Teachers’ experiences of using a portfolio for teaching, learning, and assessment in Lesotho primary schools

Abstract This study investigated the experiences of Lesotho primary school teachers of using a portfolio as a strategy for teaching, learning, and assessment. The Curriculum and Assessment Policy Framework (CAP) of 2009 motivated this study. This policy framework has introduced some changes in teaching, learning, and assessment (TLA) practices in Lesotho classrooms. The key changes introduced are integrated curriculum (IC) and continuous assessment. The policy also recommends new strategies for teaching and assessing learners, and one of these is a portfolio. This is the first time a portfolio has been formally introduced in Lesotho schools as a preferred strategy for teaching, learning, and assessment. Thus, thestudy was interested in establishing how teachers were experiencing this strategy and its success in their classrooms. The study used semi-structured interviews to gather data from 20 primary school teachers who were purposefully selected from 20 schools in the Maseru district. This data was analysed using a thematic approach. The results indicate that teachers were not using this strategy effectively or as recommended by the policy because they had limited knowledge and skill.

Julia Chere-Masopha (PH.D.) is a senior lecturer in the Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education at the National University of Lesotho; and she teaches and supervises postgraduate research in the area of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Lipuo Mothetsi-Mothiba is an assessment specialist at the Examinations Council of Lesotho. Currently, Chere-Masopha and Mothetsi-Mothiba's research interest is on the curriculum reforms in Lesotho schools. Recently, the government of Lesotho has introduced a curriculum and assessment policy that restructured the school education system and introduced an integrated curriculum and continuous assessment to replace subject-oriented curriculum and summative assessment respectively. These reforms are viewed by many as radical and ambitious. Our research interest has been on the teachers' responses to these reforms, their experiences, and their perceptions. We try to reveal untold teachers' everyday struggles as they try to understand and translate the reforms into practice, and the challenges they encounter as they attempt to move away from their comfort zones to embrace the new changes.

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
The advancement of the debate in education has reached a point where there is a general consensus that teaching should focus on assisting learners to acquire skills and knowledge relevant to their survival needs in modern communities. Teachers are required to use interactive strategies that actively engage learners and create opportunities for them to develop and demonstrate the targeted knowledge and skills. Teachers should also provide means that constantly monitor and assess the learners' progress. A learning portfolio is effective for making a learning journey visible to both a learner and a teacher, allowing both parties to monitor, assess, and self-reflect. The use of a learning portfolio has just been introduced in Lesotho schools. It is on this background that we investigated teachers' perceptions of this strategy. The study established that teachers have limited knowledge about a learning portfolio and they are still struggling to understand the concept.

Introduction
Debates on how learners should be taught and assessed have brought about many learning theories in education (Agaton, 2016). One of these theories is constructivism that suggests that knowledge is individually and socially constructed and co-constructed by learners (Jonassen, 1998;Seel, 2012). The theory advocates for teaching and learning that focuses on the success of a learner. This theory views learning as a process that involves a learner in a way that she or he is not a passive receiver but a creator of knowledge. The theory encourages teachers to design and assign learning and assessment tasks that require learners' active participation.
An extension of the constructivism theory is the multiple intelligences theory that is supported by Gardner and Hatch (1989). The theory suggests that individuals exhibit different profiles of intelligence (multiple intelligences) and as a result, learners have different preferred ways of learning (Davis et al., 2011;Gardner, 1987). These preferred ways of learning, which Kolb (1976) refers to as learning styles, are identified as visual (spatial), aural (auditory), verbal (linguistic), physical (kinaesthetic), logical (mathematical), social (interpersonal), and solitary (intrapersonal). As thus, teaching, learning, and assessment activities should be differentiated to match individuals' learning styles and require a learner to apply what she or he has learnt to solve everyday life challenges. The curriculum reforms introduced by the Curriculum and Assessment Policy (CAP) Framework of 2009 in the Lesotho school require this type of teaching and learning approach.

