Browsing by Author "Timmerman Greetje M. C."

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Formative Assessment: The Role of Participatory Action Research in Blending Policy and Practice in Uganda
(2018) Akello Lucy Dora; Timmerman Greetje M. C.
This paper documents teachers’ assessment practices and pupils’ learning to read and write in large classes. To gain insights into the assessment practices and pupils’ learning, the principles of Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development and participatory action research (PAR) design were adopted. Collaboratively, teachers reflected on their assessment practices, developed, implemented and monitored the assessment practices. Through observation, in-depth interview and review of exercise books, data were obtained. We argue that teachers’ involvement in PAR has contributed to changing assessment practices in large classes and in improving pupils’ competencies in reading and writing. On the other hand, to promote better assessment practices, we advocate for reduced number of pupils in a class and teachers’ workload to enable them offer more support to the pupils during assessment of reading and writing
Local Language a Medium of Instruction: Challenges and Way Forward
(2018) Akello Lucy Dora; Timmerman Greetje M. C.
The paper reports on a participatory action research study conducted in six rural primary schools in Uganda in 2013 to establish why children taught in the local language had difficulties in reading and writing. Findings through interviews, focus group discussions, reviews of exercise books and lesson observations indicated that though it was easier for pupils to learn the concepts in the local language; challenges ranging from poor translation, inadequate teachers’ language proficiency, lack of instructional materials, high pupils’ enrolment, lack of administrative support and teachercentred approach of teaching, affected pupils’ learning to read and write. Participants recommended adopting the child-centred pedagogy, incorporating instructional materials, conducting continuous assessment and recording pupils’ competencies attained in reading and writing. Teachers need to engage more in Participatory action research in order to reflect on their practices and pupils’ learning, and collaboratively decide what works best and what needs improvement in their classrooms.