The Nature of Classroom Assessment in Ethiopian Public Secondary Schools: Subject Teachers’ Views

Geberew Tulu,J F,Tigist Tolosa

doi:10.9734/jesbs/2018/43233

Abstract

This study examined the use of assessment techniques by secondary school teachers in Ethiopia. Little has been known about the classroom assessment strategies teachers use to assess their students in Ethiopian Secondary School contexts [1,2]. All participants (N=423, average teacher experience =14 years) where teachers and they all completed a self-developed questionnaire with 15 items, and of these 8 teachers took part in a face-to-face interview. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Chi-square, confirmed that there were three types of assessment techniques: assessment OF learning, assessment FOR learning, assessment AS learning. Most of the teachers reported that assessment OF learning and assessment FOR learning to be the most common and dominant forms of assessments across language, sciences and social sciences. However, only the physical education teachers used assessment AS learning to assess their students. Teachers also identified class size, low student motivation, lack of student knowledge around content area, school environment, and time assigned for a lesson, and teaching and learning facilities, to be barriers for fully implementing and exploring the various assessment techniques. Implications for the study are discussed.

Highlights

Assessing students’ learning is an essential part of teaching and learning [3,4]
Within an Ethiopian context, little has been known about what assessment means or what kinds of assessments are being used and whether classroom-ready assessments provide the critical insights into capturing student learning or not
The 15 items of the Classroom assessment practice were subjected to principal components analysis (PCA) using SPSS

Summary

Introduction

Assessing students’ learning is an essential part of teaching and learning [3,4]. Assessment is an integral process for determining the nature of teaching and directing the extent to which students achieve, in that assessment has a bidirectional value to both the teachers and the students [5,6]. Classroom-ready assessments (e.g., quizzes, tests, and exams) are an integral part of the instructional process, accountability, capturing student learning, and reporting to stakeholders both evidence of learning and teaching [4]. Assessments are one of the many uses to improve student's learning and teaching instruction, and to this end, there has always been an ongoing debate on the assessment strategies, their purpose and role in both teaching and learning [8]. The behaviourist notion of assessment is to quantifiable measure (e.g., tests or closed book exam) performance in capturing what has been learnt and gained [11]. Behaviourist notion of assessment does not fully capture students’ learning (i.e., informal knowledge) such as subject positive experiences or impact and further these behavioural strategies do not encourage the use of different assessment techniques other than “ performance-based tests” [4]. Within a constructivist theoretical underpinning, there are three kinds of assessment strategies: Assessment OF learning, assessment FOR learning, and assessment AS learning [4]

Methods

Results

Conclusion