ABSTRACT
This study investigated human resources and
students’ academic performance in public senior secondary schools in Education
District IV of Lagos State. Three research questions were answered and three
hypotheses were tested in this study. The population for the research was made
up of all the public senior secondary schools in Lagos State Education District
IV, Lagos State. The simple random sampling technique was used to make the
selection of ten public senior secondary schools. Twenty teachers from each school
were randomly selected from the ten sampled public senior secondary schools in
Education District IV, given a total of 200 teachers. The study used a
descriptive survey research design with the use of questionnaire in the
collection of data from the participants. The Data were analysed with the use
of Chi-square (X2) and correlation statistical tools. The study
found that teachers’ qualification significantly influenced students’ academic
performance; teachers’ years of teaching experience significantly influenced
students’ academic performance and a negative relationship exists between
teacher – student ratio and students’ academic performance. Based on these
findings, it was concluded that teachers’ characteristics such as gender, age,
qualification and years of teaching experience had significant influence on
students’ academic performance. However, it was recommended, among others, that
stakeholders in education should not compromise in the employment of qualified
and experienced teachers; and that there should be provision of more facilities
that will reduce the teacher–student ratio in schools so that academic
performance can be improved.
TABLE OF CONTENT
PAGES
Title
Page
i
Certification
ii
Dedication
iii
Acknowledgments
iv
Table of
Content
v
List of
Tables
vi
Abstract
vii
CHAPTER
ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
Background to the Study 1
Problem
Statement 7
Purpose of
the Study 8
Research
Questions 8
Research
Hypotheses 9
Significance
of the Study 9
Delimitation
of the Study 10
Limitation
of the Study 10
Definition
of Terms 10
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 12
Introduction 12
Conceptual Framework 12
Teachers’ Qualifications and Students’
Academic Performance 16
Teachers’ Experience and Students
’Academic Performance 30
Summary of
Literature Review 38
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 41
Introduction
Research Design 41
Population 41
Sample and
Sampling Procedure 41
Instrumentation 42
Validity
and Reliability of the Research Instrument 42
Method of
Data Collection 42
Method of
Data Analysis 42
CHAPTER
FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 43
OF RESULTS
Introduction 43
Analysis of
Participants Bio – Data 43
Age
Distribution of Participants 43
Answer to
Research Questions 44
Testing of
Hypotheses 48
Discussion
of Findings 50
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION,
IMPLICATIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS 52
Introduction
52
Summary of
the Study 52
Discussion
of Findings 53
Implication
for Administration 54
Implication
for Policy and Planning 54
Suggestions
for Further Studies 55
Conclusion 56
Recommendations
56
References 57
Appendixes 68
LIST
OF TABLES
Table 1: Analysis of Participants’ Bio – Data
Table 2: Age Distribution of Participants
Table 3: Academic
Qualifications of participants
Table 4: Influence
of Teachers’ years of Teaching Experience on Students’ Academic Performance
Table 5: Relationship between Teacher – Student
ratio and Students’
Academic Performance
Table 6: Status
of Teachers’ supply in terms of Qualification and Academic Performance
Table 7: Teachers’
years of Teaching Experience and Academic Performance of Students
Table 8: Relationship between Teacher – Student
ratio and Academic
Performance
of Students
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
to the Study
Education is a very important human activity. It helps any
society to fashion and model individuals in order to function well in their
environment. According to Boit, Njoki and Chang’ach (2012), the purpose of
education is to equip the citizenry to reshape their society and eliminate
inequality. In particular, secondary education is an important sector in
national and individual development. It
plays a vital role in creating a country’s human resource base at a level
higher than primary education (Achoka, Odebero, Maiyo and Mualuko, 2007). Provision of quality secondary education is
therefore important in generating the opportunities and benefits of social and
economic development (Onsumu, Muthaka, Ngware and Kosembei, 2006). One of the
indicators of quality of education according to United Nations Education,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (2005) is cognitive achievement of
learners. Adediwura and Tayo (2007)
opined that, academic achievement is designated by test and examination scores
or marks assigned by the subject teachers.
