University of Nigeria Research Publications

ALI- AMBROSE, Erma Elizabeth

Aut

hor

PG/M.ED/92/13533

Title

Implementation of Continuous Assessment in Commerce in Senior Secondary Schools

of Nsukka Education Zone Enugu State

Facu

lty

Education

Dep

artm

ent

Vocational Teacher Education

Dat

e

January, 1997

Sign

atur

e

1rnEMII;rnATION OF cxxa!PN6VS ASSESSPENT IN COMMERCE IN SENIOR SCOI\IDARY SCHOOLS OF ' NSUKKh EDUCATION P)NE -

ENUGU STAm

ALI AMBROSE, ESMA ElYlZABEEH J?G/M,~~/92/13533

DEPARTMENT OF VOCA!CIONAC/TECHNXAL EDUCATTON

l,mtmRsITY OF NIGERIA, NSVKKA

IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTIMUOUS ASSESSMENT IN COMMERCE IN

SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF NSUKKA EDUCA!KON ZONE OF

EMJdU SIATE

A RESERRCH PROJECT PRESENTED TO DEPIU~TMENT OF VOCRTIONRL/

TE(HNICAL EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA.

1

IN PARTIAL EVLFILMENT OF 'ME REQUIRErnNTS FOR THE AWARD OF

THE DEBEL, GF OF EDUCATION

A L I AMBROSE, ERMfi ELaABETH ~ ~ / ~ ~ ~ / 9 2 / 1 3 5 3 3

.'MXS PRWGCr HAS .BEEN APPRObED FOR THE bEPARTPENT OF . .

I I

D M OF ' FACULTY

ERMA EtI2AEETI-I AMBROSE &I, a Pestgrqiduate student in the Department of ~ocationalhechnical Edycation and w i t h Registration Nu&er GG/M.~D/92/13S33, has satisfactorily completed the requirements for course, and research work for a e degree of MASTER CF EDUCZTION. The work unbodied in project is original and has not been submitted in p s r k or f u l l for any Diploma or Degree of .this or any other Vniversity.

This work is affectionately dedicated to

my lmsbeutd, Prof. Anthony Ali, my sons, Tony

ancI Iiafeez; my daughte; Katrina; my lwing

mothher Lrnaa P o t t e r , and My brother, Jimmy

Potter.

The rescareher wishes t~ -press her propundest thanlcs

of appreciation to her supervisor, Dr. N.J. Ogbazi for his

excellent supervisory in-pt in this work, This in-plt hc1;ici:

in getting a , is work successfully completed,

The research subjects and schools that particj,pated in this

study are gratefully acknowledged. ~ h e k responses provided

the data of this study,

Finally, the researcher is grateful to her family for %I&

moral and financial support while this work was in progress,

Their support was of fmmense positive value.

TmLE OF CONTENTS

Conceptual Definition of Contjnuous Assessment,. Current Status of Continuous Assessment ...o,...o Empirical Studies on Continuous Assessment with Pa&mlar Reference t o Commerce ,,,,,,.,,,.,o.,

Prospects of Continuous Assessment in Evaluating Studcntsl in Commerce ,,,,,.,....o.o.,,o,~o~~~~

Sumrnary of Literature Review .O..,.~r,.me...e~~a

Re~CFlrCh Design ,,~,....o...,,...o...,o..o....eo~

Area 05 Study ..,,,,.,.,,.,..~...,.Qoo.o..e~a.,,

Population ~,,o,o....o.~.,...oe.~.....,o.oo~~o.

S X q h and Sampling Technique .,O..co..r..or..r. Instmment: .~,,eo..,,.....,..~......~.o.oop.a...

I,lc,thcd of Data Analysis , , , , , , , , , , . . . , o. .

CHAPTER FIVE

DISCUSSION OF RESJ&TS,. CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, RECOPlMENDAT3:ONS AND SUMMARY e,... , 0 0 . ~ . * 0 . 0 . . , 0 0 0 , , * 0 * * 45

Findings ~ . , m , e , ~ . e , , , , , , , , m m . m m . , e o . . o ~ . , m ~ 45 Comlusions ............oo...,O.,e,e~,o.eO~, 47 Educational Implications , , , ,moe., . .m.~o,o. 48 Reconanendations ..,....,...........~.Oo~OO~ 50 Suggestions for Further Research ....,,.... 52 Limitations .,.,,,,,,,.,,..,,,,,,,...,m,o~, 53 Sumnary of the Study l , , . , , , , . , , , , , , ,.,. . .-. 54

LIST OF TABLES , .

PAGES

1: Items identified as ~roblems of Implementation of dontinuous Assessment by Teachers . l . . 32

2 : How Teacher-based problems of Continuous Assessment are Addressed by the ~chools/~eachers . , , . . .. . , . , . , 35

3 : 1ssues Commerce Students ~onfimed/ Identi-f ied as problems of implementing Continuous Assessment i n Commerce,, ,. 39

4 : Suggestions by C m e r c e Students on how problems of continuous assessment can be addressed . m e . . - 43

ABmcT ix -

Continuous A s s e s s m e a t as a systematic, comprehensive,

cumnatlative and guidance-oriented method of evaluating how

well skudents had acquired the spec i f i c objectives of

instructions. It was introduced into the Nigerian School

Systems (Primary, Secondary and Tertiary) in 1982 to replace

the one shot, cognitive-based examination. Since its

introduction in t h e Secondary Schools, tilere has been widesprwd

concern about its efficacy relevance and usefulness. Some

educntars believe t h a t its implementation i n some subjects, such

as Secondary School Commerce, is dogged by many problems whilc

okhers observe t h a t it is achieving i t s goals. It was t o

empirically document the extent Continuous Assessment, as it

concerns the teaching and learning of commerce, in Nsukka

Education Zone Secondary Schools, has fa i red that t h i s study

was undertaken,

W o sets of samples were used as subjects of this study.

The f irst sample consisted of f i f t y six Secondary School

C m e r c e teachers in Nsukka Education Zone Secondary Schools.

The second s e t of sample consisted of th ree hundred and nineQ

Senior Secondary School Students who enrolled in Commerce as onc

of the subjects they w l d take f o r t h e i r Senior School

Cer t i f ica te Examinations.

The teacher r e s m h subject$ were addn i s t e r ed a

questionnaire instrument, the Problems of Continuous

Assessment Questionnaire for Teachers (PCAQT). The

Student research subjects were administered the s b d e n t s

PeiXeptioM of Problem! of Continuous Assessment CMestionnairc.

The instruments were intended f o r e l i c i t i n g information from

the subjects, t h e i r pexeptims of the implementation i~rd.l,~. ::

and solutions t o the problems of implementing ContFnucus

Assessment in the teaching and learning of Commerce in

secondary Schools. Their reyponses were respectively co l l~ . t ed ,

analysed and reported,

The r e su l t s of t he study show tha t , among otl.lers, among

the three leve ls of %e Secondary School Commerce Teachers,

Seventeen majar problems of implementing Continuaus Assessment

were identified. Some of the problems include la rge class sizes,

frequency of Continueus Assessment tests and projects, lack of

uniformity in Continuous Assessment Practices, i n s t a b i l i t y of

teachers due to their high ixrnover and inadequacy of Standcm-j..i.sml

tests for use i n schools, Among the Commerce Students, sonc? CL

the problems identified included the high cos t of materials

needed for projects, the fact that Continuous Assessment i:.vc.Lv,:::

too mch work arad teachers now spending l i t t l e time ac4xall:~

teaching,

, , xS.

The ..?suits of the study, suggests the following

conclusicns. Human and material rescrurces nedc-d for

effectively implementhj ContirLuous Assessment are limited

in Enugu state seco@ay. Schools, as far as the teaching

and learn .ng of Comme&e are corcerned. For emnplc,

rules and .%gulations f o r Conk nuaus Assessment implementation

are not rrtr.cle available ,to teachers for guidance i n regard to

the under;: iking of &i's 'assigm.r?t. One major educational

implicat io derived from'the corrlusions of this s b d y is t h a t

f o r Contint-.-1s Assessment to ach-.eve its laudable objectives

5n the teac: ing and learning of Scxzondary School Cormerce, .the

problems idc . ~ t i f i e d .in this study imst be carefu l ly thought

through and lggestions on how they can be wercome planned f o r

and systemat sally addressed. Some suggestioi?~ :?or fur thzr

s tudtes were m d e in terms of stmIyiny a wider scope than was

CHAPTER ONE -..

. .- . ,- . -INTRODUCTION. .. . .. .

Background of the Study

Evaluation can be defined as the qua l i t a t i ve judgcmmt

about someone o r something, mst qua l i t a t i ve judgements are

often presented a s comparative statements. Such statements

are en t i r e ly based on tests, measurement, appraisal and

assessment records. Gronlurd (1991) defined evaluation as

a systematic process of determining t h e extent t o *ich

educational abjectives are achieved by wpils. M i , Eyeodi

and Ogbayi (1988) defined evaluation a s the qual i ta t ive

judgement w e make about someone or something, Such judgemen*

a r e based on da ta obtained from t e s t i n g and measurement.

The importance of waluat ion of learning in schools cEnr~ot

be wer emphasised since it is cen t r a l t o all the major

a c t i v i t i e s ef the school, This importance explains why schocls

pay very mch a t ten t ion to such issues as determining what

shculd be evaluated, how waluat ion should be carried out; thc

p r p o s e s which -1uaCian should senre and so on.

Assessment is part of the process of evaluation i n school^,

and when it is ongoing o r sustained over a period of time a

p l p i l is in . school, . . .. it is commonly - referred -. t o as continq+s-

Assessment, C o n t h o u s Assessment (CA) therefore can be defined

as.a system of educational evaluation t h a t seeks evaluative

data on the student from a var ie ty of sources, The National

~ o l f c y on Education (1977) laid strong emphasis on the use of

numerous assignments, projects and bi-weekly t e s t s and end of

t e n examinations (be t t e r known as (a) a t all l eve ls of

Education i n p r e f e r e x e t o the then current practice of sLlgle

external examinations a t the end of each l eve l of education,

National Teachers I n s t i t u t e (N.T.1)- Syllabus Cl981:C)

indicated t h a t C.A is lfa methed of ascertaining what a student

gains from schooling in terms of knowledge, industry, ancl

character development taking account of all h i s performances

in tests, assignm&nts, projects and other a c t i v i t i e s during a

given p e r i of time (tenn, year ) o r an e n t i r e period or' P Educational levelvv.

, Continuous Assessment was introduced in the Nigerian School

System in 1982, i n l i n e w i t h the National policy on ducati ion.

Among other things, the policy s t a t e s :

"education assessment and walua t ion w i l l be liberalised by basing t hem

. . . - .....in .whole .or 5n part 'on. cant iqyxs . . .... ,.- assesgment of the progress of the individualrt.

