TARMII 3.0 Report

Cooperative Agreement Number: AID-674-A-12-00023

Agreement Start and End Dates: 01/04/2016 – 31/03/2019

Project Locations: South Africa (Gauteng and North-West Provinces)

Donor : USAID

TARMII 3.0 Report

January 2016-March 2019

Project Title: TARMII 3.0An online assessment tool for teachers

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HSRC | REPORT | TARMII | 2019

Acknowledgements

During the period, July 2012- March 2019, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in

collaboration with the Department of Basic Education (DBE) developed and modified an

assessment system known as the Teacher Assessment Resource for Monitoring and Improving

Instruction in the Foundation Phase (TARMIIfp) and later TARMII 3.0. This project was

funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The authors would like to express gratitude to the USAID not only for financial support, but

also for bringing synergy between the DBE and the HSRC. The DBE project leadership of Dr

Rufus Poliah, Chief Director for National Assessment and Public Examinations is highly

appreciated. The dedication and support from the National Assessment and Public

Examinations colleagues, Ms Dikeledi Mathebe, Ms Davagie Maistry and Mr Hilton Visagie

remains invaluable. Participation of DBE officials from the Continuing Professional Teacher

Development Directorate and e-Learning Unit is greatly appreciated. Our special thanks to Ms

Prathima Garbharran, Deputy Director: Development Co-operation and Donor Management

for managing the project from the DBE side and facilitating engagements and collaboration

between the relevant directorates within the DBE and the HSRC. We recognise the TARMII

3.0 system developer, Mr Roche Compaan for not only being instrumental in building the

system, but also for his engagements with the DBE and the HSRC

We are grateful to the TARMII 3.0 provincial coordinators, Ms Monica Tlaletsi (North-West

Province) and Thelma Morake (Gauteng Province), education officials from e-Learning,

Assessment and Examinations, and Curriculum for facilitating project implementation in the

respective province and for their unwavering support to the project. The implementation of this

project would not have been possible without dedicated school principals, Foundation Phase

teachers and their HoDs, school-based ICT Officers and the Grade 3 learners.

The TARMII Team would like to thank the following colleagues and former colleagues of the

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HSRC who were part of the TARMIIfp and TARMII 3.0: Dr George Frempong, Dr Vijay

Reddy, Dr Charlotte Motha, Mr Maglin Moodley, Mr Matthews Makgamatha, Ms Catherine

Namome, Mr Khathutshelo Manganye, Ms Michelle Clarke, Dr Joseph Kivilu, Dr Edmore

Marinda, Dr Wilfred Lunga and Ms Mmakotsedi Magampa.

The TARMII Team appreciates the administrative support provided by Ms Matselane Maja,

Ms Elmi de Koning and Ms Erika Masser, the administration team in the Pretoria Office of the

Education and Skills Development Programme. It would not have been possible to fulfil this

task without their support.

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Acronyms

CAPS Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements

DBE Department of Basic Education

DVD Digital Versatile Disc

EFAL English First Additional Language

EHL English Home Language

FP Foundation Phase

HSRC Human Sciences Research Council

ICT Information and Communications Technology

IP Intermediate Phase

MCQ Multiple Choice Question

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

OEQ Open Ended Question

SBA School Based Assessment

SGB School Governing Body

TARMII Teacher Assessment Resources for Monitoring and Improving

Instruction

TPD Teacher Professional Development

USAID United States Agency for International Development

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... i

Acronyms ................................................................................................................................. iii

Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................... iv

List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ vi

List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... vii

Chapter 1 : Introduction and Background .................................................................................. 1

1.1. Background ................................................................................................................. 1

1.2. The TARMII 3.0 project objectives ............................................................................ 2

1.3. The use of ICT in teaching and learning ..................................................................... 3

1.4. Evolution of the TARMII concept .............................................................................. 5

1.5. Components of the TARMII 3.0 project ..................................................................... 8

Chapter 2 : Development of the TARMII system ................................................................ 11

2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 11

2.2 Accessibility .............................................................................................................. 11

2.3 TARMII 3.0 Functionalities ...................................................................................... 12

2.3.1 User registration ........................................................................................................ 12

2.3.2 The item bank ............................................................................................................ 13

2.4 Conclusions and recommendations ........................................................................... 16

Chapter 3 : Development and review of assessment items ...................................................... 17

3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 17

3.2 Item review and quality assurance process ............................................................... 17

3.2.1 Item review process ................................................................................................... 18

3.3 Item coverage of the CAPS content for FP ............................................................... 20

3.4 Pre-testing of Grade 3 items ...................................................................................... 22

3.4.1 Test performance ....................................................................................................... 23

3.4.2 Results of the item validation study .......................................................................... 23

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3.4.3 Pre-testing of Grades 4 and 6 items .......................................................................... 24

3.4.4 Pre-testing analysis and results ................................................................................. 25

3.4.5 Assessment items’ coverage of the CAPS for EFAL in Grades 4 and 6 .................. 25

3.5 Conclusions and recommendations ........................................................................... 25

Chapter 4 : Teacher development and support ..................................................................... 27

4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 27

4.2 Centralised training for teachers and education officials .......................................... 27

4.2.1 Evaluation of training on the TARMII 3 system .................................................................... 28

4.2.2 Evaluation of the TARMII 3 system ....................................................................................... 33

4.3 School-based teacher support .................................................................................... 35

4.3.1 School-based support interviews and observations ............................................................. 36

4.3.2 Results of the school-based teacher support ....................................................................... 37

4.4 Challenges with the implementation of TARMII 3.0 ............................................... 39

Chapter 5 Monitoring and evaluation ...................................................................................... 41

5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 41

5.2 Methodology ............................................................................................................. 41

5.3 Findings of the monitoring and evaluation process .................................................. 41

5.3.1 ICT infrastructure and general ICT use .................................................................................. 42

5.3.2 Teacher perception of and engagement with the TARMII system ....................................... 42

5.4 Continuous monitoring .............................................................................................. 43

5.5 TARMII 3.0 stakeholder discussion sessions ........................................................... 44

5.5.1 Positive aspects of the TARMII system ................................................................................. 45

5.5.2 Challenges with regard to TARMII implementation ............................................................. 46

5.6 Recommendations and conclusion ............................................................................ 46

Chapter 6 : Conclusions, recommendations and way forward ............................................. 50

6.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 50

6.2 Conclusions, recommendations and way forward .......................................................... 50

References ................................................................................................................................ 53

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List of Tables

Table 3-1: Tagging framework for items in the Foundation Phase ......................................... 18

Table 3-2: Item distribution per CAPS content ....................................................................... 20

Table 3-3: Distribution of item per CAPS Listening & Speaking sub-topic ........................... 20

Table 3-4: Distribution of item per CAPS Reading & Phonics sub-topic ............................... 21

Table 3-5: Distribution of item per CAPS writing sub-topic ................................................... 22

Table 3-6: Distribution of test items for Grade 4 and 6 by content area ................................. 25

Table 4-1: Participants by gender ............................................................................................ 28

Table 4-2: Descriptive statistics of the Grade 3 learners who took the online tests ................ 39

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List of Figures

Figure 1-1: The evolution of the TARMII technology .............................................................. 6

Figure 1-2: Components of the TARMII 3.0 project ................................................................. 9

Figure 2-1: User registration process ....................................................................................... 12

Figure 2-2: TARMII 3.0 item bank .......................................................................................... 14

Figure 2-3: TARMII 3.0 test builder ........................................................................................ 14

Figure 2-4: TARMII 3.0 Test Administration ......................................................................... 15

Figure 3-1: Schematic representation of the item review process and functions .................... 19

Figure 3-2: Tagging framework for Grade 4 and 6 EFAL items ............................................. 24

Figure 4-1: Distribution of home language for participants in the Gauteng province ............. 30

Figure 4-2: Distribution of home language for participants in North West Province ............. 31

Figure 4-3: Qualification for participants in the Gauteng Province ........................................ 32

Figure 4-4: Qualification of participants in North West Province ........................................... 33

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Chapter 1

Introduction and Background

1.1. Background

The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) through funding from the United States

Agency for International Development (USAID, has since 2012, implemented a technology-

based intervention project known as, the Teacher Assessment Resource for Monitoring and

Improving Instruction in the Foundation Phase (TARMIIfp). The project involved the

development and piloting of a computer software, TARMIIfp, which housed a databank of

language assessment items. The purpose of this project was to build the capacity of Foundation

Phase teachers to use this software as a tool intended to change their teaching and assessment

practices in literacy. The first phase of the project commenced in July 2012, ending in

December 2015.

