THE INFLUENCE OF TEACHERS FACTORS ON TEACHERS’ TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS (A CASE STUDY OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN UYO LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF AKWA IBOM STATE).
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Nigerian society bequeaths to the school the important role of shaping the character of the Nigeria child. Nigerians and indeed the entire human race need education in order to survive and be meaningful citizens. For a nation to guarantee sound educational system, its teachers must be very active and effective in delivering this very important societal assignment.
As important as the above observation on the role of education is; investigations have revealed that planned instructions have not been effectively managed to bring about the desired changed in the attitude, behaviour, as well as the acceptable ethical values of students in modern society. Given this background one begins to wander who and what are responsible for the ineffectiveness in the achievement of school goals and objectives. Some people have attributed the inefficiency in the system to the teachers; others have linked the shortcomings to the society; and yet others maintain that it is the fault of the government (Aaronson, Barrow & Sanders, 2007).
In view of the foregoing and as pointed out by Isangedighi (2007), teaching is a noble profession and goes with enormous responsibilities. To Isangedighi (2007) the grand finale of the teacher’s responsibility is the production of quality individuals for the adult society. Teachers are perceived as nation builders and have the task of molding the young minds for better tomorrow. For an individual teacher to be effective and maximize this potentials in the teaching profession he/she must be intelligent and must have personal interest as well as possess the required qualifications and the necessary experiences required for teaching (Iheanacho,2006). Enoch (2008) equally shared the opinion that teaching effectiveness is always guaranteed by some basic teacher characteristics such as: age, qualification, gender, interest attitude and experience.
Recently, there have been outcries from both the literates and illiterates alike about the disappointing performance of our secondary school graduates both in the internal and external examinations. Existing records in institutions like National Examination Council of Nigeria (NECO) 2013/2014 school year, the West African Examination Council (2013/2014) reveal this trend.
The issue of poor academic performance in secondary schools remains a major source of concern to both states and the federal governments. Reforms are currently being put in place by the various tiers of government to address these multi-dimensional educational inadequacies do not seem to yield any dividend. One of such reforms is teachers’ training programme mounted at various levels of Nigeria education to train and retrain teachers of various cadre. The magnitude of this problems has equally awaken the interest of the National policy on education, (2004) to insist that teacher education shall continue to be given major emphasis in all educational planning and development programmes. Furthermore, the policy has identified the essence of teacher education to be the production of highly motivated conscientious and efficient classroom teachers for all levels of education system especially the secondary schools.
Despite the national objectives of education stated in the national policy on education (NPE, 2004), Okolie (2010) identified seven other cardinal goals of education that will help to improve the quality of our students to include, Intellectual, Emotional, Physical, Moral, Aesthetic, vocational and social Developments. Here, the teacher is seen as an important element in the teaching and learning process. How he teaches and how effectively he does it is vital in the eventual achievements of his students. However, no matter how efficient teachers may be it is extremely difficult to exclude them from the blames of failure of students at both internal and external examinations.
Agyemang (2011) posited that a teacher that does not have both the academic and professional teaching qualifications will undoubted have some negative influences on the teaching and learning situations. Agyemang (2011) emphasizes that academic qualification as well as other teacher variables exist and can positively or negatively predict teachers’ effectiveness.
It is in view of the foregoing and the need to proffer a direction to the problems of teacher ineffectiveness confronting secondary schools in the society, particularly in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State that the researcher decided to embark upon this study. In view of the foregoing, this study investigated the roles of teachers in the current students’ academic performance. It is against the backdrop of such teacher variables as teaching experience, academic qualifications, emotions and gender and how they affect teachers’ teaching effectiveness.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The challenges in our secondary schools, like irregular payment of teachers, particularly to the teachers in schools in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State have in recent times resulted in the production of poor quality students that cannot fit meaningfully into the modern society. The classification of Akwa Ibom State as one of the educationally less developed states in Nigeria Notwithstanding the huge government investment in education in the past attests to this.
Students’ performances in both internal and external examinations remain indicators that all is not well with our educational system. Recently, there have been outcries from both the literates and illiterates alike in the society about the disappointing performance of our secondary school graduates both in the internal and external examinations. Existing records in institutions like National Examination Council of Nigeria (NECO) 2013/2014 school year, the West African Examination Council (2013/2014) reveal this trend.
The students from these secondary schools on graduation neither have entrepreneurial skills to fall back on in case they do not continue with further education nor have strong literacy base that can fetch them little office chores. The result of this is churning out of half-backed literate people who roam the streets in search of non-existing jobs. A number of factors have been blamed for this including teacher ineffectiveness in teaching. Consequent upon this backdrop the problem of this study was to ascertain the influence of teacher factors on teaching effectiveness of secondary school teachers.
1.3 Scope of the Study
This study was limited to selected secondary school teachers in Uyo Local Government. The other two are Eket and Abak. The contents of the study were limited to such teacher factor as qualifications, experience, gender and emotion as independent variables while teaching effectiveness was the dependent variable.
1.4 Purpose of the Study
The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of teacher factors on teaching effectiveness in secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Specifically the study investigated whether:
1. experience influences teachers’ teaching effectiveness,
2. qualifications influence teachers’ teaching effectiveness,
3. gender influences teachers’ teaching effectiveness,
4. emotions influence teachers’ teaching effectiveness.
1.5 Significance of the Study
The significance of this study cannot be underestimated. The following group of people would benefit from this study: Policy Markers, Teachers, Curriculum Planners, Future Researchers, Government, School Managers and Parents. The study would offer useful information to future research students that might take delight in similar topics and as a result fill gaps in research literature.
Also significant is the fact that this may go a long way to assist policy makers in making recommendations to government on the conditions of service available to teachers and how they affect their teaching effectiveness. From this position appropriate decision or actions may be taken by government and other stakeholders in the education project on how to reform our education system.
Curriculum developers may also benefit immeasurable from this study as it will make them see the need to integrate the needs and aspirations as well as other teacher variables in the education policies and programmes.
Finally, it is the thinking of the investigator that the findings from this study will enhance efficient school management and better attainment of instructional goals. Parents and the society at large will find this study useful as it will assist all to appreciate exactly those factors that may determine effectiveness of teachers. No doubt that the outcome of this study would also contribute to the existing literature on teacher variables and his effectiveness.
1.6 Research Questions
The following research questions were formulated to guide this study:
1. To what extent does experience influence teachers’ teaching effectiveness?
2. To what extent do qualifications influence teachers’ teaching effectiveness?
3. To what extent does gender influence teachers’ teaching effectiveness?
4. To what extent does teacher emotion influence teachers’ teaching effectiveness?
1.7 Research Hypotheses
The following research hypotheses were formulated to guide the researcher
H01: There is no significant difference between the summated mean scores of experienced and highly experienced teachers on the influence of experience on teaching effectiveness. P < 0.05
H02: There is no significant difference between the summated mean scores of qualified and highly qualified teachers on the influence of qualification on teaching effectiveness. P < 0.05
H03: There is no significant difference between the summated mean scores of male and female teachers on the influence of gender on teaching effectiveness. P < 0.05
H04: There is no significant difference between the summated mean scores of less emotional and highly emotional teachers on the influence of experience on teaching effectiveness. P < 0.05
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