JOURNAL OF PEDAGOGICAL
THOUGHT
ISSN 1821-8180
VOLUME 5, JANUARY, 2012
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UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS OF CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT
IMPLEMENTATION IN RURAL SCHOOLS IN NIGERIA: THE
TEACHERS' PERSPECTIVE
Adams O.U. Onuka
Institute of Education
University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Abstract
This study examined sOf7'!echallenges and prospects of implementing
Continuous Assessment (CA) in the Nigerian rural schools, using schools
in two rural Ibadan Local Government Areas of Egbeda and Lagelu of
Oyo State, Nigeria as case study. It utilized survey research procedure
while the study data was collected ex post facto, Fifty-six teachers were
sampled from five schools and used as subjects in the study. One
instrument was used to collect data which were analysed using
percentages and chi-square statistic. Findings show that challenges of
implementing CA in rural Nigerian schools include: lack of good and
enabling environment, dilapidated classes, lack of relevant equipment
for its execution, shared interest between farming and devotion to
school work on the part of the teachers who are the chief implementers,
lack of knowledge and skills of the appropriate evaluation techniques,
ete. Respondents suggested that time should be given to implementing
CA, teachers should be adequately trained in the techniques of
evaluation, relevant modern technology for its conduct and recording
should be provided for teachers. It was discovered that these rural
Nigerians do not understand the import of CA implementation. It was
thus recommended that teachers should be given relevant training on
modern evaluation techniques, funds be available for the purchase of
relevant equipment for its implementation, and the enabling
environment should be provided by way of acquisition of relevant
infrastructure and facilities.
Key Words: Challenges, CA Implementation, Rural Schools, Prospects,
Evaluation Techniques, Modern Technology.
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94 Adams O.u. Onuka
Introduction
According to Onuka (2008), evaluation of which assessment is a part
plays important roles in the educational development of a nation. It is a
means by which quality control is carried out and determines the
educational systemic accountability exemplified by the various
stakeholders in the industry. It is equally the t601 used in determining
the effectiveness of teaching and learning. It is a vital tool for quality
assurance in the education sector. Assessment is said to be continuous
when it is regular, cumulative and comprehensive. Onuka and Owolabi
(2008) posit that the concept of assessment in Nigeria was officially
,introduced in 1985 by the then military regime which produced a
manual for its implementation consequent upon the commencement of
the Nigerian National Policy on Education which was introduced in 1977
and had since been revised three times (FRN, 1977; 1981; 1998; and
2004).
Continuous Assessment uses a variety of instruments in the
process of assessing students because it considers all the three domains
of learning, namely: cognitive, affective and psychomotor.
However, Onuka (2009) found that implementers of this
innovative evaluation paradigm have concentrated only on cognitive
domain of learning. According to Onuka and Junaid (2007), it is
determined using tests, questionnaires, observational techniques
among other tools in order to really determine whether or not there
has been comprehensive learning in the system. The result of CA is
usually used to advise students and thus such results improve students'
learning outcomes.
The reintroduction of the universal basic education and the
expansion of its scope from six to nine-year basic education in 1999
brought a new dimension to CA in the form of School Based
Assessment (SBA) at the lower, middle and upper basic levels. The
practice of the original concept of CA in Nigeria continues at the
secondary school level. The main objective of the Nigerian government
by introducing CA is: making it to form a substantial percentage of the
final certificate examinations. Yet, as at present, only the examining
bodies are able to tell what they do with the CA scores collected from
secondary school as the schools themselves and the rest of the
educational subsystem and society are not sur-e of what happens to
those scores. The reason is that no one seems to trust the
implementation of CA in the school system in Nigeria.
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Challenges and Prospects of Continuous ... 95
There have been some expression of doubts about the validity
and reliability of the scores given to examining bodies by schools as
results of CA tests conducted by them when it is certain school
authorities sometimes connive with students to cheat in the
examinations administered by the same examining bodies (Onuka,
2004; Onuka and Owolabi, 2008; Onuka, 2009). Psychometric
properties of the tests that produced these scores are subject to doubts
as the reliability and validity of the measurement instruments used are
not ascertained. The competence and capability of some of the
teachers who generated them is in suspect, since many of these
teachers were not professionally trained.
