ABSTRACT
The study investigated the Staff Development Programmes as Determinants of Teachers’ Job Performance in Secondary Schools in South-East, Nigeria. Five research questions and five null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted a correlational survey research design. The population of the study is 29, 445 which comprised 28,015 teachers and 1, 430 principals. Based on Morgan’s Table of (1970) formula for determining sample size from a known/finite population, a total sample of 682 respondents consisting of principals and teachers were proportionately drawn from the 303 selected secondary schools that constitute the sample. Two instruments titled Staff Development Programmes Questionnaire (SDPQ) and Teachers’ Job Performance Questionnaire (TJPQ) were developed by the researcher and used for the study. The instruments were validated by three experts, two from Educational Management and Measurement and Evaluation, all from Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. Reliability indices of 0.85 and 0.77 for stability and 0.84 and 0.82 for internal consistency of SDPQ and TJPQ respectively were obtained. Pearson’s r, R2 (coefficient of determination) was used to answer the research questions and Pearson’s r correlation matric with alpha was also used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 levels of significance. The findings revealed that in-service training determined teachers’ job performance in secondary schools to a high extent, workshop determined teachers’ job performance in secondary schools to a moderate extent, mentoring programmes positively determined teachers’ job performance in secondary schools to a high extent, supervision determined teachers’ job performance in secondary schools to a high extent and Skills upgrading courses determined teachers’ job performance in secondary schools to a high extent. The conclusion was that Staff Development Programmes like In-service training, workshops, conferences, meeting of professional association as well as supervision among others determined Teachers’ Job Performance in Secondary Schools in South-East, Nigeria. It was thus recommended among others that Teachers should apply and attend Workshops or Skill upgrading courses to improve their performance in instructional delivery in secondary schools. School administrators should increase their number of supervision to classrooms to enhance teachers’ development and performance in classrooms in secondary schools. The Secondary Education Management Boards (SEMB) should regularly approve teachers study leave to enable them attend staff development programme for higher performance after the training.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Cover
Page
Title
Page i
Certification ii
Declaration iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgements v
Table
of Contents
vi
List
of Tables vii
List
of Figures viii
Abstract
ix
CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background to the Study 1
1.2
Statement of the Problem 6
1.3
Purpose of the Study 8
1.4
Research Questions 8
1.5
Research Hypotheses 9
1.6
Significance of the Study 9
1.7
Scope of the Study 11
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW
OF RELATED LITERATURE-
2.1 Conceptual Framework 12
2.1.1 Concept
of secondary education 12
2.1.2 Concept
of teaching 15
2.1.3 Concept
of teachers’ job performance 21
2.1.4 Staff
Development Programmes 24
2.1.4.1 In-service training 24
2.1.4.2 Workshops for teachers’ job performance 28
2.1.4.3 Mentoring programmes for teachers 31
2.1.4.4 Supervision and teachers job performance 33
2.1.4.5
Techniques of supervision 34
2.1.4.6 Skills upgrading courses for teachers 36
2.2
Theoretical Framework 46
2.2.1 Jacob
Mincer’s Theory of Human Capital Development. (1958) 46
2.2.2 Constructivism
Learning Theory Piaget (1980) 47
2.2.3 Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs Theory 48
2.2.4 Theory
of Job Performance McGregor (1960) 49
2.3 Empirical Studies 50
2.4 Summary of Literature Review 65
CHAPTER 3:
METHODOLOGY
3.1
Design of the study 67
3.2
Area of the study 68
3.3
Population of the study 69
3.4
Sample and sampling techniques 69
3.5
Instrument for data collection 70
3.6
Validation of the instrument 71
3.7
Reliability of the instrument 71
3.8
Method of data collection 72
3.9
Method of data analysis 73
CHAPTER
4:RESULTS AND DISCUSION
4.1 Results
and discussions 74
4.2 Findings
of the study
79
4.3 Discussion
of the findings 80
4.4 Summary
of findings of the study 80
CHAPTER
5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary 85
5.2 Conclusion
87
5.3 Recommendations 87
5.4 Educational Implications of the Study 88
5.5
Limitations of the study 89
5.6 Suggestions for Further Study 90
