Appraisal of Assessment Skills of Basic Science Education Teachers: Towards Quality Assurance

Abstract

Assessment is a very important programme in education. Assessment information shows the level of achievement of
objective. Important decisions are made about the learner and education system based on results of assessment.
Whatever the parents know about quality of education is through the assessment reports of their wards. Considering its
primordial role in education, it is not safe to conduct assessment in a haphazard manner. Assessment requires some
levels of competency to be able to ask the right questions and elicit the desired responses. Educational system in
Nigeria has been accused of poor quality due to poor skills acquisition of the graduates. Can the problem be traced to
wrong mode of assessment? Primary education is the foundation- laying stage of which if the problem is detected and
corrected at this level, quality would be assured. This is the reason the researcher carried out study to ascertain the
assessment competence of basic (Primary 1-6) teachers who assess and certify pupils that move to secondary level. 93
copies of lesson plan written by the teachers were critiqued in terms of adequacy of specific objectives and evaluation
questions meant to be used in ascertaining the achievement of the objectives. 4 research questions guided the study.
Findings showed lack of direct link between the specific objectives and the question items used in assessing them.
There was preponderance of assessment questions at the knowledge level of cognitive domains. It was recommended
among others that teachers need capacity building in the area of assessment of learning. Again, the current arrangement
where a single teacher teaches all the subjects should be reviewed.