The project was piloted in one district in each of the four provinces, namely, Thabo

Mofutsanyana district in Free State, Bojanala district in North West, Nkangala district in

Mpumalanga and Vhembe district in Limpopo. An impact evaluation was conducted in 80

experimental and 80 control schools across the four provinces. Teachers from experimental

schools received intervention in the form of training and support on the use of the TARMIIfp

tool. The aim was to determine whether the use of the TARMIIfp tool had an impact on the

learners’ literacy outcomes. The results revealed no significant difference between the learning

outcomes of both groups, suggesting that teachers’ use of the software did not seem to have

made a significant impact on learners’ literacy development (Frempong, Motha, Moodley,

Makgamatha & Thaba 2015)

However, school based monitoring and support and interviews with teachers revealed that,

teachers use the item bank to draw items for learner assessments. Thus, saving them time that

they would have spent in designing their own assessments. There was also limited usage of the

diagnostic reporting function of the assessment tool. This was a major shortcoming in the use

of the TARMII system, because the diagnostic function provides information on learner

strengths and weaknesses in the mastery of curriculum content. Furthermore, in some schools,


there were challenges with printing and photocopying material and teacher workload associated

with using both the paper based assessment and the electronic system (Frempong, et al. 2015)

Despite the results of the intervention, the Department of Basic Education (DBE), the HSRC

and the USAID saw potential in the TARMIIfp system. They acknowledged that, when used

effectively as designed, TARMIIfp could serve as a valuable resource, which can change the

way teachers view and use assessment and technology in the classroom to improve teaching

and learning. In addition, it can serve to help teachers gather evidence about teaching and

learning in the classroom from an individual leaner, to the class and the school.

Subsequent to this, a number of engagements between the USAID, the DBE and the HSRC

ensued, which resulted in the HSRC receiving a cost extension of the project from 1April 2016

to 31 March 2019. The cost extension period allowed the HSRC to undertake further activities

and changes directed by the DBE. Key activities included the (i) migration of the TARMIIfp

software to an online system, (ii) development, modification and testing of the TARMII

software; (iii) review and quality assurance of the existing language and literacy assessment

items (iv) training of Foundation Phase teachers and their Departmental Head, Subject

Advisors and E-Learning Coordinators in the use of the TARMII 3.0 online system.

The software modification process saw the evolution of TARMIIfp to the TARMII 3.0, an

online assessment system. The system was piloted in selected districts and primary schools in

Gauteng and the North-West provinces to determine the feasibility of using TARMII 3.0 as an

online assessment system in teaching and learning. The pilot schools were selected based on

the availability of internet connection and digital devices such desktop computers and Tablets

and the use of English as a language of teaching and learning in the Foundation Phase. The

objectives of the TARMII 3.0 are outlined below:

1.2. The TARMII 3.0 project objectives

1) Modify the TARMII 2.0 (TARMIIfp) software into an online system

2) Review and quality assure existing TARMIIfp items and further develop English First

Additional Language (EFAL) items for the intermediate phase (Grade 4 and 6);

3) Build the capacity of teachers and relevant education officials on the TARMII 3.0 system

and provide school based support to teachers in selected schools;


4) Conduct a process evaluation on the enabling factors and constraints towards the use of

the TARMII 3.0 system in teaching and learning.

1.3. The use of ICT in teaching and learning

Research studies on the use of ICT in education reveal that teachers’ use of ICT in teaching

and learning is influenced by a number of factors. These include, teachers’ knowledge and skill

on how to use ICT in teaching and learning; a positive attitude towards ICT and the belief that

ICT can be used to support teaching and learning; evidence that ICT can make learning

enjoyable and motivating (Khan, Hasan & Clement 2012; Mumtaz 2000; Hennessy, Ruthven

& Brindley 2007; Barak 2014; Player-Koro 2012; Sangra & Gonzalez-Sanmamed 2010).

Player-Koro (2012) examined the factors that influence teacher-use of ICT in education and

concluded that a positive attitude to ICT in teaching and learning seems to facilitate teachers’

use of ICT in education the most. According to Davis (1989), if end users are presented with a

new technology, a number of factors influence their decisions about how and when they will

use it. Key among the factors are perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use of the

technology. Apart from attitudes and beliefs, teachers’ lack of knowledge and skills was found

to be one of the main hindrances to the use of ICT in education - in both developed and under-

developed countries (Khan, Hasan & Clement 2012). Integrating ICT into the curriculum

requires knowledge of the subject content, an understanding of how children learn and a level

of technical expertise. Computer competence was found to be a predictor of the use of

technology in the classroom (Khan, Hasan & Clement 2012), as well as teacher competence in

managing classroom activities and pedagogical skills (Mumtaz, 2000).

Khan, Hasan & Clement (2012) argue that teacher development should prepare teachers to

effectively use ICT to improve student learning. Short training workshops are necessary, but

are not sufficient to build proper knowledge and skills on how to use ICT for teaching and

learning. Training should not be a once-off session, but an ongoing experience, with teachers

being given an opportunity to practice using ICT in the classroom.

Besides the teacher characteristics that impede the use of ICT in the classroom, some studies

highlight other factors, including: a lack of ICT resources such as computers and software and

other ICT supported tools in the classroom; technical support and the attitude of the principal;

lack of ICT specialists to teach learners computer skills; lack of time required to integrate ICT


into the curriculum; lack of assistance with supervising children when using computers; and

learner expertise in computer use (Mumtaz 2000; Khan, Hasan & Clement 2012; Cuban,

Kirkpatrick & Peck 2001; Padayachee 2017).

Successful integration of technology into teaching and learning would require identifying and

developing a general understanding of the barriers impeding the use of such technology in

schools. The research literature classifies these barriers as first and second order factors. First

order factors include ICT and technical skills; second order barriers include beliefs, pedagogic

knowledge, content knowledge, knowledge of the curriculum, and the assessment practices of

the teachers. Hew & Brush (2007) contend that, in educational settings, these barriers are

related and require a holistic approach to overcome them. Their proposed approach includes:

having a shared vision and technology integration plan; providing ICT resources; and changing

attitudes and beliefs through teacher professional development. The authors suggested that

effective professional development should include ‘active learning’, which can take a number

of forms. These include: the opportunity to observe expert teachers while they use ICTs for

instructional and learning purposes; the use of a “buddy system”, with novice teachers working

together with expert teachers in the classroom.

Studies have shown that several factors can be enablers or dis-enablers for teachers in

integrating ICT in teaching and learning. In the South African educational context, for example,

a number of barriers have hindered the use of ICT in education. Firstly, the ICT infrastructure

in most schools is poor, resulting in poor policy implementation. Due to the digital divide,

“disadvantaged schools struggle to provide ICT infrastructure compared to the well-resourced

schools” (Ndlovu & Lawrence, 2012: 2).

Gulati (2008) argues that the infrastructure required for the adoption and the usage of ICTs

includes physical space, equipment, electricity, and internet connectivity. While the

aforementioned might not be an issue for the well-resourced schools, the availability of such

infrastructure at disadvantaged schools remain a challenge. Furthermore, in schools where

“there are many old school buildings, extensive retrofitting to ensure proper electrical wiring,

heating/cooling and ventilation, and safety and security would be needed” (Mbodila, Jones &

Muhandji 2013: 517).


Secondly, human resources is critical for successful adoption of ICT in education. Some

constraints are due to trained teachers being unable “to adopt and integrate ICT as a tool into

teaching or educational curriculum” (Mbodila, Jones & Muhandji 2013: 517). The reasons

behind the slow uptake of technology in assessment are many; however, the most

acknowledged one is that teachers and schools remain stuck in the traditional approach to

assessment. Adopting and integrating ICT could assist in improving both teaching and learning

in schools through prioritising assessments (Kanjee & Moloi, 2014).

Chigona & Chigona (2010) mention that within the South African context, psycho-

sociological, contextual and access to infrastructure require attention. Psycho-socio factors

include the age of a teacher; ICT experience; perceptions of teaching using technology; the

teacher’s biasness towards traditional methods of teaching. Contextual factors include, socio-

economic status of schools; teachers and learners; learner-computer ratio. Infrastructure factors

include physical space, electricity and internet connectivity; institutional management and

support. Mathipa & Mukhari (2014) interviewed teachers who used ICT for teaching and

learning in Gauteng province, established similar factors. Other factors included insufficient

number of computers; teacher generation gap; inadequate teacher training; lack of ICT skills

and a lack of confidence among teachers and learners; strongly held beliefs about technology;

poor school leadership and lack of ICT support.

Based on these studies, the TARMII 3.0 project, through process evaluation, sought to

determine the enablers and constrainers to the use of an online assessment system in language

teaching and learning in primary public schools. In the next section, the evolution of the

TARMII concept is provided. This gives a detailed background to the development of the

TARMII software.

1.4. Evolution of the TARMII concept

The concept, TARMII, evolved from a paper-based Assessment Resource Bank (ARB)

developed by the HSRC between 2002 and 2003 and funded by the USAID. The ARBs

contained assessment tasks in Literacy and Numeracy for Foundation Phase (Grades R-3), and

English FAL and Mathematics for Intermediate Phase. The development of the item bank

served to provide teachers with appropriate resources to enhance their classroom assessment

practices. Some of the challenges with implementation of the ARBs were: the use of teaching


time for writing the tasks on the chalkboard, lack of photocopying facilities and the lack of

workbooks for individual learners (Kanjee, 2009). Kanjee (2009:81) concluded that future

developments on the ARB concept should consider the use of computers, allow teachers

flexibility in selecting the relevant assessment tasks, provide more effective procedures for

interpreting, recording, reporting and monitoring learner performance and minimise teacher

workload. Informed by the idea of using computer software to create an assessment resource

bank, in 2006, the then National Department of Education commissioned the HSRC to develop

a computerised classroom assessment system for teachers which came to be known as TARMII

1.0. The transformation of TARMII from its original concept is provided in Figure 1-1.

Figure 0-1: The evolution of the TARMII technology


The TARMII 1.0 software consisted of curriculum aligned Mathematics and English test items

for the intermediate phase, which were stored and managed within an electronic item bank.