References 91
LIST
OF TABLES
4.1:
Correlation Matrix of In-Service Training and Teachers’ Job
Performance in Secondary Schools 74
4.2: Correlation Matrix of Workshop and Teachers’
Job
Performance in Secondary Schools 75
4.3: Correlation Matrix of Mentoring Programme and
Teachers’ Job
Performance in Secondary Schools 76
4.4: Correlation Matrix of Supervision and
Teachers’ Job Performance
in Secondary Schools 77
4.5: Correlation Matrix of Skills Upgrading
Courses and Teachers’ Job
Performance in Secondary Schools 78
CHAPTER
1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Teachers constitute an important factor in the
implementation of the school curriculum. The teacher is the human resource
required for effective implementation of any educational system necessary to
promote national development. The teacher makes it possible for teaching and
learning to occur through manipulation of learning environment (Obunadike &
Uzoechina 2015). Teaching
as a complex activity demands a variety of knowledge due to its varied task in
delivering quality curriculum content to learners in secondary schools. This
assertion made Hammad (2001) to point out that the simple most important
determinant of what students learn is what teachers know. It therefore, implies
that teaching as a profession demands continuous development of knowledge and
ability through staff development programmes. The teaching force in the
nation’s secondary education system should remain productive if it must achieve
national development goals (Okeke, 2004). Secondary school level is a crucial
stage in the career choice of young adults all over the world. It is a form of education children receive
after primary education and before tertiary stage and it is aimed at preparing
the youth for useful leaving within the society, for those who are able and
willing for the preparation for higher education (Adeogun, 2002).
The only way teachers can be productive in their job
performance in secondary schools in South-East Nigeria, is through regular
training and re-training of staff with staff development programmes. At a
little space of time, the teacher’s stock of knowledge and requisite skills
become obsolete following contemporary issues and hence, requires refreshing
and regular updates. According to Ornstein and Levine, (2006) and Afangideh,
(2010), in separate assertions maintained that teacher’s job performance can be
achieved through the valuable staff development programmes which are vital
instruments for ensuring the continuous growth of teachers in knowledge, skills
and attitude in line with the changes in the educational system and the
expectations of the society. Staff as discussed in this study explains teaching
staff. That is, teachers who are vested with the onerous task of classroom
instructions, who break down the curriculum content of each subject to students
for the improvement of understanding and higher academic performance. These teachers could either be teaching in
urban secondary schools or rural secondary schools.
Rural areas are areas that are referred to as
countryside or remote villages. These communities can be exemplified with a low
ratio of inhabitants to open space. Agricultural activities may be prominent in
this case whereas economic activities would relate to the primary sector,
production of foodstuffs and raw materials (Tacoli, 2008). Whereas, urban areas
are places or towns with a population density of at least 500 persons per square
kilometer. The urban status also applies to centres with the following
infrastructure: a parallel or right-angled street pattern; at least six
commercial, manufacturing or similar establishments; at least three of the
following: a town hall, church or chapel; a public plaza, park or cemetery; a
market place or building where trading activities are carried out at least once
a week; and a public building such as a school, a hospital or a library
(Tacoli,).
Teachers’
development programmes are planned organizational activities aimed at improving
and increasing teachers’ skills and knowledge to enable them meet the demands
of the teaching job (Akpan, 2009). It focuses on improving the conceptual
skills and intellectual abilities needed to do a better job. Adeogun (2006)
stated that teachers’ development programmes are associated with the general
improvement of teachers in terms of behaviour, attitudes, skills, knowledge,
and perception and in the performance of their teaching duties. Alabi (2002)
maintained that the immediate aim of staff development programmes is to improve
the job performance of those with teaching responsibilities, while the ultimate
aim is the improvement of teaching and learning processes.