Background
Since 1966 independence, Lesotho governments had made efforts to fix curriculum problems that have long existed in the school education system (Makafane & Chere-Masopha, 2021). Particularly, attention has been on the practices used to teach and assess learners. The general view of these governments and the public had been that the classroom practices were not equipping learners with the knowledge and skills they need to be functional and productive in their communities or anywhere in the world after leaving school. Rather, they had been focusing on preparing learners for the national school examinations, the examinations that did not assess learners' practical knowledge and skills. The examinations were summative, theoretical, and reliant on a pen and paper method of assessment. They were not assessing the practical skills that school graduates need for survival in their communities and workplace. Even where the curriculum had clear practical outcomes, that target the knowledge and skills needed by the school graduates when they re-enter their communities and join the workplace, teachers had not been paying attention to these outcomes but rather on preparing learners for the national examinations. The teachers' attitude to ignore curriculum outcomes in favour of preparing learners for examinations has been observed by Ishaq et al. (2020). Their view is, in an education system where national summative examinations are emphasised, teachers tend to prioritise learner performance in the national examinations and deviate significantly from the curriculum goals and outcomes. In the process, these teachers often distort teaching and assessment strategies recommended by the curricula in favour of the methods that enhance learner performance in the national examinations.
Before the Government of Lesotho introduced the Curriculum and Assessment Policy framework of 2009, the Lesotho school education system had distinct exit points in which learners were assessed at the national level. The first point was at the end of the seventh year of schooling at which learners were required to sit for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). The second point of exit was at the end of two years of junior secondary education. At this level, the national examination that was taken led to the acquisition of the Junior Secondary Certificate (JC). The last point of exit was after two years of senior secondary education at which learners were required to sit for Cambridge Overseas Certificate (COSC) or equivalent examinations. All these examinations that were taken at the different levels of education, were summative and traditionally based on a pen and paper, with some few vocational subjects such as agriculture, home economics, and woodwork having small parts of practical examinations.
Thus, before the reforms, the purpose of national examinations in Lesotho was to determine the progression of learners from one level of education to another; for example, from primary education to junior secondary education, from secondary education to senior secondary education, and from senior secondary education to tertiary or post-school education. As also observed by Khalanyane and Hala-hala (2014), these examinations were used as instruments for sorting or classifying learners' performance in the First class, Second Class, Third Class, and Fail categories. These categories in turn were used to determine the suitability of learners for progression to another level of education, sometimes even for employment. The effects of this classification were detrimental to many children whose performance was in the categories of a Third Class or Fail. In most cases, these categories disqualified learners from admission into the next level of education or employment. According to the Examination Council of Lesotho (ECoL) 2015 annual report, each year about 28 percent of learners in schools in Lesotho were not able to proceed to junior secondary education because they had either failed the PSLE examinations or absented themselves from the exams. This percentage of learners was often forced to repeat classes or to drop out of the school education system. Consequently, Lesotho's educational system was characterized by high rates of dropouts and grade repeaters. The school dropouts were integrated back into their communities without skills that enabled them to be functional, productive, or employable. Ironically, even learners who were able to complete the school education programme and graduated also lacked such skills. Inevitably, this poor performance engendered discontent in the government and the public, with many people questioning the quality and relevance of Lesotho education. Many viewed this education as valueless and a waste of their children's time. For example, according to Chere-Masopha (2011), some parents were pulling their children out of the school system even before they could complete primary school education, complaining that the school system was not equipping their children with survival and employable skills they needed. One of the teacher-participant in that study quoted a parent saying to her (P. 221), Ha hona thuso ho boloka bana likolong hobane ha ba tsoa mono ha ba fumane mesebetsi, ebile ho molemo hore ba ikele lifemeng [There is no point in keeping our children in schools because they remain unemployable even after completing schooling. It is even better for them to search for factory jobs].
It was not only teaching and learning practices that the public heavily criticised. Assessment practices were also disapproved. According to Khalanyane and Hala-hala (2014), the assessment methods relied heavily on the learners' written responses and insufficiently evaluated knowledge, competencies, and skills that learners need to survive in their communities. As such, there was no link between how the learners were assessed and the national educational goals and curriculum standards. Generally, and except when teaching vocational subjects such as agriculture, woodwork, and home science, teachers in Lesotho rarely used task-oriented teaching and assessment strategies that actively engaged learners in a meaningful way (Curriculum and Assessment Policy Framework, 2009). Unlike others, the vocational subjects mentioned were taught in two components, theory and practice. For the practical component, learners were assigned project-based tasks for learning and assessment.

