us try and do the same with this objective. 
NA: Well. I did not make them think, they only showed me places on the map and 
filled in correct answers that they had in the books. 
R: That?s okay, don?t worry, let us think about how you could have taught them about 
how to think about what it means to locate a place or country as it is the case with 
your lesson, what is necessary to do to enable them to understand what we mean 
when we say a country is located here or in this way? 
NA: But, that?s hard ? it requires thinking about it.. 
R: Let?s try to think together  
NA: Let me rather try it alone first, are you coming in tomorrow, let?s talk during 
break. 
R: Good, I am looking forward to your thoughts tomorrow. What else is crucial to 
keep in mind as you work with the CA programme? 
NA: It is the teaching material 
R: Why do we need material, why is it important in the lesson? 
NA: To help the learners to understand clearly by seeing and touching. Like you have 
seen in the lesson where we were locating Zambia we were using flash cards so that 
learners can do things by themselves and such helps them to gain more 
understanding. They learn by doing things. 
R: What is crucial for you to consider in the classroom? 
NA: exercises or activities 
R: Why is such crucial in the learning process? 
NA: answering the questions because there are some missing gaps for the learners to 
fill in. It is a form of assessment. 
R: Why is it important to assess learners? 
 277
 NA: So that I can try to establish whether or not learners have understood what was 
done in the lesson. 
R: What other reasons would you have for assessing learners besides checking for 
understanding?  
NA: Mm I do not know may you can help me on this one. 
R: How is assessment supposed to help you and the learners? 
NA: So that I am aware of what they know and what they do not know so that we can 
make corrections. 
R: Do you use assessment only to check if learners can respond to questions or repeat 
what you taught them?  
NA: Yes that is very important because if they are to pass at the end of the year they 
should answer questions correctly.  
R: Is there a way in which assessment can help you think about your performance as 
a teacher when presenting the lesson.  
NA: Not really but sometimes it can show that learners fail because the lessons was 
abstract yet they need concrete things. Like in the lesson on Farming in Zambia I 
forgot to bring concrete things like seeds of maize and sorghum.  
R: You could have asked learners to bring some of these things from home because 
they have it, anyway in such cases what do you do to make things better.  
NA: I just help them with finding the correct answers because it was my fault as I did 
not help them to see what we were talking about.  
R: Do you think simply providing them with the expected answers solves the 
problem. 
NA: You know there is quite a lot to do so I cannot repeat a lesson, thus when I make 
sure they all have answers to the questions at least I am confident they will perform 
during examinations. Sometimes I do repeat a lesson because CA requires that we 
remediate learners who have not mastered the objectives of that lesson.  
R: How do you remediate your learners? 
NA: I re-teach those who have failed the test or that exercise      
R: Don?t you have a problem when doing this with the group you have? [Combines 
two classes due to staff shortages] 
NA: No I do not. I select those who have failed and I re-teach them and send those 
who have mastered to the library for extra work. Then I give the same test to those 
who were remediated as it is what CA requires until they all pass.  
R: How do you do this in your classroom? 
NA: According to CA every child is a successful learner. And this means each learner 
should be helped and given attention according to his / her needs. It is difficult, our 
complaint is the number of children. We even complained to some facilitators from 
South Africa who first introduced the concept of CA to us. 
R: Tell me what did they say about this issue?  
NA: After remediating for 2 or 3 times then I can take the learner as an individual and 
try to identify his/her learning difficulties. And this is the time when I have to notify 
the Head Teacher and parents so that we can help each other. 
R: Another question I was going to ask you was in your efforts in working with what 
is required by CA, do you think you are successful or not?  
NA: Yes we do these things but not every week because then it would mean not 
finishing the syllabus. Government should reduce the number of children in each 
class. 
 278
 R: But such is not possible, unfortunately the teacher is expected to function under 
such conditions. 
NA: Yah that is why we cannot put into practice some of the requirements of the 
programme. Besides the number of learners there is also the syllabus that is long and 
the examination at the end of year. Such things make us to rush.  
R: Tell me about the last workshop? 
NA: [she commented on a workshop that was for infusing them into new learning 
materials] New syllabus is problematic you call a spade a spade, especially in the unit 
on growing up. I am a Swazi who has been taught to select what to tell children in 
their respective ages. You assess the age of the child and decide on the information to 
be imparted. 
R: Lastly, what can you say about the programme in general?      
NA: It is excellent especially in English when you do oral tests. 
R: But you can also do them in Social Studies 
NA: You won?t finish the syllabus. The number of learners is too high so that such 
forms of assessment can be viewed as time consuming. In Swaziland CA is excellent 
but they should add more schools so that the number of learners in the present schools 
could be reduced 
 
 
Transcript for teacher DM 
 
N.B: She watched her video before starting to talk about what was happening. 
 
R: Please take me through your lesson, what is happening? 
DM: Before we did the lesson on Dr Nelson Mandela we had done one on 
transportation in South Africa. I had given them some work to do individually 
because I wanted to see how good are they in writing and can they find answers for 
themselves from the book. We have worked on the exercise together on the board. I 
asked the questions, learners responded and I wrote their responses on the board for 
reinforcement and also to ensure that they have correct answers to the questions. 
After completing this then I moved on to the next lesson [the one on Dr Nelson 
Mandela]. My introduction on this lesson started with highlighting common issues 
amongst independent countries, talked about steps towards independence [using 
Swaziland as an example] Then we looked at Dr Mandela, his birth, how he was part 
of the ANC, how he was imprisoned, highlighting that finally he did come out and 
became president. Then I gave them an exercise on the topic we have discussed 
because CA says we must always give learners work to do. Whilst still on the lesson I 
gave them the chance to read from their books thus enabling them to be fluent in 
reading.      
R: In this lesson you have just talked about, what CA requirements were important to 
keep in mind?  
DM: There should be apparatus and in this lesson it was Mandela?s picture. I should 
use it to try to involve the learners, establish their pre knowledge. It was my first time 
to teach them about Mandela but when I showed them his picture it came back to 
them (who he was). You always need to start with what learners know and move with 
them, you the teacher being the leader and also to make sure that they are involved 
more often.  
 279
 R: Does this way of involvement help in their learning?  
DM: Yes it does it opens their minds. They should not expect me to do all the things 
because I am already educated I can read and pronounce words. When learners do 
things on their own in the learning process, they do not easily forget and it becomes 
clear.  
R: You have mentioned two things here that is, the learning material and 
involvement, what else can you highlight as important?     
DM: The other thing is they should write as individuals. They might be able to 
respond orally but only to find that they fail written work when they are to do it as 
individuals. This means in class the learner is helped by others. When you do 
something by yourself it is different from when you are being helped.  
R: Oh now you are talking about assessment 
DM: Yes I am talking about assessment in the classroom 
R: What can you highlight as the purpose/s of assessing learners besides establishing 
if they can write? 
DM: We also want to see if they have followed what was done in the lesson. It is 
much better when they have written down because you can see if the individual 
learner did understand what was done.  
R: How does assessment help you to see whether learners did understand what they 
were taught? 
DM: All lessons have exercises at the end that learners have to respond to. If they 
answer them correctly then it means they did follow what we were doing and if they 
cannot answer then they did not understand. 
R: Can you say with confidence that learners know and understand what they were 
taught by responding to questions?  
DM: Yes I am confident. 
R: Please elaborate on this for me. 
DM: What is important is that they can respond to questions and if they do yes I 
would say they understand. 
R: Let us say you were to make them to use the knowledge in contexts other than 
responding to questions in the classroom, would you still be sure that they could draw 
on the knowledge? 
DM: You know most of the time the concern is on making sure that learners are 
ready for examination but may in the process they can be able to apply knowledge 
otherwise I would not be exactly sure.  
R:  Don?t you think at some point it would be nice to feel confident that they can 
perform in the examination and also use the knowledge gain in their everyday life 
activities? 
DM: Yah but I never thought I should do that and to tell you, I wouldn?t have time 
this way is much better.   
R: And what about you, does assessment help you in anyway? 
 
