Effects Of Qualification Of English Teachers On The Performance Of Secondary School Students In External Examination In Owerri Municipal

ABSTRACT

The study is on “Effects of qualification of English teachers on the performance of secondary school students in external examination in Owerri Municipal”. The study has four objectives and four research questions were formulated and effort was made to discuss their results. Survey research design was used for the study. The population of the study comprised of 17,551 students and 728 teachers from the seven (7) public schools in Owerri municipal council of Imo State and the sample size was 434. The researcher used simple random sampling technique for the selection. Questionnaire was used for collection of data. The findings show that causes of poor academic performance among secondary school students include lack of interest in school programme, lack of role models and finance, lack of instructional materials to make teaching realistic, bad teaching methodologies and lack of qualified teachers. lack of quality of teachers has an adverse effect on the performance of students, students taught by non-qualified teachers end up with low scores in public examinations, teachers that teach without adequate knowledge of his/her subject misleads students during classroom instructions, teachers that teach without instructional materials are not encouraging. The study therefore recommended among others that, Government should regularly organize seminars, workshops and training programmes to foster teacher’s mastery of the subject. Government should also make sure that teachers employed possess the necessary teaching qualifications  to certify them to teach their subjects Different teachers should be made to handle different aspects of subject. This would enable them to be more efficient as they would be made to handle they have interest in and capable of doing.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the background of the study and statement of the problem are presented. Next are the scope of the study and the purpose of the study.

Background of the Study

Education in all countries of the world has been considered very important for personal and social development (Adegbemile, 2011). Amaechi, Anamonye, Onuoha and Okwu (2012) saw education as a crucial tool for development to every country. Furthermore, it is an instrument for the realization of a nation’s growth and development because the level of nation’s literacy determines her extent of development. It is in view of this indispensable role of education in the development of man and modern society that various declarations on education have been made at the global level and in Nigeria.

Education has often been identified as an instrument of development of societies and individuals. Hence, as a way of life, it serves as a means of transmission and preservation of the core issues in every culture.

Education at secondary school level is supposed to be the bedrock and the foundation towards higher knowledge. In the tertiary institutions, it is an investment as well as an instrument that can be used to achieve a more rapid economic, social, political, technological, scientific and cultural development in the country. The national policy on education (2004) stipulated that secondary education is an instrument for national development that fosters the worth and development of the individual for further education and general development of the society. The role of secondary education is to lay the foundation for further education and if a good foundation is laid at this level, there are likely to be no problem at subsequent levels.

Federal Government of Nigeria (2004) noted that secondary education is a form of education that children receive after primary education and before the tertiary stage. The broad aim of secondary school education within Nigerians’ overall national objectives is the preparation of students of useful living with the society and for higher education. Abolade (2003) described secondary education level as probably the most unique and precarious of all other levels of education. This is because, he saw it as a point or junction box of all the subsets of the tertiary level. It is that junction where the differentiate higher education takes off. A primary school graduate cannot conveniently go into the world of work as result of age, but a secondary school leaver has four good options in front of him. He can, if he/she has all the required academic qualifications to go into; (i) A university, (ii) College of education (iii) a polytechnic or a school of nursery (iv) the world of work as a messenger or clerk.

The National policy on education (FRN, 2004: 18) outlined eight objectives of secondary school education as follows;

1. Inspire trained manpower in the applied science, technology and commerce at sub-professional grades
2. Inspire students with a desire for self improvement and achievement of excellence
3. Provide technical knowledge and vocational skills necessary for agriculture, industrial, commercial and economic development
4. Provide all primary school leavers with the opportunity for education of a higher level, irrespective of sex, social status, religion or ethnic background.
5. Offer diversified curriculum to cater for the differences in talents, opportunities and future roles.
6. Develop and promote Nigerian language; art and culture in the context of world’s cultural heritage
7. Foster national unity with an emphasis on the common ties that unites us in our identity.
8. Raise a generation of people who can think for themselves, respect the views and feelings of others, respect the dignity of labour, appreciate those values specified under the broad national goals and live as good citizens.