Curriculum and assessment policy framework (CAP) of 2009
The government of Lesotho introduced the Curriculum and Assessment Policy framework (CAP) in 2009 as a response to public discontentment about teaching, learning, and assessment practices existing in Lesotho classrooms. This policy overhauled the primary and junior secondary education programmes into a nine-year basic education programme. It abolished the national examination (PSLE) that learners were taking after seven years of primary education. With these new reforms, learners are now required to take the first national examination after nine years of uninterrupted schooling. During the basic education phase, learners are assessed continuously and the assessments are no longer used as the instruments that sort them for promotion. The main purpose of these assessments is now to informs teachers about the learners' progress in the acquisition of knowledge and skill.
The new reforms encourage teachers to use classroom strategies that: actively engage learners, are task-oriented and focus on the development of knowledge and skills by learners as prescribed by the curriculum. Project-based learning and the use of portfolios that integrate teaching, learning, and assessments are regarded as some of the preferred strategies in the policy (Curriculum and Assessment Policy Framework, 2009). It is believed in the policy that these strategies can engage learners actively during learning while allowing teachers to assess and monitor their progress. The strategies would also give teachers the opportunities to collect data relating to the effectiveness of their teaching and to use this information to improve their practices (Curriculum and Assessment Policy Framework, 2009). In addition, the policy requires teachers to use a portfolio strategy to document all the records of their learners; and this documentation should accompany the learners as they move within the system. It is hoped that future teachers of this learner would benefit from this portfolio as it would assist them to determine the weaknesses and the strengths of each learner, and ways in which the learner could be supported.

Literature review
As early as 1997, Abrutyn and Danielson observed that portfolio use in a classroom was becoming increasingly popular, a trend that appeared to have resulted from the perception of constructivists who view a learner as an active partner in the teaching, learning, and assessment (TLA) processes (Klenowski, 2002). Now using a portfolio as a strategy for teaching and learning has become common in many classrooms.
Since it entered the classroom, a portfolio has acquired many names such as a portfolio for learning, a student portfolio, a portfolio assessment, a portfolio for learning and assessment, and a portfolio for teaching and learning. These names are also accompanied by many definitions. As a consequence, trying to define a classroom portfolio can be fruitless. Therefore, the view of this study that, in the absence of a globally accepted definition, in the description of a portfolio, emphasis should be on the collaborative effort and consensus between a teacher and a learner on the purpose, learning goal(s) or objectives, expected learning outcomes, learning tasks, and how the work should be documented and completed, ensuring that it demonstrates the beginning and the end (Dysthe, 1999;Mueller, 2014).
This study found the definition by Paulson et al. (1991) as a condensed description of a portfolio as preferred in this study. They describe it as: a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the student's efforts, progress, and achievements in one or more areas. The collection must include student participation in selecting contents, the criteria for selection, the criteria for judging merit, and evidence of student reflection. (p. 60) A learning portfolio should also exhibit a process that demonstrates a collaborative effort between a teacher and a learner, and that shows a deliberate and systematic planned teaching, learning, and assessment that are correctly aligned with the curriculum objectives (Moya & O'Malley, 1994). Thus, a portfolio for teaching, learning, and assessment should demonstrate how a learner and a teacher interacted collaboratively and worked towards identifying the strengths and weaknesses of a learner and determining ways in which the learner could be supported to reach the maximum potential. In addition, the contents of a learning portfolio should provide both a teacher and a learner with information that they can analyse to determine the depth and breadth of the learners' capabilities in the various domains.

