Secondary School Teachers’ Perceptions of Assessment

Abstract

Assessment is a vital instrument for enhancing teaching and learning. Perceptions that teachers have on assessment are likely to influence their assessment practices. This study explored perceptions of secondary school teachers on assessment. A total of 4160 Tanzanian teachers were involved in the study. A questionnaire comprising questions that sought to establish demographic information of participants as well as their perceptions on assessment was used. Results show that 50.7 percent of the teachers who participated in the study considered the purpose of assessment is to make decisions on teaching and learning. Perceptions on assessment show that items on the role of assessment in making students concentrate their efforts in learning, making students confident in their final examination and usefulness of feedback in enhancing students’ performance were strongly agreed or agreed by a large proportion of the participants.