Abstract:
The study sought to investigate the status quo regarding the formative assessment
practices and the goals and objectives of Social Studies in selected schools of the
Nsawam municipality. The study was structured basically within the framework of
qualitative approach and employed the exploratory research design. Three instruments
namely interview guide, observation protocol and document analysis guide were used
to gather primary information from the respondents. The population of the study
included Junior and Senior High School teachers from the Nsawam Municipality. Ten
teachers were selected through non-probability sampling methods (purposive and
convenience sampling techniques) for the study. Data was analysed through thematic
procedure based on the themes arrived at during the data collection. The major
findings include the fact that although social studies teachers involve formative
assessment in instructions their formative assessment practices are generally not in
line with the current thinking of assessment. The study revealed that Social Studies
teachers assess their learners for external examination purposes and not to achieve the
goals and objectives of the subject. The study observed that some social studies
teachers do not have adequate knowledge in alternative formative assessment tool
thus teachers use only traditional assessment tools in assessing learning. This implies
that the acquisition of skills, attitudes and values needed for the development of
effective citizens which lies the heart of social studies may be impossible to assess. It
was also found that, not all teachers assigned to teach social studies are professional
trained to teach social studies hence they lack the basic professional knowledge about
the subject. It is therefore recommended that social studies teachers adopt better
assessment practices such as using items that elicit the higher order thinking skills of
students, and incorporating the alternative forms of assessment to achieve the goals
and objectives of the subject.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Social Studies,
Faculty of Social Sciences, Submitted to the School of
Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Social Studies)
in the University of Education, Winneba
JUNE, 2020