CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

History in the Nigerian Secondary School curriculum is borne out of its usefulness to the

learners on one hand and the society on the other more than any other subject in the secondary

school curriculum. History quickens the understanding of national heritage as it provides

information on what the society is, how it grows, the way it works, its problems as well as its

achievements. Adequate knowledge of the evolution and development of the society provides

clue to factors operating in them: the currents and forces as well as the motives and conflicts

both general and personal that move and shape the events. Most of the nation's difficulties today

stem from its ultimate or proximate history. A cursory acquaintance with the history of Nigerian

state shows that the socio-economic and political difficulties are traceable in the main, and the

ethnics which is a carry-over from the shoddy integration of diverse peoples by a colonial power

without regard to their sensibilities into a nation (Osokoya, 1997).

Apart from the above, the subject matter history, if properly understood, engenders in

students a more tolerant out-look as well as an enlargement of human sympathies. One of the end

products of History is that it promotes students' ability to see other people's point of view even

when such views are opposed to theirs. This is a major prerequisite for building a virile nation

among heterogeneous groups such as Nigeria. Furthermore, as the ancient Roman orator Cicero

earlier remarked for a people to be ignorant of its history is for a man to be without memory,

(Power 2001) and thus making the same discoveries that have been made in the past, invent the

same techniques, and wrestle with the same Problems, committing the same errors and forfeiting

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the rich pleasures of recollection. However, in spite of individual and corporate gains derived

from the teaching and learning of this traditional subject at the secondary school level, it has

become increasingly unpopular among the Nigerian students. The new Nigerian National Policy

on Education, which came into effect in 1977, and revised thrice thereafter (1981, 1998 & 2004),

removed History teaching from the curriculum of junior secondary schools and replaced it with

Social Studies. This of course led to the unpopularity of the subject at the senior secondary

school level (Adejumobi, 2019; Osokoya, 2010). In a national survey among students offering

Arts subjects at the secondary school level, Osokoya (2012), established that students run away

from the subject because its' content is too voluminous and difficult to pass. The -resultant effect

of its unpopularity is that many of the Nigerian secondary school students preferred other social

science subjects such as Government, Economics and Geography to the study of History. Over

the years, education has been ranked as the best legacy any conscientious leader, government, or

parent could leave for his/her people. This is increasingly important because of the quality of

education given to a people determined the standard of growth achieved. This anchor the Federal

Government stand that education has been adopted as an instrument par excellence for effective

national development (FRN, 2014).

The teacher is the major manpower saddled with the responsibility of impacting the

concept considered fundamental to technology through teaching; the teacher is the pivot upon

which the educational process revolves Sampson (2012). This is because the teacher is expected

to have what the learners do not have and should be able to cause the learners under him or her to

always desire to increase their want of what the teacher has until they are almost like the teacher.

According to Waller (2012), “teachers are paid agent of cultural diffusion hired to carry into dark

places” while Hargreaves (2010), on his contribution refers to teachers as “communicators who

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delve into the Centre of our cultural arena”, Waller’s conception of the teacher is worthy of note.

Teachers are perceived as the culture-bearing groups since they deal with selected knowledge,

which has been found worthy of being transmitted from generation to generation. Although,

everyone is capable of learning something but certainly not everything, for light is brought to

‘dark place when the teacher introduces new knowledge, ideas and concept to his pupils this is

what Waller (2012) refers to as ‘dark places’. These views are descriptive and tend to amplify

who and the role of the teachers as a member of the society. On the whole, a teacher is effective

to the extent that he causes learning to occur among his or her learners with minimum efforts

from the learners. An effective teacher is a competent and committed teacher. The teacher is

competent to the extent that he can analyze different teaching behaviors, distil from their specific

skills and formulate these into usable strategies of classroom instrument. The teacher must be a

master of his teaching subject area, that is he or she should be seen to share, transmit and transfer

meaningfully the valuable knowledge and experiences of his or her expertise to the pupils so that

they can analyze and interpret such encoded lessons (Waller, 2012).

Ali (2010) observes that there was statistically significant influence between teachers’

variables and pupils’ academic performance. Adeyemo (2009) noted that teacher variable such as

qualification and years of experience influence academic performance of pupils in school. The

teacher variables found to be dominant in cross-country studies are related to qualification,

experience, attitude and personality. Akinsolu (2011) asserts that availability of qualified

teachers determined the performance of pupils in schools. He emphasize that teachers involved

in in-service training were more effective in classroom as compared to teacher who had not

undergone training. Wirth and Perkins (2013) indicate that teacher’s attitude directly affect

pupils attitude on teacher year of experience, Adu (2007) contend that teachers’ variables are

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strong determinants of pupils performance in schools. For pupils 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 their teaching.

Many schools and home factors have been established as being responsible for the poor

academic performance in some secondary school subjects. Osokoya (2000) and (2002) identified

the unfavorable attitude of students to history as a major cause of their poor performance.

Medahunsi (1995) and Adeleke (2003) blamed low academic performance in English language

to poor quality of teachers. Okpala (1985) and (2006) established that teaching experience and

academic qualification have strong link in determining students' academic performance in

science subjects. Olaewe (2004) claimed that teachers' productivity and ability to deliver the

goods is inversely related to the number of students they teach. Okpala (1998) reiterated that

there was a significant relationship between teachers' professional quality and academic

achievement. In the same vein, Obemeata (2012) and Udukwu (2002) claimed that students'

academic achievement is dependent on some teachers' qualities and attitude.

In Nigeria, most of the teachers teaching history are graduates without professional

qualifications. In addition, most of the history teachers do not usually attend conference marking

of public examinations such as those organized by WAEC because the number of students

offering history would not entice handsome marking allowance. Furthermore, the attitudes of

the teachers towards learners and the subject taught have a strong link in determining student

performance (Adeleke, 2003 & Osokoya, 2005). Considering the fact that the above identified

teachers' quality variables are important in determining academic achievement, it becomes

necessary to investigate the level of their strengths in students' academic achievement in history.

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To the best knowledge of the researcher, no study has been carried out on teachers' quality

variables as they affect the academic achievement of students in History in Nigeria.

