RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF-CONCEPT AND EXAMINATION MISCONDUCT TENDENCY AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between self-concept and examination misconduct tendency among secondary school students in Anambra State, Nigeria. The study was guided by three research questions and three null hypotheses tested at the 0.05 level of significance. A correlational research design was adopted, and a total of 12,978 SSII students in Public secondary schools constitute the population of the study. Also, 1,228 secondary school students drawn from both arts and science classes across the state participated in the study. Data were collected using two standardized questionnaires entitled “Self-Concept Questionnaire (SCQ)”, and “Examination Misconduct Tendencies Questionnaire (EMTQ)”. Data were collected through direct delivery method and analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and t-test of correlation. Findings revealed that there was a very low positive but non-significant relationship between students’ self-concept and examination misconduct tendencies (r = 0.019, p > 0.05). Furthermore, when disaggregated by academic discipline, self-concept contributed minimally to such behaviour among both arts and ecience students. It was recommended that school counsellors and teachers should always consider students self-concepts and design programmes for the enhancement to enable students move away from examination misconducts. The findings have implications for counselling practice, school administration, and educational policy formulation.