The Human Resources (HR) of an organization consist of all
staff (teaching, managerial, and technical/support staff) engaged in any of the
organization’s activities. It is well-recognized that the human resources of
any school are its most valuable asset (Achieng, 2012). Despite the scarcity of
resources, there is the need to expand and reform the educational system and
ensure its quality in meeting the popular demand. Of the human resources
required for the production function of the school system, teachers are the
most vital. This is because they play great facilitative role in the teaching –
learning process. According to (Adeyemi and Akposheri, 2009), in spite of the
advancement in science and technology, the teacher is not yet displaced in the
classroom nor has his important role diminished. Teachers seem to have profound
influence in the social – cultural development of their society, since they
influence many values directly or indirectly to their students. No wonder (Chukwu
, 2003), (Famade, 2003), (The National Policy on Education, 2006), (Ibukun,
2009) and (Okebukola, 2010) identified teachers’ quality and dedication as
significant predictors of quality of education.
The success of any organization is a resultant effect of quantity and
quality of its working force. Ibukun as cited in (Adegbemile, 2011) opined that
teacher holds the key to nation building. The aspiration of any nation to
transform into a greater country can only be possible if there are competent
and dedicated teachers to impact the appropriate attitude skills and knowledge.
This is particularly true in learning institutions, where
the people required to do the core work of the organization are highly trained
individuals. In this study, the focus will be on the teaching staff, with no
less regard to the role played by the sub-ordinate staff in ensuring good
academic performance of students such as preparing their meals in time,
transporting them during academic performance enhancing tours, typing and producing
their assessment tests and arranging their laboratories and libraries.
In the United States, a study conducted by Motoko, Akiba,
Gerald Letendre and Scribner (2004), revealed that the countries with better
teachers’ quality produced higher academic achievement. These analyses provide
empirical, cross-national evidence of the importance of investing in teachers’
quality for improving national achievement. Consequently, human resources
management in education implies effectively coordinating the activities of
staff, students and parents so as to achieve educational aims and objectives
(Adeniyi, 2004). The National Policy on Education (FRN, 2004) clearly spells
out the broad responsibilities of managing schools as employment, promotion,
deployment and discipline of teachers among others.
Successive
governments in Nigeria have made efforts towards the effective management of
human resources in educational institutions. The importance of human resources
management has been stated but there is not much information on its
relationship with the academic performance of students in secondary schools.
For secondary schools to achieve high performance in the public examinations
there is the need to recruit qualified teachers, secure modern buildings,
adequate facilities and equipment should be provided to enhance teaching and
learning while supervision of teaching is carried out for quality control.
Other bodies that could influence students’ academic performance are
administrators, managers, guidance counselors, Parents Teachers Association
(PTA), curriculum specialist, funding agencies, non –teaching staff, inspectors
and examination boards (Osagie and Okafor, 2012).
Any organization that
does not plan for its human resources will often find that it is meeting neither
the personnel requirement nor its over-all goals effectively (Stoner1978). For
example, a school may decide to introduce new subjects into its school
curriculum. If the school does not make adequate arrangements for the teachers
to handle these new subjects, the subjects will remain on the time table
without being taught. To further
buttress this point, when the federal government launched the 6:3:3:4 system of
education, it spent huge financial resources on equipment for technical
education. However, the human resources required to operate the equipment were
not considered. Consequently, the equipments were left to rot in the rain and
many of the equipment were eventually stolen by hoodlums (Osagie and Okafor,
2012).
With
regards to the current educational policy, the supervision of instruction is
the process of overseeing the work of teachers with the aim of assisting them
to solve their instructional problems so that students can benefit maximally
from classroom activities (Igwe, 2005). This can be effected with the
involvement of the principal or any other official appointed by interacting
with teachers and students in the classroom regularly to monitor the teaching
and learning process. Nwagwu (2004), argued that the supervisor has the
responsibility of monitoring and evaluating all staff activities and programs
of their organization. The major reason for this is to ensure dutiful
compliance of all staff with established laws and declared goals through
quality assurance, maintenance of standards and quality control. This view is
in line with the National Policy on Education (FRN, 2004) which declared that
supervision is a device for quality control. The goals of the school can be
achieved through the continuous supervision of the teaching staff and the non-
teaching staff.