Therefore this underscores the need for an empirical investigation to determine the most

meaningful causal model of teachers' quality variables and academic achievement in secondary

school History. It is expected that such a study would provide a more elaborate empirical basis

for a better understanding of some of the teachers' quality variables that determine students'

academic achievement in History.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The study investigates the extent to which some teacher quality variables such as

academic qualifications, professional qualifications, teaching experience, teaching load,

attendance at workshops and seminars, attitude to students', attitude to History and status in

marking public examinations predict students' academic achievement in History.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of teachers’ variables and

student academic performance in senior secondary schools in Nsukka Local Government Area,

Enugu State.

Specifically, the study aims at:

i. Determining the extent to which teachers’ qualification influence student’ academic

Performance in senior secondary schools.

ii. Finding out the influence of teachers’ years of experience on student’ academic

performance in senior secondary schools.

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iii. Investigating the influence of teachers’ communication skills on student’ academic

performance in senior secondary schools.

1.4 Research Questions

In order to guide the study, the following research questions were stated:

1. To what extent do teachers; qualification influence students’ academic performance in

secondary schools?

2. What is the composite effect of the teachers' quality variables on students' academic

achievement in History?

3. What are the effects of each of the teachers' quality variables on students' academic

achievement in History?

1.5 Scope of the study

The study focuses on the qualification of history teachers on the performance of

students in external examination in selected Secondary Schools in Nsukka Local

Government Area, Enugu State. The study will be centered on five (5) secondary schools

1.6 Significance of the Study

The study will be significant in the following ways:

i. It will help in sensitizing teachers on the need to examine their variables towards teaching

and learning history in secondary schools.

ii. It will help the government on the need to provide adequate instructional materials for the

teaching and learning in secondary schools.

iii. It will help serve as reference materials to other researchers who may want to carry out a

research in the same or similar topic.

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1.7 Limitation of the study

Apart from time constraint and lack of finance, the study posted a great challenge to the

researcher in the inability to cover the whole public primary schools in Nsukka Local

Government Area.

1.8 Delimitation of the Study

The study was restricted to examine the influence of teachers’ variables and pupils’

academic performance in primary schools in Nsukka Local Government Area. The study focuses

on teachers’ qualification, years of experience and communication skill on students’ academic

performance in Secondary Schools in the study area.

1.9 Definition of Operational Terms

 Teacher: This is a person who involves in an attempt to instruct or impart to bring about

desirable changes in human learning ability and behavior. Also, he or she that passes

knowledge, skills, attitudes or models of conducts in such a way that the learner is

brought to understand and evaluate the underlying rationale for what is presented to him

or simply a person who instructs or teach an individual. Teachers are great determinants

in ensuring good academic performance in public examinations, more also teachers are

the main driver of quality outputs in Secondary Schools.

 Variables: Refers to those qualities that can vary and can be used to describe a person or

something.

 Academic performance: Refers to the performance of students in schools either poor,

high or average.

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 Teachers’ variables: These are those qualities a teacher possesses that are subject to

change or vary such as qualification and experiences.

 History: The branch of knowledge that studies the past and the assessment of events.

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 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction

In this chapter, conceptual framework, theoretical framework, empirical research and summary

of literature were discussed.

2.1 Theoretical Framework

Since the teachers of history in Nigerian secondary schools are mainly graduates from the

Department of History of Universities and Colleges of Education, the discussion in terms of

curriculum will be limited to these two levels of institution.

General history has however become an important but an optional course in most of these

universities and colleges of education. National Policy on Education (2014) stipulated that

secondary education is an instrument for national development that fosters the worth and

development of the individual for further education and development, general development of

the society and equality of educational opportunities to all Nigerian children, irrespective of any

real or marginal disabilities. 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. However, different people at different times have passed the blame of poor

performance in secondary school to students because of their low retention, parental factors,

association with wrong peers, low achievement, low retention, low motivation and the likes

(Aremu & Sokan, 2003; Aremu & Oluwole, 2001; Aremu, 2015). Morakinyo (2013) believe that

the falling level of academic achievement is attributable to teacher’s non-use of verbal

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reinforcement strategy. Others found out that the attitude of some teachers to their job is

reflected in their poor attendance to lessons, lateness to school, and unsavory comments about

student’s performance that could damage their ego, poor method of teaching also affect pupils’

academic performance.

Ward Hough (2017) believes that every classroom practice that we derives come from an

understanding theory of some kinds, every knowledge, every bad practice gives evidence of

some or other weakness in our understanding. Aghedo (2015) classified teaching theory into

three categories: Formal theory (philosophical theory) of teaching, Descriptive theory of teaching

and normative theory of teaching. The formal theory of teaching which is based upon certain

logic, certain metaphysical, epistemological assumptions and propositions is known as formal

theory of teaching. The following are the four philosophical theories of teaching: Meiotic Theory

of Teaching, The communication Theory of Teaching, The Molding Theory of Teaching and The

mutual Inquiry Theory of teaching. The descriptive theory of teaching theory which is based

upon empirical evidence and observation is called descriptive theory. The purpose of descriptive

theory is to predict the relationship and effectiveness of variables of teaching (Gardon and

Bruner, 2017). The normative theory of teaching may be developed because it is difficult to

control the human subjects in experimental situation. The learning theories have been developed

under controlled conditions by conducting experiments and animals. The normative theory

explains the relationship among teaching variables on the basis of observations in normal

teaching condition. This category has four theories of teaching: The cognitive theory of teaching,

Theory of teacher-behavior, Psychological theory of teaching and the general theory of teaching

Gardon, Mecheal and F. Thomson (2012) these theories are based upon metaphysical and

epistemological propositions..

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 Robert M and Gagne (2016) termed from theories of learning to the practical task of training

or instructional theory. He has proposed eight kinds of learning: Signal, stimulus-response,

chaining, verbal association, multiple discrimination, concept learning, rule learning and problem

solving. He identified five learning outcome associated with types of learning they are as follow:

Verbal information, Intellectual skills, cognitive strategy, motor skills and attitude. Gagne (2013)

emphasizing the need for a proper theory of instruction proposed that such a theory of instruction

must be based on the hierarchical structure of the events of learning. What goes on inside the

learners mind during the teaching learning process may be termed as internal events. This event

must be fully taken in consideration while planning the corresponding instructional procedures.

