THE ASSOCIATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL-RELATED FACTORS WITH EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The incidence of examination malpractice which started as a minor misdemeanor several decades ago has become a permanent feature of Nigerian educational system. Efforts by educational stakeholders through sanctions to stem the tide have not yielded meaningful results; hence the need for further investigation into factors that promote students involvement in malpractices. In this study, the association between environmental-related factors and examination malpractice in secondary schools was evaluated.

The study adopted a survey research design of ex-post facto type. Participants for the study were 400 teachers who have served as examination invigilators in schools.  Multi-stage sampling technique was used to get the sample size in three geo-political zones: South-South, North-Central and North-East of the country. The instrument used was Examination Environment Questionnaire (r=0.85). Five research hypotheses were tested in the study while chi square was used to analyse the data at 0-05 confident limit.

Result shows that environmental-related factors are significantly associated with student involvement in examination malpractice: lack of conducive examination halls (? ²= 4.243; P values = 0.039; P = <0.05); inadequate seating facilities (? ²= 4.751; P values = 0.029; P = <0.05); Seat arrangement  (? ²= 14.123; P values = 0.001; P = <0.05); Invigilator/examinee ratio (?²=6.642;Pvalues=0.036).                                                                                                                                                                                                   

The provision of adequate resource materials will promote healthy examination environment, positively influence student’s attitude during examination and minimize incidence of examination malpractice in secondary schools in Nigeria.