Studies on a portfolio as a strategy for teaching, learning, and assessment
Even though the importance of using a portfolio in the classroom has long been established, there are not many empirical studies that investigated the experiences of teachers on the use of a portfolio for teaching, learning, and assessment. From those reviewed for this study are Eridafithri (2015), Tangdhanakanond and Wongwanich (2015), Motlomelo (1998), Mothetsi-Mothiba and Chere-Masopha (in press), and Eridafithri (2015) was carried out after the reform of the Indonesian English Curriculum. The reform required teachers to use a portfolio as one of the alternative assessment strategies for the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The study found that EFL teachers had limited knowledge of this strategy, hence it was difficult for these teachers to design portfolio items such as marking rubrics for accurately assessing learners' achievements. As a result, they were reluctant to implement it. Tangdhanakanond and Wongwanich (2015) also investigated teachers' knowledge of a portfolio as an assessment strategy in Thailand. This was after the portfolio was formally introduced as one of the recommended assessment strategies in that country in 1999. The study investigated teachers' knowledge about the principles of a portfolio for assessment; how teachers used the information from the learners' portfolio to inform their practice; as well as how they, teachers, were implementing the four main steps of learner portfolio assessment: (a) planning for portfolio assessment, (b) collecting created products, (c) selecting and reflecting on the collected products, and (d) revising and evaluating products. The study concluded that teachers had limited knowledge and had misconceptions about the principles of a portfolio for assessment and that this was a result of limited training the teachers received on using a portfolio as an assessment strategy.
In Lesotho, there have been only two studies one by Motlomelo (1998) and the other by Mothetsi-Mothiba and Chere-Masopha (in press). Motlomelo (1998) investigated the attitudes and practices of 180 primary school teachers, teacher educators, examiners, and curriculum developers towards the use of a portfolio in the classrooms in Lesotho. This study was conducted before the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Framework of 2009 was introduced. The findings revealed that the participants had limited knowledge about the use of a portfolio for teaching, learning, and assessment. Further, the findings indicated limited knowledge of a TLA portfolio among teachers and across the entire education system. About 10 years after the Curriculum and Assessment Policy framework of 2009 was introduced in the education system in Lesotho, Mothetsi-Mothiba and Chere-Masopha (in press) undertook their study to investigate the situation of portfolio use in Lesotho schools. The study used a quantitative approach to explore the perceptions of 20 primary school teachers. The results of the study indicated that there were some developments regarding the knowledge and use of a portfolio for teaching, learning, and assessment since Motlomelo (1998). About 70 percent of teachers had some knowledge about a portfolio and they had somehow used it for teaching, learning, and assessment activities. However, the study established that there was some confusion among teachers about what a portfolio is and how it should be used in the classroom. As a quantitative study, Mothetsi-Mothiba and Chere-Masopha's explanation of how teachers were experiencing the use of a portfolio as a teaching, learning, and assessment strategy, and the challenges these teachers were encountering is was limited. As a result, the study reported in this paper used a qualitative approach to explore teachers' experiences of using a portfolio as a TLA strategy in Lesotho classrooms.

Problem statement
In 1998, long before the Curriculum and Assessment Policy framework of 2009 was introduced in Lesotho schools, Motlomelo (1998) established that school teachers, teacher educators, examiners, and curriculum developers in the education system in Lesotho knew very little about the portfolio as a TLA strategy. Therefore, a portfolio was not commonly used in the classrooms. Ten years later, in 2009, the government of Lesotho introduced new curriculum reforms in the Lesotho school education system through the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Framework of 2009. Before these reforms were introduced, teachers were using TL strategies such as lecture and explanation methods that made learners passive recipients of knowledge. Assessment strategies focused primarily on the performance of the learners in national examinations. Tests and other forms of assessments that were administered in-between the national examinations gauged the preparedness of the learners for these examinations. These intermediate assessments were designed and administered in the same way as the national examinations. As such, these assessments were mostly theoretical and based on pen and paper (Guskey, 2003;Khalanyane & Halahala, 2014). Thus, the introduction of project-based learning and portfolios TLA strategies introduced by the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Framework of 2009 in Lesotho classrooms implies a big shift in teachers' classroom practices. As such, it is logical to assume that teachers were prepared for these reforms; otherwise, teachers would face challenges in modifying their practices to accommodate the changes. Whittington (2014) who has observed that when teachers are not prepared for classroom reforms and are uncertain about changes introduced in their profession, they become confused, misinterpret and form misconceptions about the changes supports this assumption. This confusion sometimes is misinterpreted as teachers' resistance to change. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore, using semi-structured interviews, the experiences of teachers in Lesotho schools about using a portfolio as a TLA strategy.