This version of the software was constituted as a CD installer version, which allowed teachers

to capture class lists. The teacher had to define the item criteria for the test to be generated. The

software would then randomly select items from the bank and build a test. The test and the

supporting memo would be available in a PDF paper version. Learners had to take the test

using pen and paper. This meant that the teacher had to manually mark the paper test and record

the marks in the TARMII system. This allowed the teacher to generate a series of statistical

reports on learner performance.

In 2011, the HSRC responded to a USAID call for proposals for an innovative project that has

demonstrated potential for literary development in the primary grades. In July 2012, the HSRC

received an award to further develop the computerised software for language and literacy

development in the Foundation Phase. This version came to be known as TARMIIfp or

TARMII 2.0.

The functionality features of TARMII 2.0 included:

- Capturing of the class lists into the software: manually or imported from a spreadsheet

(CSV file format).

- Item bank of Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) aligned literacy

assessment items for Grades 1, 2 and 3 with an improved item filter facility to search

for relevant items.

- Test-taking involved a pen-paper approach with marking completed manually and

captured into the system

- The system would generate a series of statistical reports on learner performance.

From a research and system development perspective, the findings became central in

informing the use and place of ICT in classroom assessment practices. The following were

the key findings that emanated from this study (see Frempong et al. 2015):

- The system should accommodate for ready-made tests for teachers, rather than only test

building;

- Training of teachers needed to be more sustained over a longer period of time to allow

for incubation of ideas and skills;


- Manual marking of the tests proved to be problematic as teachers saw this as an add-

on to their workload.

The findings became the foundation of the conceptualization of TARMII 3.0 together with the

affordances provided by WEB 2.0 technology. The power behind WEB 2.0 technology is that

it allows individuals to create, share, collaborate and communicate. Issues of time and space

become nullified with this technology. For the first two versions of TARMII (1.0 & 2.0), the

software was introduced in an installer version and as such, teachers could install them onto

their laptops or desktops. Subsequently, the TARMII was migrated to an online system and

known as TARMII 3.0. The online assessment platform included among others multiple device

accessibility other than desktop computers or laptops and automated marking facility and a

more streamlined item filter facility. The development of TARMII 3.0 system is discussed in

more detail in Chapter 2.

1.5. Components of the TARMII 3.0 project

Figure 1-2 illustrates the three main components of the TARMII 3.0 project. The first

component of the project entailed system development and modifications. The main aim of the

TARMII 3.0 system modifications was to develop an item database (item bank) and the

software required to run it online. The development process was informed by the findings of

field-testing of earlier versions of the system and by the available advancement in ICT

especially in web-based programme design. The development of the system was participatory

and involved consolidation of feedback from officials from both HSRC and DBE as well as

teachers who were directly involved in using the system for classroom assessment. This

component is discussed in Chapter 2 of the report.

The second component, reported in Chapter 3, provides a detailed description of the item

review and quality assurance processes of Grades 1, 2 and 3 items, pretesting of Grade 3 items

and the development and pre-testing of Grades 4 and 6 English FAL items.

The third component, the teacher development and support reported on in Chapter 4, provides

a detailed description of centralised training and school-based support offered to Grade 3

teachers. The main goal of this intervention was to transform the way teachers viewed and used

assessment in the classroom to inform teaching and learning.


Figure 0-2: Components of the TARMII 3.0 project


The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) component of the project is described in Chapter 5.

The M&E aimed to determine the affordances and constrainers to the use of e-assessment in

the primary grades in public schools.


Chapter 2

Development of the TARMII system

2.1 Introduction

The HSRC has over years collaborated with Upfront Solutions to build the TARMII system.

All previous versions of the system, were based on an installer version. However, due to the

rapid development in ICT and online access in South Africa, TARMIIfp was modified into an

online version of the TARMII concept. The aim of the TARMII software concept was to

provide a digital platform that would support teachers in their assessment practices. The

following objectives were pivotal to the development of the software:

Provide access to a bank of high quality curriculum aligned assessment items.

Support teachers in the building of high quality assessment tests.

Provide teachers with the facility to record learner test responses.

Increase teachers’ ability to provide high quality formative feedback through the use of

statistical and diagnostic reports.

Support teachers’ remediation process by providing a variety of resources.

Ensure a high level of security and access for all users of the assessment platform.

Provide a facility where users would access the platform using multi-devices.

2.2 Accessibility

With the rapid growth and expansion of technology, it was essential that TARMII 3.0 be made

accessible on all modern web-browsers, including Chrome, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge,

Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Opera. A key requirement for the web-based interface is that it

should be designed to accommodate different PCs and mobile devices.


The system was designed to handle 12 million concurrent users. However, the number of

items and the capacity of the hosting ICT servers would influence this. Load testing has been

conducted to verify the traffic capability of the system.

2.3 TARMII 3.0 Functionalities

With the modifications to the TARMII software, new features were added and the existing

features enhanced. The functionalities are described below:

2.3.1 User registration

One essential component of the new online TARMII 3.0 pertains to security and privacy.

Within the current system, a teacher would register online by completing a series of information

fields, which are then stored onto the TARMII server database.

Figure 0-1: User registration process

To ensure a high level of security, teachers are expected to include their mobile number in the


registration process through which they would receive a one-time-pin (OTP) number to

validate their identification. Once registered, the teacher has access to the online TARMII 3.0

platform.

The teacher would then register each learner in the class. To register a learner, the teacher needs

to either enter or import the names of learners into the class list platform. The platform includes

a function that allows the system to auto-generate learner passwords. The rationale behind the

creation of the auto-generate facility is that it would ensure that the 12 million users targeted

by TARMII 3.0 would have unique passwords. Once a learner is registered and attached to a

class, the learner can take online tests.

2.3.2 The item bank

An essential feature of the TARMII 3.0 system is the item bank, which stores assessment items.

With the previous versions of TARMII, the item bank was static which made the adding of

new items to expand the database cumbersome and costly. As illustrated in Figure 2-2, the

enhancements and modifications made to the item bank allows for the following

functionalities:

Online item writing by item writers

Online quality assurance of developed items

Online audit of the item bank

Usage of the items over the years

Registered teachers can contribute their own items to the item bank. However, these

items have to undergo quality assurance processes


Figure 0-2: TARMII 3.0 item bank

Test builder

This facility allows the teacher to select items from the item bank using specific filters such as,

cognitive level, level to difficulty, subject topic and grade. The system then uses the criteria to

build a test.

Figure 0-3: TARMII 3.0 test builder

The TARMII 3.0 automated test framework allows the teacher to select specific criteria for the

structure and content of the test


Test administration

Compared to the previous TARMII versions, test taking is done online. Learners can use

desktop computers, laptops, mobile tablets or smartphones to complete a test and submit it

online for marking. Another innovation, which the Department of Basic Education

emphasised, was that the system should be able to perform e-marking. The Multiple Choice

Questions (MCQs) are automatically and Open Ended Questions (OEP) can be marked and

scored on a digital device. The system defines the cycle of test administration using three

categories:

Pending: learner still busy with taking the test.

Submitted: learner has completed test and submitted it for marking

Marked: test has been marked.

Figure 0-4: TARMII 3.0 Test Administration

Report dashboard

The TARMII 3.0 software provides the teacher with a series of diagnostic and statistical reports

based on the performance of the individual learner or class. These reports allow the teacher to

make informed decisions about possible interventions required and remediation strategies.


Teacher resources

The TARMII 3.0 system has the following remediation support platforms:

A video platform: this contains a series of video clips aimed at demonstrating to the teacher

how they could teach specific language components of the curriculum (e.g. phonics). These

videos are part of the remediation process and are linked to specific assessment items. They

are part of the Mindset Teacher Channel, and have been approved for use in TARMII 3.0.

A PDF resource platform: this facility provides teachers with multiple PDF resources that

could be used to support learners during lessons or can serve as additional material for

remediation.

2.4 Conclusions and recommendations

It is important to note that due to the innovative nature of the TARMII 3.0 online platform, the

various stakeholders including teachers the Assessment and Examination Unit of the

Department of Basic Education (DBE) provided comments on the usability of the software.

These were taken into account during the entire process of system modification.

Given that the software was developed for nation-wide rollout by the DBE, it is recommended

that the handover of the software from the HSRC and Software Developer to the DBE consider

the following human and physical requirements:

DBE to ensure that they have nine dedicated servers with the stated specifications.

There should be a dedicated software engineer who is familiar with and capable of

working on the system back-end.

The software engineer must be conversant with Python programming.


Chapter 3

: Development and review of assessment items

3.1 Introduction

As part of TARMII 2.0, the HSRC developed 3000 English Home Language assessment items

across three grades, that is, Grade 1, 2 and 3. These were later versioned into the following

official South African languages: Afrikaans, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, Siswati, Tshivenda,

isiNdebele, isiZulu, isiXhosa and Xitsonga (see Frempong et al. 2015). During engagements

with the DBE, a proposal was made that, in addition to system modifications, the items in the

system should be reviewed and additional items developed. The review process was meant to:

firstly, align the items fully to the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS); and

secondly, to pre-test a selected sample of Grade 3 items with the view to obtaining quantitative

data on the performance of the items when administered to the learners.

In response to a request from the DBE, exemplar tests for Grade 3 were developed for each of

the four school terms to enable teachers’ access to ready-made term-based tests. In addition to

these items, the DBE provided additional items from the 2010-2015 Annual National

Assessments (ANAs) to be amended for inclusion into the item bank.

