South Africa has recently made a significant move towards support for deaf learners in inclusive education settings. Educators in inclusive classrooms are considered primary resources for the development of the strengths and competencies of these learners. Successful inclusion of deaf learners often depends on the skills of classroom educators. Nevertheless, educators often have little or no knowledge regarding support for deaf learners in inclusive classrooms. The experiences of deaf learners were investigated in order to understand the unique needs of these learners. The aim of the research was to add bottom-up approaches to the range of curriculum adaptations necessary to support deaf high school learners within inclusive education in South Africa. A mixed methods approach was employed, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches in a triangulation research design. The findings that emanated from the quantitative research served to complement the findings from the qualitative study. The results of the empirical study were supported by the literature review to formulate practical guidelines for assisting educators to accommodate the curriculum in order to support deaf learners. These guidelines might enable educators to respond positively to the needs of deaf learners and ensure that their inclusion in the regular school is successful. / Inclusive Education / D. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of curriculum change in teaching and learning of science subjects at schools in Vhembe District. The research also meant to answer the following research objectives on the impact of new changes in curriculum. The first research objective was based on the effects of curriculum changes in the teaching and learning of science. The second research objective was based on the constraints or factors that might be affecting the effectiveness of new changes in teaching and learning of science. The third research objective was based on the monitoring and support on the new changes in science curriculum. Research objective four was addressed as a recommendation. It was about the suggestion for future planning of changes in curriculum. In this era of on-going new developments in curriculum, it was imperative to find out how new changes are affecting teaching and learning of science curriculum even in the most remote parts of the country. The continuous changes that are taking place in science curriculum demand the need for this research. Questionnaires, interviews and observation were used as data collection methods using the qualitative method. Schools which participated in the study were selected using purposive sampling. It is revealed in the findings that teachers feel that it is not necessary for them to change the way they teach, especially those who did not receive training on the new curriculum changes during their tertiary education. The findings also indicate that lack of resources impact negatively on the implementation of curriculum reform in teaching and learning of science in many under-resourced schools in rural areas. The findings also reveal that, it is not easy for subject advisors to give relevant support because of inadequate resources and lack of human capacity. According to the research findings, inadequate resources, skills and knowledge and lack of pre-planning on new curriculum development adversely affect the teaching and learning of science in schools. It is therefore recommended that the proposed curriculum development and reform be piloted before it is implemented as proposed in the model for the preparation of effective curriculum changes and development in science. Also, it is important to have functional curriculum support forums at school, circuit and district levels. The provisioning of science centres with well-equipped laboratories in each and every circuit will play a greater role in effective teaching and learning of science in schools. / Science and Technology Education / M. Ed. (Natural Science Education)

Thesis (M.Mus)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since its inception, educators across the board in South Africa have struggled to implement the new curriculum. Initial problems with terminology and availability of learning materials have been addressed, but still the resistance to Outcomes Based Education (0BE) and Curriculum 2005 (C2005) continues. Some of the reasons for the resistance point to feelings of disempowerment experienced by generalist and specialist educators who now have to teach the new Learning Area Arts and Culture. This has been attributed to, amongst others, a lack of training, resulting in feelings of inadequacy, inappropriate training for large multicultural classes and the lack of teaching resources. Another reason for the resistance has been described as a resistance to change. Many educators have found it difficult to make the paradigm shift from the previous