The
evaluation of staff is conducted as it determines their performance, in as much
as it also determines the academic performance of students. For example, in the
study by Akposheri (1994), she found out that there was significant
relationship between teachers who were highly rated during evaluation and the
academic performance of students. However, Okafor (2006) submitted that in the
performance evaluation of staff, care should be exercised to ensure that it is
the performance and not the personality of the employees that are evaluated.
Secondary
school not only occupies a strategic place in the educational system in
Nigeria, it is also the link between the primary and the university levels of
education. According to Asikhai (2010), education at secondary school level is
supposed to be the bedrock and the foundation towards higher knowledge in
tertiary institutions. It is an investment as well as an instrument that can be
used to achieve a more rapid economic, social, political, technological,
scientific and cultural development in a country. It is rather unfortunate that
the secondary schools today are not measuring up to the standard expected of
them. There have been public outcry over the persistently poor performance of
secondary school students in public examinations (Ibukun, Oyekakin, Akinrotimi,
Akinfolarin and Ayandoja, 2012). According to Nwokocha and Amadike (2005),
academic performance of students is the yardstick for testing educational
quality of a nation. Hence, it is expedient that students in secondary schools
in particular maintain a high performance in internal and mostly external
examinations.
The problem
of downward trend in academic performance of students has often been attributed
to a number of factors among which are: the principal’s leadership style,
teachers’ quality, home factors, government factors and non-provision of
educational resources (human, material, financial and physical resources).
However, this study is limited to the provision of human resources and
students’ academic performance in secondary school. The availability of educational resources
(human and material) is very important because of its role in the attainment of
educational objectives. Human resources is a unique educational input necessary
for the overall development of skill acquisition and literacy of the students.
Human resources within the educational system can be classified into teaching
and non-teaching staff (Ekundayo, 2009). Availability of these resources is
needful to achieve excellence in the system. However, it has been observed that
secondary schools in Lagos State do not have the required number of teachers
both in terms of quantity and quality (Ekundayo, Haastrup, Timilehin, Alonge
and Hezekiah, 2010). This is evident in high student-teacher ratio in the
schools.
A close
look at the schools in Nigeria and what goes on there shows that nothing good
can come out of most public schools as they do not have facilities and adequate
and appropriate human resources to prepare candidates for West African
Examination Council (WAEC) examinations (Owoeye and Yara, 2011). Studies on the
relationship between availability of human resources and academic performance
have shown that human resources enhance academic performance of students.
Adedeji (1998), Ayodele (2000), Adewuyi (2002) and Okandeji (2007) had in their
various researches submitted that teachers constitute a very significant factor
to students’ academic success.
In a
similar dimension, Adedeji (1998), Owoeye (2000), Ajayi (2002), Akomolafe
(2003, 2005) and Owoeye (2011) also submitted a positive relationship between
material resources in schools and students’ academic performance. According to
Hallack (1990), the material resources that contribute to students’ academic
performance include classrooms, accommodation, libraries, furniture, apparatus
and other instructional materials.
It can be
inferred from the literature so far that human resources have positive
significant relationship with academic performance. This study therefore
attempts to analyze the characteristics of human resources in school in terms
of qualification, teacher-student ratio and years of teaching experience of
teachers as a determinant of students’ academic performance.
