ACADEMIC EXPOSURE AND JOB PERFORMANCE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS (A CASE STUDY OF IBIONOIBOM LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA).
ABSTRACT
This study investigated “Teachers’ Academic Exposure as it influences their Job Performance among Secondary Schools in IbionoIbom Local Government Area”. The design adopted was based on survey design using ex-post-facto design. The study used stratified random sampling technique to select the teachers. A total of 400 secondary school teachers were selected for the study. Four research questions guided the study, four hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The instrument used for the study was Academic Exposure and Job Performance Questionnaire (AEJPQ). Data was analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test. The result of the study indicated that teacher years of teaching experience, academic status, participation in conference and professional development influences their job performance. This study therefore recommends that Government both at the federal and state level, school owners, principals and school administrators should be strict on the years of teaching experience, level of academic status, level of participation in conferences and professional background of people employed into the teaching profession.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Pages
Title page - - - - - - - - i
Declaration - - - - - - - - ii
Certification - - - - - - - - iii
Dedication - - - - - - - - iv
Acknowledgment - - - - - - - - v
Table of content - - - - - - - - vi
List of tables - - - - - - - ix
List of Appendices - - - - - - - - x
Abstract - - - - - - - - xi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study - - - - - - 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem - - - - - - 4
1.3 Objective of the Study - - - - - 6
1.4 Significance of the Study - - - - - - 6
1.5 Research Questions - - - - - - 8
1.6 Research Hypotheses - - - - - 8
1.7 Limitations of the Study - - - - - - 9
1.8 Scope of the Study - - - - - - 9
1.9 Definition of the Terms - - - - - - 10
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Theoretical Framework - - - - - 11
2.1.1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory - - - 11
2.1.2 Social Learning Theory - - - - - - 14
2.2 Empirical Review - - - - - - - 17
2.3 An Overview of Professional Development for Teachers - 20
2.4 Teacher’s Quality and Students’ Academic Performance - 22
2.5 Needs for In-service Professional Development of Teachers 29
2.6 Challenges of In-Service Professional Development - 31
2.7 Research Gap - - - - - - - 33
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHOD
3.1 Research Design - - - - - - 35
3.2 Area of Study - - - - - 35
3.3 Population of the Study - - - - - - 36
3.4 Sample and Sampling Technique - - - - 36
3.5 Instrument of the Study - - - - - - 36
3.6 Validityand Reliability of the instrument - - 37
3.7 Instrumentation and Data Analysis - - - 37
3.8 Data Collection Technique - - - - - 38
3.9 Method of Data Analysis - - - - - - 38
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Data Analysis - - - - - - - 39
4.1.1 Research Question 1 - - - - - - 39
4.1.2 Research Question 2 - - - - - - 40
4.1.3 Research Question 3 - - - - - - 40
4.1.4 Research Question 4 - - - - - - 41
4.2 Testing the Null Hypotheses - - - - - 42
4.2.1 Test of Hypothesis 1 - - - - - - 42
4.2.2 Test of Hypothesis 2 - - - - - - 43
4.2.3 Test of Hypothesis 3 - - - - - - 44
4.2.4 Test of Hypothesis 4 - - - - - - 45
4.3 Major Findings - - - - - - - 45
4.4 Discussion of Results - - - - - - 46
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary - - - - - - - - 50
5.2 Conclusion - - - - - - - - 52
5.3 Educational Implications of the Findings - - - 52
5.4 Recommendations - - - - - - - 54
REFERENCE -------56
APPENDICES-------61
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Education is the bedrock of development. No nation can develop without sound education. Education has over the years been given much attention and priority in African countries, especially in Nigeria. The government has discovered that the quality of education offered in Nigerian educational system determines the quality of development experienced. Education prepares the citizens for variety of functions within the economic, social, political, religious and other structures of the societies. It makes individuals responsive, responsible and fit into the society. Teachers in the educational system serve as midwives because they are there to make education policies become realities. The needs for teachers to be regularly updated and developed continually to better their professional capabilities as regarding instructional delivery in their subject knowledge cannot be undermined.
Mkhwanazi (2010) defines teacher professional development as encompassing changes in teaching approaches which teachers can acquire towards teaching profession. Academic exposure involves development activities teachers can access within the teaching profession, to develop their teaching and learning tasks. Teachers’ academic exposure helps them to acquire relevant and new skills, ideas, knowledge to develop teaching and learning of their subjects (McFarlen, 1994).