This learning events from the angle of a learner along with the corresponding instructional events

is presented as follows: Learning event Corresponding instructional events Reception Gaining

attention Expectancy Information learners of the objective Retrieval Stimulation recall or prior

learning Selective Perception Presenting the stimulus Semantic encoding Providing learning

guidance Responding Eliciting performance Reinforcement Providing feedback Retrieval

Assessing performance Generalization Enhancing retention and transfer Therefore an

instructional plan may thus be properly choked by following the sequences of learning events.

Richard C. Atkinson (2015) came with instructional psychology from the interest in

mathematical learning theory which he applied to computer-assisted instruction (CAI). Atkinson

proposed four characteristics which must be satisfied with a precise derivation of an “Optimal

Instructional Strategy”. Model of the learning process should be involved, it should involve

specified instructional actions, the instructional objectives should be specified in behavioral

terms and each instructional objective can be measured by Burner advocates that a theory of

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instruction is designing measurement scale or questions. This model is, in fact, a special case of

Optimal Control Theory, as it has been developed in the mathematical and engineering field.

Burner (2012) advocates that a theory of instruction is prescriptive in that it proposes rules for

achieving knowledge of skills and provides techniques evaluating learning outcomes. It is also

normative in that it sets goals to be achieved and deal with conditions for meeting then. ‘A

Theory of instruction’ in short is concerned with how what one wished to teach can best be

learned, with improving rather than describing learning. This is not to say that learning and

developmental theories are irrelevant for theory of instruction. In fact, a theory of instruction

must be concerned with both learning and development and must be congruent with those

theories of learning and development to which it subscribes. Burner is insistent on the empirical

steps necessary before the theory can prescribe the practice. Burner has specified four features

that a theory of instruction must involve: Predisposition to learn, structure of knowledge,

sequence of instruction and reinforcement. Bruner has specified four features that a theory of

instruction must involve: Predisposition to learn, structure of knowledge, sequence of instruction

and reinforcement. • Predisposition to learn – A theory of instruction must be concerned with the

experiences and context that will tend to make the child willing and able to learn when he enters

the school • Structure of knowledge - A theory of instruction should specify the ways in which

body of knowledge should be structured so that it can be most readily grasped by the learner. •

Sequence of instruction – A theory of instruction should specify the most effective sequences to

present the material. A theory of instruction should specify the nature and pacing of rewards,

moving from extrinsic rewards of intrinsic one. Each of this points require elaborating with

respect of the individual difference among students at a given age, structure of knowledge with a

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topic to be taught, flexibility of sequencing, rate of learning, interests and so on. “Any subject

can be taught effecting in some intellectual honest for any student at any stage of development”.

E. Stones and Marries (2017) attempted to explain the nature of teaching with the help of three

types of related variables: The first phase includes the teacher in the analysis of the teaching

problems and teaching tests before teaching takes place. It has two types of tasks one is the

analysis of teaching content and second is the analysis of the nature of the student’s learning. In

the second Phase decision are made about the interrelationship of the variables deemed

appropriate to teaching objectives. The third phase concerns with evaluating the effectiveness

and workability of phase two in relaxing the objective and this consists of techniques of

examination in which variables have been interrelated in phase second. The learning theories

have been formulated by designing experiment in controlled situations, therefore they have less

generalizability. Teaching theory should have high generalizability because it concerns with

human behavior. More rigorous control cannot be imposed by designing experiments on human

subjects. N.L. Gage (2014) suggest that one theory of teaching cannot serve the purpose of

education. There should be more than one theory of teaching because teaching may be analyzed

in four ways N.L. Gage (2016) Teachers has to lay several roles in teaching. Teaching consists of

many kinds of activity such as philosopher (information given Adviser, counselor, motivator,

demonstrator, curriculum planner and evaluator. Teaching might proceed on the basis of

different families of learning theory; philosophical theories of learning (mental discipline,

enfoldment, approbation). Psychological theories of learning: S_R family (2013) Reinforcement

theory and Insight learning theory. Each family suggests different views of teaching process. M.

Meux and B.O. Smith (2012) have defined the term teacher-behavior “Teacher behavior consists

of those acts that the teacher performs typically in the classroom in order to induce-learning”.

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Theory of teacher behavior also explains the relationship of variables, it is based upon two

postulates. Teacher behavior is social in nature - Teacher performs his tasks in group. Teacher

behavior is concerned with the class-room verbal and non-verbal interaction. In the process of

interaction, teacher and students both participate. The initiation and response activities are to be

performed by teacher or students. They both influence each other. Therefore it is considered as

social behavior.

Teacher behavior is relative - Teacher’s classroom activities are based upon social

situations. Teacher’s activities are the product of social conditions and are related to the cultural

settings in which teacher performs the teaching task. Teacher- Behavior is good or bad, effective

and ineffective, it can be judged with reference to a particular culture’s value system and set of

objectives. Therefore teacher behavior is a relative concept.

The Psychological theory considers teaching a sort contractual relationship between the teacher

and the pupils. The relationship consists of certain activities to be performed by the teacher such

as: analyzing teaching task, determining learning goals, identifying entering behavior and

selecting teaching strategy. The teacher formulates teaching tasks by his own experiences and

insight. He makes judgment about the pupil’s stage of development. The teacher locates his

positioning the cognitive map. Teaching has very high values. The value helps others to grow

and learn to give one best from which others benefit, but from which one does not benefit oneself

to do good without expecting anything in return and so on.

Clarke (2015) formulated a general theory of teaching which assumes that teaching is a

process which is designed and performed to produce change in behavior of students. Teaching

activities can be very diverse and vary also at different levels of teaching and objectives. All

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these combinations are possible in teaching process. This theory limits the teaching activities to

those which are acceptable by a democratic society.

2.2 Conceptual Review

2.2.1 Teachers’ Qualifications

According to Wikipedia 2017, a teacher (also called a school teacher or, in some

contexts, an educator) is a person who helps others to acquire knowledge, competences or

values. Informally the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. when showing a colleague

how to perform a specific task). In some countries, teaching young people of school age may be

carried out in an informal setting, such as within the family (homeschooling) rather than in a

formal setting such as a school or college. Some other professions may involve a significant

amount of teaching (e.g. youth worker, pastor).

In most countries, formal teaching is usually carried out by paid professional teachers.