Continuous assessment as far as secondary school subjects

are concerned, provides for periodic, comprehensive ancl

cumrmlative testirq of the student 's learning outcomes :i.n the

cognitive, psychamtor and affective domains, Testing and non-

t e s t i ng too l s are used for assessment, These include tests,

assignments, pro j =ts , prac t ica l work, measurement of p i ~ i l s and

a t t i t u d e to/work performance eutput, Like a l l other secondary - school subject, continuous assessment is expected t o apply in the

evaluation of students 4f commerce.

There is evideme t h a t the implementation of Continuo~rs

Assessment in Nigerian Secondary School has witnessed a number

of problems,(Ali & &cue , 1988) Problems assaciated w i t h the

implementation of continuous assessment may not be the same across

all the secondary school subjects, each subject may have ixplementa-

t i o n problems peculiar to it. Therefore, there i s need to

empfrically document the status of implementation of cofitinuous

assessment among secondary school teachers of Commerce.

4

This w i l l allow f o r the determination of the problems

associated with i ts hplementation and suggest new .. .

direct ions designed to improve its imphn&tati& with

regard t o Commerce i n Secondary Schools,

Tradit ional system of Education in ~ i g e r i a was mostly

ora l and informal ancl the system of continuous Assessment

of aichievement was based on careful observation*.

Ma jasun (19 75 ) i n h i s analysis of t rad i t iona l education

maintained tha t ; it i s linked with r e a l l i f e s i tuat ions

and i ts tests leading t o the assessment of individual f o r

in part of day to day a c t i v i t i e s in the society., Pre-

independent Nigeria was exposed t o western system 0-2 educz.".ton

which bEk5 t a i lo red in such a way a s t o s a t i s f y the Colonial

Systems and policies. I n post-independence pericd, there

were s e r i ~ u s attempts t o bring Nigerian educational system

in line with Nigerian ~ a t i o n a l policy i n ducat ion as t o

desegregate from its basic inheritance from western educational

. system. Nigeria inherited one aspect of th'ings from WcsteKn

education which is western methods of assessment being

c l a s s i f i ed i n t o two broad gmps of p A p ~ ~ - p E m (internal

and external examinations),

5

The i n t m a l examination is the type of test o r wamination

conductal by each i n s i t ua t ion f o r its own use in assessing

the pmgress of.the leamer and usually conducted at the end of

the schooi year, o r a t the end of every t e r m or at wery

fortnight: during the school year; but, external exams

are condBcted by outside exminers t o the learner. It W s there-

fore stated in sect ion 4 of Education Policy that Secondary

Education should be of a six-year duration and be given in -two

stages 9 a junior secondary school s tage and a senior secondary

school stage each s tage being of a three year duration, w T t h

special emphasis on Contimow Assessment.

There are several purposes Continuous Assessment

(CAI i s cxpeCted to serve, According t o Adedibu (1988) Ci:

i s advocated f o r the follmwing reasons,

1) To give the c~assroom teacher grea te r involvemeurt:

in the overall assessment of h i s h e r pupils;

w e r a l l a b i l i t y and performance;

3 ) To enable teachers t o be more flexible and i n n m t i v e

i n their instruction;

To provide a basis for a more effective

guidance of prpils;

To provide a basis for the teacher t o

imprme his or her instructZona1 methods;

To reduce examination malpractices.

SCatement of the Problem

Teachers' implementation of continuous assessment 3.t:

the secondary school lwel in Niger58 commenced i n V 8 2 ,

asmandated by the National Policy en Education, Since \

its commencement there are reports tha t many problcn~ have

arisen Ulerefrom, These prelems vary from one secondary

school subject to another., Again, the problems confroneng

secondary school teachers in their implementation of

Contirnwus Assessment has not here been researched for al l *

the subjects, As far as Commerce is concerned, there is

need to empirically d m n t the problems which confront

Commerce teachers! efforts in t h e i r implementation of

continuous assessment.

7

Th-ore, the problem of this study, posed as a question

is: What problems cenfront teachers in the e f fec t ive

implementation of continurns assessment of commerce, as a

="Jj =t,

Purpose of the S k u -- The purpose of this study was to identify the problems

confronting Commerce teachers and students, and which

negate the effective implementation of continuous assessment

in NSukka Education Zone secondary schools.

Specifically, the study ident i f ied :

Problems which secondary schools Commerce Teachers

experience in the implementation of

Continuous Assessment i n t h e i r schools;

How the Commerce teacher-based ident i f ied problems

of continuous assessment are addressed in the schools

they teach;

P ~ & l a W i which ,secondary schools commerce s.hdents

aperime i n the implemen-tion of contirmrus ,P

Assessment i n their schools;

How'the Commerce studenLbased i d e n t i f i d problems

of continuous assessment are address& in the

schools they teach?

Scope of the S W I

This study is concerned with the implementation of

Contimous Assessment i n Commrce i n Secondary Schools in

NsuXka Education Zone of Enugu State. The study ident i f ied

t h e FZ&le!W which secondary school commerce teachers had i n

continuclus assessment implementation s t a t e while teaching

Commen=e i n Nsukka ducati ion Zone.

Significance yf the Study I.YYY-Y--YII.-

The importance of this study lies i n -the iden t i f ica t ion

of the prac t ica l classroom based problems ef continuous

assessment f o r purposes of addressing problems so as t o

minimise t h e i r negative impact on students' evaluation,

0n-y through which the ident i f ied problems can be addressed

is by p b l k i s i n g t o teachers, school administrators and

gwcnvnent a g e x i e s responsible for d u c a t i o n on the problems

of Continuous Assessment faced by tcachers and students in

t h e i r study of Commerce. If the problems ident i f ied are

not addressed through the p b l i c i s i n g of t h e findings, then

the laudable goals of eonkLnuaus assessment in the teaching

a& learning of Commerce may not be achieved, Finally it is

hop@d t h a t the findings of t h i s study w i l l provide a d d i t i c m l

empirical data t h a t w i l l build upon e a r l i e r findings as it

concerns the implementation of continuous Assessment at Ex?

9

Secondary s c h e l ~lasaroom level with reg- t o Commerce.

This is considered important because it w i l l provide a basis f o r

in~pmving cvaluekion fn Commee teaching i n the secondary

school level of Enugu State.

Research Questiens Y

The folluwing research questions were addressed in th i s study:

1) What are the problems which Comrce Teachers experience

in #e implementation of continuous assessment i n the i r

schools?

2) How are the teacher-based identified problems of

c o n t h o u s assessment addressed?

3 ) what are the prablems which Secondary School Comnze

students experience in the implementation of Continuous

Assessment in t h i s subject?

4) H o w can the shdent-based identified problems of

Contirnrous Assessment, in Commerca, addressed in their

schools?

I n t h i s chapter, the redearcher presents and discusses

issues re la ted to the implementation of continuous assessment.

The l i t e r a t u r e is prcs~mted i n four sections namely,

Comeptual d e f b i t i o n of,continuous assessment, current s t a tu s

of contirruaus asscssment, empirical s tudies on continuous

assessment with particular reference t o Commerce, and prospects o-2

continuous assessment in evaluating students in.Commc5r'ce.

Conceptual Definition of c o n t i n u a s Assessment ..-I___- L_--

There are a number rf di f fe ren t def in i t ions f o r Continuous

Assessment. Each of these de f in i t i rn s reflect the need for enEXlmg

a more valid and ra t iona l basis f o r evaluating learning cukcomes, t '

According t o Adedibu (1988) continuoub ~ssessrnent is a systematk

and cbjective process of detenuining the extent of a s h d e n t f s -

perfomances i n all the expteted changes in his behaviour, hch

a determination begins from the very first day a student begins a

course of study t o the end of t he course, W i t h i n t h i s period

o f 'his study #ere is the documentation of information about a wide

range of h i s performiu~ces i n the affective, psychommtor and

cognitive learning outcomes.

Illfannation on him is used to guide and shape h i s

behaviaur and serves as a basis f o r making important

decision about him (promtion, ,career placement and

so on). 1t follows, therefore, t h a t continuous assessment

is a way of ge t t ing comprehensive and cumla t ivc i n f o m t i o n

about a student for his awn god. ,

According t o N.T.1 syllabus ( 1981 r 8 ) ~ o n t i n u a u s Assessment

is "a method of ascertaining (making sure) what a student

gains from schooling i n terms of knowledge, industry and

character development taking account of a l l h i s ,performances

in t e s t s , assignments, projects and other a c t i v i t i e s during

a given period (term, year) mr an entire period of Educational

levelpt. Continuous Assessment may a l s o be regarded as lla

method of f inding out what the p p i l has gained from learning

activities in terr r rs of knowledge, thinking and reasoning,

character development and, industrylT, The various tools used

include tests, assignment, profogts, interviews, observations

and questionnaires contained i n the Federal Government Document

(A Handbook on ~ o n h o u s f:~StS!Wb€Fit 1985 ) r

The abwe def in i t ion presents a number of terms which form

the major charac te r i s t ics of Continuous Assessment and cach 02 i'.?-e3

can be analysed in to three areas of grading students.

These are:

The C w i t i v e , Affective and Psychomotor domains of

behaviour, BesLdes, accurate records of such data arc f i l l e d

for further use,

Assessment process prwides useful information t o both

ins t ruc tor and the learner. Thus, according t o Sagar (1989).

"The va l id i ty of any assessment procedure is d e t m n e d

by t h a t t o which it measures, what it s e t s mt t o measure,

~ u t by f o r the most important aspect of educakional assessment

is the def ini t ion i n clear and unmistakable tmtls, what is t o

be assessed and the determlnation of what nct'rlods t o u s e f o r

recording, infonxition derived from assc:ssmentn . Okoye, e t al (1985) defined C o n t ~ o u s Assessment as:

a method of finding out what the pupil has gained from learning a c t i v i t i e s in terms of knowledge, thinking and reasoning character development and industry,

The major objective o r t he primary message of continuous *

assessment is the in t eg ra l idea t h a t a student's progress cr

including a t t i tudes and values, from the first day he is

advit ted i n t o the school un t i l he leaves school is repcatively

and systematically monitored by all hisha- b c h e r s .

Onoahie (1991) feund t h a t 90% of the sccandary school

Commsree teachers he sampled in Enugu Sta te arc Rll3-y

familiar w i t h the conceptive def in i t ion of Continmus

Assessment,

Current Status of Continuous fisscssment W_C__- Y-YIY. --Y

There is evidence from school rcxords and r cscaxh findings

t h a t al l schools i n Nigeria current ly practice b v=cr\ying degrees,

C o n t h o u s Assessment in the evaluation of their shden t s ,

This means that each s b d e n t s work is by and I?-@, c o n ~ o u s l y

assessed by means of essays, home Works, pmjccks and periodic

t e s t s * These, graded on weekly or for-ghtly ba.sis w i l l be

summarized twice every term and these termly su~nmsries together

with the end of tenn t e s t exam, w i l l form, in given proportions,

the chi lds continuaus assessment scores f o r the term. This is

repeated f o r each tern, a t the end of the year, r a t i o s

are worked cu t to obtain a single score for the c l ~ i l d ,

This represents the performance score a t the end 0.7 K-IL c o x s e

four o r three years hence. Okura (1987) r epo rhd est i n ST.;<?

of the secondary schools he investigated, includi;?g C":c teac!'~kg

and learning of Commerce Cognitive and no-CognYciva aspects

are taken i n t o consideration,

The proposal contains specif ic s teps and gu ide lbes to

ensure uniformity of standards, proc*res and operatio~.s

rather than mlying on the in tu i t i on of individual teachers.