Staff
development programmes through in-service training, workshops, conferences and supervision
offer one of the most promising ways for improving classroom instructions. It
is an attempt to assist the classroom teachers to improve on their teaching
strategies, techniques, handle new instructional materials or possess the
necessary information and skills that are required for effective lesson
delivery (Abdulrahaman, 2015). Staff development programmes for teachers include supervision, in-service
training, seminars, workshops, conferences, study leave. (Afangideh, 2010).
There are also other staff development activities that are relevant to teachers
in terms of improving their job performance and classroom instructions in
secondary schools. These are training sessions, mentoring and teachers’ network,
(Nnabuo & Onyeike, 2007).
Teachers’
job performance can be accessed through a variety of dimensions, such as
teachers’ capabilities, competencies, results and outcomes of teachers’ work
usually summed up and termed job performance. In the educational system like
the secondary schools, effective job performance refers to how a teacher
performs his professional duties in the school or specifically, classroom
setting. Shah (2007) averred that teachers’ job performance refers to
observable behaviours, both verbal and non-verbal, a teacher-behaviour which
sometimes appears as a result of or in the form of student’s achievement.
The
relevance of staff development programmes to teachers’ job performance in
secondary schools of the South-East Nigeria cannot be under estimated. This is
in terms of helping teachers to effectively manage teaching and learning
processes in classroom situation, enhance teacher’s use of various teaching
methods that will increase job performance, enhance the use of instructional
materials for teacher’s job performance
and supervision which gives teachers the opportunity to receive
professional guidance from experts and professionals in the teaching
profession.
Every
teacher requires a specialized skill for diversifying his method of teaching in
the classroom, depending on the assessment of student’s characteristic
dispositions. Some students learn faster than the others, some are slow
learners, yet all the students in a particular class need to grasp the lesson
taught in the class for academic and personal use (Tacoli, 2008). It then
depends on the teacher to use the method or a combination of methods required
for a particular lesson since no method is recommended for continuous use for
teaching at all times and in all lessons.
According to Aboyeji in Ngwu (2009), development programmes are ways of
acquiring relevant special knowledge, information, and skills for better
performance in the work environment. Through these means, teachers are exposed
to new developments and modern methods of carrying out their functions in the
school organization. For teachers to maintain a good level of job performance
as well as improve on their methods of performance in lesson delivery for
students, professional guidance is required for teachers in secondary schools.
This professional guidance is given through supervision of classroom
instruction to enable teachers know the best approach to use when delivering
lessons in classrooms. This is so as to boost their performances and meet with contemporary
methods of teachers’ performance through the professional guidance of
supervisors. Supervision provides opportunities for teachers to be groomed
through critical study of instructional processes and classroom interactions to
carry out their teaching tasks in line with professional codes of conduct. If
schools are not supervised adequately, it will have inimical effects on the
students’ output and the educational objectives may not be achieved.
Consequently, various instructional supervisory techniques should be employed
to ensure quality and quantity service delivery by the teachers (National Open
University of Nigeria (NOUN), 2006. Supervision is the process of helping,
guiding, advising and stimulating growth in teachers in order to improve the
quality of teaching (Okorji & Ogbo, 2013)
The
enormous benefits of training and development to teachers in secondary schools
for improved job performance in South-East Nigeria cannot be overemphasized.
This training and development of teachers can be done through staff development
programmes like in-service training, workshops, conferences, meetings of
professional association as well as supervision. When these trainings are
acquired adequately, teachers become equipped with adequate knowledge and
information which will influence classroom instruction and enhance their job
performance. This is in terms of diversification of methods of instruction,
effective use of instructional materials and effective classroom management.