This article focuses on those who are employed to teach others in a formal education context,

such as at a school or other place of initial formal education or training.A certified teacher is a

teacher who has earned credentials from an authoritative source, such as the government, a

higher education institution or a private source. This teacher qualification gives a teacher

authorization to teach and grade in pre-schools, primary or secondary education in countries,

schools, content areas or curricula where authorization is required. While many authorizing

entities require student teaching before earning teaching certification, routes vary from country

to country. A teaching qualification is one of a number of academic and professional degrees that

enable a person to become registered teacher examples of teaching qualifications include the

Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), the postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE)

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and the Bachelor of Education (Wikipedia, 2017). A Student or a pupil is a learner or someone

who attends an educational institution. In Britain those attending university are termed

“students”. In the United States, and more recently also in Britain, the term “student” is applied

to both categories. In its widest use, student is used for anyone who is learning, including mid-

career adults who are taking vocational education or returning to university. When speaking

about learning outside an institution, “student” is also used to refer to someone who is learning a

topic or who is “a student of” a certain topic or person.

In Nigeria, education is classified into four systems known as 6-3-3-4 system of education. It

implies six years in primary school, three years in Junior Secondary, three years in senior

secondary and four years in the university. However, the number of years to be spent in

university is mostly determined by the course of study. Some courses have longer study length

than others. Those in primary school are often referred to as pupils. Those in university as well

as those in secondary school are being referred to as students. Student performance and factors

that impact progress is critical to becoming a successful teacher. Student’s performance

measures the amount of academic content a student learns in a determined amount of time. Each

grade level has learning goals or instructional standards that educators are required to teach.

2.2.2 Teachers Characteristics

Adu and Olatundun (2007), it was discovered that teachers’ characteristics influences students’

performance in secondary schools. Grieser found out that successful classroom management

enhances students questioning and exploration when the learning environment is conducive and

suitable for learning. Teachers’ professional classroom management is the methods and

strategies used by teachers to bring about healthy environments for teaching and learning.

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Adesoji and Olatunbosun (2008) asserted in their study that student attitude was related to

teacher characteristics In the work of Wirth and Perkins (2013), it was revealed that teacher’s

attitude contributed significantly to student attention in classrooms. Mucella, Melis and Ahu

(2011) investigated the effects of teachers’ attitudes on students’ personality and performance in

Instanbul Turkey. The finding from their study showed that teachers’ positive attitudes have

positively influence students’ personality as well as their life performances. Kurgat and Gordon

(2014),revealed that teachers have a positive attitude towards the subject thus poor performance

could be attributed to other factors than teacher attitudes. This therefore meant that teacher’s

attitude directly affected students’ attitude. Fehintola (2014),noted there is a significant relative

contribution between teachers’ characteristics to academic performance of the participants. Ojo

(2017) stated there is a significant relationship between teachers’ instructional communication

abilities and students’ academic performance in secondary schools.

2.2.3 Teachers Quality

The quality of output produced by any nation is dependent on the quality of its teachers. It is

important to say that teachers play a very significant role in determining the quality of education

that children receive. The teachers are great determinant in ensuring good academic performance

in public examinations. No wonder that it is often said that teacher is a very important resource

in any educational system. According to Aina, Ogundele and Olanipekun (2013), of all the

resources in the educational system, the most vital educational resources are the teacher. Obadara

(2005) opined that teachers are highly essential for the successful operation of the educational

system and serves as a key to the educational development.

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According to Adedeji (1998), students’ performance is a major indices by which the

effectiveness and success of any educational institution could be ascertained. A lot of scholars

and researchers are of the view that the poor academic performance at the secondary schools is a

product of the teacher factor, school factor, home factor, institutional factor and so on. There is a

consensus among educationists and researchers such as (Owoeye, 2000; Ajayi, 1998) about

secondary school students’ poor performance in public examination such as West African

Examination council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) in Nigeria. In line

with the earlier statement, opinion leaders, commentators, professionals and educationist are

always in agreement as to the fact that indeed there is a decline in the academic performance of

secondary students in public examinations in Nigeria.

Based on the statement above, some blame the students for this apparent decline in the academic

performance. Majority blame the teachers for the problems in our schools. Teachers in turn

blame parents and the children. They also blame government for unattractive condition of service

and poor physical facilities in some parts of the educational system. However, it should be noted

that the students’ academic performance is dependent on a number of factors among which is the

teachers’ professional attitudes. The professional attitudes of a teacher go a long way in bringing

about effective performance of students.

The issue of teacher professionalism has to do with teachers adhering to the code of conducts

guiding the teaching profession. Nabukenya (2007) opined that teacher professionalism affects

the role of the teacher and his or her pedagogy, which in turn affects the students’ ability to learn

effectively. In the opinion of Odunusi (1999), teachers with right professional attitudes are the

hubs of any educational system because it is them the quality and effectiveness of all educational

arrangement rests. Teachers are seen as essential pillars of education. No matter how grandiose

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a school system and its curricula may be, the implementation of its programmes will be fruitless

unless competent and effective teachers handle them.

According to Fehintola (2014), in a typical classroom setting, a professional teacher must

demonstrate excellence attitudes in his teaching. It shows that teachers must put forth an attitude

that will help to transform the learners' positively in the three domains of learning i.e cognitive,

affective and psychomotor areas. A professional teacher must demonstrate sound attitudes such

as intelligence, neatness and desirable traits. Teacher professional development has influence on

a lot of variables such as student motivation, teaching methodologies, communication skills,

organization of content and planning of lessons, students’ participation during lessons, teacher

confidence and knowledge of subject matter (Maende, 2012).

Attitude is the way people reason or acts and most of the times can either make or mar an

individual performance while carrying out their tasks and responsibilities. It is often said that

attitude may be positive or negative. Negative attitudes displayed in the school by teachers may

result in negative performance while positive attitudes put forth by teachers in the school may

result into a positive performance. The attitude of a teacher, consciously or unconsciously,

directly or indirectly affects students’ academic performance. It had been established by scholars

such as Shittu and Oanite (2015) that teachers’ attitudes highly influence students' interest in

learning. Teachers’ professional attitude in the areas of communication, classroom management

and pedagogy may be a strong factor that could influence students’ academic performance in

schools.

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2.3 Reviewed Empirical Literature

Darling-Hammond (2018) defines well qualified teacher as one who was fully certified

and held the equivalent of a major in the field being taught. Although the formal qualification of

teachers is an important indicator for their knowledge and competence in teaching, it has only

limited utility in analyzing how well prepared teachers are for what they have to teach in schools.