It has been, however, observed that implementation of CA in
schools has been fraught with some problems which include the fact
that teachers are not adequately educated in CA implementation;
stakeholders are unaware of the importance of CA as a quality control
and assurance tool; and the fact that it assists both teachers and
students to improve; and as such little or no importance is attached to
its implementation; thus, sufficient funds are not made for its
implementation; and CA storage equipment such as computers are not
made available for teachers to use (Onuka and Oludipe, 2004; 2006;
Onuka, 2007a). They equally suggested that if these problems were
frontally confronted, the prospects of CA improving teaching and
learning are tremendous. Onuka and Owolabi (2008) report that s_ome
scholars had discovered that though CA can make tremendous
improvement in student learning and in reducing examination
malpractices in schools where it is often practised, yet the operators
need to be honest in the discharge of duties, and use the instrument to
promote learning among students and enhance teaching by its use in
the school system (Onuka, 2004; Adeoye and Okpala, 2005; Frempong,
2005; Oberlcher, 2005; Anikweze, 2005). In view of the foregoing
observations, it has thus become imperative to investigate the
challenges and prospects of CA to verify the factors that account for the
unimpressive process of implementation of the continuous assessment
component of the 6-3-3-4 education system in rural Nigeria. Therefore,
this study evaluated the challenges and prospects of the
implementation in the Nigerian rural secondary schools from the
perspective of some stakeholders in the Nigerian education industry at
the rural set-up.
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96 Adams O.u. Onuka
Research Questions
The following three questions were, thus, addressed:
1. What are the challenges of implementing CA in Ibadan rural
schools as perceived by the teachers?
2. What are the prospects of CA implementation in rural Nigeria?
3. What should be done to ensure appropriate implementation
of CA in rural schools?
4. Is there any congruence between the perception of the
challenges and prospects of continuous implementation of
CA by male and female teachers in rural schools?
Procedure
The study adopted the survey research using the ex post facto design.
Teachers and students were purposively sampled from five secondary
schools in some Ibadan rural settings of Lagelu and Egbeda Local
Government Areas. Sixty-six teachers chosen from the selected schools
constituted the sample for the study. The five schools were
systematically selected from some eleven rural schools in the two Local
Government Areas to ensure ruralness and representativeness.
Instrumentation
A Checklist was adapted from the similar checklists by Onuka and
Owolabi (2008). The teacher checklist on CA implementation was
modified and validated using test retest reliability technique producing
a co-efficient of 0.87 while factor analysis technique was to obtain
validity co-efficient of 0.79 for the instrument. This was after
administering the instrument on a sample of 25 rural teachers similar
to the main sample used in the study.
Data Collection
The teacher instrument was administered on the 66 teachers from the
five schools in the most rural areas. All the questionnaire copies that
were administered were retrieved from the respondents.
Data Analysis
The resulting data from this research exercise was ana lysed using
percentages and Chi-square statistics.
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Challenges and Prospects of Continuous." 97
Results and Discussion
Presented below are the perceptions of the rural teachers about CA
implementations.
Table 1: Summary of the challenges of teachers in implementing CA in
rural setting
Perceived challenges of CA by rural teachers Percentage Rank
of the
respondents
Developing valid CA Tests 77.5 {7th)
Lack of motivation to implement CA 81.0 (6th)
Marking and recording of CA 76.4 (10th)
Non-provision of support by the relevant 67.6 (14th)
authorities in the conduct of CA
Pooling of test items together very difficult 74.8 (lih)
due to unavailability of relevant literature on
evaluation techniques
Wastes the teachers' time 75.8 (11th)
Appropriately developing other CA 94.8 . (1st)
instruments
Too many traits to rate 88.1 (3fd)
Heavy teaching workload 76.9 (8th)
Many assessment tools to be used 76.9 (8th)
Frequency of CA administration/operations 69.8 (nth)
Inadequate knowledge of its importance 83.0 (5th)
Low level of skills in evaluation techniques 92.7 (2nd)
Non-provision of the appropriate technology 83.5 (4th)
The challenges of implementing CA as perceived by the Nigerian rural
teachers are hereby presented in descending order of magnitude:
developing appropriate CA instrument i.e. the ability to appropriately
develop the relevant CA instruments, low level of evaluation skills,
marking and recording, low level of teacher motivation, non-provision
of the appropriate technology, inadequate knowledge of the import of
CA implementation, marking and recording of CA tests, test
administration procedures, etc. Furthermore, teachers' response show
the issues relating to marking and recording of CA tests in view of the
time such exercise takes and the need to follow through the curriculum
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98 Adams 0. U. Onuka
implementation. Issues concerning the setting of questions or item
writing also bothered the teachers as challenges in CA implementation.