To achieve the above objectives of secondary education in Nigeria, the teacher is the determinant and the driving force behind its achievement.  This education of a nation rest on the shoulders of the teacher and also the development of a nation is determined by what the teacher teaches in the classroom. Therefore the quality of the teachers is sacrosanct.

In view of the fact that education is considered an investment in most countries (developing), the issue of poor performance in external examination is source of concern to all stakeholders both at home and abroad. The view that the standard of education appears to be on the on the decline is a concern all over the world. One of the most amenable tools for measuring such standard has been performance. In internal examinations, the percentage failures in such  examinations appears to be on the increase in recent times. (Nigerians in America, 2011). The failure is assumed to be more pronounced at the secondary school level. This might be because of its consumer – producer status among other levels of education. That is, because it consumes the products of primary school and produces the products for higher education to consume. Since the broad aim of secondary education is to prepare students for higher education and useful living in the society, the consequence of the aforementioned failure is student’s ability to meet admission requirements into higher institution and the state being unable to fill her quest in such admissions.

The federal government of Nigeria has adopted education as an instrument per excellence for effecting National development. If education has been adopted as the only tool that can solve the socio-economic problems of Nigeria, then the adequate supply of effective teacher becomes the core of the educational problems because there is a direct link between the quality of education and the quality of teachers.

Education scholars have pointed out that education quality is the reflection of education essence. There would be no good education without good teacher quality, for teaching effectiveness is the core mission of schools ( wang & fu 2007). Students are the subject of teaching activities but the key factor of teaching effects is the teacher because education quality is influenced by teaching Andrew & schwab1995,Bents and Bents 1990).

The most important component of teaching activity is students. However, the key to teaching effectiveness is teachers. It is necessary to probe into teacher quality to help teachers ascertain their shortcoming so that they cannot only improve themselves but also increase their teaching effectiveness. Secondly, teachers with good effectiveness usually value teaching performance, maintain teaching quality, pursue best teaching effectiveness and improve students’ learning effectiveness. Therefore, the current state of teacher’s effectiveness should be learned and the influences of the variables of different student backgrounds and school environment on teacher and teaching effectiveness perceived by students should be explored. Useful information can be offered to educational authorities as reference for follow-up related studies.

(Adegmile & Adeyemi, 2012). The above strongly shows that subject matter, knowledge(competence),teachers qualification, teachers teaching experience ,classroom behavior (teachers attitude, teaching skills and teacher student relationship).are strong variables indicating students performance.

Competence of teacherss which mullens (1993) regarded as a prime predictor of students learning. Adediwora and Bada (2007) stated in their study that nobody could teach what he does not know or understand. They went further to state that (teachers) must thoroughly understand the content the content of what they teach. A teacher whose understanding of topic is thorough uses clearer language, their discourse is more connected and they provide better explanation than those whose background is weaker. The way the students perceive the teaching in terms of their (teachers) knowledge of content of subject matter before teaching commences. Most teachers go into teaching without knowing what to teach: it is to be noted that pedagogical knowledge are not exactly the same thing as subject matter, they never the less are intimately linked together because teachers mastery and use of them in the classroom indicate the depth of their knowledge of subject matter.

Teachers teaching qualification is another quality of teacher. This means that the qualification is another quality matter when it comes to effective teaching. Darling-Hammond (2010) opined that certificate or licensing status is a measure of teacher qualifications that combines aspects of knowledge about subject matter and about teaching and learning. Its meaning varies across the state because of difference in licensing requirements, but a standard certificate generally means that a teacher has been prepared in a state approved teacher education program at the undergraduate or graduate level and has completed either a major or a minor in the field(s) to be taught.

