SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THE CAUSES OF EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
    The study focuses on secondary school students' perception of the causes of examination malpractice. Evidence abound of increasing incidents of examination malpractices by students at schools and colleges, which conflict the core purpose of education – the training of the mind and character for the acquisition of practical and theoretical skills, knowledge and functional ideas for development, and the search for truth and knowledge and the creation and communication of ideas (Nanna, 1977; Peterson, 1988 as cited in Aaron, 1992).
    In Nigeria, there first publicly reported case of examination malpractice occurred in 1914 when there was a leakage of question papers in the senior Cambridge local examination. Ever since, there have been cases of irregularities reported on a yearly basis. The outstanding years were 1963, 1967, 1970, 1973 etc. (West African Examination Council, 2004). The major forms of examination malpractice reported are: impersonation, bringing in foreign materials like books, calculators etc., substituting work scripts, collusion in the examination hall (copying), mass/organized cheating involving assistance from teachers and outsiders, and insult/assault on supervisors/invigilators (Oluyegba & Daramola, 1992). This trend in examination malpractice is inimical to academic development and advancement and need to be drastically addressed.

Use of Theory of Measurement Error to Explain the Menace of Examination Malpractice

The harm perpetuated by examination malpractice can be properly understood by using a popular educational measurement equation, which is:
    X = T ± E
Where X = Observed score (one given by examiner to any student in a given examination as representing the student's ability).
T = True score (one representing the actual or the ability of the student devoid of all mistakes/errors).
E = Error Score (one representing the errors/mistakes purposely or inadvertently introduced into the measurement process to either inflate or deplete the student's score in a given examination).
It is to be noted that the undeserved or strange scores brought about by examination malpractice is embedded in error score (E). A cursory look at the equation shows that:
i.    The difference between X and T is the error score (E);
ii.    It is our noble desire that as much as possible, X is close to, if not equal to T;
iii.    The smaller the value of E, the closer is X to T (infact, if E is Zero, X = T). Conversely, the bigger the value of E (courtesy of examination malpractice), the farther is X from T.

Various Dimensions of Examination Malpractice

Examination malpractice occurs in various dimensions in the school system, and at different stages of the examination namely: pre-examination phase, during examination and post-examination phase. At each phase, the formal dimensions differ, sometimes; the dimensions are peculiar to institutions of learning where examination malpractice is practiced.
A.    Pre-Examination Phase: Before the commencement of most public examinations, some misconducts normally occur which include:
i.    Registration of non-school candidates for monetary gains by the school administrators.
ii.    Migration from towns to interior villages by students/candidates, some of them supported by their parents/guardians.
iii.    False continuous assessment scores by teachers.
iv.    Registration of more candidates then the available functional sitting capacity in most examination centres.
v.    Collection of money from candidates prior to examination dates by invigilators/supervisors to facilitate malpractices at examination halls.

Causes of Examination Malpractice

Examination malpractice is caused by many factors which include:
a.    Student Factors: The students are the primary culprits in all matters of examination malpractice. Factors under student issues include:
i.    Laziness and lack of interest in academic work. Most students are generally lazy, they do not attend classes as at when due, and so become ill-prepared for examinations. Students often think they will be helped during examinations; therefore they pay little or no attention to hard work.
ii.    Inability of the students to cope with school work (examination expectations).
iii.    Inadequate preparation for examination by students is another major student factor that contributes to examination malpractice. Most students have very poor study habits and cannot cover their syllabuses before examination.

Dangers and Consequences of Examination Malpractice

Examination malpractice is a social evil that can damage society to the extent of possibly leading to a failed state. It has very serious economic, political and social consequences. In the last ten years alone, the West African Examination Council (WAEC) had to cancel the results of 814,699 candidates in its May/June Examination (Aminu, 2006). Considering the cost of buying examination forms alone, this amount to a waste of about 2.5 billion naira. Apart from direct wastage of money, there is also wastage in the form of opportunity cost to the nation and society.
    Examination malpractice renders the goals of education invalid. The actualization of the goals of education will continue to be a mirage if the scourge of examination malpractice is not eradicated from the system. The country will end up producing graduates who lack the knowledge, skill, and competence to exploit the resources of the nation. Besides, the graduates will lack the right type of values and attitude needed for survival in a globalized economy.

Implications for Counselling in Examination Malpractice

If credence is to be given to certificates from Nigerian schools, and if the products are to be given the much desired respect in the international labour market, there is the great need for revolutionary steps to be taken by stakeholders of the educational sector and society in general to eradicate the crisis of examination misconduct currently pervading the Nigerian school system. In addition, in view of the fact that parents, guardians and teachers are the main custodians of the students there is need to carry out a pragmatic counselling interventions on these groups of stakeholders.
    The results of this study point to the fact that the majority of students have a wrong notion about examination ethics. For example, they conceive examination ethics to include the parents supporting their children to cheat; and school principals arranging corporate cheating in their schools. It is in this regard that school counsellors may consider advocating the introduction of examination ethics club and through the club activities; useful information will be disseminated to all students and staff of the institutions. School counsellors could even go further by collaborating with examination ethics club to arrange debates in the media to create public awareness about the virtues of examination ethics.

SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THE CAUSES OF EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE

ABSTRACT
This study investigated secondary school students' perception of the causes of examination malpractice in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State. to direct the collection of data, two research questions and hypotheses were raised and formulated. The population for the study was compromised of five government and private schools in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State. A sample of three hundred (300) respondents was selected using stratified random sampling technique. Research instrument in the form of questionnaire was drawn up for testing the population. In analyzing the data, the researcher used mean and standard deviation to test the research questions, while t-test statistics was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Data from the study revealed that bad peer group can influence the cause of examination malpractice as perceived by students. Based on the findings from the study, some recommendations were made.