DM: It helps me to see that I have achieved my objectives. In any case where a 
learner shows signs of not being clear we do it again on the board, so that he/she 
could be helped.  
R: How do you help? 
DM: I am not doing the answering but it is the other learners who help out, and you 
find that learners understand much better when they help each other.  
 280
 R: May I know what is involved in the helping? 
DM: I ask the questions and they look for the answers in the textbook not as 
individuals but as a class so that those who had problems could be helped by the 
others. 
R: When learners fail to respond to questions, what do you think the problem is? 
DM: I think they did not follow when I was explaining.  
R: But when you are ?helping? them you only encourage them to copy the correct 
answers, how does that help them? 
DM: At the end of the day it is about making sure that they all have correct answers 
in their note books. 
R: Can I ask you a question can you not assess just to find out about your 
performance as a teacher?  
DM: I can. When I find that most answers are wrong, I can tell that somehow as I 
was explaining there was something wrong [not taught or explained properly] then I 
go back to explain.      
R: When you are explaining this time what do you do or how do you do it?  
DM: I do not repeat the lesson, like here these are some questions that I use. I ask the 
questions and the learners are to identify answers to each.  
R: Okay its like making corrections on the exercise 
DM: Yes and it becomes clearer to some of them 
R: How does it become clearer, would you mind telling me about that? 
DM: At this point learners become aware of what were the correct answers to the 
questions they were working on.   
R: Please tell me what is your major concern when engaged in this process? 
DM: To make sure that they all have the correct answers. 
R: Don?t you think it is possible for them to have the correct answers in their 
textbooks but only to find that they still cannot perform during examinations? 
DM: It happens? 
R: What do you think about it and what do you do?   
DM: Make corrections again as we did during class work. 
R: But don?t you think to some extent it may not be really solving your problem. 
DM: I know but what else can I do, this is the best I can do. I wish there was another 
way of helping the learners but right now I am not sure I know how. 
R: But you can talk to other teachers so that you help each other. Still on assessment 
do you ever develop your own assessment items?  
DM: Except when I am planning a long test, I always use the ones in the book like 
the objectives.    
R: How do you frame your objectives?  
DM: You have to highlight the main points of the lesson [she gives an example] 
when was Mandela born, his work together with ANC colleagues etc. 
R: These objectives [pointing to objectives in the book] they talk to the learner, you 
should be able to give the date when Mandela was born etc. What is lacking in these 
objectives? 
DM: I believe they are well framed.  
R: Okay let us say think about what you learned from the workshop on the framing of 
objectives.  
DM: I think they are framed properly that is why we just take them as they are to our 
lesson preparation book.  
 281
 R: May be if you try looking at them with other teachers you might see them in 
another light. Anyway how should they be used in the classroom?     
DM: They help me as a teacher I should know why I am teaching a particular lesson, 
what should the learners know it is my guide. 
R: How do they guide you? 
DM: I look at the objective to see if the subject content is suitable. 
R: What I am trying to find out is, what is involved in using objectives as a guide in 
preparation and lesson delivery? 
DM: Since the books spell out the objectives and the content to teach and how to 
assess the tendency has been not to bother to think about them.    
R: Don?t you think they can also guide the learners [using the pupil?s book 
Researcher  showed the teacher objectives that are made for the learners].  
DM: But I think it is their responsibility to read their books.  
R: Do you think they can do that without you making them aware of it? 
DM: I think some of them can read on their own but I am not sure about being clear 
of what it means.  
R: How then can you help them to be clear on the objectives?  
DM: It means the learners also should know the objectives, not by just reading them 
but should also try to explain things to them so that we all mean the same things in 
the lesson process.  
R: Do you think this might help? 
DM: Yes, so that as the lesson progresses learners use these objectives to assess if 
they follow what is happening. Learners may be can develop some awareness of what 
they know and what they do not know.  
R: Can you explain that a little bit for me. 
DM: Those who were in doubt if they were following during the lesson will start 
asking questions. 
R: What exactly do you think they will be doing when they start doing that? 
DM: You see when learners start asking questions it means they are able to identify 
their learning problems even before I do through assessment.  
R: May be what this means is that objectives are important for you and the learners.  
DM: Yes but then it means before I start teaching we should look at the objectives. 
R: Yes may be, what do you think?   
DM: Like in this [referring to lesson she taught] we can start by making corrections 
on the previous exercise then when we get to new lesson we then discuss the 
objectives of that lesson.  
R: What would the discussion on objectives entail? 
DM: Reading and explaining them so that even those who cannot understand English 
properly still have a sense of what is expected of them.  
R: Going back to assessment, which strategies do you use when you assess?   
DM: I think of class work exercise, let them help each other then they report to the 
class as to what possible answers did they come up with for that activity. In this way 
they get used to discussions.  
R: Okay why should they get used discussions? 
DM: That is what they emphasise on when we attend workshops. 
R: Would you like to tell me what exactly do they say? 
 282
 DM: We were told that we can assess orally, use projects, observations and others as 
such may help in catering for the different ways learners can display what they have 
learnt. 
R: What do you mean? 
DM: This also gives a chance to those learners who like working on their own and 
work on topics that are of interest to them to ensure that all learners are going to 
succeed. 
R: Why is this important? 
DM: So that they do not feel lost in the learning process [pause a little] yah because 
some could end up failing. 
R: Now about all that we have discussed do you find it possible to work with it in the 
classroom [for example, the objectives, individuality of learners etc] 
DM: When I am marking it is possible to identify learners who need help and I can 
tell which areas were not done well so that when we do corrections I make sure that I 
take that into consideration. When I mark I also see the performance in general, the 
masters and non masters and then use this as a basis for what I plan to do next. In 
cases where I have a lot of non masters I usually work on the board to try and help 
them using those who are masters to help identify the answers.  
R: What about those who quickly finish their work and its correct what do you do 
with them?  
DM: In my case I don?t mark in the classroom due to the number of learners. I teach 
in the classroom then give them work to do for me as homework. I mark on my own 
time, them in the next lesson I take a few minutes to do corrections with them 
[remediation] before we start on the next lesson. 
R: Then it means enrichment is out for you  
DM: I don?t do it, I do not have the time for it. Unless it comes up in the activities 
where they are supposed to use their knowledge and especially where they work in 
groups, they get the chance to help the others. I do not group my learners according to 
capabilities each group is mixed.  
R: You assess everyday but this assessment is not recorded  
DM: Yah it is not for recording but to ensure that they have written something in 
their books and I can check on the performance. 
R: How often do you assess for recording purposes? 
DM: Most of the time it becomes a long test, which is given depending on the 
amount of content we have covered but it shouldn?t take long since they will forget 
some of the things. 
R: And what is the purpose of these tests 
DM: It is the same as the assessment we do everyday in the classroom except that this 
is a bit long than an exercise 
R: About the workshop, what can you say? 
DM: They were emphasizing on what we already know. 
R: what exactly can you be specific? 
DM: Yah they emphasized that in class we must make sure that the class is conducive 
for learning, meaning apparatus, the fact that you are not harsh to the learners. 
Further, the test should not be based on the length of content give it when necessary. 
It helps when you teach and test before you do a lot of work since you can identify 
mistakes and misconceptions and try to work on that before moving to far. And that 
we should record performance of learners for all activities. This helps when making 
 283
 decisions on progression, especially because some learners get disturbed by exams 
and do not perform well and in some instances they do not write at all due to other 
reasons then we can make decisions based on the CA records. Ways of setting a test, 
starting by lower order questions then move on to higher order that requires thinking 
skills.  
R: Generally what can be your comment about CA? 
DM: It does help, even with the teacher. What CA requires can help improve 
teaching and learning. In the past they used to set and that did help in a way though 
we started complaining about the content, but I believe that a child who has learned 
should be able to respond to questions regardless of who has set the test.  
R: and what will happen now that you will be developing tests yourself? 
DM: It is no problem because we have been taught and like they said there should be 
a difference between learners from town and those in the rural areas, tests should be 
standard.     
         