More detailed knowledge of the courses they have taken during their training needs to be

compared to the actual content and skills required to teach the high school’s curriculum. Andrew,

(2010) refers to teacher qualification in two ways – traditional and alternative qualification

routes. Traditional certificate is when an individual completes an undergraduate degree or post

graduate program in education. Alternative routes of certification are based on coursework in

pedagogy and subject area without a degree in education. Goldhabern& Brewer, (2010) indicate

short term activities such as mentoring, peer evaluations and workshops as ways other than

formal qualifications for improving teaching. More often graduate teachers with first degree

content to into teaching if they cannot find another job right away. Although they often get

somewhat lower salary than a fully qualified teacher; they choose not to enroll in the one year

post-graduate professional training and therefore lack a basic foundation for teaching.

Rivkin, Hanushek, & Kain (2011) document that teacher qualification accounted for

approximately 40 to 60 percent of the variance in average of students’ achievement in

assessment. Richardson (2018) reveals that students in urban areas performed better than those in

rural areas. The researcher suggests that the availability of enough qualified history teachers

must have been a determinant for students’ performance. However, in Kenya, some schools in

the rural areas have performed better that their urban counterparts (Angrist & Lavy, 2011).

Manundu (2006) concludes that there was significant correlation between teacher qualification

20
and pupil performance in Kenya. The good performance was attributed to excellent instructions

given by qualified teachers in addition to other inputs. (Angrist & Lavy 2011) establish that

teachers who had graduated from Kenya Science Teachers College were more practically

oriented than those who had degrees from public universities.

Wilson, Kain and Lavy (2011) suggest that even with the shortcomings of current teacher

education and licensing, fully prepared and certified teachers are more successful with students

than teachers without this preparation. Ashton (2006) notes that teachers with regular state

certification receive higher supervisor ratings and student achievement than teachers who do not

meet standards, but this standard, but this observation was based on data on data with virtually

no statistical controls have been imposed. In spite of the quantity of research exercised controls

over student “inputs” that would give the critical reader confidence in the findings. Darling –

Hammond (2009) assert that the impact of certification status on student achievement in two

large urban school districts. These schools districts provided information about teachers hired for

the 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 school years. Information included the school where they were

currently teaching, the grade level taught, the teacher’s certification status, highest degree

earned, date and institution where it was achieved, age, and number of years teaching experience.

It has been evidenced that in many countries, teacher qualifications that are considered to be

related to student learning have become desirable targets of teacher education reform. Some of

these reforms call for the professionalization of teacher education by making it longer, upgrading

it to graduate programs, and regulating it through mechanisms of licensure, certification, and

promotion aligned with standards (Darling-Hammond et al, 2001; 2002). Findings related to

teachers’ academic degrees (for example; bachelors or masters among others) are inconclusive.

Some studies suggest positive effects of advances degrees (Darling-Hammond, 2009). Some

21
argue that the requirement of a second degree raises the cost in terms of teacher education and

the time it involves and may prevent quality candidates from choosing this profession (Darling-

Hammond, L., Chung, R., & Frelow, F. , 2011). This characteristic is related to the subject-

matter knowledge teachers acquire during their formal studies and pre-service teacher education

courses. The evidence gained from different studies in contradictory. Several studies report a

positive relationship between teachers’ preparation in the subject matter they later teach and

student achievement. Goldhaber & Brewer (2010), while others have less unequivocal results.

(Goldhaber & Brewer 2000) find both positive and negative effects of teachers’ in-field

preparation on students’ achievement. Goldhaber & Brewer (2010) find a positive relationship in

mathematics, but none in science. In addition, Rowan, Koyle and Kyle (2007) report a positive

relationship between students’ achievement and teachers’ preparation in mathematics. Rivkin,

Hanushek, & Kain, (2010) observe that having a major in mathematics has no effect but do have

a major significant negative effect of teachers with more coursework in physical science. Studies

on the effect of teacher experience on students learning have found a positive relationship

between teachers’ effectiveness and their years of experience, but the relationship observed is not

always a significant or an entirely linear one (Klittgaard & Hall, 2004; Murnane & Philips,

2011). The evidence currently available suggests that while inexperienced teachers are less

effective than more senior teachers, the benefits of experience level off after a few years (Rivkin,

Hanushek, & Kain, 2010).

Harris and Sass (2007) point to a selection bias that can affect the validity of conclusion

concerning the effect of teachers’ years if experience: if less effective teachers are more likely to

leave the profession, this may give the mistaken appearance that experience raises teacher are

more likely to leave the profession, this may give the mistaken appearance that experience raises

22
teacher effectiveness. Selection bias could, however, work in the opposite direction if the more

able teachers with better opportunities to earn are those teachers most likely to leave the

profession.

The term “teacher characteristics” can be referred to as qualities that can be measured with tests

or derived from their academic or professional records. They indicate that teacher characteristics

does not generally refer to the direct observation of their influence on students’ learning in terms

of either students’ test performance or teaching behaviors. Rather, the approaches dealt with the

scope of this research are those that fall traditionally into the province of personal psychology or

personnel selection. This review deals with those characteristics of teachers might be identified

and used in the initial hiring of teachers to increase their students’ achievement. Ashton (2006)

indicates that these characteristics could include qualities of teachers that are viewed as personal

such as mental ability, age, gender or as “experiential” such as certification status, educational

background, previous teaching experience and the like some characteristics are combinations in

unknown amounts of personal and experiential qualities, for example; candidates’ performance

on teacher certification tests such as the national teacher examinations and state-mandated tests.

