CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
to the Study
The teaching profession is one which is
very sensitive as it involves centrally the shaping of minds. Which is why it
is often described as a noble profession among few others. Ideally, a teacher
should be passionate about the teaching job and sometimes go beyond his or her
job description and take pride in the fact that he or she is taking part in the
shaping of something productive and beautiful and would translate in the
formation of the best minds that would lead the future generation.
However, recent times has shown that
not everyone who goes into it for the right and noble reasons. With bad
government, teachers aren’t given any priority or any of the preferential
treatments that some other sectors like oil company worker and politicians get.
They are owed months old salaries and in some dire cases years. There is hardly
a session that goes smoothly without cases of industrial actions in form of
strikes which always lasts for weeks and months.
The effect is that teachers lose
interest in the core values of their jobs and since government is always unable
to see the importance of the child’s education, attention isn’t paid on the
effect of this cycle which always ends in the teacher’s lackadaisical attitude
towards his or her job, on the students academic performances.
1.2 Statement
of the Problem
The process of a successful teaching
and learning relationship always begins with the students being inspired to
want to learn. This takes a teacher who is dedicated in understanding each
child and his or he needs and adapting the teaching and lesson materials to
suit the child’s learning methods. However, when the teacher’s attitude towards
his work is that of indifference and nonchalance, it always shows on the
child’s performance especially in primary and secondary schools. At secondary
level, the child always needs constant motivation and supervision as this is
the age range where adolescent related problems emerge and most turn to
delinquents. This research work has taken it upon itself to study the effects
of teachers' attitude to work on the student’s academic performance at
secondary school level. This research will be carried out with secondary
schools in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State Nigeria as a case
study.
1.3 Research
Questions
i.
what
is the relationship between a teacher's attitude towards his teaching job and
his or her students’ academic performance.
ii.
How
directly proportional is this relationship.
iii.
What
are the factors that inform a teacher’s attitude to his job.
iv.
How
can government step in to combat the negative effects in the case of a
noncommittal attitude.
1.4 Objectives
of the Study
This research work aims at studying the
various ways a teacher’s attitude to his or her work can bear upon the child’s
academic performance. The factors that inform the learning speed and skills of
students will be studied and briefly enumerated. The percentage of these
factors that are informed by the teachers attitudes to his work and his
commitment to teaching will be studied alongside
The work also aims at highlighting the
learning process of the students and which of the traditional instructional
materials invented by an enthusiastic teacher the students responds most to.
This will be pursued through a study of a cross section of teachers’ behaviours
within and outside the classroom,.
1.5 Significance
of the Study
This research work is significant in
that it will highlight greatly the importance of a teachers attitudes to work
in determining the student’s academic achievements in the secondary school
level
With this, attention will be drawn
towards this and more emphasis will be laid on the recruiting of teachers who
have a passion for the job and courses could be set up which will aim at
coaching teachers on the effects of their attitudes to the profession on the
students.
1.6 Research
Hypothesis
The hypothesis on which the present
research work is founded on is the assumption that there is a direct
relationship between a teacher’s attitude to his or her job and the students'
level of achievements in the subject he is teaching. Furthermore, it is taken
that this relationship affects the students directly seeing that a devoted
teacher stands a better chance of making learning interesting for the students
than the indifferent one.
1.7 Scope
of the Study
This study only covers the relationship
between a teacher’s attitude to his or her work and the student’s achievement
at secondary school levels. It will be studied with the public and private
secondary schools of Obio-Akpor as case studies. In measuring the academic
achievements in questions, focus would be given to both subjects grades and
other extracurricular activities which the teachers engage the students in.
1.8 Limitations
of the Study
Measuring through the child’s academic
achievements in the ways we mentioned in the scope of the study and matching
them with our observation of their teacher during their teaching sessions
required lots of time commitment on the part of the researcher. This is one of
the major challenges met in the course of this research work and while it
serves as a motivation for it, it has been a limitation in that it reduces the
time allocation required to fully understand the said relationship between each
set of teachers and their students in this study.
1.9 Definition
of Terms
Teacher: This
refers to a person who helps others to acquire knowledge, competences or
values.
Attitude: an
acquired or predisposed mental state regarding an object with some degree of
positivity or negativity which is perceived from a social or personal stimulus.
Work: the
effort applied to produce a deliverable or accomplish a task.
Student: A
student is a learner or someone
who attends an educational institution.
Academic Performance: This refers
to
the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their short
or long-term educational goals.