They a l s o w i l l ensure comparability of standards,

~ o l o ~ e (1980) discussed t h e s t ra teg ies f o r o p e r a t i q

Cmnthous hssespsment., H e ident i f ied three Board l cve l s c~~lch

i x l u d e the school comrilittee t o mersee a ~ d handlc (:fC~c-k5vcl:

t h e i p w a t i o n of Continuous ;~ssessncnt in zach school x ! r ~ x - y

and post primary alike, Next i s coordination pmccclidrcs et

the local government and a t the s t a t e leve ls 4x3 Y ~ i r d l y

using Continuous Assessment t o monitor our educational systm

at the national level.

~ k h o (1992) found t ha t in the teaching of secondary

pe on school commcrcc, there is usually nonactive committ,

Continuous Assessment which decides on me nature and scope of

a c t i v i t i e s for plrposes of implementing it.

Specifically, the mnctions df the committee, axong others

include assigning various dut ies re la t ing t o Continuol~s :,ssessmcnt

t o teacher%

Some of such dut ies include:

Prepar ing test for individual classes 61: groups of classes,

the committee has t o ident i fy these t e s t s and assign tcac;xx.-s P

or groups @f teachers t o be involved i n theis- prepzati-on;

administering test and @er i n s t ~ ~ m e n t s , preparing school w

summaries of tests er i&trumcnts; serving as contact

persons t o a t s i d e bodies; and assigning appropriate

record keeping functions t o teachem,

Empirical Studies on Continuous Assessment with Part icu l2.r - -- Reference t o ~om&rce- -

1% ruder of studies have been reported w i t h regard to

t h e implementation of c o n t i r ~ ~ o u s asscssment in the tcachl;.ng and

learning of commerce i n Nigeria Secbndary Schools,

Analysis of these studies show t h a t they f a l l i n t o three

broad categories, The g i r s t category of studies arc Eiosc

which deal with the qual i ty of continuous asscssmcnt t e s t s and

techniques used f o r assessing learning uutcomss in t h e tllrec

domains, a f fec t ive psychomotor and cognitive. The s:~~oncl

category of studies are those which look a t the organisatLon

and timing of continuous assessment in t h e teaching and lcta.ri~i*~q

of commerce. The l a s t category are s tudies which dealt r l l . 5 l

finding nut thz impact which continuous assessment in Col xi~erci?

has on the nature and scope of teaching and walua t ion in

Commerce i n Nigerian Secondary Schools,

There i s evidence t o show t h a t in many secondary scliools i n

Enugu S t a t e Continuous Assessment Conunittees (CoIt'Unt~e Colltinuous

I~ssessment Committee, -91 Gmernment Continuous Iisscssmmt

Committee f o r Commerce and Zonal Cantinurns Assessment Cormittee

for C-e) do not exist. ,

This observation is i n line with the findings of

P d (1994) who investigated t h e presence and ro le of

Contirmous Assessment Conwittees in Business Studies in Einqu

S t a t e Secondary Schools, H e also found that in three mk of

the twenty-seven secondary schools investigated t h e Continuous

Assessment Committees for Commerce exis t ing i n t h e thrce

respective schools were not propcrly organised t o be goal-

oriented and effective. The extent of Commercc teach-rs

involvement in Continuous nsscssmcnt of t h e i r s tudmts Vj-c-3-vl :

the impact it has on their teaching job perfomance has ZL;c

receivcd some research a t t e n t i on, For instarc?, Okoilkwo ("1_1" 2)

found t h a t eighty percent of the cmmmerce teachcrs he s l r p l ~ d

complained about continuous assessment creating excess work

and more lirnited time now devotedab actual. teaching. :Ic

fumd bat mosk teacher research subjects of his study were of

the view t h a t they spent more time in se t t ing warns, conducting

exam, marking exams, recording exams, then actually holding

regular commcrce classes. one consequexc of this was t21e

i n a b i l i t y of the teachers t o complete the Commerce sy l l z ! !~ .

Thcre was a lso the finding t h a t most commerce students bi?crtnc

test conscious t o such an a t c n t t h a t they did not lsrJ-ticip;l 'i~

act ively in c l a s s a c t i v i t i e s since they knew tha t these ~;.ccJ;.,;

17 s w e

were inde@ very important f a r themeor purposes of

t h e i r cumla t ive grade computation,

In a recent study, Hussan (1996) found t h a t the

recommended tests used fo r continuous assessment fo r Commerce

were not being utf i ised in the affeet5ve and psyc::onotor

domains, For instance, with regard t o affective domain t l tc

researcher found that none of the t h i r t y secondary schoc.ls

he samplcd used check list, sociometry, ra t ing scale, an cr 5 i 1

records and so on f o r the continuous assessment of tilcil-

Commzrce students, Thus, it could appear tha t the m~?jorr'.t:~

of secondary school comerce teachers u s 4 only cognitLvc: t:str

in the contiwous assessment of tlxir Commerce S.tudcllts.

The avai lab i l i ty of t he different materials ne~dcd ?or the

exocution of an effect ive continuaus assessment in E m g u S ta t e

S ~ o n d a r y Schools, with regard t o Commerce, show t h a t ninety

percent of the schools sampl~vl do not have the f u l l compliment

of such materials, Materials t h a t are in short supply i l~c lude

. daiar ies , reg is te r , grade rcport sheets, storage facilities and

a bank of test items in the affective, psymotor a12 cognitive

domains, and so on.

There is evidence t h a t the implementation 05 c o n k i n u o ~ ~ ~

assessment in CammErce has been fraught w i t h a numbc ZT"

problems,

Om (1985) made it clear t ha t one 02 the problems of

Continuous iissessmcnt was non-uniformity of standard of

measurement and this was triggarcd from Vnc fact m a t

teachers are ncvcr uniform in t h e i r m c t l ~ c d s of teaching

so their standards of questions and assessment can never

be uniform.

Okafor (1985) observed that some teachers have not ye t

been familiarizaiwith the concept of the continuous assessmu?t

programme of the new d u c a t i o n system,

Eresinadu (1985) noted the hindrances facing the

administration of Continuous Assessment exercise include fa1.s~

abservation nonnally mde by the assessors, poor recording

problems favouritism and lack of objcctiviky on the part of khc

assessors and nonchallant a t t i t ude of teachers.

olcon (1987) obse-rved tha t the implementation of Con t in~mc

Assessment i s beset by m y problem. For instance, hz founci

t h a t some comrncrce teachers and students are kept uselessly b~~sy,

B t x S u s e of the numerous tests conducted in a term, teachers and

students have come to regard t e s t as the most important thing,

jus t t o the detriment of the acquisit ion of real knowlcdgc, IIow

in the World can a teacher instruct h i s forty-five pupils (or mom)

w e l l and conduct nindq-c iqht t e s t in about sixty-five working

days of a turn?

13

Not only that, t h c teacher is mpecttul t o ca lcu la te c l a s s

average, pss i t ions and passes i n cach of t he colmtless tcst.

Secondly, too nuch freedom is givdn t o t h t tsaclhcr. The

f a c t t h a t classwork has sixty purcent shows t h a t a CI ~ i l d c?,? 5

pass w e l l men without taking t h e enti of term cxaiinatio:~. .:

a human being, khc teacher could a t times he sympathctic 5 a

pa r t i cu l a r child. Similarly, a w i s e parent could c 0 1 l u ~ ~ c 11; Y;11

a teacher t o achieve an and, A l azy and t i r e d tcachcr m y a rmd

marks indiscriminately t o t h e ch i ld ren without test, T h i r d l y ,

t hc re are too many subjects for assessment. In addit ion, six

assessments in a subject are too many f o r a term. Thosc wllo

imported it aught t o have modified it t o s u i t us here. 1-k is

the i r r e l e v a n t tiny d e t a i l s t h a t make a r e s u l t sheet, rnakj-rig

it awkward t o look at, The: same is true of the ch i l d s repor t - book. Thosc dctaj-1s are not important t o anybody.

Bakare observed t h a t the majer problem t h a t is bckq

env i s agd i n t h e p rac t i ce of continuous assessment is ii: I L : x

-.- , . .. w i t h i ts p r ac t i c ab i l i t y under 6-3-3-4 educational systea, . L.

has bccn obscwcd t l n t with the prcsdnt r a t e of dcp-ndcncc '

Iiigeria on advanced countr ies h r t fxhnolog ica l suppo!:t :-;c?:'-* . . -c:

and equipment t he success of contimucus assessment prac'Xce c.~r;:-i~as

fo r more -pensive sols such as computers, f i le cabinets ctc,

2'2

Despite the increased demand fo r in .kastnlc tures Lor continl-IOU s

assessment, there is evidence t h a t t he F d e r a l Gov2mis, n t

does not budget enuugh money f o r the purchase: of wpipnent f o r

continuous assessment (Cole 1990).

Ipaye (1982 ) s ta ted t h a t continuous a s s e s s ~ n ~ n t m':cs

heavy demands on teachefls time and on h i s initiative.

The teacher needs t o develop more fnitiatiye in a e m i f y i n g

% more time to .rganising, supervising and marking 1. 9

the work, Smith found t h a t many teachers have t o spcnd up t o

200 hours a year, a f t e r n o m l school hours, 012 v?ork connected

w i t h cont inuoy assessment,

curriculum a r e not easy t o measure c o ~ i t i v c l y . T:is is in

view of t h a f a c t t h a t t he National Policy on C;cl:l.c,~-i;;c~n ( lC ' '3L) k

contains A l d t af objective which cannot be mcasurcd cng:,j tf-: -1'-

but bchaviourably. For example, they f a l l maSnly :in Ulc:

and except w e make conscious e f f o r t s t o integrate a f i cc t i ve measures

quant i ta t ively i n t o assessment, such National ducntional objectives

may forwer remain as pper tigers.

