WHAT COULD THE POSSIBLE REASONS BE THAT ASSESSMENT IS NEGLECTED IN PERFORMING ARTS AND MUSIC IN THE FOUNDATION PHASE?

I think the reason why assessment is neglected in Performing Arts and Music in the Foundation Phase is because of the lack of knowledge and skills about it, people think of it as detract from academics and that it hinders students' learning in more important areas, they claim that learners will spend too much time on practicing and performances then as a result people undermine the role it plays in the development of children. The other reason is that most people regard art in schools as a luxury because of its expenses, any music program pose huge budget concerns for schools because they do not only cost a lot of money because of the required instruments, playing space and various concerts, but they also require schools to hire extra music faculty and instructors. These costs come as a challenge to the budget which is why cutting performing arts and music programs in schools is often one of the first solutions to school budget cuts.

PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW YOU WOULD ADVOCATE FOR AND HEIGHTEN AWARENESS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF ASSESSMENT WHEN SPEAKING WITH YOUR HOD ABOUT YOUR CONCERNS IN THIS REGARD.

The following is a piece of research on the importance of performing arts and music in the foundation phase that I would share with my HOD:

Portowitz, Lichtenstein, Egorova & Brand (2009:109), highlighted that learning may be understood as “a complex interaction of cognitive, social and emotional factors”, so music in learning improves the auditory perception and language skills, it helps with short-term memory, it decreases distractibility and it enhances information processing. Children tends to be the most active and energetic beings, they are very creative and play is their natural way of learning and yet have a short concentration span, so it makes sense that music may assist in learning by keeping these more engaged and focused. It is important that through all of this assessment should be used because it is a means for determining whether lesson aims have been achieved and allows the teacher to monitor learner progress.  Assessment should further be used as a tool to assist the learning process (Rossouw & Delport, 2016b) and not be seen as a tool for passing judgement. Through effective assessment, both teachers and learners are able to not only monitor progress but identify skills/concepts that need to be improved on, remedial strategies and the next step in the teaching and learning process.  Without feedback from assessment, teachers and learners would not be able to improve their knowledge and skills.

Portowitz, A., Lichtenstein, O., Egorova, L. & Brand, E. 2009. Underlying mechanisms

linking music education and cognitive modifiability. Research Studies in Music Education,

31(2):107-128.