Social Studies tutors’ cognition in formative assessment in colleges of education in Ghana.

The cognition base of Social Studies tutors in formative assessment in Colleges of Education has become very important since their products will be found in basic schools to teach. It is therefore paramount that college tutors have a positive knowledge base of formative assessment and be able to follow laid down procedures in administering formative assessment in their colleges. This study adopted a multiple case study research design. The study was carried out in three Colleges of Education in the Central Region of Ghana. The data were used together to form one case. Both the tutors and the colleges were purposively and conveniently selected for the study. Interviews and classroom observation were used for data collection. It was revealed that formative assessment is the hands-on-deck process of information on the student’s academic achievements in the classroom. It is the type of assessment which is ongoing or goes on in the course of instructional delivery. It was recommended that since curriculum dictates what is taught and assessed in an educational institution, the University of Cape Coast (the examining body) should re-orient its course content for Colleges of Education to be more of skills acquisition, positive attitudes, values and not the over-emphasised knowledge components as revealed by tutors.