School-Based Assessment as a Driver of Self-Regulated Learning: Experiences of Tourism Learners

School-based assessment (SBA) is an approach to continuous assessment at the school level that aims to drive teaching and learning. It supports teaching and learning processes and assists in tracking learner progress on a continuous basis. Given the importance of SBA, the value of learners’ voices in contributing to its practices is crucial if the education system is committed to its efforts to improve accountability and quality education. This paper focuses on the role of SBA in driving self-regulated learning as perceived by learners who take Tourism as an elective. This interpretive case study examined Tourism learners’ experiences of SBA’s role in enhancing self-regulated learning in this subject. The researcher recruited Tourism learners from two secondary schools in the KwaZulu-Natal Province, resulting in a sample of a total of 40 Grade 11 learners who participated in four focus group sessions. The findings suggest that SBA is a driver of self-regulated learning (SRL) as the learners affirmed that this continuous assessment approach in Tourism improved their autonomy and helped them take ownership of their learning, while also enabling them to access knowledge and insight individually and in collaboration with others. The findings suggest that SBA allows learners to take control of their own learning and thus become self-regulated learners. The findings have profound implications for the role of assessment in the schooling context as it improves learners’ accountability and sense of ownership of their own learning. Moreover, the variety of SBA assessment practices facilitates knowledge construction and thus improves the quality of education provision.