Teachers cannot rely only on the entry knowledge they start the career with, they need to experience professional growth like other professions. Their efficiency is measured or determined with students’ academic performance. Teachers are to be regularly developed to teach effectively. Their efficiency shows from their learners’ academic performance. In country like South Africa, mass failure of learners in subjects prompt Department of Education to call for professional development of teachers. The practices in the developed countries are different from this, teachers are programmed for different professional development activities that can improve them further or sustain the quality of education they have attained.
For quality education to be achieved and sustained, teachers are to be exposed to effective professional development activities. Teachers’ mastery of the subjects gets improved due to skills acquired in professional development. In the training activities, experienced facilitators are used to multi-task teachers’ intelligences to problem solving skills which improve their knowledge of their subjects.
Academic performance of learners must be the driving force for teachers to be regularly developed. Teachers are to be exposed to various professional activities that can boost or promote development in all ramifications; Nigeria desires to be technologically developed like other developed countries and to really sustain her “giant” of Africa title. The needs for teachers’ empowerment through rigorous and well planned varieties of professional development of teachers across the profession should not be undermined. Drive for professional development of teachers in Nigerian schools will also propel other African countries to follow suit. Teachers’ professional development over the years has contributed immensely to student’s academic improvements. Lawal (2008) reported that teachers’ professional development has a direct influence on student’s academic improvement and hence, enhances their job performance.
However, it is the belief among many people that teachers in private secondary schools irrespective of their qualifications tend to be more dedicated to duties in terms of lesson delivery and commitment to goal actualization. Parents have preference for private secondary schools for their children because of some factors such as teacher commitment and dedication to duty, availability of staff, facilities, class size, curriculum practices, stability of academic calendar, disciplinary concerns and overall output. Teachers’ professional status had influenced academic success among students. A teacher who has been trained by a professional body like the National Teachers’ Institute can be said to be a professional in the teaching profession. The impact of a trained teacher will be far higher than an untrained teacher. This professional training affects a teachers’ job performance immensely due to the extra knowledge acquired. It was in the light of the above that that the need to examine the various ways by which secondary school teachers can be kept abreast of time and thus improve their quality and student’s academic performance become imperative.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Research studies have shown that many secondary school products in Nigeria are poor in reading, writing, computational and vocational skills (Leving, 2016). Many of them also perform woefully in various examinations. The parameter commonly used in determining school effectiveness is students’ results in standardized tests especially in external examinations (Afolabi, 2000). In the result released by WAEC for the 2014 May/June Senior Secondary School Examination, only 31.28% (529,425) candidates out of 1,692,435 candidates who sat for the examination had credits in five subjects and above including Mathematics and English Language as against 38.81% and 36.57% in 2012 and 2013 May/June examinations respectively.
Though the result of May/June 2017 had recorded increase in the pass rate with 923,486 candidates representing 59.22% of a total of 1,471,151 candidates who sat for the examination scoring a minimum of five credits including Mathematics and English Language as against 52.97% in 2016, there is a lot more to be done therefore to encourage pass rate in schools. Since one of the purposes of education is the acquisition of knowledge and skills, students’ performance after graduation can be seen as a reflection of their performance in school. This also borders on the quality of human and material resources which are available during their schooling. For many years, educators and researchers have debated on which of the school variables that influence students’ achievement (Adewale, 2004).
As policy-makers become more involved in school reform, greater attention is given to the role teachers’ quality plays on students’ achievement. There has also been an outcry from stakeholders in the educational sector such as union bodies (Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association (SSANU), National Association of Academic Technologist (NAAT) etc), parents and concerned individuals about the poor provision of facilities for providing essential services for teaching and learning as well as their effective utilization.
The genuineness of this outcry is depicted by the deteriorating poor performance of students in examination as earlier mentioned. Although several attempts have been made at improving teacher quality and teaching facilities, these efforts have not been proportionately reflected in students’ overall performance. Nowadays, people are employed into the teaching profession based on recommendations from relatives who are occupying higher positions in government. Some teachers pay huge sums of money before getting the job. Most of these employed teachers do not have any professional background. This gives rise to the high level of unqualified and unprofessional teachers in the school system. Therefore, there is the need for teachers to acquire enough skills to make them relevant technologically. Although many variables account for students’ academic performance such as adequacy of educational resources (both human and material) and their effective utilization and conducive learning environment. This study is concerned mainly to investigating the extent to which teachers’ academic exposure determines students’ academic performance in IbionoIbomLGA of AkwaIbom state.
