Teachers’ Perceptions on Oral Questioning as a Method of Assessment of Holistic Development among Kenyan Lower Primary Schools Learners

The purpose of the study was to establish Teachers’ Perception on Oral Questioning as a Method of Assessment of Holistic Development among lower public primary school learners in Kisumu Central Sub-County, Kenya. The Humanistic holistic development of Abrahams Maslow’s theory guided the study. The research design employed was concurrent triangulation design.The target population for the study was 234 lower primary school teachers, 90 ECDE teachers and 30 head-teachers, and a sample size of 184 participants was used.Simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques were used to select study participants. The instruments used in the study were questionnaires and interview schedules. Validity of the instruments was ensured by expert judgment of the university lecturers while the reliability was ensured by internal consistency and a reliability coefficient of 0.892 was reported. Trustworthiness of qualitative data was also ensured. Quantitative data was descriptively analysed by the use of percentages, frequencies and means while Qualitative data was analysed using Thematic Analysis.The study found that oral questioning was perceived to be effective in assessing emotional, cognitive, social and personality development. However, it was also reported that oral questioning was not effective in assessment of aspects such as physical growth and development, spiritual development, moral development which are crucial forms of holistic development among early childhood learners. The study recommended that the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development should come up with clear policies regarding assessment of ECDE learners so that the holistic development of the learners is taken into account during the assessment process.