Teachers' Perceptions of the Role of Examination on Students' Academic Achievement in Public Secondary Schools, Kakamega County, Kenya (original) (raw)

Examination is an integral part of the education system, which has certain objectives to be realized. Examinations are useful as theymeasure a student"s progress towards predetermined objectives. Scholars indicate that in Kenya, there are a lot of issues related to examinations. However, examinations have been embraced as an evaluation tool for a long time. These issues include examination irregularities, unfair competition and burning of school property besides other issues.In Kakamega, County academic performance has been below average, the mean score has stagnated, hardly arising beyond C-(below average) for over ten years. The county has also experienced examination malpractices in national examination (K.C.S.E). The purpose of this study therefore was to establish the teachers" and students" perceptions of the role of examinations on students" academic achievements in public secondary schools. Specific objectives were to;examine teachers" perceptions of the role of examination on students" academic achievement and to determine the relationship between the frequency of examination and students" academic achievement. The study was guided by expectancy motivation theory by Victor Vroom (1964). The study adopted descriptive survey design. The main instruments for data collection were questionnaire, document analysis guide, and focused group discussion guide as well as interview schedule guide. Random, purposive and stratified sampling techniques were used to sample schools as units of study and respondents. Validity of instruments was ascertained through consultations with my supervisors and experts in the department of Educational Psychology. Reliability were ascertained through pilot study in selected neighboring schools and split half test. Descriptive statistics included frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations. Inferential statistics included the use of ANOVA, Pearson-Product Moment correlation-coefficient (r) linear regression Multivariate and collinearity. Data analysis was aided by SPSS software version 21 and Microsoft excel. The study established that; there is a significant relationship between teachers perception of the role of examination on students" academic achievement,(t-statistics=11.547, p-value =000<0.05) and variation of academic achievement was explained by frequency of examination; (t-test =15.773.p-value=0.045<0.05) therefore the null hypothesis was rejected. The study concluded thatexaminations have a direct influence on students" academic achievement. Therefore better approaches should be taken into consideration that will enhance the purpose of examination in Education. It is hoped that the study may be useful to the Ministry of Education, Kenya National Examination Council, policy makers, school management, teachers, parents, psychologists and students to come up with better approaches of handling examinations to enhance academic achievement among students. It will also serve as documentary evidence and a source of reference for future researchers wishing to conduct studies in a similar area.