ANALYSIS ON TEACHER FACTORS AND ITS EFFECT ON ECONOMICS STUDENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

ANALYSIS ON TEACHER FACTORS AND ITS EFFECT ON ECONOMICS STUDENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Teachers play a huge role in the learning process of students who idolize and want to be like their teachers. Teachers are at the heart of the global educational system, especially in Nigeria. As a result, teachers are at the forefront of the fight for national development. “Teacher education shall continue to be given major emphasis in all educational planning and development,” states the National Policy on Education. Furthermore, according to the policy, the goal of teacher education is to produce highly motivated, conscientious, and efficient classroom teachers for all levels of our educational system. According to Okoye (2019), the seven basic goals of education are emotional, intellectual, physical, moral, aesthetic, vocational, and cultural heritage. It is worth noting that the key to achieving these goals has been entrusted to

teachers.

Teacher factors are the personal characteristics of the teacher that set him or her apart from others and allow him or her to excel in his or her chosen profession.

The teacher, according to Akindele (2020), is one of the most important factors influencing students’ academic achievement. Teachers use a variety of factors to influence students’ academic achievement, including qualification, age, experience, subject knowledge, and attitude toward teaching. Teacher qualification, which is one of teachers’ characteristics, is commonly thought to have the greatest potential influence on schools and students due to its critical role in the teaching and learning process. This has captured the attention of educators all over the world and is currently the focus of educational reform. The standard of

The quality of a country’s teachers could determine its education. A teaching qualification, according to Deola (2022), is one of several academic and professional degrees that allow a person to become a registered teacher in a primary or secondary school.

In terms of subject knowledge, Abubakar (2020) believes that a lack of qualified teachers is to blame for students’ poor academic achievement, whereas Ademulegun (2001) believes that students taught by more qualified and experienced teachers outperform those taught by less qualified but experienced teachers. This demonstrated the quality of secondary school teachers who taught a wide range of subjects. According to Augrist (2004), teachers with extensive on-the-job experience are more likely to be knowledgeable in their specialized areas, including their subject matter. Subjects and educational principles and theories are taught. According to Umar (2018), experience gains occur during the first year of teaching, with essentially flat effects of experience thereafter. As a result, mis-specifying the relationship between outcomes and experiences is likely to contribute to the failure to establish a systematic link between quality and experience. Poor academic performance among students has been linked to some teachers’ casual attitude toward their jobs. According to Eggen and Kauchak (2019), positive teacher teachers are critical to effective teaching. They identified a number of teacher attitudes that will facilitate a caring and supportive classroom environment, which are as follows: enthusiasm, caring, firm, democratic practices to promote student responsibility, effectively use time for lessons, and have established a caring and supportive classroom environment.

The classroom environment is encouraging. Importantly, according to Olude and Akin (2020), “students, who are curious stakeholders in the educational enterprise, have long suspected and speculated that some of their teachers lack the necessary professional qualifications.” That is, the abilities, techniques, and strategies required to communicate concepts, ideas, and principles effectively.” They believed that these deficiencies contributed significantly to the rising rate of secondary school failure and subsequent dropout. Stakeholder observations necessitate the need to investigate the effects of teachers’ factors such as age, academic qualifications, teaching experience, and the attitude required for secondary school teaching and learning on students’ academic achievement.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Many people are interested in the issue of low academic achievement among Nigerian students. The The situation is so dire that it has resulted in a widespread decline in educational attainment throughout Nigeria, including Lagos State. The quality of education is determined by how well instructors perform their duties. Students’ academic achievement in both internal and external assessments was used to determine teacher and instruction quality over time. Teachers have been shown to have a significant impact on students’ academic achievement, and they also play an important role in educational attainment because the teacher is ultimately accountable for translating policy into action and principles into practice during interactions with students. Creating an emotionally supportive learning environment, according to research, is critical for students’ motivation and challenge in learning. Students are at ease and cheerful in

Learning environments that are emotionally supportive (Patrick& Midgley, 2022).

