Team Teaching and Academic Achievement of Students in Government Secondary Schools

Team Teaching and Academic Achievement of Students in Government Secondary Schools
Team Teaching and Academic Achievement of Students in Government Secondary Schools

ABSTRACT: This research work examined Team Teaching and Academic Achievement of Students in Government Secondary Schools. Research questions and two null hypotheses were stated and tested at 0.05 levels of significance. The population of the study comprised all senior secondary two (SS2) Government students. The sample size used for the study was one hundred students (100) drawn from four public schools. Government Achievement Test (GAT) was the instrument used to collect data for the study.

Team Teaching and Academic Achievement of Students in Government Secondary Schools

Data obtained for the study were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test statistics analysis, findings showed that: There is a significant difference between academic achievement of students taught using team teaching and those taught using conventional lecture method in Government; and that there is no significant difference between academic achievement of male and female students taught using team teaching technique. Based on the findings, it was recommended that Government teachers should incorporate team teaching method during lesson delivery in Government.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    Background to the Study

Education all over the world is considered as a basic need and a basic right for every citizen. The level of attainment of education is measured by the performance of students in their examination. For instance, there has been a decline in performance in the national examination and especially in the County in the recent years (Nelson 2013).

In the same vein, poor performance of students undermines their chances of enrolling in high schools, consequently resulting into poor opportunities in the labour market. This makes the government to implemented many strategies concerning the improvement of learning. This includes Free Primary Educational training for teachers, supply textbooks and learning materials. Still, the level of academic performance is still low in most secondary and high schools.

Team teaching method is described as a common term to introduce several variations of technique to teach a course with more than one instructor. The method shifts the role of instruction from an individual to a team with a primary goal of improving the quality of teaching and learning. Team teaching is one step to constantly adjust the educational system to the changing needs of the students and abilities of the teachers.

Several books and articles have addressed the subject and have discussed some advantages, disadvantages, and considerations when team teaching is used. Education experiences unique challenges as well as opportunities. One logical starting point for change is with the faculty. For instance Meyers and Ernst (2015) states that engineering educators cannot ignore the real world’s shifting focus to interdisciplinary engineering, and they should adapt as well.

Recently the National Academy of Sciences (2005) developed a publication “Educating the Engineer of 2020”, which mentioned many ideas of co-teaching, just in time teaching, and multi-disciplinary teaching. Industry and various academic institutions feel that it is vital to integrate engineering because most systems existing presently are developed with integrated engineering teams. Similarly, the education process is a team effort with excellent communications between faculties. Davis (2017) contends that allowing the faculty team to synchronize their efforts brings their individual strengths and resources together for the course. On the other hand, team teaching as a method usually involves two or three instructors teaching their area of expertise to the students. However, this requires the teachers to understand and have some fluency in the other discipline.

Nevertheless, team teaching as course requires a committed, motivated individual teachers who are creative and willing to change. On the other hand, scholars like Shafer (2010) point out that, team teaching may seem new and untried. However, it has actually been a practice from the Socratic dialogue to public medieval debates. Nevertheless, it has evolved informally over time. This point makes Wraga (2017) to say that, team teaching was a way to teach larger groups of students during the 1950’s as the country faced a post war teacher shortage. While Buckley (2010) outlines the motivation for team teaching. Early forms of team teaching, using new technologies such as computers and video, in secondary schools were tried decades ago. At the same time, university faculties were ready to try new methods as the demand to specialize was growing. Teachers then realized the narrowness of their expertise.

Additionally, there was a growing demand for “the big picture” and how all the material or facts fit together.  This point as buttress by Berentsen (2016) states that, not all teachers go into team teaching reasons because, they have a system that works for them or they may not want to be team teachers. Buckley (2010) defines team teaching widely from a weak method of a teacher who is responsible for a class that just schedules lecturers with no instructor interaction to a stronger example of a group of instructors who attend each others’ lectures and interact with the primary instructor and exchanging ideas. There is no template for team teaching that works for all courses. Instructors may be all one or several disciplines, and they may have different roles and responsibilities.

Similarly, Wraga (2017) notes that effective team teaching at academic level  is usually involved two to five instructors in other words, teachers, attending each class session and interacting with each other. In support of this view, Davis (2017) acknowledges that team teaching really extends beyond the classroom. His emphasis is on the involvement of two or more instructors collaborating in significant ways. Therefore, team teaching will vary in the amount of collaboration that actually takes place in general, but also specifically with regard to planning, content integration, teaching, and evaluation.

Based on these scholars’ perspective on team teaching method, Goetz (2010) says, team teaching as a method of teaching involves two or more instructors teaching the same students at the same time in the same classroom, and these instructors also work together, but not necessarily teaching the same group of students or at the same time.

Goetz further posits that these instructors are assigned with different roles and responsibilities for teaching the student. No doubt, team teachers usually possess a broad range of expertise, so there is a natural tendency to emphasize breadth, including a broad range of topics, because the teachers know about many things. This breadth is one of the advantages of teams. On the other hand, teams can also focus on a single theme, examining it in depth from several different disciplinary perspectives. Consequently, the above forms the background to this research work on team teaching and academic performance of secondary school students.

Team Teaching and Academic Achievement of Students in Government Secondary Schools

1.2               Statement of the Problem

Education sector in Nigeria has series of challenges. The important area of basic science challenge is inability to select appropriate instructional strategy by teachers in schools. Improving quality in education requires adequate competent teachers, appropriate facilities, materials and methods which are lacking; these form part of the problems in the study. Thus, one the major challenge for the of educational system is the teachers’ knowledge of selecting appropriate instructional strategy for teaching Government at all levels, which also affect the quality delivery of educational institutions, teacher’s training and production.

The inability to select appropriate instructional method in senior secondary schools is a problem to students learning, they do not learn at the same space. This study therefore, is geared towards finding out if the use of team teaching technique could bring a solution to the problem of poor students’ achievement in Government. Hence, this study is to determine the effect of team teaching on academic achievement of students in Government in secondary schools.

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Peter Hezekiah Lawson (Sir Pee). The CEO of onlineproject.com.ng. A reputable researcher, Web Developer, ICT Instructor and a publisher of many research works in Education.