The above findings confirm the fact that implementing in
Nigeria is fraught with challenges (Onuka and Obialo, 2004; Onuka and
Oludipe, 2004; Onuka and Oludipe, 2004; Onuka, 2007; Yoloye, 2003;
Anizekwe, 2005; Wiggins, 1998; Wosanju, 2005). This is in tandem with
the fact that the Nigerian government, whether federal or state, does
not often make fund available for implementing laudable educational
programmes (Onuka, 2004; 2007b). These conclusions are in
conformity with the views of Wosanju (2005) and Wiggins (1998) and
.the finding of Onuka and Obialo (2004) that effective implementation
of CA can consume much of the teachers' time and its administration
can be cumbersome as well as inadequate funding of the system
leading to poor execution of noble innovation in educational
evaluation.
Presented in table 2 is the rural teachers' perception on how
CA implementation in the Nigerian rural schools can be improved:
Table 2: Expected prospects of CA implementation in the Nigerian
rural schools
SINo Description Percentage Rank
1 Reduces examination malpractices 94.4 (3rd)
2 Improves learning 98 (1st)
3 Improves teaching 98 (1st)
4 Affects early correction 89 (4th) ..
5 Engenders hardwork by both 76 (6th)
teachers and students alike
6 Creates positive attitude/self- 81 (5th)
confidence in the student
Table 3 presents what respondents believe are the expected prospects
of a well-implemented CA in Nigeria. Thus the data shows that 94.4% of
the respondents agree that faithful implementation of CA in Nigeria can
help in curbing the malaise of examination malpractices. 98% states
that it improves learning while another 98% feels that it also improves
teaching. Again, 76% opines that CA implementation engenders
hardwork by both the teachers and the students alike and 81% believes
that it builds up the students' character. These results in table 3 clearly
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Challenges and Prospects of Continuous ... 99
show that properly executed CA possesses the prospects of promoting
learning if appropriately carried out and its results adequately utilized
(Onuka and Oludipe, 2004). The results also corroborate the finding of
Onuka and Obialo (2004) that examination malpractices have been
cankerworm which must be dealt with frontally and that of Onuka and
Junaid (2007) which discovered that consistent administration of CA
can reduce examination malpractices as the students become used to
examination system and also because the CA system improves the
study habit of the student. Therefore, it is pertinent that all machinery
for effectively implementing CA in Nigerian schools should be put in
place, since it has been proven that the CA system can improve
students' performance.
Table 3: Summary table of steps suggested by teachers for ensuring
successful implementation of CA --
Suggested steps Percentage of Rank
the
respondents
Improving invigilation and CA administration 97.98 (1st)
Develop/Promote healthy study habit 96.90 (2nd)
among students
Decongest/Red uce students population per 96.49 (3rd)
class
Improve record keeping 95.86 (4th)
Training of teachers in relevant evaluation 79.04 (5th)
techniques
Improve commitment/motivation of 77.04 (6th)
teachers
Raise the proportion of CA test component 74.23 (ih)
Include assessment of non cognitive 74.23 (7th)
variables
Ensure CA tests represent instructional 72.82 (9th)
coverage
Give enough time to students 61.41 uo")
Provision of appropriate technology 59.02 (11th)
As depicted in table 3 above, teachers believe that the success of CA
implementation depends essentially on effective test administration
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100 Adams O.u. Onuka
and the promotion of healthy study habits among students. This gives
the impression that teachers have little or no control over the
administration of CA in schools, just as Onuka and Junaid (2007) did
find that some schools in Kogi State, Nigeria were not effectively
implementing CA. The nature of questions to use, the timing of the
tests and the time table given for administration as well as invigilation,
when left at the mercy of the system rather than under the control of
teachers, could lead to a lot of problems. Yet, as Onuka and Junaid
(2007) suggested, CA implementation should be done co-operatively.