educational system to OBE and C2005. The aim of the study is to research and explore ways of empowering educators to teach Arts and Culture. The new educational system is geared to redressing the imbalances of the past and giving more expression to the diversity of cultures represented in South African schools. Whereas the previous system was founded on exclusively Eurocentric ideology, principles and values, the new system aims at a more inclusive Afrocentric approach. However, criticisms leveled at C2005 have suggested that it is still basically Western in terms of values, terminology and methodology. This study is therefore aimed at investigating a culturally diverse music/arts curriculum, which draws on the wealth of resources, methods and modes readily accessible in South Africa. A comprehensive literature review guides the study towards a greater understanding of how cultural identities are formed out of a need to belong and how important recognition is to individuals and groups, particularly in terms of their diverse cultural expressions. Music and the arts are understood as being vitally important channels for expression of this diversity. Yet, true to the Afrocentric principle of holism, unity is found in diversity. As much common ground exists between an integrated approach and an Afrocentric approach to music/arts education, these principles are explored to determine whether they can be adapted for use in contemporary South African classrooms. An integrated project mode, which provides a balance between the specific knowledge contexts of the various Learning Areas and collaborative learning aimed at developing the natural links between learning areas to create a vibrant whole, is suggested. The researcher conducted an integrated project at her school with the common theme of "District Six" linking four Learning Areas and their components. Participatory action research using qualitative methods such as questionnaires were used to determine the feasibility of an integrated project mode of learning as a means of empowering educators to teach Arts and Culture. Subsequently recommendations were made regarding implementation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sedert die instelling van die nuwe kurrikulum in Suid-Afrika het opvoeders gesukkel om dit te implementeer. Die aanvanklike probleme met terminologie en die gebrek aan geskikte bronne is aangespreek, maar die weerstand het nie verminder nie. Van die redes hiervoor verwys na gevoelens van ontmagtiging onder algemene en gespesialiseerde opvoeders wat die nuwe leergebied van Kuns en Kultuur moes aanbied. Die weerstand word toegeskryf aan, onder andere, gevoelens van ontoereikendheid, onvanpaste opleiding om met groot multi-kulturele klasse te werk en 'n gebrek aan onderrigbronne. 'n Ander rede is beskryf as teëstand teen verandering. Baie opvoeders het dit moeilik gevind om die paradigma-skuif te maak vanaf die vorige stelsel na Uitkoms Gebaseerde Onderwys (UG0) en Kurrikulum 2005 (K2005). Die doel van die studie is dus om navorsing te doen en ondersoek in te stel na maniere waarop opvoeders bemagtig kan word om Kuns en Kultuur aan te bied. Die nuwe opvoedingstelsel is gefokus op regstelling van die onewewigtighede van die verlede en op 'n groter uitdrukking van die kulturele diversiteit wat in Suid-Afrikaanse skole verteenwoordig is. Terwyl die vorige stelsel gebaseer was op 'n Eurosentriese ideologie, beginsels en waardes, is die nuwe gefokus op 'n Afrosentriese benadering. Tog is daar kritiek teen Kurrikulum 2005 juis omdat dit nog altyd gebaseer is op Westerse waardes, terminologie en metodes. Die studie gaan dus oor 'n kurrikulum vir musiek en die kunste wat inspirasie put uit die rykdom van Suid-Afrikaanse bronne, metodes en modusse. 'n Omvattende literatuur oorsig voer die studie tot die begrip dat kulturele identiteit gevorm word uit 'n behoefte om te behoort en deel te wees, hoe belangrik erkenning van individue en groepe is, veral om hul diverse kulturele identiteit uit te druk. Eie aan die Afrosenstriese beginsel van holisme kan eenheid binne diversiteit gevind word. Omdat daar baie gemeenskaplikheid bestaan tussen 'n geïntegreerde en 'n Afrosentriese benadering tot musiek/kuns opvoeding, word die beginsels verken om te bepaal of dit aangepas kon word vir gebruik in hedendaagse Suid- Afrikaanse klaskamers. 'n Geïntegreerde projek-modus word voorgestel, wat 'n balans skep tussen die spesifieke kontekste van kennis in verskeie Leerareas en koöperatiewe leer wat daarop gemik is om die natuurlike skakels tussen die verskillende Leerareas te ontwikkel sodat 'n groter geheel geskep word. Die navorser het by haar skool 'n geïntegreerde projek oor Distrik Ses geloods wat vier leergebiede, insluitend hul komponente, ingetrek het. Deelnemende aksie-navorsing soos vraelyste is gebruik om die uitvoerbaarheid van die geïntegreerde projek-metode te bepaal as 'n metode om opvoeders te bemagtig om Kuns en Kultuur by skole aan te bied. Dit sluit af met voorstelle wat gemaak is in verband met die implementering van die nuwe Kurrikulum.