Research purpose, objectives, and research question
This study explored teachers' experiences of using a portfolio for teaching, learning, and assessment in Lesotho classrooms and the objectives were to: (1) examine teachers' interpretation and use of a portfolio for teaching, learning, and assessment; (2) explore the factors influencing teachers' interpretations of a portfolio, and teachers' challenges of using a portfolio in Lesotho schools. The main question of this study was, what are the experiences of teachers in Lesotho regarding the use of portfolio as a TLA strategy. the following questions were used to collect information for this study: (1) How do teachers understand a portfolio as a teaching and learning strategy (TL) and how does this influence their classroom practices with a portfolio?
(2) What are the views of teachers on the benefits and challenges of using a TLA portfolio in Lesotho classrooms?
(3) What are the implications for the success of the reforms?

Methodology
Structured interviews to collect data from 20 teachers who were purposefully sampled from 20 Lesotho schools, based on convenience relating to the time limitations, easy access to schools and teachers' willingness to participate in this study were the primary factors that were considered in the selection of the schools and the recruitment of teachers. Purposive sampling allows a selection of participants based on the characteristics desired by a researcher. This method of sampling is suitable when the research aims to explore in-depth the understanding of individuals' experiences and histories as opposed to a more general nomothetic understanding. As rightly noted by De Carlo (2018), this sampling method enables the researchers to gain a deep understanding of the phenomenon under study.
In this study, teachers who were already implementing the reforms as they were being rolled out, were the target of this study. The teachers were in the grades (1-6) of basic education in Lesotho schools. Thus, teachers had at least three years implementing the reforms. With the permission of the organisation, the researchers identified the schools from the database of the Examinations Council of Lesotho (EcoL). All 20 schools selected from the list were located in the Maseru urban area. The schools were visited and, with the assistance of the principals, teachers were recruited. Before the recruitment, a concern for access to teachers in the schools was sought from the principals. With the permission of these principals, teachers were informed about the study, and where they demonstrated a willingness to participate, they were asked to sign a letter of concern. An interview protocol specifically developed for this study was used to collect the following information about the teachers: (1) their interpretation and use a portfolio for teaching, learning, and assessment; (2) the factors influencing their interpretations; and (3) the challenges they encounter when using a portfolio. This data was analysed using a thematic analytical approach recommended by Vaismoradi et al. (2016). This approach has four phases namely: initialization, construction, rectification, and finalization.

Findings and discussions
The results are presented and discussed according to the main objectives of the study which to investigate: (1) teachers' interpretation and use of a portfolio for teaching learning and assessment, (2) factors influencing interpretation and uses, and (3) the challenges teachers were encountering in their practices with a portfolio.

Teachers' interpretations of a TLA portfolio
Almost all teachers who participated in this study indicated that they knew something about a portfolio, and this knowledge appeared to be somehow in line with how it is viewed in the Curriculum and Assessment Policy of 2009. For example, this policy suggests a portfolio should be used to keep individual learners' records. In line with this, some teachers indicated that to them a portfolio was a file 1 or folder that contains the academic work of learners. Others further indicated how this benefits them as teachers. For example, one teacher responded: "I teach Grade 6 and everything my learners did from Grade 1 up to now is contained in their folders." Others viewed a portfolio as a tool that they use to monitor the progress of their learners and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each learner. This is how one teacher put it: To me, a portfolio is a tool that I use for teaching. I give learners a task to do on their own. While they are working, I monitor and assess their progress to see if they are doing well or have problems, from the beginning of the task to the end.
Generally, the findings indicated that teachers in this study had some knowledge about a portfolio and how they should use it in the classroom. Their explanations matched the Curriculum and Assessment Policy expectations: that teachers should use a portfolio to document learners' work that would assist them to monitor the progress of these learners. However, during the interviews, it was observed that despite their claims about their knowledge many teachers were not confident in their responses. Their responses were like they had been rehearsed and not revealing much about the extent of their knowledge.