Prospects of C o n t i n U ~ s Assessment Evaluating ---.-w----..--.l-.r*

Studcntsc in Commerce L___ --

As pointed out in the previous sect ion of the l i t e r a t x r e

review, t he implementation of Continuaus Assessment f o r

secondary school commerce is effectcd by a number of p r o b l x s

some of these problem have continued t o prose scrious thr ? ~ s

t o the f u l l rea l iza t ion of the land goals which Continuo~w

Assessment is a p c c t e d t o -eve, Despite these problms

and shor t comings t he implementation of Continuous Ass~;s i . .:.L ::a:.

very promising prospects i n tho teaching and learning of Cc::r:c;'cz

and rcthcr subjects in our school systems, For instance, Ip2yc

(1989) observed t h a t there had been inass acceptance by tcachcrs,

students etc on the important role which continuous ,issassmc.nC

plays in our process of cvaluation, Furthermore, he found t h a t

the wide despar i ty in the nature and scope of Continuous

Assessment pract ices (Frequency of t e s t s , percentage f o r ~on t inuous

Assessment work, type of work t o bc cont inual ly assessed, etc) have e

been rcduccd or strcamlincd. Indced A l i R Akubue (1994) !lave

found that majqrity of teachers of Comwrce i n Lagos, Sokoto, ' - 7

Ogun, Niger and Borno S t a t e have become more organistd I? 1;' 'r.

imp lcmtzk ion of C o n t i p w s Assessment requircmcnts in ti, Ir

schools .

22

They both ebsenred that t h i s finding is a welcome dcvclopment

in the s w e t h a t it is apected ta f u r t h e r consoliclate on t h e

gains made in the implementation of Continuous Asscssmcnt of

Commerce i n Secondary Schools. However, f51c point has t o be

made that since A 1 h Akubue cited e a r l i e r d id no t h c l u d c samples from

drawn / our Enugu State Secondary Schools, t h e iled :or the .I

present study t a r g e t 4 t o Enugu, in turns of idcnt iCyi l~g the

prospects of Continuous Assessment t h e r e becomes conpclling, P

Summarv of L i t e r a t u r e Review

Continuous Assessment was d e f i n ~ d as a c u m l a t i v c , s y s t m c t i c

and comprehensive rwChod of evaluat ing learning ou-kco:;cs i n

t h e cognit ive, a f f LC t ive and psychomotor domains,

There appears t o be mass acceptance of Continuous l , ss~ssmcnt fo r *

evaluat ion of Commerce in Secondary Schools in N i r ~ . c l r i a . However i

Continuas Assessment of Commerce i s implemented t o varying

degrees in Enugu S t a t e Secondary Schools.

The d i f f e r e n t Continuous Assessment Committees who should

moni to r and guide ContinuWs Assessment Pract ices i n Schools

may not exist o r be a c t i v e in performing t h i s role.

The implementation of Continuous Assessment f o r Co:fl'xrcc ;'n

Enugu S t a t e Seondary Schools may be confront& by a ixmber of

problems which need t o be imrestigated.

RESEARCH PROCEDURE

In this c h a p t ~ , the researcher presents and discusses

the mcthod03.a~~ used i n undrrtaking t h i s study. Specifically,

m%WSX?her design, area of study, population, smaplc and

sampling procedure, instrument and methcd of data analysis arc

presented and discussed below:

Research Des*

The design of this study is survey, The study was

considered a survey because it investigatd a phcnomerion, t h e

s t a tus of impJmadSkign uf Cammace, i n its na tu ra l s c t t i n g ,

the secol-Ldarf schools in Nsukka Education Zone, According t r r Ali

(1996) any study

roanipulating any

Area of Study

which s&s merely to find out ":!hat isu w 5 - t h o u t

variables of t h e study is a survey.

T h i s study w a s carried out-in Nsukka Education 'Cone of

Fmgu Stake, using shdents in Senior Secondary Classcs. Nsukka

Education Zone is u - h o f the t h r e e education Zones that, make

up Ehuqtz skate, Thwe are SW?A )ma1 governments in 1\1s~klca P 4

E d u e t ~ Z a e . A list showing the local govcmcnt areas

and their is presented as Appendix 1.

Pepllatien

There were two sets o-E populations for t h i s study*

The first set of population consisted of t3e one hundred

a d six teachers of Commerce currently tesching in sccondaq

schools in Nsukka mucation Zone. According to thc 1996

Directory of Secondary Schools i n Enugu Sta te , t h ~ c wcrc

three hundred and eighty nine secondary schools in E n u y

s t a t e . . - A preliminary survey carried out by

this researcher, of teachers for Commerce, in tlic r,dcc;- d a y

schools existing in hsukka Education Zone shows ti1dt lA,-1-c

w e r e one hundred and six such teachers. Fifty-sevcn o Llic

teachers have first degree in ~usincss Education, Swa~~:z?

have Higher National ~ i p l o ~ , thirty-two have NG, Seven 05

the teachers of Commerce in the Nsukka Education ::om arc

females while the remaining thirty-nine are males,

The s a d set of m 1 a t j - m of this study consisted of a l l

the three ~ousand mine hundred and seventy-nS1c SS I - SS I11

sbdents &king commerce, i n Nsukka Education %me S ~ C o n d a q

Schosls. The researcher arrived at this f i g u r e from ki:c

Y

sEondary school records she had access t o durincq 11~r v i s l t to

a1 %he secondary schools i n Nsulcka Zducation Zonc,

Two thausand, four hundred and nineteen of the students

were in SS 1, onc thousand, th ree hundrcd and eleven were i n

SS 11 while the remaining two hundred and forty-!line were in SS 111

at the tim this study was done. Seventy-three pcrccnt of the

students are females while twenty seven percent are males.

=lo and - Sarnpl in9,Twhnique --.---

Two scts of randomly composed samples Lferl- used as the

s u b j ~ c t s of t h i s study. Th2 first sk t of s u h j 3cts wer2

f ifty-six teachers of Commerce in Nsukks Zducrk Con Zone

Secondary Schools, For t h e random componition of 'i!~e,Cornrn,~c~

teacher research subjects, the names af the o m hundred and

six ckmuncrce Teachers in the Zone were l i skd on paper,

serially, Using the MW nurnbcrs 5x1 the T a b l e or' Randm

NLtmbers, the researcher drew f i f t y - s i x teachirs as the sample.

Speci f ica l ly , i f a nsw number coincided wi-121 -the serial number

i n the drawn-up commerce teacher l i s t , khc teacher against

whose name t he number fell, w a s considercd a sub;~t,

1f during the compositien, a new number occurred more khan mcc,

it was i g n o r d and not used f o r sampling corni)osition s ince,

in any case, such a teacher &hose serial n u d x r coiricidc:d

with the w a l d have been drawl, i!) khc first $ail:?,

2 6

Thc scrend set of sample cansisted of threc lmndred

and ninety senior secondary school students c&&lcd i n

C a m m w e . a The s tudent research subjects were ranc?orr.ly

composed through simple ba l lo t ing , wLthou-(; rcplac-ncmt,

Each member of the s tudent population h i s nam2 tCi t tcn on

a small piece of white paper and each piccc 05 p a p a was

then neatly ro l l ed up in to a paper ball, . A l l t1,o three

thousand, nine hundrtd and seventy paper b a l l s wcrc put

i n a basket and shuffled, Thereafter b a l l o t i n 5 Conmcnccd.

lifter each ba l lo t ing , the contents of the basket ticre

reshuff led and more sub jec t s drawn..

The Commer~c teacher r e s c a ~ h subjects c o n s t i b t c d 56%

of t h e population of' C m m r c e teachers in Nsu!d:a Education

Zone Secondary Schools, The sen io r secondary sclmcl Commerce

p o w l a t i o n of s tudents a r o l l e d in Commerce in I!s~lcka Educatir

Zone Secondary Schools. Thus, the two samplcs wrc respcctivl?ly one

considered as large an4/- representative of the tsm respcctL-re

p o p u l a t b n s from which they were drawn,

Instrument _C

Two separate sets of quest ionnaire i n s t n ~ m c n t s wcre

dmelbpcd by the reseimw and used f o r collixtj;i1q data

relevant for answering t h e research questions oC ;'this study,

The first quest ionnaire, pqblems of C a n t h u m s Assessment #

Questionnaire f o r Teachers (PCACE), consistcxi of items

administered t o the Commerce teacher subjects. The purpose

of administering PCAQT was to find a u t f r o m t h e Commerce teacher

subjects, their c u r r e n t Continuous Assessment implementation

practices and s t r a t e g i e s , the problems they encounter whilc

implementing it, and how, i n t h e i r perceptions t h e i d e n t i f i e d

problems can be solved, The i n i t i a l d r a f t of t h e instrumellC

F a r was subjected to face-validation. L draft copies w e r e

respect ively given t o the researcherrs thesis supervisor, kiw

experts i n measurement and evaluation a t the Univirs i ty 0::

Ibadan, and a professor of Business ducat ion a t t h e ~ n i v ~ x s - 1 " .

of Benin. They were request& to go through the ins t ru~r ,~ .n t c 3 l

compare i t s content aga ins t the research quest ions, as a means

of enabling t h e c o l l e c t i o n of d a t a re levan t f o r answering tl?c

resemh questions, In addit ion, they were expect& t o hclp in

improving the language, message and f l o w of t h e items of the

qurstjnuxtirc, Following their respec t i v c cpmments, suggestions

and object ions, a second d r a f t of t h e ins tnfhcnt was dcvclopd.

The second d r a f t of PCAQT was s u b j e c t 4 to a f i e l d t r i a l , us ing

twelve s ~ x o n d a r y school Cbrnmcrce teachers in Enugu Education

Zone. This zone was used because i t s secondary school. acac-kr.6.c

structure and a c t i v i t i e s are n o t very much d i f f e r e n t frcn t.. -

e x i s t i n g i n Nsuklca Education Zone ( Plgbemena, 1995 ) ,

The nature and seape af the responses obtained from

the f i e l d t r i a l w e r e ixopora ted i n t o the f i n a l d r a f t

of the PCACrr used in t h i s study. Thus, t he face-Validation

arad f i e l d t r i a l w e r e e x p t ~ t e d t o ensure the developmmt of

a PCAqT that had a high in te rna l consistency and was adjudgtvl

val id a s a means of obtaining information relevant f o r

answering the research questions of the study. A sample of rGly'~'

i s presented as Appendix I1 . The second instrument was the *dents Perceptions of

Problems of Continuous Assessment Questionnaire ( S P P ~ Q ) , Thls

second instrument w a s intended t o f ind aut, from Comerce S b ~ d c i i t

sub j tc t s of t h i s study, t h e i r perceptions of problems they c7:r,crii---

nced as a r e s u l t of t he implementation of Continuous :'-ssessmcnt

on t h e m , by t h e i r Comr., :ce teachers. The i n i t i a l d r a f t of this

second instrument was subjected t o face-validation, The f aco-

val idat ion was done by three lec ture rs i n measurcmcnt and

evaluation and two lecturers in Business Education. Bas& on

t h e i r corrections, suggestions and medications, a second dmit of

the instrument was produced f o r f i e ld - t r i a l* The field-trial

involved subjecting t he face-validated version t o twenty-five

scnidr secondary school Commerce students in Emgu. The stude ILL::

were drawn from College of Immaculate

p l y t h i s secondary school &t of the

agreed to va l ida t e h e r instrument.