1.3 Objective of the study
The main objective of the research is to examine the impact of teachers’ academic exposure as it influences job performance among secondary schools in IbionoIbomLGA. The specific objectives are as follows;
i. To determine the influence of teachers’ years of teaching experience on job performance in secondary schools.
ii. To determine the influence of teachers’ academic status on their job performance in secondary schools.
iii. To determine how teacher’s participation in conferences influences their job performance in secondary schools.
iv. To determine how teachers’ professional background influences their job performance.
1.4 Significance of the Study
The anticipated benefits of these research findings to teachers will be that teachers will be informed about the level of educational status and academic exposure they ought to have coupled with training and certification by a professional body before entering the teaching profession so as to increase their job performance and productivity.
Also, with regards to students, the quality of teachers in a school will directly show in the high academic performance of the students. This research finding will benefit the students by helping them to decide on the academic performance they want to have in any school they choose by the quality of teachers in that school.
These research findings will help school administrators to know the quality of teachers they ought to employ in their schools to help enhance the academic performance of their students. The knowledge will also help school administrators to maximize profit as parents will only put their children in schools with quality teachers, thus, increasing the income strength of the school as a result of the increased number of students in that school.
Before education policy makers consider a policy in which it allows teachers to bring their years of experience with them for placement on a salary scale, it would be best to examine whether years of teacher experience and/or teachers’ academic status influences students’ achievement. These research findings will educate policy makers make policies that will help produce quality teachers in the society. It will also help them design school curriculum that is up-to-date with the changing times.
This study will equally serve as a spring board for other researchers who may be interested in the relationship between teachers’ academic exposure and job performance.
1.5 Research Questions
The following research questions were raised to guide this study.
i. To what extent do teachers’ years of teaching experience influence job performance in secondary schools in IbionoIbom?
ii. To what extent does teachers’ academic status influence their job performance in secondary schools in IbionoIbom?
iii. To what extent does teachers’ participation in conferences influence their job performance?
iv. To what extent does teachers’ professional background influence their job performance?
1.6 Research Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses were formulated and were tested at 0.05 level of significance.
1. There is no significant influence of years of teaching experience on teachers’ job performance in secondary schools in IbionoIbom Local Government Area.
2. There is no significant influence of teachers’ academic status on their job performance in secondary schools in IbionoIbom Local Government Area.
3. There is no significant influence of teachers’ participation in conferences on their job performance in secondary schools in IbionoIbom Local Government Area.
4. There is no significant influence of teachers’ professional background on their job performance in secondary schools in IbionoIbom Local Government Area.
1.7 Limitation of the study
All research must conclude that an infinite number of factors are present and cannot be taken into account for various reasons; the same holds true for this study. Several of these limitations and delimitations were self-imposed, but most were due to factors outside of the researcher’s control.
1. Lack of proper understanding of the questionnaire by some teachers may have affected the results of the findings.
2. The growing cost of research materials also posed a challenge coupled with limited time available to conclude the research.
1.8 Scope of the Study
Based on the above limitations, the scope of the study was limited to public secondary schools teachers resident in IbionoIbomLGA of AkwaIbom State. The variables considered was teachers’ years of teaching experience, academic status, participation in conferences and professional status as it influences their job performance.
1.9 Definition of terms
Instructor degree level: This refers to the degree attained by the instructor in four categories: bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, specialist certificate and doctorate. “Graduate credit must be obtained from accredited institutions, pertain to the teaching field or to professional improvement, and must have been taken after completion of the previous degree to be accepted for salary increase purposes”.
Student achievement: This refers to student scale scores on the standardized examination such as WAEC, NECO etc.
Years of teaching experience: This refers to the number of years of teaching a teacher has in the classroom setting.
Academic exposure: This refers to the level of access an individual has to educational materials such as attending conferences, trainings, research materials among others.
Job performance: This refers to the accomplishment of a particular task given.
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