Abstract: The study examined Teachers’ Characteristics and Teaching Effectiveness in Biology in Secondary Schools. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested. A survey research design was employed in the study. The population of the study was all Biology teachers currently teaching senior secondary two and senior secondary two students in all public secondary schools. The sample size employed in the study were two hundred (200) senior secondary two (SS2) Biology students randomly selected out of the sampled eight (8) public secondary schools in Abak Local Government Area. The Teacher’s Characteristics Rating Scale Questionnaire (TCRSQ) and students Performance Test in Biology (SATB) were used as the principal instrument for data collection. The t-test statistical method was adopted to analyze the data collected and the result was tested at 0.05 level of significance.
Findings showed that; there is a significant difference in academic performance between students taught by B.Sc(Ed) teacher and those taught by NCE teachers in biology; there is a significant difference in academic performance between students taught by teachers with 10 years and above teaching experience and those taught by teachers with less than 10 years of teaching experience in biology and that there is a significant difference in academic performance between students taught by male teachers and those taught by female Biology teachers in Biology in secondary schools in Abak Local Government Area. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that government should only recruit teachers with educational qualifications to teach in public secondary schools; and seminars, workshops, symposium and conferences should be conducted for newly recruited teachers on the need to improve their experiences on teaching as well as their attitudes toward teaching in secondary schools.
Teachers’ Characteristics and Teaching Effectiveness in Biology in Secondary Schools
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Teaching is quite a complex concept and it usually demands knowing the context in which it is used to know in what sense we are using when the word “Teaching” is mentioned. According to Akinpelu (1989) in Ekanem & Ekanem (2010) teaching is seen as an act which require describing the many body movements involved during the teaching exercise such as talking, writing, stretching, sitting amongst others which can only be done by a trained and qualified teacher.
Teaching is the conscious and deliberate effort by a mature or experienced person and imparts information, knowledge, skills to an immature or less experienced person with the intention that the later will learn or come to believe what he/she is taught on grounds that are good. The success of the learner in certain endeavour may be a function of effect teaching of the teacher.
Adodo (2011) acknowledged this when stating that one key overriding factor for the success of students’ academic performance is the teacher. In the same vein Ibrahim (2014) believed that teacher factor such as qualification, gender, years of experience and exposure says a lot about teacher’s teaching effectiveness which is evidenced in the academic performance of the students. It is probably for this reason that it is asserted that “No education can rise above the quality of its teachers; implying that teachers’ role in the preparation of students to succeed in examination cannot be under estimated.
Similarly, Greenleaf (2008) posited that the role of the teacher in the teaching/learning process is unquestionable. This is because teachers have a lot of influence on the classroom practice and for students to be able to make connection between what is taught in school and its application in problem solving in real life, the teacher has to be effective in his/her teaching.
In another related study, Adeogun (2015) opined that the quality of the educational system depends on the quality of its teaching staff and that a school without human resources may not be able to achieved the goals and objectives of the educational system. The author added that teachers are the major indicator and determinants of quality education. Highly professional teachers who are dedicated are needed in schools as these accounts to the correlation between what the teachers know and what they teach. Thus, the ability to teach effectively depends on teachers’ variables.
Moreover, Usman (2008) posited that good teacher’s characteristic is responsible for effective teaching among the teachers. Usman maintained that students taught by more qualified and more experienced teachers in terms of knowledge of the subject matter perform better than those taught by less qualified and less experienced teachers. From the above background, it is evident that the teacher is one key overriding factor for the success of student’s academic performance.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Successful management and realization of objectives of teaching to a large extent can be attributed to many factors. Of these factors, teachers’ availability as well as their effectiveness play a very critical role. However, despite the important role of teachers in the teaching learning process, there have been poor performances of students in their internal and external examinations (Essien, 2016). Biology being the core science subject that is offered education has been seen to have been faced with the challenges faced by other subjects in terms of poor performance of students (Essien, 2016).
These poor performances among students have caused serious concern among teachers, parents, government, educational administrators and even students themselves. The parents and teachers have blamed the students for not reading. Owing to that fact, “no education can rise above the level of its teachers; the researcher was triggered to ask “could teachers’ characteristics such as qualification, teaching years’ experience and gender contribute to this poor academic performance which leads to ineffectiveness in teaching?”.
Teachers’ Characteristics and Teaching Effectiveness in Biology in Secondary Schools
Scholars and researchers generally are in agreement that teacher’s characteristics such as qualification (Ekanem & Ekanem, 2010), relevant years of teaching experience (Ekpo, 2016) and gender (Ekanem, 2014) play a critical role in the educational system in terms of the effectiveness of teachers and the academic performance of students.
However, none of these studies known to the researcher was concluded in secondary schools in Abak Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. It is this existing gap that this present study intended to fill hence, the research study on the topic: Teacher’s Characteristics and Teaching Effectiveness in Biology in Public Secondary Schools in Abak Local Government Area.
