ABSTRACT
The study attempted to examine the
relationship between teacher factor and students’ academic performance in
selected secondary schools in Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State. In
the study, relevant and related literature was reviewed under sub headings.
The descriptive research survey design
was applied in the assessment of the respondents’ opinions, with the use of the
questionnaire. The sample consisted of 120 respondents selected randomly
through the application of the stratified random selection method to represent
the entire population of the study.
Five null hypotheses were formulated
and tested with the use of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient
tool at 0.05 level of significance. Results indicate that a significant
relationship exists between students’ academic performance in the school and
each of the teacher factors investigated. These results were discussed and
recommendations were made based on the findings.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Title page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract v
Table of contents vi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1
Background to the Study 1
1.2
Statement of the Problem 5
1.3
Purpose of the Study 5
1.4
Research Questions 5
1.5
Statement of Hypotheses 6
1.6
Significance of the Study 7
1.7
Scope of the Study 8
1.8
Limitation of the Study 8
1.9
Definition of Terms 8
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 10
2.0
Introduction 10
2.1 Concept of
Education 10
2.2
Teacher-Factor and
Students’ Academic Performance 14
2.3
Teaching Methods and
Students’ Academic Performance 17
2.4
Teacher’
Qualification and Students’ Academic Performance 23
2.5
Classroom management
and the students’ academic performance 26
2.6
Teachers’ Attitude
and Students Academic Performance 36
2.7
Summary of Review 38
CHAPTER
THREE: METHODOLOGY 39
3.0 Introduction 39
3.1
Research Design 39
3.2
Population of the Study 39
3.3
Sample Size and Sampling Method 39
3.4
Research Instrument 39
3.5
Procedure for Data Collection 40
3.6
Validity and Reliability of the Instrument 40
3.7
Procedure for Data Analysis 41
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULT 42
4.1 Introduction 42
4.2 Hypothesis testing 42
4.3 Summary of the findings 46
CHAPTER
FIVE: Summary, Discussion of Findings,
Conclusion
and
Recommendations 48
5.1 Introduction 48
5.2 Summary of the Study 48
5.3 Discussion of the Findings 49
5.4 Conclusions 54
5.5 Recommendations 54
References 57
Appendices
62
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Teacher education
is a sine qua non to the academic performance or educational attainment at any
level of life especially, in the educational system where candidates at all
ages require guidance as a preparation for life.
At the secondary school level, trained
teachers are to guide candidates in all class works and for examination
conducts. Teachers need to be properly treated at the secondary school levels
to avoid their aloofness from students in correcting youthful exuberance (Madumere,
2004). According to Onyema, (2003), the importance of teachers cannot be over
emphasized. Teachers are the custodians of knowledge in the school system. They
are regarded as wise people because of the peculiar nature of their job.
Teachers’ work is very crucial because without the teacher, there will be no
president, the governors, senators and illiteracy would have covered the earth.
With the teachers, there is enlightenment knowledge and civilization. (Akande,
2005)
As Greenfield, (2005) puts the work of
the teacher cannot be disregarded because if there is no teacher in any nation,
there will be brazen ignorance which will stall development and growth.
According to NPE (1998), no nation can rise above its teachers. The teaching
profession is very important because it is the job that produces educated and
learned people for the development of the society. This is because, the teacher
through his teaching, produces the student who goes out there in the society to
work for the society, and this affects the society positively.
According to Wuji (1989), without the
teacher, there will be no student. The teacher occupies an important space in
the school system and in the life of the student and his achievement.
Therefore, for the students to perform better, there is need for the training
and retraining of teachers, so that their imputs would be maximally used by the
students and for effective prductivity.
Cage (1994) has explained that teaching
is both an art and a science. According to him, it is an “instrumental
practical art” rather than a “fine art”. That is, teaching requires
improvisation, spontaneity, the handling of a vast array of consideration of
form, style, pace, rhythm and appropriateness in ways so complex that even
computers must lose the way.