In Nigeria the minimum requirement for teaching is Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) as stipulated by the Federal Government  of Nigeria (National Policy on Education, 2004). In most schools, you find a teacher who read Mass Communication, international relations and the likes, teaching English language. Although they are B.A or B.Sc. holders but this does not qualify them as teachers.  This is as a result of the shortage of qualified teachers and high rate of unemployment which have made so many people go into teaching even when they are not qualified to teach. Aguro(2008) observed that most teachers do not perceive their job to be a profession in which they require skills to excel. He went further to explain that a large number of these teachers lack the commitment in carrying out their task and failure come from uncertified teachers who are allowed to teach the subjects.  Ehindero and Ajibade (2009) asserted that students who are stakeholders in educational enterprise, have long suspected and speculated that some of their lectures (teachers) in the university lack the necessary qualification (that is skills, techniques, strategies, temperament, et cetrera) required to communicate concept ideas, principles in a way that would facilitate effective learning.

It is against this background that this study was carried out to ascertain the impact qualification of English language teaches on the academic performance of secondary school student in external examination in Owerri municipal of Imo state.

Statement of Problem

The roles of the teachers in students achievement in English language cannot be overemphasized. The progressive decline in secondary school students academic performance has raised a lot of questions as regards Nigeria educational system of which qualities of teachers are a key factors. Agusibe (2008) however, observing that the absence of qualified teachers contribute significantly to their poor performance of students in some subjects. The West African Examination Council (2009) seem to corroborate this assertion in their reports; as established earlier, the professional qualification required by a teacher in Nigeria are NCE, BSC, B.Ed. or PDGE in cases where teachers are not professionally qualified, generally teachers without educational background have been found to be ineffective teachers in terms of instructional delivery competence.

Due to the reports of persistent poor performance of students in some subjects at the secondary school level and scholars opinion attributing this to the handling of the subjects by unqualified teachers who themselves have no mastery of the subject among other factors, has greatly influenced this study which was carried out to investigate the extent to which these teachers qualifications could predict students’ academic performance in secondary schools in Owerri Municipal of Imo State.

Scope of the Study

This study covers all the teachers and students in the public senior secondary schools in Owerri municipal of Imo State. It is delimited in finding out how teacher’s qualification affects student’s academic performance. The study sought to address some variables such as cause of poor academic performance among secondary school students, how teacher qualifications required and ways of improving qualification of teachers.

Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of qualification of English language teachers on academic performance of secondary school students in external examination in Owerri municipal of Imo State. Specifically, the study sought to;

1. Ascertain the causes of poor academic performance among secondary school students
2. Examine how teacher qualification affects students performances
3. Ascertain the professional qualifications required of a teacher
4. Find ways of improving qualifications of teachers

Significance of the Study

The study would provide empirical information to the following stakeholders, such as students, educational planners and administrators subsequent researchers.

The study would provide empirical information on the teacher related factors that could predict student’s academic achievement. To the teachers, the findings of the study would help in creating classroom climate and selecting instructional strategies that are supported to students learning. The findings will contribute to the existing research on teacher’s effectiveness using a long-lasting approach and provide feedback to teachers on the need to modify subsequent instructional practices and provide classroom environment that will help raise levels of students achievements.

Furthermore, the findings of this study will enable teachers to consider the learning needs of increasingly diverse students population thus workload toward closing the gaps in equity of student outcomes.

The findings of this study will benefit the students, in the sense that it will broaden students knowledge, steer up their interest in subjects and improve the teaching skills of teachers in various schools in the study area and Nigeria at large. It is hoped or expected that findings in this study will build a link between students academic performance and the quality needed for teachers effectiveness in handling subjects across the state.

Findings of this study will provide educational planners and administrators with adequate information about teacher’s availability and how this affects productivity in Imo State, it will also help in establishing corrective measures as regards posting of teachers to disadvantaged school to ensure equity and increase productivity.

Lastly, this study will serve as empirical study and a relevant material to subsequent researchers who might be carrying out a related topic to this.

Research Questions

The following research questions were posed/asked the researcher to guide the study in line with the purpose of the study;

1. What are the causes of poor academic performance among secondary school teachers?
2. How does teacher qualification affect student’s performance?
3. What are the professional qualifications required of a teacher?
4. What are ways of improving qualification of teachers?
   

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   Pages:  69

   Category: Project

   Format:  Word & PDF         

   Chapters: 1-5                                                      

   Material contains Table of Content, Abstract and References.