Teachers’ Self- Perceived Professional Development Needs Regarding Classroom Assessment Skills

Although classroom assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning in schools, many teachers still lack the necessary assessment skills to judge students‟ performance, achievements or learning outcomes. Most of the classroom teachers are not competent, efficient and knowledgeable in classroom assessment procedures in order to make correct decisions about students‟ learning outcomes or achievements and also improve on teaching processes in the classroom. The purpose of this study is to investigate the teachers‟ self perceived professional development needs of junior secondary school teachers in Botswana in relation to classroom assessments skills. A four (4) likert scale questionnaire consisting of thirty statements on the concept of effective classroom assessment skills was constructed and administered to eighty junior secondary school teachers in the Southern region of Botswana. The questionnaire consisted of statements on classroom assessment techniques and the teachers were asked to indicate whether or not they require more professional developmental training. The responses of the teachers were analysed statistically using descriptive statistics, one sample t-test and independent t-test at 0.05 alpha level to test for significance. The results from the analysis of teachers‟self perceived professional development needs on classroom assessment indicated that junior secondary teachers still lack classroom assessments skills to a large extent. This has implications for immediate professional development of junior secondary teachers on classroom assessment skill for effective learning and teaching