Abstract:

The concern of this study is the challenges and prospects of large class size on students’ assessment as a measure for quality assurance in tertiary institution in Nigeria. Every Tertiary institution has quality assurance mechanism coordinated by a body. For the colleges of education, Nigerian Commission for Colleges of education (NCCE) is the body that regulates the institutions. However, because of reasons both internal and external, the institutions are faced with challenges on maintaining the set standard. Among these challenges is the assessment of students due to large class size, which has made achieving the set standards in teaching and learning doubtful. This study therefore seeks to x-ray the challenges faced by tertiary institutions in Nigeria as a result of assessment of students and how they could be reduced or solved. Among the assessment based challenges covered in the study were delay in the release of students’ results and the comparability of students’ scores from members of the teaching team handling the courses. These challenges have introduced serious threat to the validity of the quality of products from these institutions. The use of objective test items in semester examinations for courses with large class size and conversion of students’ scores to standard scores by each member of the team before collation by the course coordinators were recommended.

Keywords:

Quality assurance, Objective test items, team teaching, standard scores and Large class size.