SADTU is right: Annual National Assessments aren't working
06 October 2014
The Democratic Alliance agrees with the assertion made by the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (SADTU) that the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga's Annual National Assessments are not working.
We agree with the SADTU statement that these literacy and numeracy tests "cause learners and teachers to focus their efforts on maximizing test scores which result in teachers "teaching to the test"."
We agree with SADTU that the annual national assessments are not being used as they should be - as a diagnostic tool, uncovering the precise areas of learning struggles, and as a platform for the development of strategies to address shortcomings.
We agree with SADTU that teachers and schools are being labelled as "underperforming" on the basis of the test results of their learners.