Student's Perceptions of Assessment Legitimacy in TVET Sector in South Africa

Abstract

Assessing student performance is one of the most critical aspects of the job of a classroom teacher. Therefore, this study seeks to explore student's perceptions of assessment practice in TVET colleges. The quantitative case study approach through questionnaire was used to discover students' perceptions of assessment practice. Random sampling method was used to select 105 males and 89 females with a total of 194 students with four TVET colleges in the Limpopo Province. The data were analysed through excel spread sheet in order to determine the specific and overall percentage of students' perceptions and four principles of PATI. The theory of assessment legitimacy was used as a lens. In order to explore student's perceptions, the study exposed learners to nine questions. The findings indicated that lecturers' classroom assessments don't reflect content validity or apply real-life experience and real-life context. However, lecturers are able to give them various assessment tasks.