How teachers knew about TLA portfolio
According to the findings of this study, many (16) teachers who participated in this study only learned about the use of a portfolio in TLA activities when the Curriculum and Assessment Policy was introduced in 2009. Only two teachers claimed to have learned about a portfolio long before then.
Teachers first learnt about a portfolio from the policy document and in-service training. Teachers who claimed to have learnt about a TLA portfolio when the reforms were introduced were 18. Ten of these teachers pointed out that they first heard about a portfolio for classroom use from the curriculum policy document. These teachers explained that the policy document place emphasis on it being used to document the learners' records, with very little said about how it should be used for TLA activities. One of these teachers explained it this way: The policy just tells us to document the work of all learners so that when they get to the next level, other teachers can determine their abilities just by reading this document. As for the classroom, the document does not guide us on how we should use it to teach or assess learners.
Eight participants claimed that, in addition to learning from the policy document, they had been involved in the in-service training workshops that prepared them for the reforms. The views of these teachers were that even this training inadequately equipped them with the knowledge and skills they need to be able to use a portfolio for TLA activities effectively. This is what one participant said: We were told to document the work of learners so that when they progress to the next class, the next teacher would see what these learners know and don't know because learners are no more classified according to Pass, Fail or Repeat as has been the case in the past. This is what we were told.
Generally, these teachers believed that they were inadequately prepared for using a portfolio for other classroom activities. This was justified by one teacher who indicated that although she also participated in the piloting phase of the reforms, where she received substantial supervision, she still felt inadequately prepared to use a portfolio because there had been a limited focus on this aspect. Further analysis of these teachers' responses indicated that 16 teachers had all received their teacher training from the institutions of higher learning in Lesotho.
Teachers learnt about a portfolio during pre-service training. The four teachers, who claimed to have known about the use of portfolio in the classroom long before the curriculum reforms, had their initial teacher training in South Africa. According to these teachers, their teacher training actively engaged them in the use of a portfolio as a strategy that can be used for TLA activities. For example, when explaining how they learnt about this strategy, one said: I did portfolio development as part of my coursework. We were assigned to plan for teaching our learners through TLA portfolios. We were asked to develop and submit examples of the portfolios that we would be expecting from our learners.
In their responses, these teachers appeared confident about their knowledge of a TLA portfolio compared with those (16) who received their initial teacher training from Lesotho. This finding supports the observation by Motlomelo (1998) that Lesotho teachers who attended South African universities were more familiar with the concept of a TLA portfolio compared with those who had acquired all their teaching qualifications from Lesotho learning institutions.
Teachers talked about a portfolio among themselves. Few teachers claimed that they had learnt about a TLA portfolio from more than one source. They pointed out that during their teacher cluster meetings, the issue of a TLA portfolio often popped up, particularly when the focus of the discussion was on the challenges encountered when implementing the reforms. This is how one of the participants put it: Besides Inspectorate workshops, I also gained knowledge from other teachers during our cluster meetings which we hold to scheme together and discuss issues that challenge us and how we can improve our teaching.
The results of how teachers learnt about a TLA portfolio indicate that teachers who were introduced to portfolio use during their pre-service training had adequate knowledge and were confident in the use of a portfolio in teaching, learning, and assessment. Other teachers who were introduced to a portfolio during reforms had scanty information about this strategy was not enough to enable them to use a portfolio successful for teaching, learning, and assessment.

How teachers use TLA portfolio
The results revealed that teachers in this study were mainly using a portfolio for documenting the work of their learners, teaching, learning, and assessment activities, and as an accountability tool to the parents and other stakeholders such as school inspectors.

