Primary teachers' use of summative assessments to enhance students achievement : current practices, perceptions and strategies for the future : a case study of a primary school, Fuvahmulah / Khaulath Saeed

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to explore primary teacher's use of Summative Assessments (SA), how summative assessments are used for learning enhancement and student motivation and the beliefs and perception of teachers regarding summative assessments. Both Formative and Summative assessments are used in primary schools but mainly the results of summative assessments are used to give a judgmental feedback to parents regarding the academic progress of the students, therefore it is important to study its impact on pedagogy. This study investigated perceptions and beliefs of teachers towards summative practices and the role of SA on enhancement of learning and student motivation. A case study of a Maldivian primary school was done using qualitative methods in which semi structured interviews were basically used. The perceptions of teachers as the focus of the study, for further corroboration of data few parents and students are also interviewed. The findings underline that teachers have a very positive attitude towards SA, apart from that the study showed that SA plays an important role in motivation and learning enhancement of high achievers, but played no significant role in motivation and learning enhancement of low achievers. They failed to perceive its negative impact on low achievers in the education system and hence they indirectly hold parents responsible for low achievement. Other than these findings, SA is found out to be a helpful tool for better implementation of pedagogy and at the same time used as a reliable mean to liaise with parents.
Key Words: Summative Assessments (SA), Formative Assessments (FA), Term test, Learning enhancement, Student motivation.