Demographic Characteristics of Junior High School Teachers as Predictors of Testing Practices in the Sissala East Municipality, Ghana

Abstract

The study investigated the teachers‟ demographic characteristics of Junior High School teachers as predictors of testing practices in the Sissala East Municipality. The study was conducted by employing the descriptive cross-sectional survey design. The target population for the study was basic school teachers totalling, 135 in the Sissala East Municipality. The accessible population was teachers who teach English Language, Mathematics, Integrated Science and Social Studies in the 78 Junior High schools (JHS). Through a multistage sampling procedure, a sample of 55 schools, comprising 220 teachers were used as respondents. The study adapted a Questionnaire which had three hypothetical dimensions for the data collection. The data collected were analysed using, frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviation, multivariate multiple regression and the hierarchical multiple regression. It was found that demographic characteristics of teachers: gender, years of teachers, academic qualification and subject teachers teach, individually, did not significantly predict teachers‟ testing practices. The study also, revealed that teachers‟ demographic characteristics, combined together, did not contribute significantly to the way teachers practise testing. It was concluded that teachers‟ demographic characteristics do not contribute to adherence the basic principles of testing. The Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES) in the Sissala East Municipality is encouraged, as part of their training and development programmes, to continue to organise special seminars and workshops, which would sensitise teachers in the municipality on the essence of developing quality classroom assessments.