This characteristic is related to the subject-matter knowledge teachers acquire during

their formal studies and pre-service teacher education courses. The evidence from different

studies is contradictory. Several studies show a positive relationship between teachers’

preparation in the subject matter they later teach and student achievement (Guyton & Farokhi,

2007, Darling-Hammond, 2009; Goldhaber & Brewer, 2010), while others have less unequivocal

results. Monk and King (2004), however, found that while having a major in mathematics had no

effect on students’ achievement in mathematics, having a substantial amount of under-or post-

graduate coursework had a significant positive effect on students in physics but not in life

23
sciences. Ingersoll (2003) considered the widespread phenomenon in the United States of

teachers teaching subjects other than those for which they had formal qualifications. His study of

out-of-field teaching (as it is known) portrayed a severe situation where 42% to 49% of public

Grades 7 to 12 teachers of science and mathematics lacked a major and/or full certification in the

field they were teaching (1999/2000 data). In Israel, a recent survey (Maagan, 2007) placed the

corresponding percentages even higher for elementary teachers – 42% for mathematics and 63%

for science (2005/2006 data). The literature shows a somewhat stronger, and more consistently

positive, influence of education and pedagogical coursework on teacher effectiveness (Ashton &

Crocker, 2007). Some of these studies compare the effect on students’ achievement of courses in

pedagogical subject matter with the effect of courses in the subject matter itself, and present

evidence in favor of the former. An example is a study conducted by Monk (2004) related to

mathematics achievement. Other studies reveal no impact of education courses on students’

achievement (Goldhaber & Brewer, 2010) in relation to science achievement. Despite evidence

that five-year programs result in a higher retention rate and career satisfaction of their graduate

than do four-year programs (Andrew, 2010), there is no evidence that graduates of the longer

programs become more effective teachers. Data collected in TIMSS 2003 in Israel cannot

contribute to this consideration, as the information collected on teachers’ pre-service education

did not differentiate between consecutive teacher preparation programs at universities (one-to

two-year programs taken after completion of the first degree in a discipline) and concurrent

programs at teachers’ colleges (four-to five-year integrated disciplinary and pedagogy

programs).

Certified teachers are usually those who have graduated from accredited teacher

education programs. Some of these teachers are also required to complete an induction program

24
or pass a national teacher examination test in order to obtain a license. There is debate in the

USA between those in favor of full certification (Darling-Hammond, 2009; Darling-Hammond, L.,

Chung, R., & Frelow, F. ., 2011) and those who argue that students of teachers who hold full

certification achieve similarly to those who study under teachers with temporary “emergency”

credentials (Goldhaber & Brewer, 2010). These authors also argue that relaxing requirements for

certification is a way not only attracting academically talented college graduates to teaching but

also of recruiting a more diverse pool of candidates needed for a diverse student population. The

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2003 data at hand for Israel

prevented examination of this issue, as all participating teachers were fully certified.

Professional development activities can be conducted by many different organizations, in

school and out of school, on the job or during sabbatical leave. On these occasions, practicing

teachers update their content knowledge and teaching skills so they can meet the requirements of

new curricula, consider new research findings on teaching and learning, and adapt to changes in

the needs of the student population, and so on. Criticism has been leveled against the episodic

nature of these activities and concern expressed that very little is known about what these

activities really comprise and involve.

Conclusions in the literature on the relationship between teachers’ participation in

professional development activities and student outcomes are mixed. Some studies on in-service

professional development have found no relationship to students’ achievement with regard to

mathematics and reading, (Jacob & Lefgren, 2004). Other studies have found higher levels of

students’ achievement linked to teachers’ participation in professional development activities

directly related to the area in which they are teaching (Brown, Smith, & Stein, 2005; Wiley &

Yoon, 2005; Cohen & Hill, 2007) and in regard to language and mathematics. Wenglinsky 2010;

25
Angrist & Lavy, 2011) found a positive correlation between professional development activities

aimed at the needs of special education students, and students’ higher-order skills and laboratory

skills in science. More recently, Harris and Sass (2007) identified what they call the “lagged

effect of professional development,” that is, the larger effect of teachers’ professional

development on students outcomes not becoming apparent until three years after the teachers had

completed their courses.

The interpretation of the positive effect of participation in teacher professional

development activities is not clear cut, as this variable is confounded with other teacher

attributes, that is, teachers who participate in these activities are also likely to be more motivated

and usually, more specialized in the subject they teach. Teachers experience has a significant

effect on students’ performance in secondary schools. Experienced teacher have a richer

background of experience to draw from and can contribute insight and ideas to the course of

teaching and learning; are open to correction and are less dictatorial in classroom. Students’

taught by more experienced teachers achieve at a higher level, because their teachers have

mastered the content and acquired classroom management skills to deal with different types of

classroom problems (Angrist & Lavy, 2011).Furthermore, more experienced teachers are

considered to be more able to concentrate on the most appropriate way to teach particular topics

to students who differ in their abilities, prior knowledge and backgrounds (Stringfield & Teddlie,

2011).

Teachers’ attendance of in-service training is one of the indicators of experience.

Teachers’ motives to attend in-service training can be manifold e.g. increase of salary, career

planning, keeping up with developments, filling in lacunae, removing insecurity and meeting

colleagues. In the Science Education Project in South Africa (SEP), the objectives were mainly

26
formulated by the developers after having consulted various experts who had experience with

Education in Africa. The teachers in this program had been and did not have any experience with

practical work. Only in a later stage of their in-service training course they had a better idea of

the possible content and methods, did formulating objectives of their own lessons become part of

the program (Fullan, 2012). Therefore, the more the teachers know about the students, the better

the teachers can connect with them and the more likely they will be able to benefit from the

teachers’ experience in constructing their world. The knowledge that teachers need about

students in order to connect with them is gained through interaction. For measuring any other

teacher attribute. Consequently, many well-constructed research attempts to interpret the

relationship between experience and effectiveness have produced varying results that reveals no

particular pattern. Murnane (2006) found that teacher effectiveness improves rapidly over the

first three years of teaching and reaches its highest point between the third and fifth year but

found no substantial after year five.

In contrast, a small number of studies suggest that teacher experience effects may be

evident for a longer period of time. Murnane & Phillips (2011) state that experience had a

significant positive effect on elementary student’s achievement among teachers during their first

seven years of teaching. Darling-Hammond (2009). Angrist & Lavy, (2011) reveals that at the

high school level, students taught by teachers with more than nine years of experience had

significantly higher test scores than students whose teachers had five to nine years of experience.

Rivers & Sanders (2012) suggest that teachers’ effectiveness increases dramatically each year

during the first ten years of teaching”. In the extreme case, Darling-Hammond et al (2011) found

evidence of growing teacher effectiveness out to 20 or more years in their analysis of North

Carolina teacher data; although more than half of the gains in teacher effectiveness occurred

27
during the first few years of teaching. Gold Haber & Brewer (2010) assert a positive relationship

between teachers’ verbal ability and composite student achievement, verbal ability has been

considered an indicator of teacher quality. The basic logic is that teachers rely on talk to teach

(explaining, questioning and providing directions). What verbal ability means and how to

measure it, it turns out, are not straight forward. Rivkin, Hanushek & Kain (2010) measured

teachers’ verbal ability with a 30 item sentence completion test. Thus, though talk about the

importance of teachers’ verbal ability persists, it is not strong measure of teacher quality.

