Assessment of Primary School Teachers’ Knowledge of Higher Order Thinking Skills in Ilorin West Local Government Area

Abstract

Learners in the 21st century need to be equipped with knowledge and skills that would enable them to think critically and creatively. This can be achieved through the teacher's knowledge of the subject matter. Based on this, the researcher examined primary school teachers’ knowledge of higher order thinking skills in Ilorin West Local Government Area. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design using a sample size of 347. An instrument tagged Teachers' Knowledge of Higher Order Thinking Skills (TKHOTS) developed by the researcher was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by experts in measurement and evaluation and primary education studies. Three research hypotheses were formulated for the study and the data were analysed using Analysis of variance and T-test. The results of the study show that there is a significant difference in primary school teachers' knowledge of higher-order thinking skills based on teachers’ qualifications, years of experience and gender. The results also show that the majority of respondents for this study were females representing 81.5% of teachers. The study concluded that there is a significant difference in primary school teachers’ knowledge of higher order thinking skills. The following recommendations were made: school administration should provide regular teacher training and there should be an adequate resource and support system for teachers’ professional development.