Despite
the huge benefits staff development programmes provide to the teaching and
learning processes as well increasing the job performance of teachers in secondary
schools in South-East Nigeria, government is still lagging behind in the
provision and funding of staff development programmes for teachers. This shows
in the laxity on the part of the government to fund programmes for teachers
development as well as laxity in the part of professionals (principals and
experienced teachers) guiding and mentoring new teachers on the job due to low
morale and poor motivation. This demoralizing situation is assumed to affect students’
academic performance as secondary schools in South East Nigeria, churn out
thousands of secondary school graduates with performance in both internal and
external examinations like West African Examination Council (WAEC), National Examination
Council (NECO), National Board of Technical Examination Council (NABTEB),
etcetera. This background in South-East Nigeria, prompted Elozieuwa (2012) to
posit that poor training and development of secondary
school teachers, which has over time resulted to poor teachers’ job
performance, has become a menace to secondary schools in South-Eastern Nigeria,
in terms of teaching and learning processes as well as improved teachers’ job
performance. It is on this background that the researcher tends to
determine how staff development programmes predicts teachers’ job performance in
secondary schools in South-East Nigeria.
1.2 STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM
Scholars
around the world have continued to maintain that no nation can rise above the
quality of her teachers. The case is not different in South-East Nigeria. Over
the years in Nigeria, the teaching profession was held in high esteem and
prestige due to training and development programmes from the British Colonial
Masters. Hence, for you to be a teacher at any educational level in Nigeria,
you must have attained a particular level of professional standard resulting
from training acquired like teacher education and at least a national certificate
in education . It is no longer so today, as the reverse is the case. This is in
regards to levels of education, primary, secondary and tertiary. The reason is
because teaching job is yet to be fully accorded professional status by both
the government and the society as it is presently relegated to the last option
for job seekers. Hence, half-baked and non-professionals are all recruited to
the teaching profession to teach future generation, contributing to a fall in
the standard of education.
Again,
quality control through regulatory activities such as supervision and
professional development are always abandoned in the hands of less experienced
personnel. Also on the part of government, poor and inadequate funding of
education has been the major challenge school managers grapple with each
academic year in running educational institutions like the secondary schools.
This appalling situation reflects in the academic performance of students, in character
and learning, teachers’ job performance and morale resulting to low standard of
education and overall poor national development. Teachers who are the core
curriculum implementers require regular professional training to meet up with
contemporary trends, without such training, teachers will make the teaching and
learning processes uninteresting and then dampen their job performance as well
as the academic performance of the learners. When this happens, they can hardly
diversify classroom activities to suit learners and qualitatively influence
learning outcomes despite their high academic qualifications and years of
experience in the teaching profession. It then implies that improving teachers’
performance through diversifying teaching methods for effective teaching and
instructional delivery in secondary schools in South-East Nigeria is by
developing the teachers through staff development programmes. The challenge is
that even when the Nigerian government and other international organizations
have recognized that the educational standard of Nigeria is low as it affects
the kind of graduates produced in Nigerian secondary schools, government hardly
organizes regular staff development programmes for teachers in secondary schools
like in-service training, workshops, mentoring, supervision and skill upgrading
courses to enable them stay up to date in the teaching profession. This will
help them acquire new knowledge, upgrade old knowledge to enhance their job
performance. It is in the light of this background that the study intended to
find out how staff development programmes like In-service training, workshop,
mentoring, supervision and skills upgrading courses would serve as determinants
of teachers’ job performance in secondary schools in South-East Nigeria. Put
alternatively, the problem this study intends to solve is looking out for a
holistic approach of staff development programmes and making the stake-holders involved
be aware of the importance of the programmes for better improvement of
teachers’ job performance.
1.3 PURPOSE
OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study
was to find out how staff development programmes serve as determinants of
teachers’ job performance in secondary schools in South Eastern Nigeria.
Specifically, the study sought to:
1.
find out the relationship
between in-service training and teachers’ job performance in secondary schools
2.
ascertain how workshop
relate to teachers’ job performance in
secondary schools
3.
determine the
relationship between mentoring programmes and teachers’ job performance in secondary
schools
4.
ascertain the
relationship between supervision and teachers’ job performance in secondary
schools
5.
find out how skills
upgrading courses relate to teachers’ job performance in secondary schools
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The
following research questions were formulated to guide the study.
1.
To what extent does
in-service training relate to teachers’ job performance in secondary schools?
2.
To what extent does workshop
relate to teachers’ job performance in secondary schools?
3.
What is the extent to
which mentoring programmes relate to teachers’ job performance in secondary schools?