2.4 Summary of Reviewed Literature

Having viewed the vastness of literature related to this study, it has been observed that

much research on the teachers variable and academic performance of students have not been

conducted in Nigeria especially in Nsukka. To this effect, the research is poised to fill the gap

through this study by taking a proper and in-depth study of the teacher variables and academic

performance of students in history in Nsukka local government area of Enugu State, Nigeria.

However, the researcher appreciates the efforts of the various authors works were cited.

The theoretical framework upon which this research topic was drawn was

comprehensively and adequately treated. Darling-Hmond (2009). Angrist & Lavy (2011) reveals

that at the high school level, students taught by teachers with more than nine years of experience

had significantly higher test scores than students whose teachers had five to nine years of

experience. Some concepts embedded in this research topic were exhaustively explained under

the conceptual framework. Also, the variables inherent in this study were exhaustively discussed

under the empirical review’s achievement in History.

28
 CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This section presents the methodology used to investigate the influence of Teachers variables on

student’s academic achievements in senior secondary school in Nsukka, Enugu State. Furthermore,

it also discusses different perspectives on research methods and justifies the choice of particular

methods for this study, the research design; population of the study, sample and sampling technique

adopted for this study is discussed. The instrument for data collection, validity, method of data

collection and analysis were all discussed.

3.2 Research Design

The research design is the complete plan of how the research study will be executed. It denotes the

practical details of the study by which data is collected. It aims to develop the set of methods and

procedures which helps to test research hypotheses with a high degree of assurance. In this study,

correlational research design will be adopted for data collection. Correlational research design:

Involves collecting data to determine whether and to what extent (degree) a relationship exists

between two or more variables. The degree of relationship is expressed as a correlation coefficient.

The purpose of correlational research is often only to detect the existence of a relationship between

variables (co-variance) which suggests a possible base for causality (Bless & Higson-Smith, 2005).

Thus, as is the case in this study, correlational research design is useful as a first step to explanatory

research design.

29
3.4Population of the Study

The population of this study comprises of selected Senior Secondary Students in Nsukka

metropolis, it comprises of male and female students and this population were represented by

CSS IbagwaAni, CSS Opi-agu, CSS Lejja, CSS Ezebunagu CHS Umabor

3.4Sample and Sampling Techniques

A sample is a finite part of a statistical population whose properties are studied to gain information

about the whole. “Sampling is the process of selecting a sufficient number of elements from the

population so that by studying the sample, and understanding the properties or the characteristics of

the sample subjects, we will be able to generalize the properties or characteristics to the population

elements” (Sekaran, 2000, p.226). Basically, a sample is considered to be a subset of the population.

There are many sampling techniques available to a researcher. Sampling techniques allow a

researcher to collect the data from a subset or subgroup rather than the whole population and

therefore reduce the amount of data to fit the purpose of the study. Therefore, a multi-stage

sampling technique will be adopted for the selection of the respondents. The respondents would be

selected at random sampling method which will use both small and large population to make up the

data of this research.

3.5 Instrumentation

The instrument used for collecting data for this work would be a questionnaire. The questionnaire is

a set of printed questions for a survey, it is good in this study because a lot of people would be

involved while trying to gather facts, if these people are to be interview individually, it will be time

consuming and sometimes it will be difficult for some people to give audience to the interviewer,

this will abstract the survey too. The questionnaire is more expressive in most cases it has

30
reliability. The questionnaire is important because the questions are more structured than that of the

verbal interview. The questionnaire is also important because people‟ opinion can be gotten easily

without bias or waste of time. The questions were structured and unstructured which requires

Strongly Agreed, Agreed, Strongly Disagreed and Disagreed answers.

3.6 Validation of Instrument

The Instrument which is the questionnaire was validated by two experts from the faculty of

education; an expert Educational measurement and evaluation and another expert in the

Foundations of education. The instrument is believed to measured what it is designed to measure

taking cognizance of the items in the instrument.

3.7 Administration

The researchers selected five (5) schools within Nsukka, Enugu State Metropolis which include

Community Secondary School IbagwaAni, Community Secondary School Opi-agu, Community

Secondary School Ezebunagu, Community Secondary School Lejja Dunoka and Community high

school Umabor. The questionnaires were given to them after explaining the content vividly to avoid

mistakes. After marking and appropriately filling, the questionnaires were instantly collected back

for collation, presentation, interpretation and analysis.

3.8 Method of Data Analysis

Simple tables, frequency and percentages was adopted for the presentation and analysis of the data

generated for the study. These statistical tools were used because they were suitable means of

breaking down and analyzing the generated data.

31
 x 100
Formula for percentage (%) = ×
y 1

Where (x) = No. of Respondents

(y) = Total No. of Respondents

100 = Percentage (%)

32
 CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS AND DISCUSION

4.1 Introduction

This section presents, analyze and interpret the data generated from the study. The presentation of

the data was carried out in tabular form using simple percentage frequency table presentation. The

interpretation paved way for discussion of the major findings of the research. The total number of

questionnaires distributed was 325 questionnaires to five selected schools, 300 were filled and

returned while 25 were void. And the 300 questionnaires were used in the presentation, analysis and

interpretation.

4.2 Results

Table-2.1 Number of Questionnaires Distributed

School No: of Quest. No: of Quest. returned Percentage (%)

Distributed

CSS IbagwaAni 65 62 20.7%

CSS Opi-agu 65 55 18.3%

CSS Lejja 70 65 21.7%

CSS Ezebunagu 65 60 20%

CHS Umabor 60 58 19.3%

Total 325 300 100%

33
From the presentation above, it shows that 65 questionnaires were given to CSS IbagwaAni and

62 questionnaireswere filled and returned which are equivalent to equivalent to 20.7%, another

65 questionnaires were allocated to CSS Opi-agu and 55 questionnaires were filled and returned

which are equivalent to 18%, 70 questionnaires werealso given to CSS Lejja and 65

questionnaires equivalent to 21.7% were filled and returned while65questionnaires were given to

CSS Ezebunagu and 60questionnaires which are equivalent to 20% were filled and returned, 60

questionnaires was given to CHS Umabor and 58 were filled and returned which are equivalent

to 19.3%.Therefore, from the table above, it is obvious that 25 questionnaires were missing.