 
Interview discussion MN 
N.B She preferred to watch and talk about her lesson at the same time 
 
MN: This is my introduction. Here I am asking questions on previous lesson to get 
them ready for the next one. In the presentation they are using atlases because I want 
them to see the position of the country we are talking about and neighbouring 
countries. This usually helps learners in the sense that they see what we are talking 
about as they identify some of the things in the atlases. Now I am giving an exercise 
to test their understanding. Then as they were writing I moved around to see if they 
were working accordingly.       
R: Now that you have reviewed your lesson, what CA requirements did you have to 
keep in mind starting with planning for the lesson and when you were teaching? 
MN: What can I start with? 
R: Anything you would like to talk about first, what does CA require you to do in the 
classroom?  
MN: We need to test learners though with such we do not give it everyday like the 
exercises. 
R: Okay can we call it assessment, lets start by why do you think this is important? 
MN: To test learners? understanding of lesson objectives 
R: Any other reasons why you assess? 
MN: It enables me to establish whether they have understood so that I can move on or 
remediate where necessary. And the learners are helped in the sense that they can see 
how much they know and improve if there is a need. They expect us to remediate the 
learners when they have not performed well. 
R: Can you tell me what is involved when you do remediation in the classroom? 
MN: You first teach then give assessment. From the assessment you can see there are 
those who have not performed well then what you do is try and help them until they 
master objectives. And from the way learners perform I get ideas on how my teaching 
strategies were effective in the classroom.  
R: Can you tell me more about what you have just said. 
 284
 MN: We were told that sometimes if learners perform badly when being assessed it 
might happen that the teacher did not explain well what was taught or the teaching 
strategies were not working. 
R: Then what do you do in such instances? 
MN: I might need to change or improve or continue with it if it worked well. 
Sometimes after assessing especially when most learners have not performed well I 
have to go back and re-teach the lesson.  
R: Is it practical to do that? 
MN: Yes it is. I usually tell them to read, I write questions on the board then we 
discuss it, there isn?t enough time but when corrections are done as a class it is much 
better. 
R: Can you tell me, after assessing three groups of learners are identified that is 
masters, non-masters and border liners, how do you work with them? 
MN: I usually say to those who are non-masters they should do the corrections 
R: Can you elaborate on the process of making corrections.  
MN: In this case I usually give them notes that they are going to read and also ask 
them to refer to their books before they start answering the questions. 
R: Oh but these are learners who have not performed well in the assessment how do 
you help them improve? 
MN: Once I have shown them where to find answers to the various questions then 
they should be fine. 
R: I see the non-masters will be doing corrections, tell me about the masters what will 
they be doing? 
MN: Since Social Studies has a lot of drawings especially when we learn about a 
particular country I usually instruct them to proceed with the drawing and to label 
some important things that I will have specified to them. Sometimes I give them more 
questions that are a bit challenging (cognitively) compared to the ones they answered 
at first. 
R: This is interesting, in the lessons I observed how did you provide for what you are 
just telling me, can you remember?  
MN: Actually in those lessons I did not divide learners according to their 
performance, they all worked together to help the non-masters. They can always do 
other work at their spare time but what was important here was that all learners have 
the correct responses to the assessment questions.  
R: Then when the non-masters finish their corrections, are they all going to do some 
of the work you would give to the masters as reinforcement.  
MN: No I do not make them do it 
R: How did you decide on the appropriateness of the activities given to learners with 
the learning problems identified through assessment? 
MN: Yah but their problem was that they could not respond to questions I gave them, 
then I gave them the same questions to work on and that is what CA requires. 
R: By doing that were you confident that you were helping them to address their 
learning problems?  
MN: yes.  
R: Don?t you think their failure to respond to questions could be an indication of an 
underlying problem?  
MN: I do because a learner who has not yet understood cardinal points cannot locate 
properly and at times it can be other reasons.  
 285
 R: Now tell me, how did you use this information when planning for remedial work 
MN: But there isn?t enough time for me to look at each learner?s problem so I 
concentrate on general issues. I do not think the way we do remediation attempt to 
solve individual problems and we were told to give learners the same test until they 
master it and that is what were are doing.    
R: I appreciate that, but still, neglecting individual problems does not prepare learners 
for further learning.    
MN: I see what you are pointing at but if that is the case what should I have done? 
R: What do you think you should have done?  
MN: May be work on the remedial activities in another way but I am not sure how.   
R: You need to think about that or even talk to the other teachers for help, what else 
can we talk about? 
MN: We can talk about objectives they are very important. 
R: What do we mean by an objective?  
MN: Objectives are things that you want learners to achieve by the end of the lesson.  
R: How do you frame them when you put them down in you preparation book?  
MN: I start with the easiest, from recall to synthesis and evaluation.  
R: Can you do that? 
MN: Usually they are on recall 
R: Why don?t you try to move on to the other levels? 
MN: It is because of the way they are written in the books 
R: Looking at this objective [pointing to an objective in the book] can you say it has 
been framed the way objectives are to be?  
MN: No it is not complete 
R: What is in this objective and what is missing? 
MN: [Teacher is silent and after some time she said] I cannot say now but I do know 
when an objective is incomplete. 
R: Can we talk about those things that indicate to you that the objective is complete 
or not? 
MN: I will need to check on the examples I have in one of my notebooks that I used 
in the workshop, but right now I cannot say.  
R: Its fine check on it we can talk about it some other time. Although we have not 
framed an objective accordingly, what are objectives for or rather how are they 
supposed to be used in the classroom?  
MN: Objectives are for me as a teacher 
R: Let us look at the objectives in the book, they say at the end of the lesson you 
should, and this you does not refer to you but to the learners which means they are 
also for the learners.  
MN: May be it means both the teacher and the learner should know the objectives of 
the lesson before proceeding with the lesson. 
R: You have yours in the teacher?s guide and they have theirs in their books. What 
can you say about that? 
MN: Okay now I see but still cannot figure out how I will do such. Here do we just 
talk about them or I have to write them on the board? 
R: How do you think you can help them know the objectives? 
MN: May be by reading them out and explaining them so that the learners have an 
understanding of the meaning of the objectives.  
 286
 R: It is up to you what is important is to make them aware and to understand these 
objectives before you start teaching. Let us talk about how you use your objectives.  
MN: They are for guiding me when I am teaching to make sure that that learners 
understand. 
R: Yes they are for guiding you can you please explain to me what is involved in the 
process of guiding you?  
MN: They help me to make sure that what we do in class is related to the topic we are 
doing. 
R: Let us look at CA?s famous slogan every child is a successful learner, can you tell 
me what this means and how do you work with it in the classroom. 
MN: When you teach learners must understand what you are teaching and when they 
fail you should help them again until they succeed.  
R: To ensure that everyone succeed you are saying there should be remediation. 
Before you get to the stage where you assess and realise you need to remediate there 
are things you do in your teaching to ensure that they all succeed. What can you 
highlight here? 
MN: You can keep on asking them questions 
R: The way I saw it in your lesson, you tried using learning material other than the 
books, you kept on moving around and talking to some learners. Would you like to 
tell me what was happening there? 
MN: Yes I use atlases to get learners involved in the lesson and also I make sure that 
they are all doing the correct thing by moving around. When I find one who is having 
problems I try helping there and then. 
R: I see, still on learners they learn in different ways and their interests are not the 
same but they are all successful learners. How do you cater for this in the learning 
process and in the way you assessed.   
MN: I usually use atlases and textbooks to encourage them to read. They use their 
atlases as a way of follow up on what they have read. Like when learning about 
countries we first discuss and read from the books about that country then I allowed 
them to use their atlases to locate certain things we have talked about. These are the 
only learning materials I have.  
R: what about when you are assessing? How do you cater for the individuality of the 
learners? 
MN: I always make them write then I mark or sometimes ask them questions orally 
R: do you record your oral assessment? 
MN: No I don?t  
R: Why not because we do have oral tests?  
MN: I thought they were only for lower grades because they cannot write properly. 
R: let us talk about the last workshop, how did you find it? 
MN: I learnt more on remediation and objectives 
R: how about formulating tests? 
MN: yah I also learnt something on that since we got skills on how to do our own 
tests. Though we have not yet started we will have to do it end of term.  
R: what can you say about the programme itself? 
MN: CA is very good but it requires the school to have lots of money. 
R: what will be the money for? 
 287
 MN: for resources such as photocopiers, papers, learning material and typewriters or 
computers. It is very difficult to write tests on the black board that is why when we 
give them they are very short in order to be fit on the board.  
R: Now you see using other ways of assessing as we have discussed them could help 
in this regard. 
MN: Yes because I will not need to write a lot on the board. We have large classes 
especially here in the rural areas so that some of the things we are asked to do are 
impossible, like the remediation and enrichment we cannot do it properly.     
    