Conception, Enugu b e c ~ u s c

seventeen she appro~cl ld ,

The student validators were requested t o respond t o

t he items based on t h e i r understandinq of what they

believcd each i t e m elicited from them, A l l their r c l ~ v a ~ t

and useful responses werc col la tcd and used fok prcpc?ri:ig

t he f i n a l d r a f t of the second instrument (SPPCAQ) , Xms, t h l .

instrument was considered a valid means of obtaining

information, from the commerce student subjects 0.2 tllis study,

about t h e i r perceptions of the problems of implcmciting

Continuous ~Isscssment i n t h e i r study of Commme. A sample

of SPPCAQ is presented as Appendix 11.1

Both instruments were divided in to sections. Each sect ion

consisted of items, Some of the items were open-cndcd whereby

the respondents were f r e e t o respond t o such items in the*

words, Other items were forced-choice whereby the respondents

were e%pc~ted t o t i ck l i s t e d responsGs out of t he four possible

responses, Thus, the modified four-point mcrt scale was

used f o r e l i c i t i n g responses from the sub j t ~ t s , Thr: i. 1ct;nm-nt

was personally administered by the researcher a t %ie v2rj-ax

school locations of t he tcachcr and student rcsearch s:kjcct:..,

The completed questionnaires were c o l l ~ e t e d , Thc ~ C ~ ~ L Y - L r:iJ;~-

was 90% f o r teachers and 85% f o r students, Thc resp?cJiivc

rcs ponscs wctre collattvl and analysed,

Method of Data Analvsis

The responses by the tcacher rcsearc :~ sub jcc t s vwrc

separately c o l l a t ~ d as against those by the stu:icilt

research subjects. I n each cass, thc "agreedr' r d s )o: ,; L.:;

for answering each research question, a s pe rce ivd by

teachers or students were t a l l i e d as against ndisagrcecl'l

c o n v e r t 4 t o percentages. ~ h c t o t a l responses on an i k c m

was considered acceptable as a problem of implaenkation

~ o n t i n u o u s I\.ssessmebt if 60% of the respondents t i c l c e d

the i tm as agreeable, The analysed da ta w e r e presented

i n t ab l e s which formed the bas i s f o r answering the research

question.

CICiiPTER FOUR --- RESULTS --

The r e su l t s of t h i s study are presented and

described i n t h i s chapter. The da ta are prescntcd in

tab les and. each tab le i s described as it re l a t e s t o tile

relevant research questions,

Research Question 1

What are t h e problems which commare teachers

a p a r i e n c c in the implementation of Continuous Xssessmmt

in t h e i r schools?

The answer to the f i r s t research question wcrc ahkined

from Commerce teachers research subjccts respons~d t o itcmr

2 t o 1 7 of t he instrument, problems of Continuous As~cr,s:;~cr?t

Questionnaire f o r Teachers (PCkQT) adrninistcxcd t o .khcrn,

ticked it as such. If an item was not ticked by 50% of f-(.

teacher research subjects, the par t icu la r i t a n was tiiscarticxi

a s no t being a problem, The teacher respondents w.rc c a t e g o r i s d

on the bas i s ef the length of their teaching cxperinncc as

follows :

t h e l e a r n e r of the requi red competencies; the possession of

a.ppropriate work a t t i t u d e s ; and appropr i a t e machin: for . the

a c q u i s i t i o n of the des i r ed competencic!~, a s wel l as A m c 3 : n s

of val idat i 'ng t h e relevance of t he cl.irric:-;:~l~~m regu?::"rly. Ont-

s a l i e n t po in t be ing made here i s t h a t t h e success cr f a i l u r e

of competency-based bus iness s t u d i e s revolves round thc

q u a l i t y of the l e a r n i n g environmmt which i s the i;i;;tr~.:,.tional

resources.

The ques t f o r a,dequ.a.tc i n s t r u c t i o n a l f a c i l i t i : . C: no t

a new concept t o bus iness educators . I n support c ' vie1/:,

Rathbun (1975) noted from the vantage s tandpoin t or' . : , ! i>~ican

Vocat ional Associat ion t h a t the r o l e and scopi: of vx:- - t i , m s l

educat ion i s changing as p r o j e c t s now rcvolvc rounc! ti!i.

labour market. Enlightened vocat ional educators hnv: r c a l i s e d

t h a t f a c i l i t i e s f o r t h e i r programmes a r c nolonger i i , the

domain of voca t ional educators alont ' , h u t must r e f 1 ec:t t i ! ( :

va luable inpu t s of t h e community i n t b c i r ~ f f o r t s toward

optimum development of i nd iv idua l s f o r tb,: cconomy. This

c a l l s f o r ex tens ive use of t he corn:nunity resources f o r

busine.ss s t u d i e s , This may e n t a i l extra-mural s t ~ 2 i c s i n thc

p r i v a t e bus iness i n s t i t u t i o n s f o r s k i l l developmc~t t o

complement t h e e f f o r t s of t h e school where poss i t l c .

Simi la r ly , another way of ensu r ing t h a t s t u d c l t s x q u i r c

t h e necessary bvs iness competencies before graduat i ..)n i s

through t h e cor.oaperatlve plan of v o c a t i o n a l business :lducatir-1rL,

Entry level Commerce Teachers (less than two years of

Teaching m f Commerce a t the Secondary School L e v e l ) , less exp -ri c ; -: . '

and cxpericnced Comrncrcc teachers (More than six ~ C L - ~ S o i tcae'.:

Commerce). Thcir respect ive responses a r e shown i;-? Wilt 1,

Table 1: I t e m s iden t i f i ed a s Problems of Irnplernclntntion of -- - - --- -.- I a -- PI L- .L. I - --. iW

Continuous Assessment Teachcrs - - --0. -_by---- -- &a - -. ---- - ---

% of responses by the tllrce categor ies quest ionnaire items of teacher respondents --- U. -r..--.--- --.

Entry l eve l Less cxpcrienccd Experi- teachers ~ X ~ C Z S

Large c l a s se s to be % assessed 9 0

S u b j t ~ t i v e nature of Continuous Assessment among teachers 80

Too l i t t l e time f o r ac tual teaching 60

Too much teacher workload in school 85

Too much t i m e is spent on Continuous A S S C S S ~ C ~ ~ 80

Lack of uniformity of Continuous Assessment 85 p rac t i ces i n a l l schools

Lack of uniformity of Continuous Assessment practices among teachers 90

Incons is tcncy i n Commerce tcachcrst award of Continuous Assessment scores 50

% 80

70

6,

8.5

"I' ! .,

<,, ,-. C . 2 . j

Q u e s t i o ~ a i r c items of teacher respondents * -- *---2s'. . - - - - S U P

Entry level Less experimccd Experienced teachers teachers Teacher

--- * --A * - - >. ---- - . -- % %

In s t ab il ity in Schools (Strikes, closures etc) 80

I n s t a b i l i t y of teachers ( t u rn over) 90

Some tcachcrs are compromis t4 55

Some teachers are lazy i n Continuous X s s c s s m m t Implementation t o the l e t t e r 5 0

Absenteeism on Continuous 1,s ses smcnt t e s t days (Students) 90

Absenteeism on Continuous Assessment test days (Teachers) 70

Inadequate supemision of teachers on Conti- nuous assessment 80

Poor quality of teaching 70 60

Inadequate standar- d ised Continuous hssessmcnt Tests 80

In Table 1, it can be seen that if the twenty-thxc

i t e m s indicated in the questionnaire f o r the tcachcr

research subjects t o r a t e as t o whether research subjects

t o r a t e as t o whether they are problems arising from

implementing Continuous i; ssessment, only sevcntecn oC i'.~cm

were ra ted as problems. For instance, 90% of entq 1c:val

teachers, 85% of l e s s experienced teachers, 8 5 W f llcss

a p c r i e n c d teachers, and 80"A .af m p r i e n c c d tcach,;:rs ii-?~:;l-!.-i.r' L... .. . !:2

l a rge c lasses t o be assessed as a problem, ~'~notht?r probl(:rr~

subjects was t ha t of lack of uniformity of c o n t h ~ ~ o u s c?sscs~;? ,:?t

practices among teachers. 90% of entry level teachers, 8@< of less

experienced teachcrs; and 85% of experienced teachcrs iden t i f i ed

l a c k of such uniformity as a prablern of Continuous Asscssmcnt

practices iY1 their schools, "

On the issue of too much teacher work l a a d in school,

there was a rear unanimous ident i f ica t ion of this ismc as a

problem by the three cabegorics of teachcrs. Thus, 85% of

entry lcvc l teachcrs, 80% of the less experienced teachers and

m o t h e r i s sue unanimously i den t i f i ed by the three respect ive

teacher research sub jec t s was t he i n s t a b i l i t y of teachers

af mmrnerce. 9Pk o f entry l e v e l teachers, 80"/, of less experienced

teachers , and 75% of experienced teachers i den t i f i ed i n s t a b i l i t y

of teachers o f Commerce a s a problem.

Some items iden t i f i ed by the th ree respect ive r e s p n d e r ~ t

teacher research sub jec t s were no t scored highly. 3Br ins tance ,

only 55-f en t ry l eve l teachers , 60% of the less e;;i>erif4~~:.:c;

teachers and 55% of t he experienced teachers i den t i f i ed LS a

problem, the i s s u e of some Commerce teachers b e h g co~.~pro.!iit;cd

in t h e i r p rac t i ces o f continuous assessment. Siinilarly, onill ex eriencccl

50% of en t ry l e v e l teachers , 50% of less - f' teachers a1d

60% of experienced teachers i den t i f i ed the i s s u e o f some Cormncrce

teachers being lazy in t h e i r implementation of continuous assessment

t o t h e letter, a s a problem.

Some i s sues although i den t i f i ed as a problem by the th ree

respect ive respondent comrnerce teacher research subjects d id no t

receive unanimous endorsement by them. For ins tance , on the

i s s u e of inconsistency in Commerce teachers ' award of continuous

assessment scores , 50% of en t ry l eve l teachers, 5.55 ol- less

experienced teachers, as aga ins t 80% m f t h e experienced teacl IL.;::. * i d en t i f i ed t h i s i s sue as a problem.

Research ~ u e s t i o n 2 1 - - ----.-

How ;re the teacher based probleins o f continuous Assessment

addressed?

The teacher research sub jec t s w e r e requested t o f r e e l y

i n d i c a t e how the problems they had i d e n t i f i e d , in t h e course

o f t h e i r implementation of ,'ontinuous Assessment , were

addressed by teachers and the school authorities/proprietors.