In 2018, the DBE sought to increase the number of items in the TARMII databank. A service

provider was sought to develop and pre-test 1920 English First Additional Language for Grades

4 and 6.

3.2 Item review and quality assurance process

Prior to commencement of item review, the DBE identified item reviewers from provincial and

district education officials, and teachers who had either taught or were currently teaching

English Home Language (EHL) in the Foundation Phase (FP). All identified reviewers had in-

depth understanding of CAPS and prior knowledge and experience in developing and

reviewing items. Some had gained this experience through participating in the item

development processes of DBE’s Annual National Assessments (ANAs).


3.2.1 Item review process

The review process commenced with development of an item-tagging framework illustrated in

Table 3-1. Item tagging refers to a process of assigning or linking each assessment item in the

TARMII 3.0 bank to predetermined characteristics (e.g. item ID, item type, difficulty level,

cognitive level, subject topic etc.). Each item in the TARMII 3.0 system was tagged according

to this framework.

Table 3-1: Tagging framework for items in the Foundation Phase

Tag Tagging properties or characteristics

Item ID

Item Type

Multiple-choice; Open-ended; Choose correct response; Closed response;

Short response/answer; Fill in the blank; Matching; Direct response; Short

paragraph; Essay (directed response); Essay (open response).

Assessment Type Formal; Informal; Formative; Diagnostic; Summative.

Grade Grade 1; Grade 2; Grade 3.

Term Term 1; Term 2; Term 3; Term 4.

Language of teaching and learning

(LOTL)

Afrikaans; English; IsiNdebele; IsiXhosa, IsiZulu, Sepedi; Sesotho; Setswana;

SiSwati; Tshivenda; Xitsonga (for future items development).

Subject Life Skill; Home Language; First Additional Language; Mathematics (for

future items development).

Subject Component/Topic Listening and Speaking; Reading; Phonics; Writing; Handwriting.

Sub-topic

Emergent writing skills; Letter formation; Letter formation (lower case); Letter

formation (upper case); Transcription of words; Transcription of sentences;

Numerical formation.

Cognitive level Knowledge; Comprehension; Application; Analysis; Synthesis; Evaluation.

Difficulty Easy; Moderate; Difficult.

Level of Understanding Level 1 (easiest); Level 2; Level 3; Level 4 (most difficult).

Level of Performance Level 1(lowest performance); 2; 3; 4(highest performance).

Grade Level Grade 1; Grade 2; Grade 3.

Skill Listening and Speaking; Reading; Phonics; Writing; Handwriting.

Sub-skill Directionality; Letter formation; Spacing; Legibility; Alignment; Hold

handwriting tool correctly.

Mark Allocation Item mark allocation indicated by item writer.

Marking guideline Item marking guide.

Scoring guide Mark distribution for the item.


The review process consisted of four levels with various roles and responsibilities performed

by item reviewers and moderators, the HSRC researchers and the DBE officials.

Figure 3-1: Schematic representation of the item review process and functions

Level 1 Review -L1R

Receive items from L2Rs for reviewing, checking and

correcting each item, its language content and alignment to

CAPS; and

Tagging each item according to its properties or

characteristics as provided for in the CAPS-derived tagging

framework.

Level 2 Review -L2R

Receive items from HSRC and forward to L1 reviewers

(L1Rs;

Receive items from L1Rs, moderate and strengthen their

alignment to the CAPS and check their tagging; and

Pass the reviewed and moderated items to HSRC.

Department of Basic Education -DBE

Prepare and train L1R and L2R reviewers for item

reviewing;

Interact with HSRC to ensure that item reviewing is aligned

with CAPS; and

Receive items from HSRC to conduct final quality checks and

sign them off for uploading into TARMII 3.0 bank.

Human Sciences Research Council - HSRC

Distribute items to L2Rs for reviewing and tagging for CAPS

alignment;

Receive items from L2Rs and prepare them for DBE final QA

and sign off; and

Upload items signed off by DBE into TARMII 3.0 repository.


3.3 Item coverage of the CAPS content for FP

All the items in the TARMII 3.0 system were quality assured, signed off by the DBE before

uploading into the system. An assessment of the coverage of the CAPS was done to examine

the extent to which the items covered the EHL content/skills areas.

Table 3-2 shows the distribution of assessment items in the TARMII 3.0 per CAPS curriculum

content for each FP grade with Reading and Phonics skills, having a broader content coverage

than other skills. We recommend that future work on item development should focus on

ensuring comprehensive coverage of all language components.

Table 3-2: Item distribution per CAPS content

CAPS content/skill Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3

N % N % N %

Listening & Speaking 173 15 246 19 282 13

Reading & Phonics 638 55 758 60 1051 49

Writing 331 29 263 21 828 38

Total items 1142 1267 2161

Each of the CAPS content areas were analysed further and the results are presented in Tables

3-3, 3-4 & 3-5. Table 3-3 shows the distribution of Listening & Speaking items per sub-topic.

Table 3-3: Distribution of item per CAPS Listening & Speaking sub-topic

Listening & Speaking sub-topic

Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3

N % N % N %

Stories 37 21 52 21 34 12

Song, action rhymes and poems 0 0 0 0 0 0

Responds to questions and

instructions 71 41 140 57 155 55

Participation in oral discussion 39 23 33 13 56 20

Talks about personal experiences 16 9 12 5 13 5

Oral recounts 1 1 9 4 24 9

Role play 8 5 0 0 0 0

Total items 173 246 282


The item coverage for the CAPS Listening and Speaking skill is uneven. Some sub-topics are

more represented than others across the three grades. In the same way, item coverage for the

CAPS Reading & Phonics skills in the TARMII 3.0 bank is uneven, as shown in Table 3-4.

Table 3-4: Distribution of item per CAPS Reading & Phonics sub-topic

Reading & Phonics sub-topic

Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3

N % N % N %

Emergent reader skills 194 30 45 6 136 13

Shared reading 12 2 100 13 124 12

Group guided reading 5 1 11 1 18 2

Independent reading 83 13 349 46 414 39

Paired reading 0 0 4 1 0 0

Phonemic awareness 207 32 155 20 146 14

Phonological awareness 3 0 42 6 36 3

Letter sound recognition 70 11 0 0 7 1

Rhyme 0 0 0 0 3 0

Onset & rime 3 0 12 2 1 0

Consonant blends 3 0 0 0 2 0

Consonant diagraphs 34 5 5 1 3 0

Vowel diagraphs 2 0 23 3 31 3

Spelling patterns 22 3 7 1 130 12

Syllabification 0 0 5 1 0 0


As reflected in Table 3-5, the item coverage for the writing skill sub-topic is uneven. As with

the other skill sub-topics, the item distribution for the writing sub-topics demonstrates

inadequate representation of items across the grades and sub-topics.


Table 3-5: Distribution of item per CAPS writing sub-topic

Writing sub-topic Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3

N % N % N %

Emergent writing skill 128 39 15 6 116 14

Independent writing 190 57 177 67 484 58

Transactional writing 9 4 62 23 226 27

Shared writing 0 0 9 4 2 0


In conclusion, it is evident that more English HL assessment items are required to ensure

comprehensive coverage of the various sub-topics that constitutes the CAPS curriculum

content. In computerised adaptive testing that involves the development of item banks, it is

generally recommended that a functional item bank should have a large pool of at least 10,000

items.

3.4 Pre-testing of Grade 3 items

As part of the quality assurance process, pre-testing of assessment items was conducted with a

sample of Grade 3 learners from the pilot schools. The pre-testing was critical to determine the

validity of the assessment items in the TARMII item bank.

A sample of 31 Grade 3 test items covering Term 1 EHL work were randomly drawn from the

TARMII 3.0 item bank. The items were grouped according to the language components as

reflected in the CAPS document, cognitive levels and were proportionally selected from easy,

moderate and difficult items. This resulted in a good mix of the various types of items. Added

to this, learner background information such as; age , gender, home language, ICT devices

found at home and mode of transport used by learners to get to school was also included.

Gender and home language of the learner were used to assess if certain items functioned

differently (item biasedness) when compared based on these variables.

The data for the Pre-testing study were collected from 725 Grade 3 learners drawn from 21

North-West and Gauteng schools participating in the pilot. In the North West province, 389

learners (53.7%) and Gauteng province 336 (46.3%) wrote the test.


3.4.1 Test performance

There were significant provincial differences in the mean scores: Gauteng province had a mean

score of 57.7%, with a standard deviation of 21%; North West province had a mean score of

46% and a standard deviation of 24%. The provincial differences could be attributed to

differences in the quality of school facilities, teaching and learning and school governance.

There were significant gender differences: girls attained a mean score of 54% and a standard

deviation of 22.5%; boys had a mean score of 49% and a standard deviation of 24%. In order

to compare learner performance in terms of home language, learners were classified into four

groups. Group 1 comprised learners whose home language is Afrikaans. Group 2 was those

who spoke English. Group 3 comprised those who spoke an African language, while Group 4

comprised learners who spoke other languages except the indigenous languages. The results

indicate that:

- Group 1 had a mean score of 53.5% and a standard deviation of 19.9%.




The results indicated that learners whose home language was English had the highest mean

score, while learners whose home language was an African language scored the lowest. One-

way analysis of variance showed a statistically significant difference in the mean scores of the

four groups of learners.

