Exploring teachers’ understanding of the objectives and assessment practices of social studies in Ghanaian senior high schools, a case of Suhum Municipality

Abstract

Curriculum/instructional objectives are considered the “crux” and “key” of the entire process of teaching and learning. The more clearly and precisely instructional objectives are stated, the more will one be to obtaining precise data on the outcome or result of the instructional process. The study specifically explores the influence of graduate teachers‟ knowledge base of Social Studies curriculum/instructional objectives on their assessment practices in the Suhum Municipality of the Eastern Region of Ghana. The research is mainly qualitative by design but also employed few tables and percentages to aid analysis of data as a result of the multiplicity nature of the data. The study involved ten (10) participants. The following research questions guided the study: 1. How familiar are graduate teachers with the Social Studies curriculum/instructional objectives at the Senior High School level? 2. How does the graduate teachers‟ knowledge of the Senior High School Social Studies curriculum/objectives influence their test items? 3. Which of the domains of educational objectives do Social Studies teachers‟ questions emphasise? The major instrument for data collection was semi structured interview guide. Data was then triangulated with participant observation and document analysis of teachers‟ questions designed for students‟ end of term examination. The document analysis was useful in providing first-hand information on what teachers were emphasizing in their assessment. Non – probability sampling method, that is, convenience and purposive sampling techniques, were used to select the sample of districts, schools and participants for the study. Findings from the study show that even though majority of the teachers demonstrated very good knowledge of the curriculum/instructional objectives, however, it did not really influence their assessment practices. Other factors such as time and availability of resources did. It also came up that there were diversities between what teachers said they assessed and what they actually assessed. To foster the attainment of the subject goals the study recommends that teachers should be trained or encouraged to always consider the curriculum/instructional objectives in the selection of appropriate content, methodologies and assessment techniques.