Influence of Self-Efficacy and Study Habits on Examination Malpractices in Basic Education Certificate Examination

Abstract

Examination malpractice is inconsiderate, illicit, or unwanted behaviour by learners in a prescribed examination of their knowledge or skill in a specific subject. Education stakeholders in Ghana have expressed worry about the implications this menace has taken on since it works against the growth and aims of the country's educational systems and defuses the purposes of validity and reliability. The study examined the influence of study habits and self-efficacy by learners on examination malpractices in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in the Asante Akim North Municipality. The study was a descriptive survey design with a quantitative method, with a sample size of 274 learners. This was chosen with a multi-stage sampling procedure from an available population of 866 learners. Data was collected using L-EMQ adapted questionnaires with an r = .727 strong correlation coefficient. Frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, Pearson Product Moment correlation, r and Independent Samples T-Test were used to analyse the data collected. The study discovered that the majority of the municipality's learners have high self-efficacy and that it has a significant influence on examination malpractice. The study also found that most learners in the municipality had good study habits because they used distributed learning. It was shown that there is a low-level positive relationship between study habits and examination malpractices. It was recommended to stakeholders (GES, teachers and parents) that they should support initiatives on self-efficacy development to be a major component in child design and development and a measurable consequence of in-service teacher training to enhance learners' self-efficacy.