According to Nath (2002), the teaching
process is too complex, with a nearly infinite variety of circumstances,
subjects, students groups and age groups, to be reduced.
Clark and McCarthy (1998), Austen
(1994) state that teaching can and should have scientific basis. According to
them, science deals with relationships between both input (independent
variables) and outputs (dependent variables). A sizeable amount of good
research has been carried out that relates teaching and administrative
practices to student achievement as well as motivation, attitude and
self-esteem.
A traditional assumption in teaching
has been that students require challenging learning tasks, tasks of
intermediate difficulty. This idea has been disproved. Research shows that
students need and enjoy very high success rates, which come only from tasks at
an appropriate difficulty level that are clearly taught and readily
comprehended. For example, Good and Good (2001) and Everton, (2003), found that
high socio-economic status elementary children learned best when the teachers’
questions elicited about 70% correct responses, while low socio-economic status
pupils learned best with about 80% correct answers to questions. They concluded
that learning proceeds best when the material is some what new or challenging,
yet relatively easy for children to understand and integrate with existing
knowledge and skills. Another study concluded that for younger students and
less able students, almost errorless performance during learning produces better
achievement and greater satisfaction (Filby, 2005).
In effective schools, monitoring of
students progress takes place at all levels. Effective teacher’s monitor
minute-to-minute comprehension, success and engagement rates along with the
longer term achievement records of every student. Effective principals monitor
achievement scores for individual students, classes, grade levels. Improvement
minded superintendents also monitor average achievement scores for their
classes and schools, comparing them with schools in other districts and with
national average (Boot 2003). Whatever level or form, monitoring of students’
progress takes effective school administrators and teachers of note to use the
achievement information as the basis for modifications of teaching and or
school wide improvement plans.
According to Goodhead (2000), there are
many ways to increase clarity and thus improve students’ understanding and
achievement. In addition to using reviews, objectives, outlines and overviews,
good teachers of note give clear verbal and written directions. They also
repeat key points and instructions and call attention to main ideas. They give
additional explanations and examples whenever necessary. They structure and
sequence the material to minimize clarity, and they emphasize transition points
between lesson parts. They check for understanding by asking clear questions
and making sure that all students have a chance to respond including the
quieter ones.
Effective teachers reduce confusion by
avoiding digressions and irrelevant content (or the addition of relevant
content at the wrong time), that is Kouin’s (2001) slip-flops and dangles.
Effective teachers also review the main ideas and subparts at the end of the
lesson.
All of these techniques help structure,
clarity and reinforce the learning task. They also help students synthesize
information into integrated wholes, with an understanding of the relationships
among parts. These techniques are used by effective and good teachers and all
are positively related to student-achievement.
The teaching work is very stressful due
to the nature of the job. A situation where the teacher has to grapple with the
writing of the lesson note, reading always to master the content, preparing the
lesson in such a way that he teaches without consulting any materials and
coupled with the everyday life struggles, the teacher ought to be highly
remunerated and rewarded materially judging the enormity of the work he does
and the importance of it to the entire society. But suffice it to say that
teachers in Nigeria are not regarded as doing a great work. Rather people
(society) and the government pay them back with total neglect, disregard as
doing a great work and contempt as if they are not important to the society
(Uzoma, 1998). Teaching job is a noble profession which ought to be handled
very well and teachers therefore must be treated well, recognized and given its
reserved position.
1.2
Statement of the
Problem
The problem
inherent in the teaching and learning process, is as a result of the teacher –
factor. For instance, the academic performance of students are affected
negatively, when teachers do not possess the necessary mastery of the content
or possess poor teaching method. Also, teachers’ negative attitudes, poor
personality, inexperience, poor classroom management, poor personal hygiene,
poor teacher – student relationship, lack of communicative skills and poor
judgments in the classroom, contribute greatly to the poor academic achievement
of students in the school.