 
 
Interview transcript DN  
 
N.B He watched the whole lesson before talking to the researcher about it 
 
Researcher: now that you have seen yourself in action, what can you say about the 
lesson in terms of what were you doing? 
DN: The lesson was on climate and drainage system in South Africa. The learners 
should know what is climate and what is drainage? So I have started with asking them 
questions on the two. What I realised was that they are mixing up the two. Then I 
decided to remind them what these two are all about. In the lesson we described SA?s 
climate both in winter and in summer. Then we moved to the drainage defining it at 
discussing SA?s biggest rivers and tributaries. I think that is all.  
R: What I found interesting was that your learners were sitting in pairs, would you 
mind talking to me about this. 
DN: This sitting arrangement has the advantage of learners helping each other. For 
example, we are learning on climate and drainage they need to find or locate rivers in 
the atlases. When they sit in pairs they help find it quickly and sometimes I do not 
have to help them one by one. 
R: What can you say about the learners? use of atlases during the learning process? 
DN: the purpose is to get them involved in the lesson and enable them to locate the 
rivers by themselves. This is important as it makes them active rather than to sit and 
listen all the time. 
R: what is the importance of getting them involved in the lesson? 
DN: It is because they get more knowledge rather than when they are told everything 
by the teacher. 
R: Would you like to elaborate on that? 
DN: Students learn more when they do things for themselves than when they are told 
by the teacher, when they experience doing something they do not forget that.  
R: Okay now we can go to the assessment you wanted to talk about 
DN: The purpose of assessing is to establish learners? understanding of what was 
discussed in the lesson. 
R: When you establish that some have understood but some did not, what do you do? 
DN: When I find that someone has not understood I make him or her to make 
corrections. When they do this they have to re-read the question and then search in 
the book for the correct answers. At this stage they can also consult their partners in 
the sitting arrangement. 
 288
 R: Would you like to tell me why this process is important when doing remediation? 
DN: Because I have to make sure that they all have the correct answers? 
R: Do you think that when they can repeat the information in the book then they are 
masters?  
DN: That is all we are expected to do, make sure that all learners have the correct 
answers. 
R: Can you confidently say they know something and can be in a position to use the 
knowledge outside the classroom.  
DN: I am not sure I follow what you mean? 
R: I mean can your learners use the knowledge they have gained in the classroom 
about climate and weather in their everyday life. 
DN: That would be difficult to say, see my concern is to make sure that they are 
ready for the examination. 
R: I see, now can we talk about what you think are the requirements of CA amongst 
the activities you did in your lesson. 
DN: First the learners must listen (hear), touch and see things that are being discussed 
thus learning materials are very important in this regard. The lesson should be child 
centered, let the learners work more than the teacher and be fully involved. Then 
besides the material the learner should understand what has been done in the lesson. 
That?s all I can say.  
R: When you plan a lesson according to CA what is the first thing you should think 
about? 
DN: Its objectives     
R: Yes let us talk about these objectives, how should they be framed and used in the 
classroom? 
DN: They should be like ?the learner should know the climate and drainage system of 
SA? 
R: Tell me do you think what you have given me now is an example of a behavioural 
objective?  
DN: Yes it is. 
R: How are you going to measure ?know?? 
DN: I cannot, I think I need an action verb. 
R: Can you give me an objective with an action verb?  
DN: At the end of the lesson learners will state the climate and drainage [paused]. 
R: I think that is fine, now complete your objective. 
DN: No it is fine, I think that is all. 
R: How are you going to see if the objective has been achieved and under what 
condition do you expect the action to take place? 
DN: At the end of the lesson or given the map of SA, or using their atlases.  
R: Now can you re frame your objective.  
DN: At the end of the lesson pupils should be able to state the climate of SA in a 
paragraph.  
R: What do you think is different about this objective, from the first one you gave? 
DN: Now the teacher has a sense of how the stating should be done. This also enables 
the learners to have a sense of how much stating are they expected to do.  
R: Do you think this will make assessment decisions much easier? 
DN: Yes, in this way I can now tell when a learner has achieved or failed to achieve 
an objective.  
 289
 R: Then let us look at why need objectives in lesson who are they for? 
DN: I think they are mine [he laughs] as the teacher. 
R: That is fine but what are you going to do with them? 
DN: They are for me to assess the lesson if it is going well and learners have learnt 
something. 
R: Since they are yours you do not make the learners aware of them 
DN: I have to tell them about the objectives 
R: Now this is interesting because in your lessons you did not do it. [both laughed] 
DN: Sometimes we know what is expected of us but it is difficult to do it?  
R: Why?  
DN: Because I do not know how to do it, should I just read them for the learners and 
at the same time learners do have the objectives in their books. 
R: What do you think would be the best way of doing it? 
DN: May be I need to discuss the objectives with learners before I start the lesson.  
R: Why?   
DN: I think they are supposed to guide me and them in the teaching and learning 
process.  
R: I see, besides objectives what else is important to consider when working with the 
CA programme? 
DN: [He seems not sure of what to say] cannot think of anything 
R: Try to think about some of the things you have done in the lesson and then talk to 
me about them.  
DN: What is important is that I involve the learners, so that I can identify those who 
need to be helped and help them in good time. 
R: Why is this important? 
DN: CA says every child is a successful learner provided you have given him or her 
enough time and right instruction to master the objective.  
R: What does this mean to the way you teach and assess? 
DN: It means if the learner does not follow I must come and help. I need to give the 
