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TEACHER FACTORS AS CORRELATE OF ECONOMICS STUDENTS ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the Study

The National Policy on Education (2009) recognizes education as the nation’s greatest asset towards the quick development of its economic potentials, sociological and human resources, hence it focuses on the integration of the individual into a sound and effective citizen. It also plans equal educational opportunities for all at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

Education has been the pillar upon which all meaningful national developments are built. It is the instrument which sets the pace for growth, development and understanding of issues in all their ramifications. For education to be relevant in a society, it has to be effectively taught. And this can only be achieved through the use of good methods and suitable instructional materials.

In the school setting, the teaching and learning process is not complete without an evaluation of the learning outcome. The academic performance of a student measures the student’s level of understanding of what he or she has been taught. Epunam (1999) defines academic performance of a child as the learning outcomes of the child which includes the knowledge, skills and ideas acquired and retained through their course of study within and outside the classroom situations.

The academic performance of secondary school students in the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) has taken a dramatic decline in recent times. This poor performance cuts across all subjects including Economics. There is no gainsaying that the purpose of teaching is to facilitate learning such that the students will be able to achieve high academic performance in examinations. For teachers of Economics, it is important that they understand and appreciate the determinants of their students’ performance in the subject. This knowledge will help the teachers to organize the teaching and learning process such that the students will achieve high performance in Economics. The fact remains that there can be no excellent academic performance without effective teaching and learning. It has been established among Psychologists that a number of factors determine the ability of the students. Some of these factors include; the learning environment, the competence of the teacher, motivation, the interest of the students to mention but a few.

Numerous studies have analyzed the factors behind the performance of students. Identifying the variables that influence the academic performance of students at school is of great importance for two reasons. On one hand, it is an essential tool for the public authorities in charge of definition of optimal and efficient education policies. On the other hand, this kind of analysis can help the educational institutions to improve the quality of their programmes (Awa, 2003) cited in Issah (2009). However, the study tends to examine teacher factors as correlate of Economics student’s achievement.Usman (2003) argued that shortage of qualified teachers is responsible for the poor academic achievement observable among the students while Ademulegun (2001) argued that students taught by more qualified and experienced teachers in terms of knowledge of the subject matter perform better than those taught by less qualified but experienced teachers. The educational analysis recently carried out in Nigeria by the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS, 2005) indicated that more than forty nine percent (49%) of the teachers in Nigeria are unqualified. This revealed the quality of teachers teaching various school subjects to the secondary school students.

According to Augrist (2004) teachers with long experience on the job are bound to be more knowledgeable in their specialized areas including their teaching subjects and education principles on theories. Rivkin Hanushek and kain (2008) point to the fact that high quality teachers can offset a substantial portion of disadvantage related to family economic and social circumstances. Hanushek et al (2008) pin point the experience gains arising during the first year of teaching with essentially flat impacts of experience subsequently. Consequently misspecification of the relationship between outcomes and experiences likely contribute to the failure and find a systematic link between quality and experience.

A nonchalant attitude of some teachers’ to work has been attributed to poor academic performance of students. According to Eggen and Kauchak (2001), positive teachers attitude are fundamental to effective teaching. They identified a number of teachers attitudes that will facilitate a caring and supportive classroom environment, they are: enthusiasm, caring, firm, democratic practices to promote students responsibility, use time for lesson effectively, have established efficient routines, and interact freely with students and providing motivation for them. Fisher et al (1980) also noted that high level of learning occurs and learners feel good about themselves and the materials they are learning when teachers use instructional time efficiently. The way teachers outreach with students’ influences their attitude toward school and their academic performance. How students perceive their teacher attitudes to teaching in the classroom will be measured in this study Qualification, Teaching experience and Teaching skills are variables noted to have effect on student academic performances.

Ehindero and Ajibade (2000) asserted that “students, who are curious stakeholders in educational enterprise, have long suspected and speculated that some of their teachers lack the necessary professional qualifications. That is, skills, techniques, strategies required to communicate concepts, ideas, principles in a way that would facilitate effective learning.” They believed that these deficiencies contribute significantly to the growing rate of failure and subsequent drop out of students in secondary institutions. These observations by stakeholders necessitate the need to investigate the effects of teachers’ factors such as age, academic qualifications, teaching experience and attitude necessary for teaching and learning in secondary schools on academic achievement of students.

1.2       Statement of Problem

The issue of poor academic performance of students in Nigeria has been of much concern to all and sundry. The problem is so much that it has led to the widely attained fallen standard of education in Nigeria which Lagos state is not exempted.

The quality of education depends on the teachers as reflected in the performance of their duties. Over time, students’ academic performance in both internal and external examinations had been used to determine excellence in teachers and teaching. Teachers have been shown to have an important influence on students’ academic achievement and they also play a crucial role in educational attainment because the teacher is ultimately responsible for translating policy into action and principles based on practice during interaction with the students. Both teaching and learning depend on teachers; no wonder the teacher factors or variables have been conceptualized as those distinct features in a particular teacher that make him or her to perform his or her duty effectively to produce desired results. This study was designed to determine if teachers’ factors significantly had influence on the academic achievement of students in economics in public secondary schools in Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State. 

1.3       Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to investigate teacher factors as a correlate of economics student academic achievement with focus on selected senior secondary schools in Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State. Specifically, the study will be carried out:

1.to find out the influence of teacher age on students academic achievement in economics

1.to assess the influence of teachers educational qualification on the students’ academic achievement in Economics.

1.to determine the influence of teachers’ experience on students’ academic achievement in Economics.

1.to explore the influence of teachers attitude on students academic achievement in economics

1.4       Research Questions

The following questions will be answer in this study.

1.What is the influence of teachers’ age on student academic achievement in economics?

1.Does teachers’ educational qualification have effect on students’ academic achievement in Economics?

1.What influence does teachers’ teaching experience have on students’ academic achievement in Economics?

1.To what extent will teachers attitude to teaching influence students academic achievement in Economics?

1.5       Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses will be tested in this study:

1.There will be no significant influence of teachers’ age and student academic achievement in economics?

1.There will be no significant effect of teachers’ educational qualification and students’ academic achievement in Economics.

1.There will be no significant effect of teacher teaching experience on student academic achievement in Economics.

1.There will be no significant effects of teachers attitude to teaching on students academic achievement in Economics.

1.6       Significance of the Study

This study would throw more light into the problem of poor academic performance of students’ which could be attributed to the factors of age, educational qualifications and experience. The outcome of this study is therefore expected to assist all stakeholders in the teaching and learning processes, particularly at the secondary school level to fashion out strategies that would enhance government decision on recruitment of teachers and to enable school administrators to allocate subjects so that teaching and learning processes, goals and objectives are attainable.

The results of the study may be helpful in improving the professional attitude of secondary school teachers. It is expected that the outcome of this study will reveal to school administrators to admit competent teachers that have good teaching skills. This study will reveal to government the need to improve on constant supervision of the teachers in order to achieve the stated teaching and learning objective of education in Nigeria.

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