Impact of external assessment on teachers’ instructional practices in Social Studies in Ghana

Abstract

External assessment has often times been perceived to have much influence on the teaching of social studies in the senior high schools in Ghana. A study was conducted in eight senior high schools in the Eastern Region of Ghana. According to Alderson and Wall (1993, pp. 120-121), examination influences the classroom teaching; how teachers teach the subject; the rate and sequence of teaching; the degree and depth of teaching; and the attitudes to the content, method, etc. of teaching. This assertion was confirmed by Cheng’s (1997) where he concluded that a revised public examination has to a large extent changed the content of teaching in the classroom. A structured questionnaire was designed and used to gather data from the teachers on how external assessment affects the teaching of social studies in the SHS. The study revealed that most teachers use lecture technique to teach and students are to take notes. Social Studies is noted for out-of-door activities which are practical in nature and to promote the use of non-testing procedure in assessing learners, but the emphasis on external assessment and standardized assessment has intensified the domination of what get assessed as what gets taught.