T h e i r responses are presented i n Table 11-

Large c lasses t o be assessed

Subjective na tu re of Continuous Assessment among teachers

Too l i t t l e time f o r actual teaching

Too much teacher work load in school o r non- teaching t a sks

,i

nismissal of; a l l s tudents who fail a t t h e end of the year and t h e i r being unreplazed i n the nex t c l a s s 80

Occasional mrkshops on Continuous Assessment more organised struc ' tures being introduced as continuous Assessment p o l i c i e s and prac t i ces which hopefully improve as teachers gain more teaching experience 8 5

Number of tests, scope o f i t e m s in tests, and durat ion o f tests have bee? reduced 80

This problem has n o t been addressed in any systematic

way 'I \ / '"

5) IOO much time i s spent k'ewer in-school tests now .n Continuous ~ s s e s s m e n t given 80

6 ) Too much time is spent Comnerce Teachers in on Zontin~ous kssesslnent each school prep&%,

administer and swre Continuous AsseSsment t e s t s , assignmmts, ebc c o l l e c t i v e l y s ~ o o 3 . w i d e 80

7 ) Lack of uniformity o f Detailed and miTorm Continuous ~ssess rnen t Continuous qssessinenl practices i n a l l schools guidelines are now

ava i l ab le ~ r t d given t o teacher$ 05 C o n u ~ e r c c , Supervision of Comrnercc teachers 1 ~brnpliance with such e d e l i n e s have commenced ;3 -5

8 1 Inconsistency in Commerce Some incsns i s tenc y s t i l l teachers award of exists u c , - Continuous Assessment Schores

9 ) I n s t a b i l i t y of schools Continuous assessment i s executed aft& school s e t t l e s ; two - t h r e e weeks a f t e r resumption o r d o s i n g o f school 6 5

10) I n s t a b i l i t y o f teachers Transfer of teachers a r b i t r a r i l y has been reduced 60

11) Some teachers a r e compromi sed

Central Coordination of Continuous ;,sscssneiilt scores by a cornrniLtee o-T teachers , now occurs* :D , c o r r e l a t i m between Continuous ,,ssess~nen& and exaiiir7 scores, i s high 7 ~ 1

12) Some teachers are Lazy in the implementation of Continuous hssessment t o the l e t t e r

13) Absenteeism on Continuous Assessment t e s t days (students )

14) Absenteeism of Continuous Assessment t e s t days

(teachcrs )

15) madequake supervision of . teacher's en Continuous

Assessment

16) POW qual i ty of teaching

17) Inadequate s t a n d ~ d i s e d Continuous kssess~ncnt tests

: tudents must do th& x s t s , assignments, x o jec t s whenevcr they 1-cturn

.' ?achers must adminis tcr \ ,proved number of t e s t s , l,:;signments e t c before ihe end of the term,

Commerce subject heads are delegated t o supervise Commerce teachers

Schools are requested to hold periodic worksnop on teaching s k i l l s

s f f o r t s a r e made t o p&. tests, assignments

Research ~ u e s t i o n 3 --=-

mat are the problems which secondary school commerce s t u d m t s

experience in the implementation of cont inmus assessment in

this subject?

The student research subjects wcre requested t o tick any

of t h e fifteen items of the students qws t ionna i re which they

considered were problems, a r i s i n g irom the implementation 2 5

Continuous - .c;sessrncnt, in their study of commerce, i t ~ 1 ,, L ~ r

considered t o be a prcblex~ if it w ~ s YO r a t ed by 60% or m:i. :;;"

the student research subjects, T n c i r r a k h g s on these i t a . ~ s . I L . - J

presented i n Table I I I n

Table 111: Issues Comnerce Students wnfirmcd/identif icd as

-- -- .'.. --- ----- --.------ ---- S/NO Issues canfirmed/identificd as % of students who

problems ra ted the i t a n a s a problem

' 1) Many students especially those from poor homes cannot afford the high cos t of m t e r i a l s needed for projects 90

2) Continuous Assessment involves too mucn work f o r students as t e s t s , projects , assignn-ents axe given s&ultaneously i n all subjects 85

There i s undue increased concentration on tes t ing , giving assignments and projects

There i s more and more undue decrease in the actual t e achkg time avai lable for teaching by Commerce teachers

m y teachers do not follow the Commerce syllabus- projects , tests, e t c are given outs ide o f the Commerce syllabus

There i s tendency for some students tb concentrate on projects , t e s t s , assignments ra ther than applying themselves t o learning

Pimy ~bjec t ives / func t ions o f Continuous tjssessment a rc n o t pursued in schools. guidance, placement, diagnosis of learning ~roblerns, etc,

some commerce teachers lack the experience arid exper t ise i n ~6n t inuous A S S ~ S S I T I ~ ~ ~

pract ices

Some teachers use contindous ~s se s smen t t o threaten, intimidate o r embarass students

~ c t u a l implementation of continuous Assessment i s not s t r a igh t forward. Some teachers are unf&

Comnlerco teachers arc not broad based in Continuous Assessment as knowledge alonc! is still being assessed

Some tests ,assignments, pro j -ts by students are ignored and 1 t used in students1 overall e v - . ua t ion 90

Commerceo m j o r i t y of the studen". research subjects (gW) ra ted

each #f items 1, 3 and 15 a s prol~lems, T h e s e are items t h s t dea l t

with the enormous and unaffrrrdahe high cost of materials needed f o r

mdertaking prmject work; the undue i n c r e a s e d concentration on

test ing, , assignment and projects; and tests, assignments and projects

are ignored, scored and n o t used in students* everal l evaluation,

85% m f the student teacher subjects were of the view t h a t continuous

~ s s e s i m e n t irlvolvcs too much work for students since projects , t-:: 2;:.

and assignments a r e given simultaneously in a l l tne (14) s:-cznclzi:;

school subjects by teachers, 80% of .the student teacher cuLjuct

wzrc of the view t h a t many a f t he i r Commerce teachers do no t 20110 r

the Commerce syllabus-tests, assignments and projects a r c somcJC:ne:-

g i v a arbitrarily outside of the Commercz syllabus.

Furthermore, 8% of them were o f t he view t h a t t he r e i s a

r e c a t undue decrease in the ac tua l teaching t i m e by Cornmerc~

teachers, Other i s sue s considered t o be problems o f irngAmmkation

of Continuous i~ssessment in ~omrnerce are presented in Table III,

Research Q~eSt ion I V --- --- --- How can t h e student based i den t i f i ed problems of Continuous

ksessment, i n Commerce, be addressed in t h e i r schools?

The data f o r answering t he four th research question are

presented in Table IV- The data a r e responses made by thc s tudeut

research subjects with regard to t h e i r identi5ying how student-

based problems of Continuous ?ssessment can be addressed in t h e i r

schools. Each of t h e so lu t ions i den t i f i ed by the s tudent rescarch

subjects was quantif ied in p r c e n t a g e as r epo rkd , A sclu5c!;l

i d w t i f i e d by 60"k o r more of t he s tudent research subjects was

considered acceptable and vice-vcrsa,

addressed ..'* -.--.-

umber of p ro jec t s pur t e r m should be reduced by 1 (Project )

Number of ternily tests should be reduced by 1 (test)

~ x p ~ s i v e p ro jec t s should n o t be prescribed f o r s tudents

More studcnts should form p r o j e c t group than i s the case now

Only re levan t and useful p ro jec t s med be prescribed

A l l scores from continuous a s scs smen*t must form part of t h e s tuden t s f t o t a l rcsul t

~ c c i s b n s a h u t p ro jec t s t o be sel cctad and undcrtakon must k j o i n t l y made by teachers and s tudents

Students need full br ief ing on when tests projec ts / assignments are t o be given/ done and submitted

Continuous Assessment scores should bc c a r e f u l l y and accura te ly documented and s tored

44

Three items were very highly suggesked as ways through

which the problems o f Continuous;.ssessment aan be addressed.

These are t h a t the number of termly tests be reduced by one

test; that only re levan t and useful tests in Commerce should bc

preseibed; and t h a t decisions smut pro jec t s t o be se lec ted

and under-taken should be j o i n t l y made b l r Commerce teachers

and CPmerce students, 90% of the s u b j ~ c t s r a t e d each of thcsc:

three items as one way of addressing the problem of ColzLu~u~c: :

Assessment i n Cornrn,zcc,

80% ef t h e Commerce s tudent sub jec t s indica ted t h a t one ~~21'

problems or' Continuous sscssment can b;. addrcsscd i s th-ouc,h t .,

reduction by one test, of t h e t o t a l number 05 termly t z s t s

given t o s tudents , per t e r m as well as by n e t prescr ib ing

expensive pro jec t s to commerce s t u d m t s , Two o the r suggestions,

made by 70% of t h e Commerce s t u d m t sub jec t s w e r e t h a t a l l scores

from continuous assessmolt must form pa r t r$ t h e s t u d c n t t s t o t a l

result, and s tudents need f u l l b r i e f ing an when t es t s /p ro jec t s /

assignments are t o be done, submitted and marked, Other suyg t s t i on r

are shorn in Table IV-

AND SUI\lMARY

This chapter embodies t h e discussion of t h e f indings o f tlus

study, t h e conclusions, the educational impl ica t ions , t h e

reZWunendations, t h e l i m i t a t i o n s o f t h e study, suggectiohs

f o r further research and t h e summary o f the entire work,

The d i s c u s s i m i s both a n a l y t i c a l and put in perspecti.ve to thr.

problem of the study and l i t e r a t u r e on t h e use of continuous

assessment f o r teaching commerce in t h e secondary schools,

Thr' results obtained in this study suggest t h e following

findings, It was found t h a t , among t h e three level of

secondary school commerce teachers , seventeen major problem of

implmentiirlcj continuous assessment e r e i d e n t i f i e d , The problilms

include c l a s s sizes in ~mrnerce , l ack o f uniformity of Continuous

i~ssessrnent p rac t i ces i n a l l t h e secondary schools; i n s t a b i l i t y I

of teachers due to their high turnover, to: much teacher work load,

.absenteeism o f s tudents on T o n t i n u h s ;esessment t e s t days,

inadequate supervisiori of Commerce teachers in t h e i r imislmentatiori

of Cbntinuous Assessment in schools as well as t h e inadequacy of

standardised ~ o n t i n u ~ l r s n ssessment tests,

O t h e r i t e m s were i d e n t i f i e d a s problems by t he teach--s but

these w e r e n q t a s Serious a s those iildicated above,

Thcre arc a number of ways, a s indicated by t h e ~eachcr

problems o f c o n ~ u o u s assessment a r e addressed by the schools/ L

teachers, The major ways include, among -c thcrs , occasiollal worksnops

*n Continuous &sscssment t o prepare teachers on bow to m b i d s c t he AS sc s smm t

problem of subjectivity i n Continuous / provisian o f I

de t a i l ed and uniform guidelines on continuous ~ s s e s s m c n t and t he

con s h t supervision of commerce teachers f compliance with t h e

guidel ines ; dismissal of a l l s tudents we f a i l a t t he a d o f the

year and t h e i r being unreplaced in t h e nex t c l a s s ; and t h e number

of tests, scope 6f items i n tests, t he number and duration of t e n t s

have been reduced.