The study found that perceived teacher emotional behaviors have a positive relationship with students’ academic self-concept and intrinsic drive to learn (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2019). When students show concern and care for them and spend time getting to know them, their engagement and effort in learning improve (Tucker et al., 2022). In competitive learning situations, affective teacher behaviors are especially important for students’ well-being and academic performance. As a result, students in second grade classrooms who have higher quality affective relationships with their teachers have more positive relationships with their peers in third grade, which leads to more positive relationships with teachers in fourth grade and improved academic self-efficacy in fifth grade. Factors related to the teacher

or variables have been defined as those specific characteristics in a particular teacher that enable him or her to successfully complete his or her task in order to achieve desired results. Based on this premise, the study will assess the impact of instructor variables on students’ academic success in economics in public secondary schools in Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The primary goal of this research is to look into teacher factors and their impact on economics students’ academic achievement. The following research will be carried out:

i. To determine whether teacher subject mastery influences students’ academic achievement in economics.

ii. Determine whether teachers’ educational background influences students’ academic achievement in Economics.

iii. Determine whether teachers’ experience influences students’ performance.

Academic success in Economics.

iv. Determine whether teachers’ attitudes influence students’ academic achievement in economics.

1.4 HYPOTHESIS OF RESEARCH

In this study, the following hypotheses will be addressed.

HO1: Teachers’ subject mastery has no effect on students’ economics academic achievement.

HO2: Teachers’ educational background has no bearing on students’ academic achievement in Economics.

HO3: The experience of teachers has no effect on students’ academic achievement in Economics.

HO4: Teachers’ attitudes have no effect on students’ academic achievement in economics.

1.5 THE STUDY’S SIGNIFICANCE

This study would shed more light on the issue of students’ poor academic performance, which could be attributed to factors such as age, educational qualifications, and experience. As a result, the findings of this study are expected to benefit all stakeholders involved in the teaching and learning processes.

Developing strategies, particularly at the secondary school level, to improve government decisions on teacher recruitment and to enable school administrators to allocate subjects so that teaching and learning processes, goals, and objectives are attainable.

The study’s findings may be useful in improving secondary school teachers’ professional attitudes. The findings of this study are expected to persuade school administrators to hire competent teachers with strong teaching abilities. This study will show the government the importance of improving teacher supervision in order to achieve the stated teaching and learning objectives of education in Nigeria.

1.6 STUDY OBJECTIVES

The scope of this study is limited to teacher factors and their impact.

Student academic achievement in economics. This study’s variable scope will include teachers’ subject mastery, qualifications, experience, and attitude toward economic subjects. The study focuses on selected public secondary schools in Anambra State’s Awka South Local Government Area.

1.7 THE STUDY’S LIMITATIONS

The researchers encountered minor constraints while conducting the study, as with any human endeavor. The significant constraint was the scarcity of literature on the subject due to the fact that it is a new discourse, so the researcher incurred more financial expenses and spent more time sourcing for relevant materials, literature, or information and in the data collection process, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited sample size covering only public secondary schools in

Anambra State’s Awka South Local Government Area. As a result, the findings of this study cannot be generalized to other secondary schools in other Nigerian states. Furthermore, the researcher’s involvement in this study while also working on other academic projects will impede maximum dedication to the research. Nonetheless, despite the constraints encountered during the research, all factors were minimized in order to provide the best results and make the research a success.

1.8 OPERATIONAL TERM DEFINITION

The researcher attempted to define common terms found in the essay because a thorough understanding of the meaning of some key terms will be required.

Teacher Factors: The sum of all the various factors that influence a teacher’s performance in the classroom.

to the learners.

Performance: It is the expected outcome of a learning activity that can be assessed or evaluated using tests, exams, and so on, whereas in this study, it is the outcome or result of the learning process during the classroom encounter.

A teacher is someone who imparts knowledge with the goal of influencing learners’ attitudes in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. In this study, however, the teacher is the harbinger of knowledge, transmitting information to students in order to increase their subject matter knowledge.