The issue of decongesting classrooms is closely tied to test
administration. Improving record keeping, re-training of teachers and
ensuring commitment of teachers also go together and among them is
the possibility of creating the conditions that could make for successful
implementation of CA in schools. The lack of thoroughness of
invigilation could promote cheating and this shows that the teachers
may have to take the CA tests seriously as a vital component of school
learning by remediating students' poor performance (Wiggins, 1998;
Onuka and Oludipe, 2004; Wosanju, 2005).
Table 4: Summary table of differences between perceived challenges
and perceived prospects and envisaged challenges and envisaged CA
implementation
Variable X2_ Value Critical Value Cramer's V Level of
Significance
Challenges - 132.09 34.50 0.77 0.05- --
Prospects 234.70 44.76 0.76 0.05
The results presented in table 4 show that significance difference exists
between what in the rural teacher's perception is on ground in terms of
challenges and prospects of continuous assessment implementation on
the one hand and the envisaged challenges and prospects respectively
at 0.05 alpha level.
This implies that the envisaged and perceived challenges as
well as those of the prospects, in terms of continuous assessment
implementation in the rural areas of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, are
significantly congruent. That is, there is no significant difference
between what is perceived and what is envisaged in terms of both the
challenges facing the implementation of CA in rural Ibadan schools and
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Challenges and Prospects of Continuous ... 101
those of the prospects of using the implementation of continuous
assessment to improve students' achievement in the rural
communities. These findings conform to the findings of Onuka, 2004;
Onuka and Oludipe, 2006; Onuka and Owolabi, 2008 that continuous
assessment is a tool for improving students' cognitive learning in
particular and learning in general. Thus a carefPuily and honestly
implemented continuous assessment in rural school as in urban schools
can contribute significantly to students' achievement and learning. This
is so because the outcome of CA implementation provides immediate
feedback to the student for improvement even as it does also assist the
teacher to improving his teaching (Onuka and Oludipe, 2004; Onuka
and Junaid, 2007; Onuka, 2009), since immediate feedback which
comes from CA positions the student and even the teacher for
immediate corrective measure or remediation (Onuka and Oludipe,
2004).
By implication, therefore, CA should be honestly and carefully
implemented, if it were to achieve the objectives which it was
introduced into the school system. Thus, the relevant authorities
should ensure that the enabling environment for its implementation
should be created by way of providing adequate training for teachers
on developing and effectively using the appropriate evaluation
techniques. By extension, fund should be specifically made available for
the implementation of CA in the entire school system.
Conclusion
The foregoing presentations and discussion have shown very clearly
and convincingly that there are critical challenges facing the
implementation of CA in Nigerian rural schools, yet these challenges
which are not insurmountable do not prevent CA with some prospects
from improving the education system. These challenges include: lack of
quality enabling environment, non-provision of the relevant
equipment, most teachers do not possess the requisite training, heavy
teaching workload and large classes,among others. The study shows
that if these problems are solved, then CA implementation has the
potentials of improving teaching and learning and thus the entire
education system. It can assist in building self-confidence in students as
well as reducing the rate of examination malpractices. It could also
assist students to cultivate good study habit.
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102 Adams O.U. Onuka
Recommendations
The following recommendations are hereby made as follows:
l. All stakeholders must support the implementation of CA in the
rural school system by providing the enabling environment for
its effective meaning and comprehensive implementation.
2. CA timetable should be pasted on the notice board for students
to see and prepare adequately for the CA tests.
3. The outcome of CA tests and other CA measures should be
given as feedback to students, their parents and other
stakeholders for the improvement of the education system ..
4. Appropriate training on evaluation methods should be given to
all teachers in the rural school system in order to engender
total implementation.
5. Government and proprietors of schools must encourage the
implementation of CA in the schools and the results
appropriately utilized.
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