child the attention necessary for him or her to achieve. 
R: How does this concept of learner individuality impact on the way you plan 
remedial activities in the classroom? 
DN: I try to simplify the questions so that the slow achievers can begin to see what it 
required them to do? 
R: Can you tell me what is the focus of remedial activities? 
DN: It is basically about making sure that corrections to the assessment tasks are 
made and every student has the correct answer. 
R: What about the reasons why their answers were wrong in the first place?  
DN: I do not think it is possible for me to know, anyway most of the time it is 
because they were not listening to me? 
R: But why aren?t you finding out from them? 
DN: I suppose some will be able to tell me and others will not, anyway there is no 
time to talk to them individually? 
R: But then how are you going to make sure that all learners are successful? 
DN: I will, once corrections are done they cannot repeat the same mistakes. 
R: Are you confident about that? 
DN: Not really because after having done corrections they still fail the examinations. 
 290
 R: So what do you think about your remedial strategy. 
DN: I think it should change. 
R: How do you think you can change it?   
DN: Mm this is difficult what can I say, all I know is that the way I do corrections 
does not really solve the problem. 
R: You can go and think about it or even talk to your colleagues about it. Now can 
we talk about assessment.  
DN: Assessment requires that all learners should understand questions meaning they 
have to be simple. 
R: Can you please tell me why do you have to assess?  
DN: CA requires me to assess more often, like at the end of every lesson. 
R: What are the reasons for that? 
DN: To establish understanding of learners, so that I try to find ways of helping those 
with problems. Some learners fail because they have problems at home or with 
friends and at this stage I call on the parents to help. 
R: And what about you does it help you to assess more often? 
DN: Yes it does 
R: Can you tell me more about that? 
DN: From the way learners perform I get ideas on how my teaching strategies were 
effective in the classroom. I might need to change or improve or continue with it if it 
worked well. Sometimes after assessing especially when most learners have not 
performed well I have to go back and re-teach the lesson.  
R: Can you explain to me how you do that? 
DN: Yes, I usually tell them to read, them I write questions on the board then we 
discuss it. I usually say to those who are non-masters they should do the corrections. 
R: I know we have talked a bit about it earlier, but can you elaborate on the process 
of making corrections, since these are learners who have failed how do you help them 
improve? 
DN: In this case I usually give them notes that they are going to read and also refer to 
their books before they start answering the questions. 
R: I see the non-masters will be doing corrections, tell me about the masters what will 
they be doing? 
DN: Since Social Studies has a lot of drawings especially when we learn about a 
particular country I usually instruct them to proceed with the drawing and labelling 
some important things that I will have specified for them. Sometimes I give them 
more questions that are a bit challenging (cognitively) compared to the ones they 
answered at first. 
R: What will happen then when the non-masters finish their corrections, are they also 
going to do some of the work done by the masters.  
DN: No I do not make them do it, once they achieve their first assessment I believe it 
is fine with them 
R: I see, assessment is supposed to be done in different ways can you tell me about 
your ways of assessing.  
DN: Besides the written tests 
R: Yes 
DN: There is oral assessment where I ask them questions 
R: Do you record the results of such assessment 
DN: No I do not 
 291
 R: Why not? 
DN: They have to write it down for me if I have to record it 
R: But in the last workshop they said you can plan or prepare an oral test for your 
learners. What do you think is the importance of an oral test if I may ask? 
DN: So that the child can be able to speak. 
R: Besides just speaking how can you relate it to the slogan every child is a 
successful learner.   
DN: Please remind me on that one 
R: You said that CA is expecting you to help all learners to succeed and I am asking 
how is this way of assessing helping you to achieve that?  
DN: Assessment should cater for the needs or different capabilities of learners. Some 
learners can show well what they have learnt by writing it, some when they talk about 
it and some by certain activities.  
R: Then how come you did not think about that when choosing your assessment 
strategies. 
DN: I have to take this into consideration the time available for assessing. I cannot be 
able to cater for everyone due to number of learners in the classroom. So that giving 
written tests all the time helps to handle my workload within the given time.  
R: But don?t you think you still have learners who are not yet helped to achieve in the 
classroom. 
DN: Yah it is true I do have cases like that. 
R: What are you doing about it? 
DN: I suppose I have never looked at it in that way. I have always thought if they 
cannot perform I will help them do corrections.  
R: And when they have done corrections did you feel that you have helped them to be 
masters 
DN: Sometimes it is difficult to put some of the things into practice because the 
learners have to be prepared for examinations. If you keep on doing some of these 
things you may be behind syllabus then all learners will end up paying the price 
because of the few who are non-masters.  
R: Let us talk about the last workshop how was it? 
DN: Oh that was helpful, it revived me a lot. 
R: What can you highlight as important things that you learnt from that workshop? 
DN: It?s the objectives, that we have to make sure they are in hierarchy, how to assess 
learners because their capabilities are not the same thus we should give them 
attention.  
R: But how come some of the things you are talking about do not happen in the 
classroom. 
DN: Sometimes it is difficult to work the way they have told us, it is nit clear what 
we are supposed to do. 
R: Generally what is you view of the CA programme. 
DN: CA has a lot of work though it does help the learner, we cannot cover everything 
R: Can you tell me about the lot of work in CA. 
DN: Like tests, marking, recording we have a lot of learners and we still have to 
teach. 
R: So how do you make an effort to deal with all this? 
DN: I only do what I can within the time I have. 
                 
