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:
- Will teachers mastery of content affect students’ academic performance?
- Is there any significant difference between teaching methods and students’ academic performance?
- Is there any significant difference between teacher’s educational
qualification and student academic performance due to teacher-factor?
- Is there any difference between teacher’s experience and students’ academic performance?
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Indoctrination: This is a process in which the learner is compelled to accept a set of ideas without questioning.
- Coaching: This involves teaching, training,
instructing or advising an individual or persons in a particular area of
subject in which a student is deficient.