The s tudent research subjects identifi . :d a number o, i:-:lL-~->: - ?

problems of impli.rnenting continuous a s s~s s rmn t , Some o - LiL ;. - :iL

considered problems arc t he high cos t of mater ia ls n~ -2,.r'. -.L

assignments and projects ; t h e recen t decreasi, in thi. act:ul t- ..L. -

time; the f a c t t h a t some tests, p ro jec t s , assignments by stucicllt:; ;.,L:?

ignored a s w e l l a s t he f a c t t h a t many teachers do no t follow the

Comnerce Syllabus since p.rojects, tests, e t c are given ou t s ide of

t h e convnercc syllabus.

b

"b The student research subjects indicated t h a t the problems .?

o f continuous a s s e s s m a t can be addressed through t h e sugge~t ic .~ !

of t h e reduction of termly t e s t s ; should be only re levan t and

useful projects need be prescribed; decis ions about p ro jec t s

be se lected and unde r t aka be j o in t l y made by teachers and students;

and a l l scores from continuous assessment must form p a r t or' the

students* t o t a l score,

wncl usions *-

The f indings o f t h i s study serve a s t he basis fo r reaching

t he conclusions of t h i s study, Scveral problems a f f ec t i ng t h e inplmcn-

t a t i o n o f %ntinuous " ssessmmt a t t h c inter-school and classrooin l e v d

Altogether, t he three teacher research s S ject categor ies ide;lcL.:':i

seventeen problems a s those a f f ec t i ng t h e implementation oi- C C L L ~ ~ L * . '2

expcrimced and less well experienced -.-ndary Scnool corn.? xai

Eache r s

The problems of implcrncntation of ~ o n t i a u o u s Asscssmerrt in t;lc

&aching and lea rn ing o f rornrnerce appears no t t o be a d d r ~ s s e d

uf fcc t ive ly , h t h e opinion of Secondary School Commerce Qachwso

Y e t , there are f ea s ib l e and inexpensive ways and means of addressing

h c h proDlcms, Solutions t o t h e problems are those which t h c

school adminis t ra tors (Ninis t ry of Education, Secondary School w a r d ,

and Pr inc ipa l s ) should handle as policy matters f o r commerce

teachers to comply with,

The problems which ainiilerce students identify a s those

af fcct ing the e n a h t i o n of ~ n t h u o u s AS S ~ S S ~ W ~ are

somewhat d i f f e r e n t from those iden t i f i ed by t h e i r teachers.

Students tended t o i d e n t i f y p r ac t i c a l problelns (cos t , conveniwcc,

utility' bf pro jec t s ) while .teachers tmded t o i den t i f y policY

problms (frequency, u t i l i t y , m i fo rmi ty o f t e s t s / t e s t results ),

I - . . . . Students considered continuous hsessment a very useful and ?,-'.'

evaluation tnol i f t h e prob12ms confronting i t s imp1ernm.h-ti--;:.-!

a r e addressed, They consider CDni;inuous ;~sssssmcnk a1 so ~ s s c,.

motivational too l f o r encouraging learning, acquis i t ion 02 s-riil. :

pe s i t i v e i.11 teres ts and , . t t i t u d e s towards commerce, ~ h c s e 1 Z~KL ''.%,:I. c

goals o f Continuous ' . %'ssmmt nay n o t be achieved if t h e pro:;ic.mt;

confronting the irnp1c:iwtation of continuous ;~ssessment arc ackiiresscd

effect ively , This observation is s u p p r t c d by meko (1996) v~ho

found t h a t t he irnplcmntation of Continuous Xssessment in Lagos

S t a t e was confronted by many problems some o f which are siinilar

t o those iden t i f i ed in t h i s study,

, Educa t i ona l Implications -.----,l_t -. -- - --,--

The e f fec t ive teaching and learnkig of Secondary School Coxri-rc;.

i n mugu S t a t e a r c c lnse ly l inked with the e f f ec t i ve eva1uc'-' LA'A-L L --

t h i s subject.

49

Onc aspect of t h e t o t a l evaluation o f Commerce, a t this level,

lnvolves t he use of continuous Lssessment. If e f f ec t i ve t c a c h i ~ q

and learning of p m e r c e is t o take place, thuz implumentation of

Osntinuous ,'.sscssmcnt must be very w e l l carried ou t so t h a t such

problems t h a t threaten o r mi t iga te i t s e f fec t iveness a r e removed.

It i s only when this i s done that #e l a d a b l e goals o f ~ o n t i n u o u s

hssessmmt can bc achieved as a means of improving t h e teaching

and lea rn ing o f Commerce, The study has thcrcforc revealed thi:,t

general ly t h e i n p l ~ e n t a t i o n of Continuous Assessmmt as an as?i:.:L

of evaluation of "ormnerce mugu S t a t e Secondary School i s 2accd

by many problems. This i s suggestive of the n w d t o address such

problems so t h a t t he goals of introducing and using it can bi: achi .?) . . L..: .,

both fo r s tudents of commerce and t h e i r students, mdccd, i . 2 I s

encouraging t o note t h a t both teachers o f d i f f e r a t categories and

t h e i r commerce students were n o t only f u l l y awarc of thcse problms

but proferred so lu t ions to t hm, ~ J o n e t h d css i n i t i a t i v e s a t addrc ss ing

1' t h e i den t i f i ed problems a s they r e l a t e t o policy matters

q d prac t i ca l matters , need t o be ca r e fu l l y thought-through by school

au tho r i t i e s on one hand and commerce teachers and s tudents on the

o ther hand, his i s because t he problems o f Continuous !issessrndt

i den t i f i ed in this study are not simple, s t r a i g h t forward and

r ead i l y amenable t o simple solutions,- mr instance, an implcmc:~t,;l-

t ion problem considered by en t ry l eve l Col~uncrce tcachLrs, as : -

counterparts,

Henee any solutions propbsed f o r ad&cssbg the problms

need t o be tailor-made and target ted to spec i f ic grqups

Such solutions arc meant fo r ; t h e question of proferring and

implementing gmera l purpose suggestions fo r a l l thc Seconday

School Commerce Teachers and Students in mugu State , does no t ,

then, arise.

Recommendations - ----- on t h e basis of the findings, conclusions and the educatiold.

implications m f t h i s study, t he following remmmendations a r c

madeo The suggestions a r e within t hc givkn in t en t of addrcssd;rll:

the identified problems a r i s ing from using Can tinuous ;~scssncn t

f o r evaluating the '_leaching and l e a n i n g .%caldary School % - I : _

in mugu State:

1) Thwe a re t w o broad categories n f problems i d ~ n t i ; i c d ,:,

" ccondary School Cbrmwcc! T~achc r s and S t u d a t s a s t

in Enugu Sta te Secondary Schools. T&sc arc problem:; arisl-15

from pol ic ies on Continuous ' ssessmtlnt as against tllosc arising

from the pract ical o r actual implementation.

With rcgard to thc f o n e r , ice overal l policy on Continuous

~sscssment , there i s the need for the Enugu Sta te and otiler

governments in Nigeria t o review thc pol ic ies rc la tcd to the

implcmenkition of con'cinuous a t t he classroom level. I3r instwce,

it is professionally too damnding on teachers t o lmld for thnighuy

tests for l a rge c lasses as w e l l a s two projects clad1 term, mark

and record these, teach their regular c lasses , cxa,&ne the large

classes, and do their cthw normal school dut ies w e l l , It i s

therefore recommended tha t the number of t e s t s and projects be:

reduced t o three and one per term? respectively. F'urkll~r:1:.3r~>~

size of each secondary c l a s s should be peggcd a t no narc ti:-: ti:;::' ;

pcr class. Tncse pel icy changes w i l l enable .keachcs-s and :I; - x c l . i - & . "- .. < ~ ' j

c o ~ with and more s lxatcgicdl ly respond to t he demands of

continuous asscssmmto

2 ) Secondary school teachers, including those who teach commerce

need t o periodically exposed t o loca l and s t a t e wide workshops,

seminars and symposia 'bn the -principles and practices of

Continuous ~sessment , , ming this w i l l b e t t e r equip and

update teachers on current pol ic ies and practices of ~ o n t i i u o u s

. . " sscssmcnt,, During such workshops, seminars aild symposia, tcac:lirs

need to be provided copies of rules and regul;:tion:; na Cbrltii~uo~;:;

;..ssessmcnt in Schools,

3) There i s need for be t t e r and inore sustain&le suixrvi.sxx~ ,)i

the cxtent teachers comply with t he ru l e s and xegu7.~-tions ,.:.

Continuous ,ksesslnmt,

Supcrvisinn i s needed t o ensure t h a t teachers arc asscssiny

s tudents i n l i n e with t h e approved guidelines and thercby

achieve uniformity o f standards in students ' evaluation,

4 ) The actual implemcmtation of an t i nuous Assessmat irl

the teaching and learning of arnrnerce somctiincs results ii-:.

students being made t o do pro j c c t s t h a t arc cjrpmsi'rr: a-ii:

unaffordable. *To amid t h i s problem, the re i s n-ecl ?or

. . Carnmcrce teachers and students t o collaborakc i ;~ rcnc:u : r .

decision a s to t he type, na tu re and scope of financial;:,-

affordable p ro jec t s Commerce students can succi?ss5ully

under take.

5 ) The school administrat ion should ensure, throuyl? monitoring

ef teachers* and students1 records t h a t Cornmace teachers do

no t abuse and misuse mntinuouc Assessmmt records, pract ices

and ldwls, T h i s w i l l m in imise sub jec t iv i ty in t h e assessment

o f students, Monitoring i s a l s o needed t o ensure t1la-L; Coinmerct:

teachers incorporate accurate Continuous Assessment scores o f

s t udu l t s i n t o t h e i r o ther r e s u l t s , in a r r i v ing a t "Lheir

terminal and annual r e su l t s ,

Based on the conclusions and l i m i t a t i o i ~ s o f t h i s ::-i:.~l:.-, -L:- :.

rcs ia rcher recormended t h a t a nunbcr of stiinuldting rc::c.;li-c.i

s tud ies bc car r i ed 9ut in arcas r e l a t ed t o the prcs:_?n-k : - . ; . :Y.

