Ngozi Osarenren, a Professor of Educational Foundation, has charged examination bodies to appoint only invigillators whose integrity they could vouch for to ensure the credibility of their examinations.
Osarenren gave the charge while delivering the 27th Annual West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Endowment Fund Lecture on Monday in Abuja.
The theme of the lecture was: Assessing the Assessors; Looking Back and Looking Forward.
She noted that if the invigillators compromised the integrity of the examination, it would be a minus to the eventual outcome.
“Examination bodies must make concerted efforts in selecting people to serve as supervisors during each examination. We must focus on the integrity of the supervisors.
“Supervisors must be able to live above board in terms of credibility and integrity.
“We must ensure that they are not compromised in the face of juicy offers by principals and school administrators. Once they they compromise, it becomes a problem. Their integrity must be top notch.
“We must refrain from selecting and appointing people we cannot vouch for their integrity.
“Poor and very low pay, however, has proven to be one of the reasons why some examiners, script markers and supervisors would want to compromise the integrity of examinations,” the don noted.
She also listed subject teachers, invigillators, examiners and students as also critical to the integrity of the examination.
Osarenren, of the University of Lagos, added that the quality of teachers was also considered essential in determining the quality of learning outcomes.
She backed her point by quoting a renowned educationist, Prof. Pai Obayan, who noted that a qualified teacher was not necessarily a competent teacher, just like a competent teacher was not also necessarily an efficient teacher.
According to her, a subject teacher must be an effective teacher who would adopt flexible teaching techniques during the presentation of his lessons.
She noted that such teachers must also be able to exhibit creativity by making use of variety of techniques that would assist in enhancing teaching and learning activities.
“Unfortunately, often times, some subject teachers do not reflect what is desired. Some of these teachers do not even adequately cover the syllabus, just as some difficult topics are not taught.
“This may primarily be due to the fact that the teachers themselves do not understand such topics, hence, their inability to teach same to the students,” she stated.
Osarenren, a former Commissioner for Education in Edo, also blamed the attitude of some students toward learning.
According to her, the attitude of many students to school and schooling has increasingly become a source of concern to stakeholders in the education sector.
“There is direct relationship between students’ values orientation and success orientation. The students’ perception of success goes a long way in determining how he or she approaches and prepares for success.
“The interrogation of values orientation and values clarification will give us a proper picture of the success orientation by the students,” she noted.
Osarenren added that the type of upbringing the students were given at home reflected how they behaved and relate with other students in school.
According to her, the content of the students socialisation should be such that will enable them adjust well socially and function appropriately in the classroom.
In his remark, Chairman of WAEC, Prof. Ago Essuman, described the topic as apt and timely, adding that Council would look at the suggestions raised in the course of the lecture and apply it to improve quality service delivery of the examination body.
In his vote of thanks, WAEC’s Head of National Office, Patrick Areghan, assured of council’s commitment to improving the remuneration of supervisors and invigillators.
“I want to assure that beginning from the conduct of this year’s examination for school candidates, we shall increase the fees paid to those who assist us in carrying out the exercise,” he stated.
He added that the issue of continuous assessment in schools would be addressed adequately as council had a way of standardizing the assessments sent by the various schools. (NAN)