1.3
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this
study is to determine the relationship between teacher-factor and students’
academic performance in selected secondary schools in Kosofe Local Government
Area of Lagos State.
1.4
Research Questions
Based on the
background information and statement of the problem of the present study, the
following research questions will be raised to guide the study:
1.
Will teachers mastery of content affect students’ academic
performance?
2.
Is there any significant difference between teaching methods
and students’ academic performance?
3.
Is there any significant difference between teacher’s
educational qualification and student academic performance due to
teacher-factor?
4.
Is there any difference between teacher’s experience and
students’ academic performance?
5.
Will teacher’s attitude influence students’ academic
achievements?
1.5
Research Hypotheses
On the basis of the
problem stated earlier, four null hypotheses will be postulated:
H01: There is no significant relationship between
teacher’s mastery of content and students’ academic performance.
H02: There is no significant relationship between
teaching method and students’ academic performance.
H03: There is no significant difference in
student’s academic performance due to teachers’ educational qualification.
H04: There is no significant difference due to
differences in their teachers years of teaching on students’ academic
performance.
H05: There is no significant difference between
teachers’ attitude and students’ academic performance in the school.
1.6
Significance of the
Study
This study will be
of great benefit to the following:
(1)
Teachers: They would benefit
from the findings and recommendations of this study because it will give them
an insight on how to carry out their jobs in the school. It will enable teachers
to be more productive in doing their daily job of teaching and learning. With
this study, many teachers would be-oriented in the art of teaching knowing
fully well that the way they teach will affect students’ academic achievement
in schools.
(2)
Students: They would benefit
from the study because it will help them to have the understanding that their
teachers required to be an exemplary one, if his/her teaching experiences would
be of great benefit to the child or the student. With the findings and the recommendations
of this study, students would be able to identify teachers who “cheat” and real
teachers of note in the school system. with this study also, students would be
able to know that they need to be taught by trained and experienced teachers if
they would put up high performances in their academic careers.
(3)
Parents: They would learn
that the careers of their children hang in the balance, if they are being
coached by unprofessional, inexperienced teachers. With this study, parents
would be able to know that there is a great difference between the academic
achievement of students who are taught by well trained teachers and those
taught by non-trained, inexperienced teachers.
(4)
Society: The society will
be able to understand the difference in the academic performance of children
taught by two types of teachers (the trained and the untrained) in the school
system. This is because the society benefits if the children are well brought
up by a well trained teacher. Students will be well behaved apart from the exhibition
of high academic achievement, and this will better the lots of the society.
1.7
Scope of the Study
This study covers
teacher-factor and students’ academic performance in secondary schools in
Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State.
1.8
Limitation of the
Study
This study is
limited to the examination of teacher-factor and students’ academic performance
in secondary schools. Time, finance, shortage of necessary materials and other
logistics will pose a hindrance to the successful conclusion of this study.
1.9
Definition of Terms
1.
Education: Education is
derived from the Latin word “educare” which means to draw out. Education is
therefore defined as a process of drawing out and developing the potentialities
of an individual.
2.
The School: The school is one
of the chief agents of education. It is a formal and a planned institution with
rules and regulations established for educating the young and charged with the
responsibility of transmitting the cultural heritage of the people by showing
knowledge and its appreciation as well as adherence to its norms.
3.
Teaching: Hyman (1990) sees
teaching as the art and practice of imparting to a learner knowledge, skills,
values and norms that will be useful to the total development of the
individual.
4.
Training: This refers to
giving a course of specific instruction or practice to a learner with the
purpose to shape, develop or acquire appreciable habits.
5.
Instruction: Ofoegbu (2001)
sees instruction as causing someone to know or be able to do something. It is
also giving a group of people some specific knowledge or skill within or
outside a school environment through observation, discovery and experience.
6.
Indoctrination: This is a process
in which the learner is compelled to accept a set of ideas without questioning.
7.
Coaching: This involves
teaching, training, instructing or advising an individual or persons in a
particular area of subject in which a student is deficient.
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