PERCEIVED EVALUATION CHALLENGES IN ECONOMICS INSTRUCTIONS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN ABIA STATE

Maxwell Ede O.  (Ph. D.), Kingsley Akarowhe

Abstract

The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. A sample of 48 Economics teachers was drawn from a population of 133 Economics teachers in Abia State using multi-stage sampling. Twenty-item researcher developed questionnaire titled: Evaluation Challenges in Economics Instruction Questionnaire (ECEIQ) was raised for the study. The instrument was validated by three experts; one each of a lecturer in Economics education, senior Economics teacher and measurement and evaluation. The comments and corrections of the validated were used to modify the instrument for data collection. Test-retest reliability procedure was used in testing the reliability of the instrument which yielded a Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient of 0.76. Two research assistants helped in data collection. Mean and standard deviations were used for answering the research questions while t-test statistic was used for testing the null hypotheses raised at 0.05 level of significance. The items with mean responses of 2.50 and above were considered to be agreed responses while those below were considered disagreed responses. Also, a null hypothesis was accepted where the P-value was above 0.05 level of significance, otherwise the null hypothesis was rejected. The results showed among others that Economics teachers’ perceived evaluation challenges to include insufficient lesson periods, teachers lack of evaluation skills, poor attitude of teachers towards evaluation and lack of orientation on evaluation practices. It further showed that teachers perceived allocation of adequate time for evaluation, regular orientation to teachers on procedures for evaluation among others as the strategies for effective evaluation in Economics Instructions in secondary schools. Based on the results, it was recommended that adequate period be allotted for evaluation in schools. Also, Government as well as school management should organize regular training for teachers on evaluation best practices.Keywords: Perception, Evaluation, Challenges, Economics, Instructions