Correlates of Examination Malpractice among Secondary School Students in Oyo State, Nigeria.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlates of examination malpractice among secondary school students in Oyo State, Nigeria. The instrument used for the study was tagged Predisposing Factors towards Examination Malpractice Questionnaire (PFTEMQ). The instrument was administered to 300 students randomly selected from 20 multi staged selected secondary schools of five randomly selected local government areas of the state, whereby 15 students were randomly selected from each school. Two research questions were raised and one hypothesis generated. Pearson product Moment Correlation was used to answer research question one, while Multiple Regression Analysis was used to answer research question two; and the. T- Test statistics was used to analyze the only hypothesis generated. The result showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between some independent variables (students, parental, societal and government factors) on examination malpractice. However, teachers’ factor was not significant. Also there was a combined effect of the independent variables to the prediction of examination malpractice. The Government non- implementation of examination malpractices decree and lack of effective supervision of students during examination cause examination malpractices. The study also indicated that societal preference for paper qualification; inadequate preparation for examination, lack of self confidence, ill equipped schools, lack of good study habits cause examination malpractice. On the basis of the result, it was recommended that concerted efforts should be made at improving the level of discipline among students through counseling services in the school. Also parents should not mount pressure on students to pass at all cost, termination of appointment of any examination officials and teachers involved in examination malpractice should be in force to serve as a deterrent to others. Key words: Examination malpractice, students, teachers, parents, government, society.