Teachers’ Perception on Observation as a Method of Assessment of Holistic Development among Kenyan Lower Primary Schools Learners

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to establish Teachers’ Perception on observation as a Method of Assessment of Holistic Development among lower public primary school learners in Kisumu Central Sub-County, Kenya. The personal construct theory of Kelly G, (2000) guided the study. The research design employed was concurrent triangulation design.The target population for the study was 234 lower primary school teachers, 90 ECDE teachers30 head-teachers and 3 DICECE officers, and a sample size of 186 participants was used.Stratified random sampling and purposive sampling techniques were used to select study participants. The instruments used in the study were questionnaires and interview schedules. Validity of the instruments was ensured by expert judgment of the university lecturers while the reliability was ensured by internal consistency and a reliability coefficient of 0.892 was reported. Trustworthiness of qualitative data was also ensured. Quantitative data was descriptively analysed by the use of percentages, frequency counts andmean while Qualitative data was analysed using Thematic Analysis.The study revealed that most teachers perceived observation method of assessment very effectiveand assess holistic development of the learners. Observation method of assessment was reported to effectively assess physical domain, emotional domain, social domain, moral domain, spiritual domain and language development. The perception was a bit divergent on whether observation method of assessment could effectively assess the cognitive domain of a child. The study recommended thatearlychildhood development and education teachers and the lower primary teachers should be encouraged to always use observation method when assessing holistic development of the learners.