The West African Examination Council has organised a training for over 400 secondary school teachers from public schools in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.
The training was on how to improve teaching and learning in these schools.
Speaking at the opening of the training, jointly organised by WAEC and the FCT Education Secretariat, the Head of National Office, WAEC, Charles Eguridu, said the council was concerned about the poor performance of candidates in West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
Mr. Eguridu said an in-depth research revealed a number of factors responsible for the worrisome trend.
The Deputy Registrar, Patrick Areghian, who represented Mr. Eguridu said there have been a gap in the interpretation of the curriculum with relation to the examination syllabus.
He explained that an inappropriate implementation of the syllabus was another reason why candidates performed woefully in the council’s examinations.
“Rarely do teachers cover the syllabus,” he said. “Whereas, the WAEC, for example, sets questions on all aspects of the syllabus. This, no doubt, puts candidates at a great disadvantage.”
Mr. Areghian said the training was designed to highlight the evil of examination malpractice. He noted that there was a need to avoid or curb it as well as maintain the validity and reliability of WAEC examinations and up-hold the integrity of certificates awarded.
He said the training was intended to correct the imbalance and enhance the quality of teaching and learning in schools and the performance of candidates.
He added that the council had also identified the gap between teacher-made tests and standardized tests, like WAEC tests. He noted that even when students exceled in the internal examination, they failed woefully in the external examination.
“The reason for this is not farfetched,” he said. “It is because they are not being exposed to the nature of standardized tests.”
He assured that the training would equip teachers with item-writing skills with a view to closing the gap between teacher-made tests and standardized tests.
Premium Times
No comments:
Post a Comment