 292
  
 
Transcript for Teacher NB 
 
He preferred to watch and talk about his lesson       
 
NB: In my introduction I just wanted to find out if they remember what we did 
previously through the use of questions. This is important because the previous lesson 
was a base for what we did on the next lesson. From there we went to look at the 
position of Ghana. My objective was for the students to be able to locate Ghana in the 
map. Some of them know that Ghana is found in the western part of Africa. Here we 
are now giving countries that share a boarder with Ghana. Here I am trying to show 
them Ghana itself. This one is mentioning Nigeria. Nigeria is far away although 
others can see the neighbours of Ghana he cannot that is why I moved to wards him 
so that I can help him. My reason for moving around is because we believe every 
child is a successful learner. Others can tell the neighbours of Ghana but this one 
cannot see then I have to help. I want him to be successful like the others. 
 
Then lastly, I gave them an exercise just to find out if I have achieved the objectives. 
I always use this in two ways first, I ask them questions orally, then they have a 
written exercise. I do not erase the answers or points on the board because some of 
them learn by seeing. When they are writing I move around just to make sure that 
every child is doing what he or she is supposed to do. By correcting them one by one 
I want to make sure that mistakes done by each individual can be corrected. 
 
R: In your lesson what important things did you have to keep in mind that are 
required by the CA programme? 
NB: Teacher is silent [seems not sure about the question]  
R: What I am trying to ask here is what is required by the CA programme that which 
you need to pay attention to in the classroom? 
NB: I think that every child according to CA learns by repetition and that all learners 
should be given a chance to learn and achieve. Then myself as a teacher I have to 
make sure that they succeed and are able to know and remember things through my 
repetition.  
R: Besides repetition how else would you ensure that learners succeed in the 
classroom? 
NB: I think its through involvement, they have to be part of the lesson. They should 
be given the chance of doing something. This involves giving them books and charts 
so that they can touch and see things that are being discussed in the lesson.  
R: In your lesson as you have just reviewed it where do you help them to use atlases 
and charts?  
NB: I make them to open their atlases and point at Ghana, and also identify countries 
that are neighbours to Ghana. I then moved around to check if they were pointing 
correctly and could see the neighbouring countries. So with the use of atlases learners 
are able to get involved in the learning process as they locate what we are discussing 
about. 
R: Do you think that by pointing at the countries they know how to locate? 
 293
 NB: They do because they identify the neighbouring countries of the one that is being 
located. 
R: Can they use the same skill to locate themselves if they were looking for 
directions 
NB: I think they need more than that, they need cardinal points? 
R: Why did you not make them use the cardinal points?  
NB: I did not think they need them for this lesson but they were taught on how to use 
them at the beginning of the year.  
R: Don?t you think they need to be using that information to locate countries? 
NB: May be they should, but I never thought it was necessary for this lesson because 
they way it is assessed does not require learners to use cardinal points.  
R: What else is required by CA that you really have to keep in mind when teaching? 
NB: It would be assessment 
R: What can you say about assessment? 
NB: When you assess you should start by asking simple questions then move 
gradually to more complex ones because if you start with difficult questions learners 
might be discouraged. 
R: I am interested in the purpose, why is assessment important to CA? 
NB: Assessment is important because the teacher is assessing or establishing whether 
he or she has achieved objectives and also assess the content of the lesson, was it 
understood, then assess to see whether learners will be able to use what they have 
learnt in the future. 
R: Now you have assessed and you have your feedback what do you do with it? 
NB: [silent for a moment] 
R: Here I am referring to a case where you have masters, non-masters and boarder 
liners what do you do? 
NB: I attend to them individually according to the results of their performance. I have 
to engage the masters with work so that they do not disturb the others.  
R: Oh so you give them work so that they do not make noise [both laughed] 
NB: Not really but so that they can improve on what they have learnt. 
R: Still on assessment there are different ways of assessing, you have given them 
homework, class work etc, why do you think its important to assess them in different 
ways? 
NB: These are assessment strategies that I use in the teaching and learning process, 
but when its assessment for recording it has to be written. 
R: Would you like to elaborate on that.  
NB: The reason that I rely on written tests is because during lessons the learners have 
been required to display their knowledge in the different forms or ways only then do I 
believe they are in a position to write it down for me. They should be able to perform 
after the repetition they have gone through in the lesson and besides examinations are 
in the form of writing so they should get used to that.  
R: But this assessment does not cater for all the learners? needs yet during learning 
process you did. How do you reconcile the two?   
NB: Yah but like I said the exam requires this  
R: What is the purpose of assessing?   
NB: Assessment is important because the teacher is assessing or establishing whether 
he or she has achieved objectives and also assess the content of the lesson, was it 
understood so that I can see those who need help.  
 294
 R: So more than taking care of the learners? individuality the way you used the 
different form of assessing has more to do with giving them practice (repetition) on 
the same topic so that they do not forget.  
NB: Yes because once they feel lost then it will be difficult to put them back on track.  
R: Can you elaborate on what you mean by being lost? 
NB: I mean that if I do not make them to do questions in different formats they will 
not master the correct responses 
R: Don?t you think that it is possible for learners to repeat facts without having 
grasped the concept being taught properly.  
NB: But that is not possible once they answer the questions correctly then it means 
they know. 
R: Tell me, now that they all responded correctly to your questions are you confident 
that your learners can apply the concept of locating in other instances (real life).  
NB: I am not sure may be yes and may be not 
R: Why do you feel this way? 
NB: Because they responded to questions correctly after we had done it together and 
may be they cannot do it on their own. 
R: If being able to respond to questions equals mastering the lesson objectives then 
they should be able to do it 
NB: I do not know! I am not really sure of the extent to which they are capable of 
working on their own.  
R: Having said that what do you think about the way you have used assessment.  
NB: I think it focused on asking learners to give me what I have told them rather than 
them using the knowledge.  
R: If this is the case can we think of how you should have assessed in the classroom 
so that you can access learners? thinking 
NB: That would require time to think about how I would like them to use knowledge.  
 