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The provision of quality education for all South African learners has been an issue of central concern since the advent of the democratic dispensation in 1994. One initiative since 1998 was the implementation of a new curriculum for South African public schools, C2005 as it was then called. This curriculum was later revised and streamlined as the NCS. There was a mixed reception to this new curriculum. Some perceived it as a progressive initiative by the Ministry of Education, while others argued that it was ambitious and that it undermined the conditions and context of South African schools. Essentially the curriculum policy implementation was intended to change the entire system and introduce new ways of doing in all sectors of education. This links strongly to processes of systemic change and that is the considered policy backdrop to this research. In this study I work from an interpretive perspective and draw on the cognitive sense-making framework to develop in-depth, understanding of teachers’ roles as interpreters and enactors of education policy change in South Africa related to the implementation of the NCS. More specifically, the study examines the ways in which six Arts and Culture school teachers in six diverse South African educational contexts experienced and responded to the implementation of the NCS. Data from the study indicates that teachers found it difficult to adjust to the more complex and demanding teaching methodologies, which took up a great deal of time and required very different roles in the classrooms. Data from the study also suggests that the way teachers come to understand and enact policy or reform initiatives is influenced by their prior knowledge, the social context within which they work, and the nature of their connections to the policy or reform message. The study further suggests that teachers adapt a curriculum rather than adopt it as it is, and that their prior understandings and beliefs about knowledge, beliefs and experiences combined with their contexts in which they work frame their classroom practices explaining why policy is not enacted as intended. Conceptualising the problem of policy implementation in this way focuses attention on how implementing agents construct the meaning of a policy message and their own behaviour, and how this process leads, or does not lead, to a change in how they view their own practice, potentially leading to changes in both understanding and behaviour. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die voorsiening van kwaliteit-opvoeding vir alle Suid-Afrikaanse leerders was ʼnsentrale besorgdheid na die totstandkoming van die nuwe demoktratiese bestel in 1994. ʼnInisiatief was die implementering van ʼn nuwe kurrikulum vir Suid-Afrikaanse openbare skole sedert 1998, die C2005 of NKV soos dit tans bekend staan. Die instelling van hierdie kurrikulum was op verskeie maniere ontvang. Sommige het dit as ’n progressiewe inisiatief van die Ministerie van Onderwys beskou, terwyl ander verskillende perspektiewe het en geargumenteer het dat dit ambisieus is en die toestande en konteks van SA skole ondermyn. Vir onderwysers was die resultaat na die oorgang van meer komplekse en veeleiesende onderrigmetdologie moeilik, omdat dit baie tyd geverg het en swaar gerus het om hulle rolle in die klaskamer te verklaar. Wat belangrik was, is dat die doel van hierdie kurrikulum beleidsveranderinge daarop gemik was om die totale skolestelsel te transformeer tot ’n vernuwende manier van hoe dinge in alle sektore van die onderwysstelse egter behoort gedoen te word. Dit sluit sterk aan by prosesse van sistemiese veranderinge en hierdie is die oorwegende beleidsagtergrond van hierdie navorsing. Die doel van die studie was om maniere te ondersoek hoe ses Kuns en Kultuur onderwysers in verskillende onderwyskontekste die NKV ervaar en hoe hulle daarop reageer, veral in die Kuns en Kultuur leerarea omgewing. Die studie was meer spesifiek daarop gemik om te eksamineer hoe onderwysers die KK leer-area in die klaskamer aanneem, aanpas en implementeer. Die studie openbaar, deur die kognitiewe raamwerk te gebruik, dat die wyse waarop onderwysers die beleid of hervormings-inisiatiewe verstaan en begryp, beïnvloed word deur hulle bestaande kennis, die konteks waarin hulle werk en die aard van hulle verbintenis tot die beleid of hervormings boodskap. Die studie suggereer verder dat onderwysers ’n kurrikulum aanneem soos wat dit is en dat hulle bestaande begrippe en opvattings in verband met kennis en opvattings en ervaringe gekombineer word met die kontekste waarin hulle werk en dat dit hulle klaskamer praktyke vorm en hierdeur word verduidelik waarom beleid nie kan plaasvind soos wat dit beplan is nie.