4.
To what extent does
supervision relate to teachers’ job performance in secondary schools?
5.
What is the extent to
which skills upgrading courses relate to teachers’ job performance in secondary
schools?
1.5 HYPOTHESES
The
following null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance.
Ho1: In-service
training does not significantly relate to teachers’ job performance in
secondary schools.
Ho2: Workshop
does not significantly relate to teachers’ job performance in secondary
schools.
Ho3: Mentoring
programme does not significantly relate to teachers’ job performance in
secondary schools.
Ho4: Supervision
does not significantly relate to teachers’ job performance in secondary
schools.
Ho5: Skills
upgrading courses does not significantly serves as a determinant of teachers’
job performance in secondary schools.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The findings of
this study will be useful to the Federal Government, Federal Ministry of
Education, Curriculum Planners, Teachers, Students and the society at large.
The findings of
this study will be useful to the Federal government in terms of making the
Federal Government aware of the level of adequacy of staff development
programmes required for building the capacity of teachers in secondary schools
in South Eastern Nigeria. These enable teachers teach their various subject
matters effectively and efficiently, because the Federal Government is
responsible for making available needed resources for the professional
development of teachers through staff development programmes. The findings will
enable the Federal Government in the implementation of educational policies and
programmes.
From the findings
of this study, the Federal Ministry of Education through the State Ministries
of Education and Secondary Education Management Boards (SEMB) will be made
aware of the need for a regular staff development programmes and updates. This
will enable teachers in secondary schools in South-East Nigeria to be
adequately equipped to meet up with the demands of their teaching jobs in
secondary schools. The findings in effect will make the work easily accessible
to Ministry of Education.
The findings of the study will be
useful to Curriculum Planners, as it will help them identify the weaknesses or
loopholes in the present teacher education curriculum following contemporary
issues and new experiences acquired hence, strategize ways of improving the
curriculum like entrenching the provision of adequate resources to enhance
effective organization of staff development programmes for the implementation
of the curriculum in secondary schools in South-East Nigeria. The research work
as well as result of the findings will be published in local and international
journals to help curriculum planners.
The
result of the study will be useful to teachers, as it will become an important
way for teachers to refresh and deepen their knowledge of their own subjects
and learn new ways to help students learn. The development programmes are ways
that teachers can take the initiative to strengthen their professional skills
and help their students succeed in their academics. The students will perform
better with the teachers who gained a deeper understanding of how students
learn. The teachers will more likely pose complex problems, work to understand
how students process those problems, and help students find different and more
effective ways to answer questions. Teachers
will be able to prepare their students to succeed in a changing world, they
need to be able to teach students how to use emerging technologies, how to
navigate evolving workplaces, how to communicate effectively, and how to think
critically and solve problems.
Furthermore,
the result of the findings will become a reference material for further studies
to researchers and will help them gain insights about various challenges
teachers face in secondary schools as pertaining to regular staff development
programmes, hence, advocate through research the importance of programmes that
will build the capacity of teachers in secondary schools. The researcher will
in effect see the gap and the need to make further enquiries.
The
result of the findings will become a strong professional development component
for students because it will show to yield better student retention rate and
better student performance in developmental courses than those without teachers
that are trained in staff development programmes. Students
also benefit when teachers get the chance to work through the same types of
problems they will later pose to students, examine new parts of the curriculum,
and improve their own knowledge and understanding of the subjects they teach.
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The
scope of the study was written under geographical scope and content scope. The
study focused on Staff Development programmes as determinants of teachers’ job
performance in secondary schools in South-East Nigeria. The geographical scope
of the study was South-East Nigeria which is: Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and
Imo States. By every standard, South-East Nigeria has education as its largest
industry employing good number of teachers with varying entry qualifications.
South-East Nigeria on record has a good number of secondary schools distributed
across the geo-political zone. This singular characteristic made the researcher
who is also a full time teacher in the zone to settle for South-East Nigeria
for the study. The variables are: in-service training, workshop, mentoring,
supervision and skills upgrading courses.
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