Geographic Information Systems Assessment Implementation in the Further Education and Training Phase in Schools

Abstract

National Senior Certificate (NSC) diagnostic reports for matric results indicate that learners perform poorly in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). While GIS education has made significant strides in recent years, there is a need for research that explores Geography teachers’ perceptions of GIS assessment. This paper explored the perceptions of Geography teachers in implementing GIS assessment in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase in South African schools. This research is underpinned by the constructivism theory by Piaget, which argues that learners actively construct knowledge and understanding of the world through their interactions with their environment. This paper focused on the classroom environment because that is where Geography learners are taught GIS. Learners must be exposed to different teaching and learning methods that assist them in utilising their existing knowledge to construct an understanding of the world around them. Particularly, Geography learners must be taught GIS thoroughly to apply the knowledge and skills they have learnt in real situations and be better prepared for assessment. The qualitative research design and a case study methodology were used to frame this research. Six teachers from three schools were chosen to participate in this study. Semi-structured interviews were used to generate data. The findings of this study indicated that Geography teachers teach GIS for assessment. The teachers stated that teaching learners using past year papers is ineffective because the Department of Basic Education (DBE) often changes the GIS content and skills they test. Hence, it is difficult to predict what they will assess; the DBE does not provide proper guidelines on how GIS content and skills would be tested. It is recommended that there must be a collaboration between the DBE and higher education institutions to offer Geography teachers guidance and training on GIS content, skills, and assessment. Keywords: Geography, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Assessment, Secondary school education.