Thesis (MEd)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The large scale of democratization of the South African society after April 1994 brought about immense curriculum transformation in the education system. It was specifically aimed at addressing the educational imbalances of the past. Policy changes in the curriculum were thus inevitable. A part of transformation in education was the quest for greater participation by all school communities in South Africa through an approach of effective school-based curriculum management and development. A qualitative research design, guided by an interpretive research paradigm, was employed to answer the research question. The aim of the study was to explore how curriculum coordinators experienced their leadership role and functions within the context of schoolbased curriculum development. Data was generated by means of semi-structured questions to provide rich descriptions and explanations of the experiences and perceptions of curriculum coordinators in their particular contexts. Firstly, the literature revealed that it is indeed an enormous challenge for curriculum coordinators to initiate curriculum change, and secondly, that it is very difficult for curriculum coordinators to demonstrate their leadership role and coordination function as curriculum leaders effectively and to provide good support and direction. Curriculum coordinators are faced with the challenge of empowering themselves, enabling them to implement curriculum change continuously so that the curriculum is managed effectively. The research findings indicated that the curriculum coordinators do fulfil their responsibilities regarding curriculum management. Nevertheless, curriculum coordinators were not sure what their leadership function and role should be. Furthermore, the study revealed that there is a need to develop specific guidelines and clear policy to help curriculum coordinators to execute their roles and responsibilities effectively. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die grootskaalse demokratisering van die Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing na April 1994 het ongekende kurrikulumtransformasie in die onderwystelsel tot gevolg gehad. Dit was hoofsaaklik daarop gemik om die onderwysongelykhede van die verlede te probeer regstel. Beleidsverandering in die kurrikulum sou dus onvermydelik wees.`n Aspek van transformasie in die onderwys was ook die strewe om groter deelname vir alle skoolgemeenskappe in Suid-Afrika te bewerkstellig deur `n benadering van effektiewe skoolgebaseerde kurrikulumbestuur en ontwikkeling. Die studie het dit ten doel gehad om die leiersrol en funksies van die kurrikulumkoördineerders binne skoolgebaseerde kurrikulumontwikkeling te ondersoek en vas te stel hoe hulle dit ervaar. Om die navorsingsvraag te beantwoord is `n kwalitatiewe navorsingsontwerp binne die interptretatiewe navorsingsparadigma onderneem. Data is gegenereer deur gebruik te maak van semi-gestruktureerde vrae wat aan vier kurrikulumkoördineerders gestel is om insig te kry in hul ervarings en persepsies van hul onderskeie kontekste. Uit die literatuurstudie blyk dit eerstens dat dit inderdaad `n groot uitdaging vir kurrikulumkoördineerders is om kurrikulumverandering te inisieer en te bestuur. Tweedens is dit uiters moeilik vir kurrikulumkoördineerders om hul leiersrol en koördineringsfunksie as kurrikulumleiers effektief te demonstreer en om effektiewe leiding en ondersteuning te bied. Die uitdaging vir kurrikulumkoördineerders is om hulself te bemagtig om voortdurende kurrikulumverandering te kan implementeer om sodoende effektiewe kurrikulumbestuur te verseker. Uit die resultate is bevind dat kurrikulumkoördineerders wel probeer om hul verantwoordelikhede ten opsigte van kurrikulumbestuur te vervul. Nietemin ervaar hulle dat hulle nie heeltemal seker is oor wat hulle leiersfunksie en rol behoort te wees nie. Verder toon die studie dat kurrikulumkoördineerders `n behoefte het aan `n duidelike beleid en raamwerk wat hulle sal help om hulle verantwoordelikhede effektief te kan uitvoer.