These include : 5 3

1) A statewide inves t iga t ion of the s t a t u s o f imp lmenk t ion

of Cantinuous ,lssessmmt in commercc in mugu S t a t e is

necded t o provide empirical bas i s f o r statewide (not d u c a t i o n

Zone compari SOII ;

2 ) Invest igat ion i n t o ways and means e f* Gmmerce Teachas t

developing more r e l i a b l e and comprehznsive teach-r-i~;lcli?

tcsts i s needed so a s t o better equip them with t h c

techniques of test developnent and use4

3 ) A comparative study i s needed t o determine how r c l a t d

o r d i f f e r a t a r e Ginmerce s tudents f i n a l r e s u l t s obtained

through t h e present Cbntinuous Assessment made (scores on

,ar. 4 tcrmly tests, 2 p r q e c t s and a final examination score)

as aga ins t the proposed mode (scores on 3 termly tdsts,

1 prfi ject and a f i n a l examination score ) Such anpi-ical

c o i n p ~ i s ~ n would enable sound decision t o be made as t o which

of t h e two modes i s preferable and why it i s prefwablc..

Limitat ions _I

This study has a number o f obvious l imi ta t ions , I - ,, .

conclusions of t h i s study were t o be g e n c r a l i s ~ d t o ai' L.-%

secondary schools in mugu State of fe r ing G i n m c r c ~ as '1 $-i :j

in Nsukka Zducation mnc only; thure are currtlntly th=cc i . 2 - r - 1

54

mncs i n Ehugu State* BY using only 10% of the Commerce

students and 6.5% of the Commerce teachers in Ehugu State , the

g ~ m ~ r a l i ~ a h i l i t y of the conclusions of this study becomes a

l imitation. However t h e f a c t of th i s l imita t ion notwithstanding

the stucly is deemed t o have immmsely contributed t o es tabl ishing

some of the major problems of imflementing Continuous Assessmmt

in the teaching and learning of commerce in Ebugu S t a t e secondary

School s.

Swnmary of the Study

The purpose of t h i s study was t o iden t i fy the problems

confronting Commwce teachers and students, and which nega k c t l ~

ef fec t ive implementation of m t i n u o u s ~lsscssmcnt in Iisukka

ducati ion mne S ~ m n d a y school s. FOUL- research questiolls wci- .. p s c d , L i te ra ture re la ted t o the purposc of this study wc-r.2

sought and rep . r ted . To car ry out t h e research i t s e l f , S c c o n a a y

School Comrncrce ~pcachers and students w r e i d e n t i f i ~ d and sampled

from, iiltogether , there were f i f ty -s ix Commerce wacher research

subjects and three hundred and ninety students enrolled in Senior

Secondary school Gnunerce. The tw se t s o f subjccts were

respectively administered t h e tm separate instruments of t h i s

study.

5 6

m e major educational implicat ion derived from the Conclusions

of t h i s study i s that for Continuous ksessment t o achieve its

laudable ob jec t ives in the teaching and learning of Secondary

School Cbmmerce, the problems identified in this study must

be carefully thought through and suggestions on how they can bc

overcome planned for and sys temat ica l ly addressedo Some suggestLons 1

for further studies were made in terns of studying a wider scad,-.

thsn was covcrcxl in this study,

REFEHENCES

A d o d i b u , &.( I 9 8 ~ ) . F i n a n c i n g k o n t i n u o u s A ~ s e s s m e n t i n N i g e r i a n Primary and Secondary Schools, E d u c a t . ~ o n a l R e s e a r c h R e v i e w 2 8 ( 2 ) , 1 1 7 - 134 .

I

A l l ,

A l i ,

Ali.,

Ani,

and i rk !~uuo , (l98U). An E v a l u a t i o n o f ths C o n t i n u o u s A s ~ c s : ~ m c l n t P r a c t i c a s i n N i r r c r i a n P r i m a r y S c h o o l s f a r C o r n p l ~ not? w ~ t h N i g o r i a i e N d c l u n a l P o l l c y on Cducat, lon, A I T I ~ ~ L . L C , I I I t v ; i l u d t l o n A H V ~ L ~ W , 31 ( 2 ) . Pagrjs 217 - 2 2 7 . -----

( I 9 9 4 ) . f L , l i e i e s a n d P r a c t i c e s o f C c n t i n z s A s s o s s m d n t . ~ n W e g t ; r ~ d . --. i ~ g u s : Lfrodrecks and O l a t U b ~ s u n Book Company

E r e ~ A m a d u , l 9 h 5 ) , Probloms a n d P r o v p o c t s o f Coun t i n u o u s A ~ : ~ u ; , ~ n o i - ~ t . r i k3vrew o f E d u c d t n o n , 1 2 ( 1 ) , ---

tiasbdn, ( 1 9 3 6 ) . Lduced t ~ o n a L A d m i n i b t r a t i u n a n d Managemant. -.uy-..*..IIII)

C d l a b r i r : Lan Laur l ' ress .

f ia jas- ln , ( 1 5 l ? ) . A : , ~ i r ~ ~ m e n & o f t h e N d t . l m d l C d u : : s t i o n ; i l i'l:lrs

Mgbemma, ( 1 9 9 5 ) - Neauurornent a n d E v a l u a t i o n Por S c h o o l s . London: Ueckheck C lub l i sh ing Company.

091.1, (19115). * i r . ~ ~ n i n g T u a c h o r s for l m p l e o i e n t u t i n n o f Cont inuous M B ~ U S ~ I I I ~ , ~ t, ~~U-LS-L K V ~ U B t l o n ~ u p p l u m n n t , 3Y(4) .

Klkolo, ( I Y ~ L ) , iu!uc t t o a l i t ~ o t j o f Con t i r i uous A n 6 e u s m n b . P r a c t i c e s

Y o l o y e , ( I ! i t j [ l ) . 1 n L r o d u c t i o n t o T o s t i n g and IYleasuriement. Lagob: hbtd W r ~ r l d Pr~ass Inc,

APPENDIX 1

LIST OF LOUU GOVERNMENT AREAS AND T H E I R HEADQUARTERS ---- _U__

WITHIN NSUKKA EDUCATION ZONE UILC

3, Lgbo-eze South

4, ~gbo-eze N o r t h

7. Nsukka

I k e m

0bollo A f o r

Ibagwa aka

ocJurute

Ogbede

Umulokpa

Nsukka

Department of Vocational Teacher E d x , University of ~ i g e r i a Nsukka

June 2, 1997

D e a r Sir/Madam,

COMPLETION OF THIS QLESTIONNRIRE

Kindly go through this questionnaire and indicate yaur respol:c;z

by ticking / i n the appropriate option, for each item. Y o u r - responses w i l l be confidentially used only for research plrposes.

Thank you,

ERMh AMBROSE ALI

SECTION A: Personal Data ..

Name of your school: -- "

Sex: Years of Teaching Experience: P A - - -

yczrs,

your highest qualification --.-.-A. - - a

SECTION B: ~ r o b h s of Implementation of Contimrous Assq$sment by Teachers

S/NO Item -

Large class@ to be assessed

Subjective nature of Continuous Assessment among teachers

Too l i t t l e t i m e for ackal teaching

Too mch teacher workload i n school

Too mch t ime is spent on Continuous Assessment

Lack of uniformity of Continuous Assessment practices i n a l l schools

Lack of uniformity of Continuous Assessment practices among teachers

Inconsistency i n Commerce teachers Q award of Continuous Assessment scores

Ins tab i l i ty i n Schools (Strikes, closures e tc )

Ins tabi l i ty of teachers (turn wer)

Some teachers are compromised

Some teachers are lazy in continuous Assessment Implementation t o the l e t t e r

Absenteeism on Continuous Assessment

Comparison of Mean Rat ings of P r < n c i p a l s and Business Teachers on the Adequacy of In s t ruc t - i cna l Ma te r i a l s f o r E u a i ~ ~ s s Elducation

3

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

139

14e

15.

l6.

, -. ' 1 .

I S ,

--

77 p i I i n+ , C a l ! l l i L:

S t a p l i n g K :~chli,i

P e r f o r a t o r s

G u i l l o t i n e

Stop '+lath

rI7 ape Recorder

Wall Clock

Adding I)iac'!lrn,

COD^ :;I, .

( - .,>: . . KEY: X I = Nea,r~ of G T Y I O . ~ -L \ I . I.-:~L.- ; , . i~ : i

2e j e c t ed

Accepted

11

I I

Rejected

t l

t4

11

1 )

Accepted

11

Rejected

Accepted

S/NO Item

14) Absenteeism on Continuaus Assessment t e s t days (Teachers) --

IS) Inadequate supervision of teachers on Continuous Assessment

16) Poor quality of teaching

17) Inadequate standardised Continuous I, L

Assessment Tests ! 1 .-A - -r -

18) How can the problems of implementation of Continuous

~lssessment in the teaching of Commerce be solved? b

APPENDIX 111 --

STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS OF PROBLEMS O F CONTINUOUS ;LS.SESS I ENT .- - - --A- --...--.. -.- --

Department of Vocational Teacher Educ. UniversiQ of Nigeria Nsukka

June 2, 1998

Dear Student,

COMPLETION OF THIS QLJESTIOP!WLIRE * ---A- --

I w w l d be most grateful i f you kindly go througl? t h i s

questionnaire and complete it, Tick / in the appropriate space - t h a t best fits your answer on each of the items, Thc answer you

provide w i l l be used only f o r research purposess

SECTION A: ----- Personal Data

NWne of your school: --_ PI- * A L Y ---I

SECTION B: Problems of Implementation of Continuaus Assessment a s perceived by students

S/NO I t e m

Many students especially those from poor homes cannot afford the high cos t of materials needed fo r pro j ec ts

Continuous Assessment involves too much work f o r students a s tests, pro j ecks , as signmmts a r e given sinultaneously in all subjects

There is undue increased concentration on testing, giving assignments and projects

There i s more and more undue decrease in the actzlal teaching time avai lable for teaching by Commerce teachers

Many teachers do not follow the Commerce syllabus projects, tests, etc are given outside of t he Commerce syllabus

There . is tendency f o r some students t o concentrate on projects, tests, assignments ra ther than applying themselves t o learning - Many ob j ectives/functions of Continuous Assessment are not p r sued i n schools guidance, placement, diagnosis of learning problems, etc.

S/NO Item SA - Some comnerce teachers lack the scperierce and expertise i n Continucus Assessment pract ices -.". Some teschers use Continuous Assessrent t o threaten, h " c d a t e o r &=ass students

__I

iictual Lmplementation of Continuous A s s e s s m e ? t is not s t r a igh t forward, Some teazhers are unfa i r

.L.cIu

Commerce teachers are not broad based ir. Continuous ;\ssessment as knowledge alone is sti l l being assessed - Some tesks, assignments, projects by students are ignored and not used i n studentsf overall evaluation - Continuous assessment encourages examination rrrdl prac tices

I-

Because & Continuous Assessment, students a re no longer wi l l ing t o Learn Comrnercee

Students do not gain much s k i l l s and knowledge from Continuous Assessment pro j ec t works --

16) How can t h e problems of Continuous Assessment in your

s k d y of Commerce be solved ( ~ e clear and spec i f ic uid

suggest as many ways as possible).