Documenting learner's work
All the teachers who participated in this study indicated that the Curriculum and Assessment Policy of 2009 requires them to create folders to document learners' whole year's learning records for their mobility to the next grades. They explained that the work that they were mostly documenting included tests, some pieces of classwork, and learning projects. These teachers attested that they rarely engaged their learners in the preparation of these folders or allowed them to participate in the decision-making of how they should be engaged in the development of these portfolios. This implies that teachers are still central to decision-making about what should be in a learner portfolio. This appears to be conflicting with the intentions of the CAP, which requires a teacher and learners to be working partners in the building of the portfolio, by being given a chance to discuss with the teacher what should be included in a portfolio and why. The teacher too should be supporting the learners' decision-making progress BY asking questions and providing necessary suggestions. Yet, the results have established that learners remain passive and do only what they are told even though the policy recommended the use of a TLA portfolio to enhance the learner's participation as an active learning partner (Curriculum and Assessment Policy Framework, 2009). It is also evident from the results that teachers continue to view tests as a trusted method of assessment. When asked about how they were using a portfolio as a tool that can assist their learners to self-reflect on their performance, they appeared ignorant of the concept of self-reflection. Even though the concept was explained a few times to them, they failed to respond appropriately to the question. Instead, they persistently explained how they make their learners use portfolio contents for revision for examinations and tests. From this explanation, it was established that teachers were still valuing and relying on tests and examination as methods of assessment. For example, before the reforms as indicated earlier in this paper, learners were assessed summatively through tests and examinations and it was a common practice for schools to give learners time for revision before sitting for tests and examinations. During this time, learners would go through their classwork, old tests, and teachers' notes to remind themselves of the subject content.

Teaching, learning, and assessment strategy
Only four teachers in this study linked their use of a portfolio with the actual teaching, learning, and assessment activities. These four are those teachers who acquired some of their qualifications from South African institutions. They claimed to use a TLA portfolio for teaching, learning, and assessment activities. According to their description, they break a learning task into numerous subtasks to make it easy for learners to execute, with each subtask embedding a specific skill or knowledge a learner is to develop. Their learners are asked to document their completed subtasks in the sequence in which the subtasks had been completed. According to these teachers, before they assign a task to a learner, they outline to these learners the sub-tasks with the expected outcome or product from each task. By so doing these learners have clear guidance of what is expected of them. One of these teachers explained this by saying: I interact, talk with my learners where needed . . . I even discuss the scoring rubric with them before they embark on a task so that they can self-assess as they do the work. I usually use it while I want to guide learners to achieve a particular objective. For instance, if I want to teach them about how to make a poster, I show them what it is . . . discuss the task and scoring rubric. They do the task and keep a record of the stages of the task . . . These four teachers also indicated that, where both the teacher and the learner are satisfied with a completed subtask, the learner is usually asked to document the completed work in the folder created and then move to the next subtask. They claimed that before their learners embark on a task, they actively engage them in the discussions about the assigned tasks and what is expected of them. This is what one of them said: If it is numeracy, for instance, I start by telling them the objective, to call their attention. We are going to learn about addition from 0 −10'. I ask them what materials are needed and what to bring. I jumble card numbers and ask them to do their additions, each at their own pace. They keep their work either in their folders or paste them on the wall, depending on the size of the product. The purpose is to engage learners in the manipulation of objects, to allow them to explore, and to apply a learner-centred approach.
The teachers argued that when they engage their learners in the discussion about their work and allow them to document the completed tasks it provides the learners with an opportunity to interact and reflect on what they are learning, making them develop and appreciate their work and progress. What these teachers said appeared to be in line with the view of Wade and Yarbrough (1996) that learners can use a portfolio to reflect on their learning through the portfolio contents. In addition, the teachers indicated that they were benefiting from this approach because it enabled them to monitor the progress of their learners in the development of a targeted knowledge or skill.

Learning evidence/Teacher accountability
The other use mentioned by teachers in this study was using a TLA portfolio to keep learners' work as evidence of what they do with learners. This evidence they present to the school headmasters, inspectors, and parents when necessary. The teachers unanimously pointed out that a TLA portfolio has proved to be beneficial during their performance appraisal by their instructional supervisors such as headmasters and school inspectors, and parents. They use the contents of a TLA portfolio to show what they have done with their learners and the learner-related challenges.