The purpose of this study was to establish current difficulties experienced by grade 10 mathematics educators after the implementation of the new curriculum in grade 9 (Senior Phase). Qualitative approach, using questionnaires' as a research tool was employed. The study was conducted from twenty grade 10-mathematics educators in a variety of schools. The questions were based on the current difficulties that educators were experiencing in grade 10 after the new curriculum was implemented in grade 9 in 2002. The research study was undertaken in different schools with different backgrounds in one District; UMgungundlovu of the Kwazulu - Natal Department of Education. These educators were from schools with the following backgrounds: • Rural schools • Township schools • Former White schools • Former Indians/ Coloureds schools The findings of the study are presented and these are interpreted and discussed under two categories: these being the kinds of difficulties enunciated by grade 10 mathematics educators and the researcher's comments on the findings. The Key Findings of this research study are the following: Grade 10 Mathematics educators complained that they have problems in teaching mathematics in grade 10 learners because: • Methods used in grade 9 are totally different from those they are using in grade 10. • There is no linkage between grade 9 and grade 10-mathematics syllabus. • Educators' lack training and teaching in outcomes - based approaches. • The new curriculum does not prepare learners to do pure mathematics in grade 10. • Learners cannot even work independently, only rely on the constant guidance from the educators and other members of the group. • Learners find it difficult doing individual work and completing homework and other class work. • Many learners drop out in mathematics classes and others even become worst in mathematics. The examinations or assessment (eTAs) which is an exit point from grade 9 to grade 10 have no value for the type of mathematics that is done in grade 10. • Textbooks used in grade 9 have lots of activities and lots and lots of stories and less mathematics. • Textbooks used in grades 8 and 9 are of poor quality and exercises are of pathetic quality. • Educators in grade 10 have to teach grades 8 and 9 work because it was not taught. • No clear focus on content part in grade 9, which form the basics of grade 10 mathematics. • The new curriculum in grade 9 gives emphasis to very few topics. • The level of mathematics that learners are exposed to, in grade 9 is far lower than the one they encounter in grade 10. • No support from parents in terms of doing homework. Finally, the recommendations are made for addressing the difficulties that are experienced by these educators as well as suggestions for further study. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Kwazulu-Natal, 2005.

This study strove to establish how science teacher educators (lecturers) at three universities in a province in South Africa responded to curriculum changes related to C2005 and higher education. The following critical question is posed: How have science teacher educators in PRESET education responded to curriculum changes proposed for the Natural Sciences Learning Area of Curriculum 2005, the Norms and Standards of Educators, and modularization in the Higher Education curriculum? The framing of the study from 1996 to 2002 relates to the introduction of C2005 in schools in 1997 which coincided with curriculum changes in higher education prescribed by the NQF. The curriculum change process has to be seen in the context of developments during and after the demise of apartheid in South Africa. Responses of science teacher educators to post-apartheid educational policy developments driven by the NQF form the basis of this research. The production of data for the study occurred during 2001 and 2002. It involved an interpretive cross-case study of 11 science teacher educators' responses to the curriculum change process. The science teacher educators were selected from three universities in a province in South Africa. They had to be involved with preparation of student science teachers during PRESET for the Natural Sciences Learning Area of C2005. Data was obtained through a semi-structured interview schedule and an observation schedule. A document analysis was also conducted in the study. Qualitative data were first analysed qualitatively and represented at three leve ls of analysis. Stories of curriculum change experienced by three individuals were also presented as a second level of analysis. The theoretical frame that informed the methodology and analysis was developed in the context of a pre- and post-apartheid educational offering in South Africa. It operates in an interpretive and critical paradigm of research that includes change theories and other theories that can be used to account for ways in which science teacher educators have changed in response to C2005 and the NQF. These theories work together. Among them are those classified as Traditional Change, Adaptive Change and Advanced Change. Other theories such as theories in action and a theory of academic change were also used as a means to understand change in academic and other settings. Constructivism as a learning theory was included in the theoretical frame since science teacher educators are expected to use the theory as a rationale for the new curriculum. It is therefore an essential component of the theoretical frame in interpreting such change. Also significant is the role of situated cognition in enabling professional learn ing communities to make meaning of curriculum change and to act accordingly. Argyris' theory of organizational learning, the Concerns-Based Adoption Model, Complexity Theory and Systemic Reform also contribute to the development of the theoretical frame used to contextualize and interpret the data. The data analysis showed that the science teacher educators had made a more concerted effort to incorporated changes related to C200S into their curriculum materials and their actual teaching than the NQF's bureaucratic exercise related to modularization and the NSE. They were better able to account for their actions in terms of C200S than for modularization. This had occurred despite them not being bureaucratically accountable to the schools. The role of the new school curriculum as a major influence on change among the science teacher educators goes beyond the complexity associated with the change process. The influence of personal factors related to a moral response to school change (C2005) resulted in the science teacher educators making changes that were