3.4.2 Results of the item validation study

The pre-testing study confirmed that the quality assurance process followed in the development

of the TARMII 3.0 items was well designed and produced test items of high quality. The

validity of the test items, that is, item difficulty, discrimination, reliability, and validity

provided evidence of good items. However, the analyses provided evidence that all the items

were functioning well except for five multiple-choice questions whose options were not

plausible enough to attract appropriate responses. It was recommended that the identified

multiple-choice questions be revised. The items were subsequently revised and retained in the

item bank.


Development of items in EFAL for Grade 4 and 6

The Centre for Evaluation and Assessment (CEA) at the University of Pretoria (UP) was

contracted to develop and pre-test 1920 English First Additional Language items (EFAL) for

Grades 4 and 6. These were piloted in a sample of 50 schools in Gauteng province. A tagging

framework was developed in line with the requirements of the DBE to ensure coverage of the

national curriculum in terms of item type, cognitive and difficulty levels. Figure 3-2 provides

details of the tagging framework for Grade 4 and 6.

Figure 3-2: Tagging framework for Grade 4 and 6 EFAL items

3.4.3 Pre-testing of Grades 4 and 6 items

A total of 1008 Grade 4 items and 1008 Grade 6 items were tested in 50 Gauteng, urban and

rural schools. Approximately 2000 Grade 4 learners and 2400 Grade 6 learners took the tests.

These learners were drawn from quintile 1 to 5 schools.


3.4.4 Pre-testing analysis and results

Item analysis was done on the test scores to determine the functioning of the items. Item

analysis provides detailed information on the performance of individual items. The analysis

identified the strengths and possible weaknesses of individual items, and of tests themselves.

The majority of the items were found to function well and had acceptable levels of objectivity,

difficulty, discrimination, test reliability, and validity. However, those identified as having

flaws, were amended and retained in the item bank.

3.4.5 Assessment items’ coverage of the CAPS for EFAL in Grades 4 and 6

The distribution of items by content area is provided in Table 3-6. The completed and uploaded

items for Grades 4 and 6 were 1272 and 1192 respectively.

Table 3-6: Distribution of test items for Grade 4 and 6 by content area

Skill/Content Grade 4 Grade 6

N % N %

Listening & Speaking 40 3.1 37 3.1

Reading & Viewing 411 32.3 387 32.5

Writing & Presenting 366 28.8 315 26.4

Language Structure &

Conventions 455 35.8 453 38.0

Total 1272 100 1192 100

3.5 Conclusions and recommendations

For purposes of sustainability of the TARMII 3.0 system, there is a need to create criteria for

retiring items that have been over exposed. A plan must be drawn for developing replacement

items and adding more items to expand the capacity of the item bank. The following

recommendations are provided regarding future work in item development and sustainability

of the TARMII 3.0 item bank:

DBE should build a large corpus of item developers within its teaching corps

Translation/versioning of English Assessment items into other 10 official languages of

South Africa


Development of more FP English HL assessment to ensure that the item bank

extensively covers all the content/skill areas prescribed in the CAPS curriculum

Extend the item bank to other grades and subjects.


Chapter 4

: Teacher development and support

4.1 Introduction

A review of literature reported in Chapter 1 has shed light on the kinds of teacher and school

factors that hamper the use of ICT in teaching and learning. In this Chapter, we describe teacher

training and support offered to a sample of Grade 3 teachers with the aim of providing them

with the knowledge and skills needed to use TARMII 3.0 for formative assessment. Since the

district-based curriculum specialists and E-Learning specialists would play an important role

in the implementation of TARMII 3, they participated in the same training with the teachers.

Trained and supported teachers

The Grade 3 teachers who participated in training and support were drawn from the 21 English

Home Language schools in Gauteng and North-West provinces. Apart from the English

language, schools had to have the following resources to use TARMII as an online system:

Internet connectivity accessible for use in the classroom or computer laboratory

during online test taking;

Laptops, desktops or tablets for use by teachers when navigating through the

TARMII system for preparing, administering and marking tests online, drawing

learner performance reports and using TARMII resources such as remedial videos;

Laptops, desktops or tablets for use by Grade 3 learners for online taking tests

The identified teachers were selected based on their computer proficiency and teaching English

Home Language in the Foundation Phase particularly Grade 3. The identified teachers were

provided with training on the use of the TARMII platform and were supported in using the

TARMII system at their respective schools.

4.2 Centralised training for teachers and education officials

This entailed delivery of centralised training for teachers and education officials from Gauteng

and North-West provinces. Participants were trained on the following aspects of the TARMII

3 system:


TARMII access and registration - how to access the TARMII website and register as

the teacher;

Website navigation - navigating through the TARMII website and all its functions;

Learner management - creating and managing the class list;

Building a test – accessing the item bank and creating a test;

Publish test- preparing the final test and making it available to learners to take online;

Assess learner test – retrieving completed and submitted tests from learners and

finalising the marking;

Interpreting reports – accessing, reading and interpreting learner performance reports;

Use of resources – accessing and using the various video and PDF resources.

Table 4-1 below, shows the number and gender of the workshop participants in both Gauteng

and North-West provinces. Eighty participants consisting of teachers, school principals,

school-based ICT officers, and provincial and district officials participated in the TARMII 3.0

software training.

Table 4-1: Participants by gender

Province Designation Gender

Total Male Female

North West

Teacher 1 (3%) 26 (68%) 27 (71%)

Principal 0 2 (5%) 2 (5%)

School based ICT

Officers 2 (5%) 1 (3%) 3 (8%)

Provincial/District

Official 0 6 (16%) 6 (16%)

Total 3 (8%) 35 (92%) 38 (100%)

Gauteng

Teacher 0 33 (78%) 33 (78%)

Principal 2 (5%) 2 (5%) 4 (10%)

Provincial/District

Official 0 5 (12%) 5 (12%)

Total 2 (5%) 40 (95%) 42 (100%)

4.2.1 Evaluation of training on the TARMII 3 system

At the end of each training workshop, an evaluation questionnaire was administered to the

participants to establish their views on the various functionalities of the system and its usability.


The first set of questions related to the demographic characteristics of the participants followed

by the system evaluation questions. The system evaluation questions were closed questions

using a 5-point Likert scale. Training participants rated the system’s key functionalities using

this scale. The evaluation questionnaire was divided into two sections: Section A entailed the

background information of participants and Section B dealt with evaluation of the TARMII 3.0

system.

Demographic characteristics of the participants

Out of the 80 participants who attended training workshops in Gauteng and North-West

provinces, only 77 completed the workshop evaluation questionnaire. The participants included

teachers (this includes school HoDs), principals and education officials (i.e. provincial district

officials) and two school-based ICT officers from the North-West province. The two provide

ICT support to teachers at their respective schools. Regarding gender distribution, the majority

of the training participants across the two provinces and designations were female, (94%) in

North-West and 95% in Gauteng and less that 7% were male. Their age ranged from 23 to 64

years with an average age of 43.

Home language of participants

In this section, although Figure 4-1 and 4-2 provide home languages of teachers and other

officials, the focus is on the home language of the teachers. Figure 4-1 and 4-2 show that the

majority of teachers in Gauteng (61%) have English as their home language.


Figure 4-1: Distribution of home language for participants in the Gauteng province

While in the North West, Afrikaans is the home language of most of the teachers (42%),

followed by Setswana (29%) then English (25%) and other African languages (4%). This

suggests that although English is taught as Home Language in North-West schools, it is taught

by the majority of second language speakers (73%).

3.0

9.1

20.0

50.020.0

9.1

20.06.1

25.040.0

60.6

25.0

12.1

0 20 40 60Percent of Respondents by designation

Setswana

Sepedi

Setswana

IsiZulu

IsiZulu

English

Afrikaans

Home Language by designation

Teacher Provincial/District Official

Principal


Figure 4-2: Distribution of home language for participants in North West Province

As regards whether participating teachers have been trained to teach Foundation Phase learners,

31 (97%) of Gauteng teachers and 22 (86%) of North-West teachers indicated that they are

qualified to teach in the Foundation Phase.

Highest qualification specific to teaching

We note from Figure 4-3 that the highest teaching qualification attained by the majority of

Gauteng teachers is a post-graduate degree, followed by four-year teaching degree, and four-

year teaching diploma with principals and Education officials having graduate and post-

graduate degrees.

4.2

71.429.2

100.028.6

25.0

100.0

41.7

0 20 40 60 80 100Percent of Respondents by designation

IsiZulu

Setswana

English

Afrikaans

Home Language by designation

Teacher Provincial/District Official

Principal School based ICT Officer


Figure 4-3: Qualification for participants in the Gauteng Province

North-West schools on the other hand, have the highest number of teachers with a four-year

teaching diploma followed by a four-year and three-year degrees. The two school-based ICT

officers have no teaching qualification. Education officials from the district and province had

post-graduate degrees, followed by graduate degree and four-year teaching diploma. Only one

teacher from this province has a teaching certificate. Figure 4-4 on the next page, shows the

qualifications of participants in the North-West.

25.0

50.025.0

66.7

33.3

24.221.221.221.2

12.1

0 20 40 60 80Percent of Respondents by designation

Principal

Provincial/District Official

Teacher

Highest qualification by designation

A 3-year teaching diploma A 4-year teaching diploma

A 3-year teaching degree A 4-year teaching degree

Post-graduate


Figure 4-4: Qualification of participants in North West Province

Educators and school quintiles

The 57 teachers from Gauteng and North-West schools who participated in training were

mainly from quintile 4 and 5 schools. The poverty index of schools expressed through the

quintile rank of the schools showed that teachers from North West were mostly from Quintile

4 schools while in Gauteng, the majority were from Quintile 5 schools with only two Gauteng

teachers from quintile 2 schools.