Problem
Statement
Secondary school students’ academic performance in public
examinations of recent is one of the major means by which the general public
judges the products from secondary schools in Nigeria. This being the case,
Nigeria has not fared favorably well in her attempt to providing quality
education to her citizens (Ibukun, Oyetakin, Akinrotimi, Akinfolarin and
Ayandoja, 2012). Factors such as motivation, leaders supervision, quality and
quantity of teaching staff and materials, have influence on students’ academic
performance (Ibukun et al, 2012). The problem of downward trend in academic
performance of students has often been attributed to a number of factors among
which are the principal’s leadership style, teachers’ quality, home factors,
government factors and non-provision of educational resources (human, material,
financial and physical resources) (Ekundayo et al ,2010). However, this study
is limited to the provision of human resources and students’ academic
performance in secondary schools. Disparities in performance continued to be
noticed as one of the many challenges facing education. These variations had
raised a lot of concern as the government expenditure on education was not only
aimed at increasing enrolment but also ensuring that academic performance was
improved in these institutions at minimum cost. The problem of this study
therefore is that of poor academic performance of students in secondary schools
which could be attributed to the factors associated with human resources.
Purpose of the Study
This study focuses on the following
objectives;
1
To determine the relationship between teachers’
qualifications and students’ academic performance in secondary school in
Education District IV of Lagos State.
2
To establish whether there is a relationship between
teachers’ years of teaching experience and students’ academic performance in
the public secondary school in Education District IV of Lagos State.
3
To determine the relationship between teacher – student
ratio and students’ academic performance in public secondary school in
Education District IV of Lagos State.
4
To make suggestions for improved planning and management of
teachers that would facilitate teaching and learning and lead to higher
productivity in the public secondary schools Education District IV of Lagos
State.
Research
Questions
This study seeks to answer the following questions.
1. What is the
status of teachers’ supply in terms of qualifications in public secondary
schools in Education District IV of Lagos State?
2. What
influence do teachers’ years of teaching experience have on students’ academic
performance in public secondary schools in Education District IV of Lagos
State?
3. Is there
any significant relationship between teacher-student ratio and students’
academic performance in public secondary schools in Education District IV of
Lagos State?
Research
Hypotheses
Ho1. Status of teachers’ supply in terms of
qualification have no influence on students’ academic performance in public
secondary schools in Education District IV of Lagos State.
Ho2. Teachers’ years of
teaching experience have no influence on students’ academic performance in the
public secondary schools in Education District IV of Lagos State.
Ho3. There is no significant relationship between teacher- student
ratio and students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in
Education District IV of Lagos State.
Significance
of the Study
The importance of this study cannot be over
emphasized considering the fact that without adequate human resources,
excellent students’ academic performance cannot be achieved. The findings of
this study will serve as a contribution to existing literature and add
knowledge in the subject area. The findings from this study will assist
educational administrators as well as school administrator in preventing brain
drain in the public secondary schools especially in secondary schools of
Education District IV of Lagos State. Also, this study will be of help to the
government in the area of teachers’ recruitment and retention. Moreover, the
study will go a long way in assisting educational administrators in drawing up
a comprehensive human resource policy and programs in the education sector.
In addition, the result of this study will
assist educational managers, administrators, and technocrats in the formulation
and execution of educational policy towards the attainment of the overall
educational goals and objectives.
Delimitation
of the Study
The study is restricted to secondary schools in
Education District IV of Lagos State. It is delimited to teachers’
qualification, experience and teacher – student ratio in secondary schools.
Limitation of the Study
The study might be limited by a number
of factors beyond the control of the researcher. Lack of reliable data or
information from the participants might also pose limitation to the scope of
study in that the participants might give false opinions which might affect the
findings of the study.
Definition of Terms
1. Human Resources: These
refer to composition of teachers who conduct instructional activities with
students, be the board of government employed or teaching service commission
employed. This is with regard to their academic qualifications, adequacy,
experience, and staff development.
2. Academic performance:
This is the measure of degree of passing or failing any evaluation test or
examination.
3. Performance: This is
most commonly refers to whether a person performs his/her job well. Performance is an extremely important
criterion that relates to organizational outcomes and success.
4. Education: This is a
system of transmitting culture, information, knowledge and values to the
learners in a formal setting. It is also important for the transmission of
societal core values and other pieces of information necessary for growth and
development.
5. Secondary School Education:
This is the type of education given to pupils who transited from the
primary school education and which also prepare them for higher education.
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