major and vastly different from their responses to the NQF's bureaucratically driven higher education changes. The responses of the science teacher educators to curriculum change shows that professional accountability does not flourish under bureaucratic control as displayed by demands of the NQF for modularization. The changes made by the science teacher educators was also vastly different from the responses of practising teachers to C200S. They made a concerted effort to change and there was no evidence of implementation failure compared to the practising teachers in terms of C2005. My research outcomes, therefore, have contradicted the standard findings of School Improvement research which alludes to the difficulties associated with teacher change, and the needs for long term systemic approaches related to large scale reform - where institutional management, external support, internal support, rewards and punishments work together. In the three universities in my study, such arrangements were loose couplings at best. But feelings of professional and moral responsibility in the direction of school-related change (C200S) were high for individuals and groups. Personal, social and professional interests were more obvious drivers of change than institutional interests and career interests. On the basis of the above, my research has suggested the following which serve as a positive contribution to theory pertaining to curriculum change: Much change theory developed in the context of schools does not apply to Teacher Education, because professionalism and education are primary concerns for science teacher educators: they chose to do their job well. Accountability is not only - or even mainly - about the institution and institutional monitoring systems. It is about professionalism and relationships within institutions and outside them. In this case, the responsibility the science teacher educators felt to schools, science teachers and their communities were much more powerful influences than responsibilities they felt to the reforms indicated in modularization and NSE. The professional imperative is not bureaucratically controlled. It flourishes in the absence of pressures related to forced compliance. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

Integrated curriculum has received a great deal of attention in education settings and the word 'integration' in the integrated curriculum is viewed as a method of teaching and learning underpinned with the theory of constructivism. Integration is one of the approaches in the present curriculum of South Africa and the / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

South Africa has undergone many changes in the past decade in terms of political, economic and educational transformations. The year 1994 was the turning point in which our education system underwent a major paradigm shift. The sands have been shifting in education ever since, beginning with the National Curriculum Statement, then the introduction of OBE and Curriculum 2005 and the most recent, CAPS. The question that intrigued me about curriculum change was how educators experienced these changes. This study therefore explored how educators experienced curriculum change in South Africa, particularly how they experienced the new Life Skills curriculum in the Foundation Phase. The following research questions were addressed in this study: 1) What are grade one educators’ experiences of the new CAPS Life Skills curriculum? 2) Why do educators experience the new curriculum the way they do? A qualitative research approach was used, making use of a case study design. Participants were purposely selected using non-probability sampling. Semi-structured interviews and diaries were used as data collection methods. The data from this study revealed that educators experienced challenges in terms of the content, planning and preparation, assessment and dealing with contextual factors in the classroom. It was also found that educators experienced a lack of training and support in implementing the new Life Skills curriculum. A positive experience was that educators enjoyed teaching Life Skills. It was also found that educators welcomed and embraced curriculum change. / M. Ed. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.

A pilot study of the use of groupwork in biology education at the Griffiths Mxenge College of Education: The Government of National Unity in 1994 introduced a new educational policy for the country. This represented a shift in paradigm from a transmission mode of teaching and learning to learner-centered education. The shift marks a transformation from a contentbased curriculum to an outcomes based education (aBE). aBE, which is underpinned by Constructivism and Social Constructivism advocates for the use of groupwork as a strategy for achieving the outcomes envisaged in our learners. The challenge facing teachers and educators is how to implement outcomes based education. The intention of this research is therefore to serve as a pilot project to find out about how groupwork may be used in teaching. It looks at types of groups, considerations a teacher should have in forming groups, dynamics which come into play during teaching and gives suggestions as to how groupwork problems may be solved. Others issued are also raised which were not fully covered in the research. It is the hope of the researcher that the project would be a basis for further research on the use of group work in teaching under outcomes based education. Towards an effective implementation of assessment of biology practical work under "curriculum 2005" Transformation taking place in education in the Republic of South Africa has implications for assessment. It involves a move away from the transmission mode of teaching and learning, to a learner-centered education with the attainment of outcomes. It is a move away from the summative mode of assessment to a formative mode, where assessment leads to the development of the learner and monitor and support teaching and learning. Questions arise as to what to assess, how, when to assess and by whom? This research project is an initial attempt to look at how this assessment policy may be implemented effectively in schools and colleges, using the teaching and learning of practical biology as a tool. It looks at examples of assessment methods that may be used to assess learners work, their functions and problems that may arise in the teachers attempt to transform hislher practices. Suggestions are made on factors to consider in implementing assessment practice and how problems, which may arise in assessment, may be overcome.