4.2.2 Evaluation of the TARMII 3 system

As training focused on how to access the online system and navigating the various

functionalities of the system, participants were asked to rate training on those aspects.

TARMII 3 access, registration and navigating the system

The rating of the perceived success of the training was generally positive with over 90%

agreeing that it was easy to access the TARMII website, register as users (teachers) and then

logout to register as learners as well as to create learner class list. Regarding navigating through

the various functionalities of the system, 86% found it easy to navigate the system while 11%

100.0

100.0

42.928.628.6

8.325.0

20.833.3

8.34.2

0 20 40 60 80 100Percent of Respondents by designation

School basedICT Officer

Principal

Provincial/District Official

Teacher

Highest qualification by designation

No qualification Post-matric teaching certificate

A 3-year teaching diploma A 4-year teaching diploma

A 3-year teaching degree A 4-year teaching degree

Post-graduate


were not completely sure of this. Hence the importance of school-based support where some

teachers were taken through refresher training in small groups.

Building/compiling a test

Building a test involved accessing the item bank and creating a test. Seventy-five percent of

the participants found it easy to navigate around the set of assessment. Over 80% indicated that

they were able to compile both Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) and Open Ended Questions

(OEQs) from the system.

Publishing a test

This functionality entails preparing the final test and making it available to learners to take

the online test. Eighty-two percent of participants managed to publish a set assessment/test

for administration to learners and only 14% were uncertain on how to accomplish this.

Online marking, scoring and reporting

This involves retrieving completed and submitted tests from learners, marking and scoring

OEQs on the system, reading and interpreting learner performance reports. Seventy-six percent

of participants managed to mark and score OEQs while 17% were unsure of how to do this.

Furthermore, over 80% of participants appreciated the automatic marking of multiple-choice

responses. They felt that it worked very well. This response was reiterated during school-based

support. Regarding accessing, reading and interpreting learner performance reports, 74% of

participants were of the opinion that this facility is easy to access while 20% were unsure about

using this functionality. During school-based support, some teachers indicated that automated

reports on learner performance would assist them with the kind of reporting required by the

education department.

TARMII resources

This involved accessing and using the various video and PDF resources. Only 59% of the

participants managed to access TARMII resources whereas 30% could not. This issue was

addressed during ongoing school-based support and monitoring.


Overall impression of the TARMII system

The overall impression of the TARMII system was generally positive, with 92% of participants

indicating that the TARMII 3 system is user friendly and the options and commands of the

system are easy to access and understand.

Over 80% mentioned that they are confident to use TARMII because they have gained the

necessary skills to use the system with little support. This was confirmed during the second

round of school-based support where teachers indicated that they do not require any more

assistance with using the TARMII system. Teachers at Platinum village primary school in the

North-West pointed out that they are so confident in the use of the system that they were even

ready to train other Foundation Phase teachers. Again, over 80% of participants could navigate

through the various functionalities of the system with ease and indicated that the system has an

appropriate balance of visual, audio and text options for teacher support. In terms of saving

time, the TARMII system was highly rated with participants agreeing that the system has the

potential to save teachers time when preparing for assessment tasks.

4.3 School-based teacher support

School-based support started two weeks after centralised training and took place from February

through to November 2018 except during the June school holidays. Schools were visited twice

a month and, in some cases, only once per month, depending on the progress that teachers were

making in mastering use of the TARMII 3.0 system.

The first round of school-based support and monitoring on the use of the software took place

from February to April 2018 and involved 20 schools (i.e. nine in North-West and eleven in

Gauteng). The purpose of the first round of support was to determine if trained teachers could

use the system at their schools. Teachers were expected to complete a task that was assigned

to them during the training workshop. However, most teachers had not completed this task and

some indicated that they could not continue to participate in the TARMII 3.0 project citing the

following reasons:

No time allocated in the timetable to use TARMII 3.0 in the classroom.

Weak and intermittent internet connectivity and lack of data to sustain internet

connectivity.


Heavy teacher workload.

Following the first round of support, and informed by the challenges that teachers experienced

with the implementation of TARMII 3.0 system, the research team changed their approach

and employed a new school-based strategy. Teachers welcomed the new strategy because it

required less time to prepare for online learner assessments. Added to this, schools that had

previously indicated that they would not be able to use TARMII 3.0 came on board resulting

in a total of 16 schools participating in the project. With the new strategy, school–based teacher

support entailed the following:

The HSRC team registered learners and prepared learner login passwords

The HSRC team demonstrated how the teacher should administer online assessments

to learners.

Teachers observed learners as they logged on to the system and take the assessment.

The teachers marked the assessment task with support from the TARMII team.

The teacher set an assessment task for the subsequent visit.

During subsequent visits, teachers would administer the assessment tasks that they had

set, mark the assessment and viewed the learner performance reports.

4.3.1 School-based support interviews and observations

Data in the form of interviews and classroom observations were collected from the 16 schools.

In-depth interviews were held with participating teachers, HoDs and ICT specialists. The

interviews focused on the uptake of the TARMII platform and the ideal context in which

implementation could succeed. The ICT specialist at three schools were interviewed to

determine their opinion on the kind of school context that was conducive for using an online

platform in the classroom. In addition to the interviews, the research team observed as teachers

administered the assessment tasks to Grade 3 learners in either the classrooms, computer

laboratories or a venue identified by the school. The observations were aimed at determining

how teachers interacted with and supported learners during online test taking and how learners

were interacting with the online platform.


4.3.2 Results of the school-based teacher support

In this section, a summary of the observations made by the TARMII team during school-based

support is provided. In addition, case studies on the 16 schools that received support are

provided in Annexure A. The case studies provide a brief context on the school and teachers’

views on the TARMII system.

Teachers and schools

The enthusiasm of most the participating teachers about using the system is a clear indication

that it has the potential to be integrated into teaching and learning. This was evident in schools

where there was strong leadership, motivated teachers and a dedicated ICT Officer.

Access to the system

School-based support and monitoring revealed that teachers found the software user-friendly.

Some indicated that they accessed the system from their homes using smartphones and mobile

tablets. It was also noted that teachers tend to use the TARMII system, when there is an ICT

officer who provides both technical and administrative support. It was found that ICT Officers

supported teachers by charging mobile tablets and assisting learners to log on to system during

assessment.

Including TARMII 3.0 in the school programme/timetable

Computer labs in schools were generally used for ICT skills training and not for curriculum-

related tasks. However, TARMII 3.0 was progressively changing this, as some teachers were

including TARMII 3.0 in the timetable, in order to do online assessment in the computer

laboratory.

Future use of TARMII 3.0

Teachers were keen to use TARMII 3.0, if the school had the required infrastructure for internet

connectivity and digital devices. Teachers from one school in Gauteng indicated that TARMII

would help them with the analysis of results required by the education department.


Benefits to learners

Teachers indicated that learners seemed to concentrate better and for a more sustained period

when completing online tasks using digital devices. Furthermore, some teachers used learner

test taking as opportunities to revise aspects of content. In both Gauteng and North-West, it

was observed that teachers who had medium or advanced ICT skills needed minimal or no

support to implement TARMII 3.0. They were able to set their own assessments by drawing

items of the item bank, administer and mark the assessment, and view learner performance

reports.

Learner interaction with the system

Leaners were observed taking online tests using mobile tablets, laptops, desktop computers and

smartphones. The main purpose was to observe how Grade 3 learners interacted with the

TARMII 3.0 system using different digital devices. It was evident that;

a) Most learners found it easy to use mobile tablets and smartphones to take the

assessments. Some indicated that they own smartphones and have tablets at home;

b) Learners who were able to read and write and were familiar with the computer keyboard

found it easy to login into the system using their username and password. These learners

were even helping those who were struggling to type in their login details.

c) Learners who were shortsighted enlarged the Tablet screen so that they could read the

questions.

d) Learners who were taking the online assessment a second time, completed the

assessment tasks quicker than the first time,

e) Some learners struggled to read questions and respond on their own. In such cases, the

teacher would read the question, use their home language to explain the question, show

them where to type the answers and how to answer MCQs.

f) Although learners who could read used the TARMII 3.0 system with ease, those who

could not read simply looked at the pictures and guessed the answer. The OEQs that

required a one-word response posed a challenge to those who could not read in English.


Table 4-2 shows the number of Grade 3 learners from the 16 schools who took the online

assessment. The number of learners per school ranged from 24 to 1351 learners with a mean of

62.3 and a standard deviation of 35. It is evident that quintile 2 and 3 schools had very large

numbers of learners in Grade 3. This made it difficult to have them take the test as a class owing

to the limited number of ICT devices. Hence, learners took the tests in groups.

Table 4-2: Descriptive statistics of the Grade 3 learners who took the online tests

Province Number

of learners

Mean number of

learners per

school

Standard

deviation Min. Max.

Gauteng 470 52.2 35.2 24 135

North West 527 75.3 29.7 44 118

Total 997 62.3 33.9 24 135

4.4 Challenges with the implementation of TARMII 3.0

The challenges experienced with TARMII 3.0 implementation are summarised below:

a) TARMII 3.0 is not integrated into the school plans and is therefore seen as an add-on

- Four schools in Gauteng indicated that it would not be possible to implement TARMII

3.0 in 2018, because the programme was not integrated into the school plan for 2018.

