CHAPTER ONE   INTRODUCTION Background to the Study

Effective administration requires rational decision making which will lead to the selection of the way to reach the anticipated goal. The educational administrator in trying to achieve the ultimate goal of improving learning and learning opportunities to ensure competent products is faced with the responsibility to make decision on such issues as selecting appropriate curriculum, selecting appropriate teaching methods, and selecting appropriate methods for assessing the student’s progress. If appropriate decisions are made on these issues, appropriate educational policies will be made and the goals of education will be met.

  However if inappropriate decisions are made, particularly on methods of assessing students, the society will be exposed to the danger of incompetent practice. This is so because learners who have not acquired the necessary knowledge and skills for competent practice may be certified to be qualified to practice and may not give quality and safe care.

    Generally the school curriculum is organized to expose students to subjects that provide opportunity for them to acquire the knowledge and skills that should help them practice. Sometimes students who have passed written examination and certified fit to practice fail to do so. 

        Considering the legal and financial implications of employee performance and safe practice in a rapidly changing environment, a major concern of an educational administrator of an institution should be to produce manpower that is competent. It is therefore important in assessing students for certification to practice, in this case, in a health care institution, to generate appropriate data that will help in making decision on whether they are able to perform tasks that the knowledge they have acquired should help them to accomplish. This can be done if an appropriate assessment tool is in place.

  Stressing the importance of assessing what nursing care providers can do, not what they know, Del Bueno (1990) cited situations in which people who had performed excellently well in examination had difficulty performing a procedure or recognizing warning signs in patients experiencing difficulty. This kind of situation is unacceptable and informed the reforms in nursing education which led to calls for assessment of clinical performance to contribute to academic qualifications that incorporate professional awards. In response to this call, training institutions have developed clinical assessment tools. However, Redfern, Norman, Calman, Watson & Murrels, (2002)

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