Teachers’ Knowledge and Application of Anecdotal Record in Assessing Basic Schools Learners’ Progress in Oredo Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

For learning to be effective, there is the need for assessment. This could be during the teaching and learning process or at the end of a unit, course or programme. Assessment has various tools among which is anecdotal record that is used to record specific observations of individual pupils/students behaviour, skills, attitudes and many more. Despite the importance and use of anecdotal record, it seems that most teachers do not have the knowledge and application of it. This study therefore, investigated teachers’ knowledge and use of anecdotal records in assessing learners’ progress in Oredo LGA Basic Schools, Edo State. The study was guided by three research questions and two hypotheses which addressed the problem of the study. The study adopted the survey research design to describe and generalize teachers’ knowledge and use of anecdotal records for assessing learners’ progress in Oredo LGA Basic Schools, Edo State. The research population comprised all the 690 teachers in the 65 Basic Schools in Oredo LGA of Edo State in the 2020 school year. A total of 345 teachers, that is, 50 percent of the research population made up the sample size.  The random sampling method was used to select the sample for the study. A questionnaire titled: “Anecdotal Record Questionnaire for Basic Schools (ARQBS)” was designed, validated and pilot-tested (N=20; coefficient=0.82). It administered to the selected teachers for the study. The data collected were analysed using means, standard deviation and t-test statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that the level of teachers’ knowledge and use of anecdotal records for assessing learners’ progress in Oredo LGA Basic Schools, Edo State was low.  There was no significant difference in teachers’ knowledge and use of anecdotal record for assessing learners’ progress in Oredo LGA Basic Schools, Edo State, based on teachers’ gender and academic qualification. It was recommended, based on the findings of the study, among others, that the teachers in UBE Programme, particularly the primary section, should be sensitized on the importance and use of anecdotal records as an effective tool for assessing learners’ progress in the schools.