They had finalised their assessment plans for 2018 in August 2017. Therefore, it was

not possible to include TARMII 3.0 assessments in their assessment process.

Furthermore, schools would need to obtain a buy-in from the School Governing Body

and the parents before TARMII 3.0. can be implemented.

- Some of the Gauteng schools had fixed time-tables and learners from different classes

were using the computer laboratory for ICT lessons. Teachers at one school indicated

that although their school has good internet connectivity, they would be able to use the

computer laboratory for TARMII 3.0 test taking due to the structured and fixed ICT

programme.

1 Some schools had several streams of Grade 3 class that resulted in the large numbers of learners in that school.


b) Weak and intermittent internet connectivity in the schools

A major challenge facing both Gauteng and North-West project schools is the weak and

intermittent internet connectivity in the schools. Limited connectivity hindered

teachers from administering online assessments. Another issue linked to internet

connectivity is the data bundles required to run the TARMII 3.0 system. Some schools

were interested in using the system. However, they lacked funds to purchase data

bundles.

c) Schools not ready to use ICT in teaching and learning

At one of the Gauteng schools, teachers mentioned that although every class had a smart

board and WIFI connection, the use of technology in teaching and learning was seen as

an add-on. One teacher said: “We find it difficult to use TARMII 3.0, because there is

just so much work”. Other teachers said that the school had good connectivity, but due

to the workload, they would not be able to use the system during school time.

Despite the various challenges and limitations experienced by teachers, there was consensus

that TARMII 3.0 is the key to future integration of ICT to teaching and learning.

P a g e | 41


Chapter 5

Monitoring and evaluation

5.1 Introduction

The aim of the TARMII 3.0 programme evaluation process was to determine the enablers and

constrainers to integration of an online assessment system in literacy and language teaching in

the Foundation Phase. The performance evaluation involved ongoing monitoring of the

following activities:

Modification of the TARMII 3.0 system;

Revision and validation of assessment items.

Training on the use of the TARMII system and ongoing support provided to teachers

Uptake of the TARMII system in participating schools

5.2 Methodology

Monitoring and evaluation entailed a baseline to determine school ICT infrastructure and the

use of ICT in schools. Continuous monitoring to determine the uptake of TARMII followed

the baseline data collection. Additional data in the form of stakeholder feedback and discussion

sessions was collected from provincial and district education officials, school principals and

teachers. This served to further understand the enablers and constraints to implementing

TARMII as an online system.

5.3 Findings of the monitoring and evaluation process

Out of the 21 schools that were identified to take part in the TARMII project, only 16

participated in the monitoring and evaluation activities. These were English medium primary

schools, nine in Gauteng and seven in the North-West. Eight were Quintile 5 schools, four

quintile 4, three quintile 3 and one quintile 2 schools.


5.3.1 ICT infrastructure and general ICT use

Data from the baseline survey of ICT infrastructure and general use of ICT in schools revealed

that out of the 16 schools, eight reported to having ICT policies and six had both the policy and

implementation plan while two did not have ICT policies. Generally, participating schools had

computer centres, desktops, laptops mobile tablets, computers for teaching staff and data

projectors. Since security is important particularly where schools have ICT resources, it was

noted that the majority of schools had some form of security system. The schools had internet

connectivity, with Telkom as the main internet service provider.

Although the pilot schools had the minimum ICT infrastructure and connectivity needed to run

the TARMII 3.0 system, some of the digital devices were outdated and internet connectivity

was too slow for efficient functioning of the TARMII 3 system. During support and monitoring

in schools, an ICT officer mentioned in an interview that access to high speed data is imperative

if the TARMII system were to run effectively. This is possible if schools have fibre connection

or a 4G solution. This suggests that schools would need to consider high-speed data if, for

example, 40 learners were to take a test simultaneously. Furthermore, he indicated that mobile

devices have a usable lifespan of four years and not longer than that. Therefore, mobile devices

would need to be replaced at regular intervals to enable a smooth running of the TARMII

system.

5.3.2 Teacher perception of and engagement with the TARMII system

Out of the 16 teachers who had received training and school-based support, the majority

indicated that they used the TARMII system with support from the TARMII team and only a

few had used the system on their own. The most common activities reported by teachers

included: registering learners on the system, setting assessments for learners and marking

assessments on line. Table 5-1 on the next page, shows the perception of teachers towards the

TARMII system. The majority, found it easy to use the system to build tests, almost half of

the teachers found the assessment items in the item bank relevant to the curriculum and only

two teachers reported good internet connectivity at their schools.


Table 5-1: Teachers’ assessment of the TARMII

N %

Appropriate item bank 7 44

Easy item retrieval to build test 15 94

Good support from the HSRC team 9 56

Easy access to computer lab 3 19

Adequate ICT facilities 9 56

Good internet connectivity 2 13

Regarding the source of support for implementing the system, the majority of teachers (n=14)

indicated that their school principal/deputy supported them followed by others teachers (n=9)

and the school’s ICT officer (n=6). There is evidence that teachers received support from their

schools, which is necessary for successful implementation of TARMII 3.0.

5.4 Continuous monitoring

Continuous monitoring in the two provinces revealed limited use of the TARMII system. It

was evident that the uptake of the TARMII project was slow and low. TARMII usage was

limited to generating class lists, test building and learner testing, which occurred mainly

through support from the HSRC team. Initially, learners struggled to type the auto-generated

passwords. However, the TARMII support team made passwords easy to type (e.g. Lethabo

12345)

The main limiting factors highlighted in implementing the TARMII system included:

a. High data cost which was not budgeted for. Some schools could not continue with

TARMII tasks because internet data was unaffordable. Thus, the HSRC support team

purchased data for use during support visits.

b. Limited access to computer laboratories to enable Grade 3 learners to take the tests.

Schools have a programme where different classes visit the computer laboratory to take


ICT classes. However, given that TARMII was not included in the school’s annual

plans, participating teachers were not allowed access to the venue for purposes of online

assessments. This suggests that, for TARMII to run well, assessments should be done

in the classroom with high-speed internet connection.

c. Limited or intermittent internet connection in schools. This limited teachers’ use of the

TARMII system because at times they could not build tests, mark or administer

assessments

d. The use of ICT in teaching and learning was not seen as a priority. Thus, it was difficult

to integrate this into the normal teaching and learning activities

5.5 TARMII 3.0 stakeholder discussion sessions

In order to gather information regarding the implementation of TARMII 3.0 from the

perspective of all the key stakeholders, the research team held stakeholder interview

discussions with teachers, school principals and ICT Officers from the 16 participating schools;

provincial and district curriculum coordinators; ICT coordinators, district assessment officials

and subject specialists from the two provinces. Separate discussion sessions were held with

teachers, school principals, and education officials.

These sessions were also used to elicit information about the value of TARMII 3.0 as an

assessment tool; the quality, relevance and usefulness of the assessment items in the item bank;

training and school-based support provided by the HSRC; challenges with the implementation

of TARMII/ ICT in schools; recommendations on how TARMII could work best in schools.

The sessions were attended by 24 participants in Gauteng and 35 in the North-West. Details

of the participants are presented in Table 5-2 on the next page.


Table 5-2: Stakeholder meeting participants

Category

Gauteng North West

Number of

attendees

Number of

attendees

Education officials (provincial and

district) 10 16

Teachers 9 14

Principals 5 5

Total 24 35

Participants shared their views on the TARMII system, how learners interacted with the system,

challenges with implementation of TARMII and provided solutions for a successful

implementation of TARMII in schools.

5.5.1 Positive aspects of the TARMII system

Participants acknowledged that TARMII is an exciting and innovative programme and

has potential to enhance teaching and learning and should be scaled to all schools.

However, ICT infrastructure is required to successfully implement TARMII.

Teachers mentioned that TARMII is user friendly. A teacher mentioned that although

she did not attend centralised training, school-based training and support from the

TARMII team helped her to understand how to use the TARMII system. She said:”

TARMII will simply make our work easy, because I’m not computer literate, I was a

bit slow.

A principal from one of the township schools emphatically stated that TARMII is

implementable in schools. He said this about his school:” We have two computer labs,

Wi-Fi throughout the school. We pay R1500 per month for uncapped Wi-Fi data. We

must not be dependent on the DBE to do everything for us. Let’s think outside the box.

All my teachers have laptops”

Teachers mentioned that learners enjoyed working on the TARMII platform.

