The influence of teachers’ characteristics and school environment on the implementation of classroom assessment practices in English secondary schools in Cameroon

Abstract

Teachers' classroom assessment practices are important elements in the educational system. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of teachers‟ characteristics (qualification, teaching experience) and school environment (class size, motivation and teachers‟ work environment) on geography teachers‟ implementation of classroom assessment practices in English Secondary Schools in Cameroon. A major problem in this study is the grading, feedback and normative paradigm in the Implementation of Classroom Assessment Practices by geography teachers in English Secondary Schools in Cameroon. The mixed method research design was used, with the questionnaire, observation and focus group discussions being the main instruments for the study. The sampling techniques use is the simple random for quantitative data and the purposive sampling for the qualitative data. A total of 278 teachers constituted the sample. The statistical tools used for the analysis is the one-way Analysis of Variance, with degree of freedom (df) 2, 275, at a 0.05 confidence level and the Pearson Product Moment Correlation coefficient, with degree of freedom (df) 276, at a 0.05 confidence level. It was discovered that the better the teachers‟ qualification and teachers‟ motivation, the better the implementation of classroom assessment practices. The research concludes that class size and teachers‟ teaching experience do not influence the implementation of classroom assessment practices in English secondary schools in Cameroon, while the teachers‟ work environment does influence the implementation of classroom assessment practices