Teachers' views on benefits and challenges of using a TLA portfolio
Teachers in this study believed that a TLA portfolio could be used to benefit their learners in many ways, including boosting their participation in learning. However, they acknowledged that they were not using this strategy to its maximum potential. This is what one said, All of them use different styles of learning and their creativity could be boosted. It can boost their self-confidence when they look at their products. It can also promote cooperation and teamwork among learners and teachers.
This shows that even though teachers in this study were using a portfolio in a limited way, they had a positive attitude towards this strategy and believed in its capability of making teaching and learning meaningful. In addition to boosting learners' motivation, the teachers believed, if trained properly, a TLA portfolio can assist them to keep learners' TLA records appropriately and they can use these records to monitor their learners' performance and to properly account to their supervisors and parents. Although these teachers viewed the TLA portfolio positively, they believed that its use in schools in Lesotho was costly and was leading to frustration among them as teachers. They mentioned the following as the main challenges: a) storage space and safety, b) teachers' limited knowledge and skill, c) large class size, and d) resources availability.

Storage and safety
The teachers said that using a portfolio as storage for learners' work and records was risky in Lesotho schools. They pointed out that many schools do not have safety measures such as site fencing, locking of classrooms, or having a school guard to protect the school buildings and their contents when schools are not in session or before and after school hours. As a result, learners' work or anything left in the classrooms is not safe from theft and hooliganism. Because of this, nine teachers, almost half of the participants indicated that they usually asked their learners to take and keep the portfolios at home and bring them when needed. These teachers were also quick to point out that even this was problematic because the learners tend to remove items they don't like from their portfolios, particularly pieces of work in which they had performed poorly.

Limited knowledge of portfolio
All the participants considered their limited knowledge of a TLA portfolio as the biggest challenge. They pointed out that the training that they received in preparation for the reforms was inadequate to allow them to incorporate this strategy meaningfully in the TLA activities.

Class size
The teachers also viewed big class sizes as one of the greatest challenges of using a TLA portfolio in Lesotho classrooms. They explained that class sizes in Lesotho can range between 40 and 70 learners. As a result, it was difficult for them to use and maintain a TLA portfolio for each learner, and to monitor and support each learner to complete a given task. They pointed out that unless they use a group work teaching approach, where a group of learners works on one portfolio, they did not think using a TLA portfolio for each learner was possible in Lesotho. This was emphasized by three teachers who indicated that they usually opted for group portfolios because of the big class size.

Time and other resources
The issue of time was also a concern to many teachers in this study. Almost all of them indicated that implementing a TLA portfolio in a classroom was time-consuming because preparing for it often required two to three days while a 'normal preparation time 2 was usually between 30 minutes to an hour. Time wasted on working with TLA is further worsened when learners do not timeously bring the resources needed for some tasks, which is often the case in their situation. These teachers indicated that working with a TLA portfolio in Lesotho, where they receive very little support from parents, is frustrating. These concerns observed by the teachers have also been reported by Goctu (2016), Elango et al. (2005), and Motlomelo (1998) who pointed out that a TLA portfolio requires considerable time and resources.

Conclusions and recommendations
One of the main findings of this study is that a portfolio for teaching, learning, and assessment is not widely used in Lesotho, and those who use it do so in a limited way and they mostly use it to (1) store the academic records of learners and (2) account to the parents and authorities for the time a learner and teachers had spent in the classroom. How teachers use a portfolio to teach and assess learners in Lesotho classrooms is mostly attributed to teachers' limited knowledge and skills about this strategy. It also transpired in this study that, although the Curriculum and Assessment Policy of 2009 requires teachers to use a portfolio as a strategy to teach, and assess learners, The policy has not provided adequate information on how to achieve this. This study has also established that teacher training institutions in Lesotho give limited attention to a portfolio as a strategy for teaching and assessing learners. For example, all the teachers who claimed they received formal teacher training from institutions in Lesotho portrayed claimed to have limited knowledge and skill for using a portfolio for teaching and learning. One conclusion that can be drawn from this finding is that when school education was reviewed and changes were introduced to the curriculum, teacher education in Lesotho was not reviewed to align with these changes. Therefore, teachers' lack of the skills and knowledge to teach and assess learners can be mostly attributed to irrelevant teacher education provided in Lesotho. Following this conclusion, it is recommended that the providers of teacher pre-service and in-service teacher education should regularly review their curricula to ensure that they produce teachers with adequate knowledge and skills that address the current education needs of the country.