Different teachers shared their experiences in this manner:

“ Having items appear one at a time is wonderful. The kids like this. They were

enjoying this as if they were not being assessed. They are assessed in a fun and

exciting way. They are learning without even realising this. The items appeal to the


kids”. Another teacher said: “TARMII provides an equal opportunity for all

children. It boosts their self-esteem. One of the kids sighed: ‘Oh I don’t have to

worry about my handwriting’ ”

5.5.2 Challenges with regard to TARMII implementation

TARMII mentioned the following challenges, which hinders successful implementation of

the system:

a) Having large Grade 3 classes of over 50 learners, presents a challenge as schools do not

have sufficient digital devices to enable learners to take assessments concurrently

b) Due to limited ICT devices for teachers and limited connectivity, some teachers could not

complete marking the assessments after school. One of the teachers said, “I can’t mark

work of 42 learners when I only have 30 minutes to the school computer. I’m behind with

marking. It was a big stress for me to mark when other teachers need to use computers in

the staff room”

c) Theft of digital devices in schools presents another challenge. When the provincial

Departments provide tablets to schools, they are stored in the strong-room and are not used

due to fear of theft. The North-West district E-Learning Coordinator mentioned that at

times, devices are stolen the same day they are delivered to schools.

d) Learner lack basic computer skills to use desktop computers. When ICT was rolled out,

schools had to engage with SGBs and parents to fund ICT lessons for learners. However,

due to poverty in certain areas, parents could not afford to make such contribution

e) Internet connectivity remains the main challenge in implementing TARMII as an online

system

5.6 Recommendations and conclusion

The following recommendations were made by North-West and Gauteng stakeholder

participants

TARMII should be integrated into the Annual Teaching Plans;

Bring the SA School Administration and Management System (SA-SAMS) unit on

board to assist with internet connection


TARMII must be driven by the national Department of Education to ensure successful

implementation

Have TARMII either as an off-line system or have it zero-rated, meaning that schools

would not pay for internet connection when accessing the TARMII platform.

According to Operation Phakisa and other policies, schools qualify for the e-rate.

Train all Subject Specialists on the TARMII system and on how to monitor and

support teachers in implementing TARMII.

Provide weekly support to teachers in the first month after centralised training. This

will force teachers to start with implementation. An HoD suggested the following:

“Ask teachers to bring class lists at the initial training so that they can register

learners during training so that they can start administering tests to learners”

Implement Bring Own Device strategy. The policy on asset management allows the

use of smartphones in schools. However, schools must have in-house policy to

regulate the use of mobile phones.

Focusing only on English Home Language is problematic as the majority of leaners in

Grade 3 speak African languages as home languages. Include Mathematics in the

TARMII system as this is an important subject.

Since TARMII items are CAPS aligned, TARMII tool should be introduced at

Universities as part of the pre-service teacher education programme. This will help

give new teachers a good grounding in the CAPS

Before DBE takes over TARMII, the HSRC should produce a video on how to use

TARMII so that it can be used for in-house training

School principals should ensure that TARMII is on the school time-table, teachers have

laptops and learners have the required mobile tablets.

Obtain resources through fundraising, school fees and SGBs.

Schools should utilise the Learner Teacher Support Material (LTSM) allocation for

ICT. The LTSM funds are allocated to schools by the DBE to purchase learner and

teacher support material such as textbooks, stationary etc. A principal mentioned that

when the MEC rolled out ICT in schools, he indicated that schools should use part of

the LTSM funds to buy laptops or desktops. A Provincial education official added that,


it is not possible for the province to provide digital devices, schools should use existing

allocations for this.

The DBE should ensure that TARMII is integrated into CAPS document

TARMII would work incredibly well in schools that have Wi-Fi throughout the school

and digital devices such as mobile tablets.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have noted that although teachers in both Gauteng and North-West were

positive and excited about TARMII, they recognised the challenges with respect to the

implementation of TARMII in their schools. However, principals in the Gauteng province

suggested solutions to issues of digital devices and internet connectivity. They strongly

emphasised the need for schools to think outside the box and not wait for the DBE to resolve

ICT infrastructural challenges but for schools to explore various ways to have resources they

need to implement TARMII. They shared their experiences of overcoming all odds to ensure

that learners are exposed to technology in school.

The monitoring and evaluation established that there are several challenges in integrating ICT

in schools. Based on the monitoring activities and stakeholder session feedback, the following

recommendations are made:

a) The cost of data appears to be the biggest impediment to the use and integration of ICT

for teaching and learning in schools. This challenge is not unique to connectivity data

issues in schools, but is a much broader and complex issue that affects education beyond

micro programmes such as the TARMII 3.0 project. There is need for government and

data service providers to find a way to make data much cheaper especially in education.

b) There is need for ICT audits in schools to determine what ICT infrastructure both

hardware and software is available. Some schools had very old computer systems that

were not suitable for online programmes such as TARMII 3.0. More and more portable

devices such as tablets have become easily available and affordable. Thus, instead of

having large desktop computers, tablets should be the preferred ICT mode of delivery

in schools. Using tablets means that learners do not have to move from their classrooms


to a central computer laboratory thus reducing time associated with moving classes.

Using tablets also means that classes can share resources in that mobile tablets can be

moved between classes.

c) Wi-Fi connectivity in most schools was not stable and neither was it reliable. If ICT is

to be properly integrated in teaching and learning, there is a need for reliable, fast Wi-

Fi coverage in classrooms.

d) A number of teachers indicated that the assessment items in the TARMII item bank are

a good resource. However, the current item bank in the system is too small to provide

the required depth and breadth to over the CAPS curriculum, even for Grade 3 only.

There is need to provide a wider item bank that contains quality assured and validated

assessment items that are age and grade appropriate. One possible way is to have an

open source development system, where teachers develop assessment items and load

them to a central repository. These items would, however, need to be validated and

quality assured by a panel of experts.

e) It will be difficult to roll out programmes such as the TARMII 3.0 project to all schools.

The project was initially targeted at quintile 1 to 3 schools, but, as noted in this

evaluation, the majority of these schools do not have the required infrastructure.

Additionally, ICT would not be a priority, as most of these schools require basic school

infrastructure such as classrooms and toilets. Despite these challenges, there is a need

to make sure that such schools are not left behind; otherwise, the inequality gap will

continue to grow.


Chapter 6

: Conclusions, recommendations and way forward

6.1 Introduction

This chapter provides a summary of the conclusions and recommendations made based on

results of the activities of each of the TARMII 3.0 components. There is consensus that the

application of ICT in the education sector is gaining momentum and that key players in the

sector recognise its benefits in revolutionising the processes of teaching and learning in South

African schools. However, a number of barriers slow the process of uptake of ICT in schools.

The most critical barriers are the lack of appropriate ICT infrastructure and internet

connectivity in most schools in the country. The second is teacher perceptions and attitudes to

the use of ICT in education.

6.2 Conclusions, recommendations and way forward

Based on the study findings of the previous versions of TARMII and the work done on

TARMII 3.0, the following recommendations should be considered when the TARMII 3.0

system is rolled out nationally:

a) Internet connectivity is critical for the online system to function effectively. Given that,

most schools do not have the required connectivity; it is recommended that an off-line

version of TARMII 3.0 be considered. This version should be an installer version that

will allow for “patches”, so that more items can be added to the installed version.

b) There should be a dedicated unit within the DBE to oversee the day-to-day running of

TARMII 3.0. This unit should collaborate with other directorates such the curriculum,

assessment, teacher development and ICT to provide a mix of experience and expertise.

c) The DBE should ensure that, as part of advocacy or promotion campaign, national

roadshows are run to ensure that provincial offices and schools are aware of the

TARMII 3.0 platform.


d) The Department must interact with key cellular service providers to get the TARMII

3.0 platform zero-rated. This would allow teachers to access and use TARMII 3.0

without being billed for data use.

e) The DBE should develop a working partnership with education faculties at universities.

This would allow for sustainability of the TARMII 3.0 concept. Faculties of education

should use TARMII 3.0 as an initiative and resource for integrating ICT in teaching and

learning. A practical course in how to use the system could be incorporated into

teaching programmes.

f) Ensure that schools have the necessary ICT resources to access TARMII 3.0.

g) Ensure that schools do not view TARMII 3.0 as an ICT lab platform, but rather as a

classroom based resource, similar to how an overhead projector (OHP) is viewed.

h) Conduct an audit of the software and item bank annually, to ensure that the technology

is up-to-date and that items are relevant in terms of content and context.

i) As technology and education are dynamic fields, it is imperative that research to inform

policy and practice is built into the TARMII rollout programme. The HSRC can play

an important role in this process

j) Expand the capacity of the item bank by developing more items to include more

subjects and higher grades. Develop more assessment tasks to ensure that the item bank

extensively covers all the subject topics and objectives as prescribed in the CAPS

curriculum.

k) Teach learners how to answer Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs). Performance in the

MCQs across most of the psychometric characteristics was below expectation.

Teachers are encouraged to teach learners how to respond to MCQs and provide

exemplars for practice.

l) Further development and maintenance of the item bank. A plan should be devised for

retiring items that are over exposed and at the same time develop replacement items.


m) Cascading training of teachers. Successful implementation of TARMII 3.0 will be

determined by how well the teachers entrusted with the implementation are trained.

Centralised training and continuous support would be required to intensify the

acquisition of skills required to use TARMII in the classroom

n) Continuing Professional Teacher Development. In order to motivate teachers to

participate in the implementation of the TARMII system, teachers should earn points

as part of the Continuing Professional Teacher Development

o) Integration of the system into the annual teaching plan for schools. A challenge

experienced during the implementation of the TARMII 3.0 system in the pilot schools

was that the annual teaching plan had already been developed. It is highly

recommended that TARMII 3.0 be incorporated in the school annual teaching plan

before the rollout to schools.

p) TARMII 3.0 makes teaching and learning fun. Results of the field-testing of the system

indicated that teachers found the system more user friendly and were able to navigate

through the various functionalities with ease. Learners also found using TARMII 3.0

and answering questions online to be fun and it enhanced their interest in learning.

P a g e | 53


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Documents

TARMII 3.0 Report