 
NB: I think that one provides opportunity to those who cannot work properly in the 
presence of the teacher to perform when they are at home or on their own. Two, oral 
work helps the learners who learn best by listening and talking. Then the written work 
helps those who are good at writing. I usually give assignments as a way of 
encouraging learners to know more about what they have done. It is a follow up. 
R: So in other words can we say when engaging your learners in all these various 
ways of assessing its basically connected to taking care of their individual 
capabilities.  
NB: These are assessment strategies that I use in the teaching and learning process, 
but when its assessment for recording it has to be written. 
R: Oh now you do not give them the chance to perform according to their capabilities 
yet the work will be recorded. 
NB: The fact that I rely on written tests its because during lessons the learners have 
been required to display their knowledge in the different forms or ways then I believe 
they are in a position to write it down for me. They should be able to perform after 
the repetition they have gone through in the lesson and besides examinations are in 
the form of writing so they should get used to that.  
R: So besides taking care of the learners? individuality why do you use these different 
assessment strategies? 
 295
 NB: The focus has more to do with giving them practice on the same topic so that 
they do not forget.  
R: Let us move on to something else. 
NB: [teacher is silent] 
R: Let me remind you, when you were talking about assessment you also referred to 
objectives. This means objectives are also important. Can you tell me how you work 
with them? 
NB: I think objectives should follow each other systematically so that your lesson can 
move smoothly.  
R: How should they be framed? 
NB: We were told that they should have four main parts, who will perform the action,  
you need an action verb, also reflect a measurement that will be stated in words like 
correctly, accurately, and the condition.  
R: Do you always follow this when you frame your objectives. 
NB: No I do not because I do not write objectives for my lessons. 
R: Why not? 
NB: The Social Studies books we are using already have them for us. 
R: But you can still look at them if they are done properly. 
NB: To be honest I do not look at them. [teacher is silent not sure what to say] 
R: May be if we talk about why you need lesson objectives then you will be 
encouraged to look at them before you start teaching. 
NB: I think they are a guide to you as a teacher on what you should and shouldn?t do 
in the lesson.  
R: How are the objectives going to guide you and the learners if you do not pay 
attention to them? 
NB: I think there has to be a way in which we can talk about the lesson objectives 
briefly if they are to be used as a guide.  
R: How do you plan to do it? 
NB: I do not have ideas but now that we have talked about it I think I should do 
something.  
R: Let us move on to something else 
NB: The use of teaching aids 
R: May be you can talk to me about that, what can you say? 
NB: Mm I think the use of teaching aids is important in that learners are able to 
remember what they have learnt. We were taught that learners understand in different 
ways, when they see and do things for themselves. 
R: Taking into consideration all that we have discussed so far can you talk about your 
efforts in trying to work with it in the classroom. 
NB: I think I am successful in doing some of the things but not all of them. 
R: Why is that? What factors can you highlight as impacting on your work? 
NB: In remediation some of the learners do not have learning material thus giving me 
a problem to work effectively or the way I would like to work with them. The 
learners need individual attention but there is little time. There is a lot in the book to 
be covered. 
R: Can you elaborate on the individual attention that you give to learners. 
NB: Yah like the one I asked whether she was sick or not, usually she is an active 
child. Another problem we have in our rural schools is the use of English as a 
medium for communication. Sometimes you talk and they do not understand that is 
 296
 why I sometimes mix English with Siswati. Like in the lesson we had words like 
oceanic masses and you could see they are lost. 
R: In most cases it is when trying to explain such words that you tend to bring in your 
language because you try to get to the nearest similar concept in their context that can 
be used to help them understand this new one.  
Now what do you think of the programme itself? 
NB: It is good but for us it does not work well because of the problems such as high 
numbers of learners and the necessary resources are not available. We have a lot of 
learners and cannot attend to them one by one. We do not have teaching aids but we 
are expected to perform well and enable all learners to succeed. The lack of resources 
makes it difficult to devise different teaching strategies especially if you take into 
consideration the learners? individual needs. Otherwise what it encourages us to do is 
good.       
        
    
TRANSCRIPT FOR TEACHER KM 
 
Interview discussions 
Comments: Her second lesson was disturbed by staff meeting and had to use first 
lesson as a basis for discussion, couldn?t arrange for another lesson due to teacher?s 
reluctance and the approaching end of year examinations in schools. She preferred to 
watch and talk about her lesson at the same time.  
 
KM: There are a lot of recording devices here it makes me uneasy [she laughed] 
Researcher: What would make you feel comfortable? I can try taking notes as we 
talk but it might delay us a bit since time and again I have to stop talking and write. 
KM: No it is fine 
R: Are you sure? 
KM: Yes really I will be fine. [then she continued with the discussion as follows] In 
my introduction I try to motivate them because in most cases you find that they are 
bored especially because Social Studies is always after break and at that time they are 
tired. To arouse their interest, in the introduction I divide them into groups, I ask them 
questions and for each correct answer the group whose member gave the answer is 
awarded a point. This is some sort of game, they like competing with each other. 
Then we move on to lesson for that day.  
This is the presentation of the lesson. I like to write on the board a few points like 
when we are defining new terms. Now and again we refer to our own country so that 
learners can realise that there is a lot in common between Swaziland and other 
African countries. After highlighting the important points in the lesson I then divided 
learners into groups of equal numbers. Each group was given a topic different from 
other groups. Then they were given time to complete the task. Once they are settled in 
their groups I start moving around to see or check whether they do follow the 
instructions given to them. Are they discussing what they are expected to discuss. 
Group work has a lot of benefits especially in the case of shy learners. They may be 
scared to talk when the whole class is focusing on them but they try to talk in their 
small groups. They also socialise as learners and they start talking about issues that 
wouldn?t have been easy to get from them in another context. It also makes them 
regain interest, this exercise becomes a refreshment and a learning experience. When 
 297
 the discussions are over each group chooses one person who will present on their 
behalf. After each presentation, the class is allowed to comment, add or ask questions, 
then I summarise the presentation by highlighting points and clarifying 
misconceptions. This is a process done by all the groups until they finish        
 
After group presentations I emphasised on the most important point of the lesson. 
This is followed by an exercise, usually it takes different forms like class work, quiz 
or homework which should be checked first thing in the morning and I put my 
signature next to work done. The purpose of the assessment is to enable them to work 
on lesson?s main points so that it can stick in their minds.  
 
