CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The assessment of student’s progress and achievement is a vital component of any educational system. It is a mechanism for progressive evaluation of changes in the behaviour of individual learners and for determining the student’s level of achievement in a course of study (Ehiametalor, 1990).
Thus teachers are expected to examine from time to time how far the students in their classes learn subject matter presented to them (rather than wait till the end of the academic year before examining them).
According to (Ughamadu 1991), Western Education came into Nigeria with twin assessment methods in the firm of internal and external examination. Internal examination includes all tests that are conducted from time to time in our students. Such tests were conducted firmly at the end of the school year and were used essentially for promotion of students from one class or level to another. Also the internal system of assessment was to prepare the students for external examinations. But whatever the frequency of such tests and examinations, they never from part if final assessment of students.
The external examinations on the other hand are those conducted by external bodies and agencies that had no hand in the teaching of the students. Such bodies includes the Ministry of Education, Western Africa Examination Council (WAEC), NECO, NABTEB, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The old system of assessment was however found to be loaded with so many flaws and fraught with weaknesses because it concentrated on one aspect of human development i.e. cognitive domain at the expense of affective and psychomotor domains. These flaws and weakness according to Ali, Ezeadi and Ogbazi (1988) including the following.
It lacks the necessary feedback that would allow the teacher to assess his instructional strategies and instruments. The system was not comprehensive enough at it make use of examination and text as only technique for assessment of learning outcome. The inherited systems of assessment encourage examination mal-practice since the end of term exam determines who pass of fall. Therefore, students are conscious of the fact that their future depends solely on the result to cheat al all cost and take the examination as a matter of life and death. The system also denies the teachers the opportunity to participate in the final assessment of his students hence teachers are not been flexible and innovative in their mode of teaching more often than not they rigidly stick to the examination syllabus. Decision about the learners is made at the year course when it is already late to give any guidance service that help the students improve on their learning.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Despite the numerous recommendations so for advanced by contemporary educationists, the practice and implementation of continuous assessment on the part of most teachers is still nothing to write home about. The aim of any teaching-learning processes is the modification of behaviour of the learners social studies is one of the area where teachers still fraught the assessment and evaluation of learning outcomes and in most cases resort to the old practice of assessment at the end of the course in making final decision about the individual learners.
It is against this ground, this research is undertaken to critically investigate the importance of using continuous assessment as a major strategy in the evaluation of social studies.