Samenvatting

Formative assessment has been rapidly gaining world-wide popularity due to its widely acknowledged potential to enhance student learning. However, change in education has often proved to be slow and impeded by many factors and studies show that formative assessment often fails to yield the promised results, most likely due to poor implementation. Therefore, this case study aimed to further the current understanding of the complexities of implementing formative assessment by exploring the alignment between (i) the school policy, (ii) teachers’ attitudes and (iii) their practices (both self-reported and observed). A mixed methodology and various instruments (questionnaire, interviews, observations) was employed to collect in-depth, qualitative and quantitative data on the three variables. Data was collected and analysed inductively based on a list of 7 principles for the implementation of formative assessment which emerged from the literature review:
1. Learning intentions and success criteria
2. Frequency
3. Feedback
4. Eliciting data
5. Interpreting data
6. Classroom culture
7. Teacher attitude, competency, collaboration and development

The results revealed that the three variables aligned with regards to principles 1, 3 and 4. Two additional themes emerged from the policy which did not align with the other 2 variables. Based on the findings, a set of recommendations was provided to maximize the alignment of the variables within the school, which might also prove relevant to other contexts.