Abstract:
The main purpose of this study was to determine the dependability of the
mentors‘ results of the University of Education, Winneba, School Internship
Programme (UEW-SIP), using Generalizability (G) theory. Inherent in this
purpose were to find the reliability and the sources of error in the mentors‘
results. A random effect one-facet crossed design in which intern (p) was
crossed with occasion (o), was used for the study. The study used eight
purposively selected Faculties out of a total of 14. A total of 9,082 bachelor‘s
degree graduates results for the academic years 2015/2016, 2016/2017 and
2017/2018 were used for the analysis. Data were analysed by performing a
univariate generalizability analysis using EduG version 6.1. It was found that
for relative interpretation, the results were strongly reliable (Coef_G relative
of 0.66 – 0.84) and for absolute interpretation, the results were moderately to
strongly dependable (Coef_G absolute of 0.59 – 0.81). The major source of
error was the intern by occasion (p x o) interaction. The Intern Teaching
Evaluation Form (ITEF), which is the rating scale for evaluating teaching
practice in UEW, was found to be reliable to a greater extent. For most
dependable mentors‘ results while ensuring economy of use of resources in the
UEW-SIP, the optimum number of occasions was found to be five. It was
recommended among other things that, the university supervisors‘ rating
should be increased from one to at least two occasions, so that G theory can be
applied to find the psychometric properties of the results. Again, the number
of occasions for mentors‘ rating in the UEW-SIP should be increased from
three to five to ensure most stable and dependable results.
