CHANGE OF ASSESSMENT STRUCTURE AND PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF PSLE AGRICULTURE IN BOTSWANA

The purpose of the study was to investigate why changing from multiple choice to structured assessment has an effect on students performance. The study used interviews, document analysis and observations to collect data. Purposive sampling was used to select study participants and all those selected were perceived to be information rich in relation to the problem under investigation Study findings point to the syllabus as a factor promoting the use of structured questions for assessment. The study also revealed that students do not perform well in structured questions due to three main factors being: teacher pedagogy skills, instructional and assessment language and teacher training on Agriculture and availability of learning materials. Revision of the syllabus and in-service training are recommended as possible remedies to the problem.