Umalusi hosted a successful 40th Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA) Annual Conference themed “Reimagining educational assessment in the age of multiple dimensions of learning in a global society” on 19-22 August 2024 in Cape Town.
Participating in the conference were about 310 delegates made up of education leaders,researchers, policy makers, educationists, assessment and curriculum practitioners, scholars, heads of assessment bodies and examination councils and private agencies from all parts of the African continent, Europe, India, Japan, United Kingdom, United States of America and other parts of the world. The Minister of Basic Education, Honourable Siviwe Gwarube, officially opened the conference on 19 August.
The Minister congratulated Umalusi for returning the AEAA Family to South Africa, 21 years after staging a successful 13th AEAA Conference in 2003 during Umalusi’s formative years. Further, she appreciated the fact that the theme aligns with two of the five key priorities identified for South Africa’s 7th Administration: (a) increasing efforts to improve access to and the quality of inclusive education for learners in our most vulnerable communities and for learners with special education needs; and (b) improving literacy and numeracy skills across all phases of schooling. For that reason, the Minister challenged delegates to use the conference as an invaluable opportunity (a) for Umalusi to reimagine its quality assurance framework so as to focus on the foundational levels of the education system and (b) for all delegates to re-think how best to build an inclusive, safe and quality education systems in Africa and the world over.
Dr David Njengere, immediate past President, called on all delegates to “contextualise global issues to the African experience and concretise assessment experiences that bring out our strengths while presenting globally competitive qualifications”. Around 100 papers were presented by a mixture of keynote speakers, lead speakers, panel speakers, workshop and paper presenters. The papers generated interest in new areas of research to deepen the dialogue on thinking differently.
The conference made the following recommendations:
- Member countries should develop teaching, learning and assessment practices that are inclusive and responsive to learners with disabilities, diverse environments, and cultures.
- Member countries to engage in collaborative research in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in education and assessments.
- Member countries should collaborate in developing forward-looking, inclusive, and responsive national and higher education policies tailored towards the unique challenges of countries.
- There is need for collaborative capacity building of teachers in interpreting competency-based curricula, and the use of AI and ICTs in education and assessments.
- Member institutions to preserve African languages through assessments and language-driven technologies.
- Member countries to develop a common assessment framework and tools to facilitate the generation and use of data for continental decision making.
The CEO of Umalusi, Dr Mafu S. Rakometsi, was elected the President of the AEAA. In his acceptance speech, Dr Rakometsi pledged to stay true to the mission of the AEAA, which is to promote cooperation amongst examining and assessment bodies in Africa. He concluded by committing to ensure that the conference resolutions underpin the AEAA programme of action until the 41st AEAA Annual Conference to be hosted in Ethiopia on 25-29 August 2025.