R: In this particular lesson that you have just described what can you highlight as 
practices that are required by the CA programme? 
KM: With CA my problem is that when they started training teachers I was in an 
upper grade class, following year I was taken to a lower grade. It is only this year that 
I got a chance to attend a workshop on CA. Otherwise there isn?t much I know about 
CA. [this teacher was trained to be a secondary school teacher but due to lack of jobs 
at his level she ended up taking a job in a primary school. This is the reason why she 
is probably not familiar with CA since secondary teachers are not trained on it]  
R: It is fine, I am interested in the little that you know. Tell me about those issues you 
have been exposed to in the little time you have had with the programme.  
KM: In this programme what is emphasised most of the time are the objectives. They 
should be in line with what you will be teaching in class. For example, if in my 
objectives I will use a map, I need to make sure that the map is there for learners to 
use it. Another thing that is important is with regard to new words [defining them] do 
they have reference skills to look for the word from a dictionary or can read meaning 
from context.  
R: let us go back to the objectives, how should they be framed and how should they 
be used? 
KM: Do you want me to give you an example?  
R: Yes, any objective from the two lessons I have observed. 
KM: We do not write our own objectives, the book already have them and there is 
nothing you can do as a teacher to change that.  
R: I understand what you are saying, let us look at those in the book. Pick any and tell 
me if it is framed the way CA objectives are supposed to be. 
KM: I do not see anything wrong with these objectives.  
R: Try and think about what was said in the workshop, can you say this objective is 
fine.  
KM: Some part of it are fine but there are certain things missing. 
R: Can you indicate which parts are missing? 
KM: It does not show how in the process of assessing the learners? performance will 
be measured.  
R: Why do you need to indicate how the objective will be measured? 
KM: It is a criterion that both myself and the learners are supposed to use to establish 
if the performance show that the objective has been achieved.  
R: You seem to know more about objectives than what I see in the lesson.  
KM: Sometimes it is difficult to do these things, we have to think. Yet it is easy to 
just follow what is in the book.  
 298
 R: Still on the objectives, how are they supposed to be used in the classroom?  
KM: I think that they guide both the teacher and the learners.  
R: How do they guide the learners? 
KM: They become aware of what they will be learning, what they are expected to 
focus on and what will be required of them at the end of the lesson. 
R: Then how do you make sure that the learners are aware of the objectives of the 
lesson?  
KM: well so far I do not make an attempt to ensure that learners know the lessons 
objectives even though I was taught to do it.  
R: Why? 
KM: I always assume that they can read them from the book.  
R: But we have just seen that the ones in the book are not complete, how then do you 
expect learners to use them as a guide.  
KM: I guess it is one of those things that you know you have to do but they skip your 
mind. 
R: How do you think you can make learners aware of the objectives of the lesson? 
KM: I was taught that the lesson should start by telling learners exactly what is 
expected of them by the end of the lesson.  
R: What should be involved in this telling process? 
KM: I have to explain to them the focus of the lesson and the criteria that will be 
used to mark their work.  
R: I see, is this how you plan to do it? [Silence] Let us move on to something else, 
starting with every child is a successful learner. What do you understand about this 
and how do you try to work with it in the classroom? 
KM: There is a problem in my case especially with the disabled, the National 
Curriculum Centre (NCC) doesn?t have a book designed for them. This means I have 
to make notes for them prior teaching the lesson take them to the resource centre so 
that they can be written for them in Braille. Before lesson I have to collect work from 
the centre in order to be used by the learners in the classroom and be able to follow 
like others. This should include all activities planned for that lesson. However, there 
is a problem since those in the resource centre have a lot of work to do. They are to 
help out with work for learners from both primary and high school. In short they are 
understaffed. There is too much work since a subject is not about notes, there is also 
class work, homework and tests. Most of the time then you find that the disabled are 
behind if there were delays in the centre. Then what I do is make them take part in 
classes after lunch conducted by the resource centre. I have to highlight the areas on 
which learners should be helped. [Teacher cannot remediate such learners because 
she does not have the necessary skills to help blind people] Then you find that their 
performance improve because they did hear when you talked in the classroom. Such 
learners cannot use dictionaries for new words because they can only read something 
written with Braille.  
 
The NCC books assume that in the classroom all the learners can see and hear and are 
not relying too much on the teacher. In some subjects like Science, they have made an 
attempt to also write books using the Braille to help these learners with special needs. 
As teachers in this kind of school we have a huge responsibility not only to teach but 
also to monitor how these disabled learners are helped by other learners. [some are 
blind and some on wheel chairs all these depend on the generosity of their friends to 
 299
 help them move around in the classroom and outside] 
R: So when you take them to the resource centre it is for remediation? 
KM: Yes it is remediation for them.  
R: What is involved when doing this? 
KM: I identify the problem in the classroom then take them to the resource centre. 
Where I can also ask them to read for me what the learner was writing. It is 
unfortunate that they cheat a lot especially when given activities instead of doing the 
work they bring old pieces of work that was not marked since they know I wouldn?t 
be able to read it. It is after I have taken the work to the centre that I realise they have 
cheated me. I think as teachers we should also be taught on how to use Braille, it 
would make life easy when working with such learners. These learners can be very 
naughty they cheat us a lot from class they will say they are going for classes in the 
resource centre yet they are going to the hostels or going to play with friends.  
R: What about those who are not disabled, how do you help them because they also 
have needs in terms of learning problems?  
KM: It is much easier with those, you can see or identify problems from the way they 
perform. Then when you talk with them they tell you the real problem. That is when 
you can begin to help. In my class I have a learner who live with a stepmother and 
always have problems that impacts on performance at school. I always get stories like 
mom did not allow me to use candles thus couldn?t write homework, made to work 
thus too tired or there was no food. In most cases those who cannot write at home are 
encouraged to use the lunch hour to write homework because they do not have money 
to spend anyway. They do this with the help of the teacher.  
R: Is it easy to do this considering the number of learners in the classroom? 
KM: Sometimes it?s not easy but working with parents makes it better.  
R: In what way? 
KM:  By making sure that they do give them time to do their schoolwork at home. 
R: What do you think is the focus of your remedial activities? 
KM: To make sure that all learners make corrections to the assessment tasks they 
failed.  
R: Do you think making corrections is enough to help the learners. 
KM: Yes it is enough because they need to get their answers correct. 
R: Why do you think they could not get the answers right in the first place? 
KM: It is because they were not listening to me or it could be that they did not 
understand the questions, that is, why when doing corrections I read and explain the 
questions. 
R: Do you think telling them the correct answers will solve their learning problems.  
KM: What do you mean? 
R: If they know the answer then they understand what was done in the lesson. 
KM: Yes because all I want is for them to be able to answer questions correctly. 
R: What do you think will happen when the questions are asked differently? 
KM: You mean like in an examination. 
R: Yes! 
KM: Anything can happen and I cannot exactly be blamed for that. 
R: Now let us talk about the workshop how did you find it? 
KM: Most of what they told us about is what we do in the classrooms, we were 
trained at college to do that. However, I did gain something from the Monday 
presentation. Some of the presenters were good in writing rather than talking about 
 300
 what they have written. 
R: What exactly did you learn from these presentations? 
KM: They reminded us on hierarchies of objectives, learners? capabilities. What was 
new was the issue of item specifications and item banking. You can keep a test for 
future use as long as syllabus hasn?t changed. 
R: Remember it has to be analysed and revised according to learners? capabilities. 
KM: Yes you also note mistakes or misconceptions in your items that should be 
revised. Test feedback should be used in this case.  
R: Let us end with your view of the programme. 
KM: Their CA sometimes I do not like it. The examinations are always ahead of 
what you have taught in the classroom. Most of the test items are things we haven?t 
covered. I n school there are a number of issues that delays progress such as sports, 
remediation, and others that the NCC people do not take into consideration. They also 
make us people who cannot think when they start doing everything for us from 
objectives to stipulating how teaching should be done. 
R: But you can make your own during preparation. I do not know about your 
teacher?s guide but the designers do highlight that you can still plan your lessons 
differently depending on the needs of the learners. What they give is a guide not a 
prescription 
KM: Yah may be you can but with time pressure and other duties you have to do as a 
teacher you tend to say if they have done things for me there is no need to re-do it. So 
I just lift everything from the book as it is into my preparation book. 
R: That may seem to be what the book is encouraging but I do not think that is what 
the designers intend.  
KM: It is easy to plan lessons but when its already done for you, you tend to say why 
worry and lift it as it is.                
                     
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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          APPENDIX 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
          PHOTOCOPIED SAMPLES OF LESSONS