Exploring Teachers’ Perceptions on History Public Examinations Performance in Five High Schools in Maseru

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to explore teachers’ perceptions on performance in History public examinations. Moreover, the study intended to explore the views of teachers on the status of History in the national curriculum, considering learners’ performance in History public examinations. The study was further aimed at investigating how History teachers perceive the factors influencing the performance of History learners in public examinations. Therefore, understanding the status of History in the national curriculum and factors influencing History learners in public examinations can help raise awareness among educational stakeholders, including History teachers, on how to deal with the unacceptable status of History and the negative factors influencing the performance of History learners. The study was to further explore teachers’ suggestions on mitigation of History learners’ performance in public examinations. In order to achieve the main purpose of the study, the research employed the interpretivism paradigm as the theoretical lens of this study. Further, the study employed a qualitative study and a case study design. Five schools and seven History teachers were selected using the purposive sampling technique. Open-ended questionnaires, field notes, and semi-structured interviews were used to generate data. The study further used both manual inductive and deductive thematic analysis to analyse data. The findings of this study uncovered that History is performed poorly in public examinations. The findings further revealed that despite the benefits of History in the national curriculum, this poor performance may result in an unacceptable status for History, which may lead to the subject being completely removed from the syllabus. The semi-structured interviews discovered the following major factors influencing the performance of History teachers: improper training of History teachers on how to teach, unclear communication between Examination Council of Lesotho and History teachers, and incompetence of History teachers. As a result, the study recommends training in-service History teachers on how to teach, mark, assess learners, and use technology in the teaching of History. The study also recommends that teachers should give learners more frequent assessments and immediate feedback and correct them to enhance their performance in History public examinations.