Table-2.2 Gender of the Respondents

Gender Gender Number of Percentage (%)

Respondents

Male 178 59.3%

Female 122 40.7%

Total 300 100%

The information on the table above showcased that 178 respondents equivalent to 59.3% are

male respondents while122 respondents represented by 40.7% are female respondents.

Therefore, the information on the table implies that male respondents are the majority.

34
Table-2.3 Age of the Respondents

Age No: of Respondents Percentage (%)

15 - 25 year 140 46.7%

26 – 35 60 20%

36 - 45 30 10%

46 and above 70 23.3%

Total 150 100

From the table above, it shows that 140 respondents whose percentage is equivalent to 46.7% fall

within the age barrier of 15-25 years, 60 respondents equivalent to 20% fall within 26 – 35 years,

30 respondents equivalent to 10% fall within 36 - 45 years while 70 represented by 23.3% fall

within the age of 46 years and above. Since 46.7% is the highest percentage of the table, it

implies that people who fall within the age of 15 -25 are the major respondents.

Table-2.4 Academic Qualification of the Respondents

Qualification No. of Respondents Percentage (%)

NCE 90 30%

Bachelors 130 43.3%

Masters 80 26.7%

Total 300 100%

35
The information on the above table shows that 90 respondents equivalent to 30% have N.C.E as

their qualification, 130 respondent equivalents to 43.3% have Bachelors while 80 respondents

equivalent to 26.7% have Masters. Therefore, the respondents with Bachelors are the major

respondents of this research.

Table-2.5 Years of Teaching of the Respondents

Years No. of Respondents Percentage (%)

5 years 40 13.3%

6 – 10 years 90 30%

11 – 20years 80 26.7%

21 above years 90 30%

Total 300 100%

The table above shows that 40 respondents equivalent to 13.3% has less than 5 years of teaching

experience, 90 respondents equivalent to 30% has 6 – 10 years of teaching experience, 80

respondent which is equivalent to 26.7%has 11 – 20 years of teaching experience and 90

respondent equivalent to 30% have 21 above years of teaching experience. Therefore the

respondent of 6 – 11 years and 21 - above years are the major response to this research.

36
Table-2.6 Does Teachers’ Qualification Affect Student’s Academic Performance in Secondary

School

Responses No. of Respondents Percentage (%)

Strongly agree 150 50%

Agree 134 44.7%

Disagree 10 3.3%

Strongly disagree 6 2%

Total 300 100%

From the information on the table above shows that 150 respondents equivalent to 50% have

strongly agreed that teachers qualification affect student’s academic performance in secondary

schools, 134 respondents which is equivalent to 44.7% have agreed, 10 respondent equivalent to

3.3% have disagreed and 6 respondents equivalent to 2% have strongly disagreed that teachers

qualification cannot affect students‟ academic performance in secondary school in Nsukka Local

Government Area, Enugu State. Therefore, 94.7% of people have strongly agreed that the

teacher’s qualification affect student’s academic performance in secondary school.

37
Table-2.7 Influence of Teachers’ Years of Experience Affects Student’s Academic

Performance in Secondary School in History

Responses No. of Respondents No. of Respondents

Strongly agree 144 48%

Agree 128 42.7%

Disagree 18 6%

Strongly disagree 10 3.3 %

Total 300 100%

From the table above it showcase that 144 respondents equivalent to 48% have strongly agreed

that teachers years of experience affect student’s academic performance in secondary school, 128

respondents which are equivalent to 42.7% have agreed, 18 respondents equivalent to 6% have

disagreed and 10 respondents equivalent to 3.3% have strongly disagreed that teachers years of

experience cannot affect student’s academic performance in secondary school. Since, 90.7% are

the major response to this research; this showed that teacher’s years of experience affect student

academic performance in secondary school in Nsukka Local Government Area, Enugu State.

38
Table-2.8 Teachers’ Gender Affects Student’s Academic Performance in Secondary School

Responses No. of Respondents Percentage (%)

Strongly agree 110 36.7%

Agree 120 40%

Disagree 40 13.3%

Strongly disagree 30 10%

Total 300 100%

From the table above it shows that 110 respondents equivalent to 36.7% have strongly agreed

that teacher gender affect student academic performance in secondary school in Nsukka Local

Government Area, Enugu State, 120 respondents which are equivalent to 40% have agreed, 40

respondents equivalent to 13.3% have disagreed and 30 respondents equivalent to 10% have

strongly disagreed that teachers gender does not affect student’s\ academic performance in

secondary schools in Nsukka Local Government Area, Enugu State. Based on this information

76.7% have agreed and this showed that teacher gender affect student performance in secondary

school in Nsukka Local Government Area, Enugu State.

39
Table-2.9 Teachers Teaching Method Affects Student’s Academic Performance in

Secondary School

Responses No. of Respondents Percentage (%)

Strongly agree 170 56.7%

Agree 120 40%

Disagree 6 2%

Strongly disagree 4 1.3%

Total 300 100%

The result from table above shows 170 respondents equivalent to 56.7% have strongly agreed

that the teacher teaching method affect the student academic achievement in secondary schools,

120 respondent which are equivalent to 40% have agreed, 6 respondents equivalent to 2% have

disagreed and 4 respondents equivalent to1.3% have strongly disagreed that teachers teaching

method does not affect the student’s academic achievement in secondary schools. Therefore,

96.7% is the highest percentage of the respondents that agree with the research questions; this

implies that teachers teaching method affect student’s academic achievements.

40
Table -2.10 Influence of Teachers Knowledge of History, Affect Student’s Academic

Achievement

Responses No. of Respondents Percentage (%)

Strongly agree 140 46.7%

Agree 154 51.3%

Disagree 4 1.3%

Strongly disagree 2 0.7%

Total 300 100%

From the table above 140 respondents which are equivalent to 46.7% have strongly agreed that

teachers knowledge of subject matter affect student’s academic performance in secondary

schools, 154 respondents that is equivalent to 51.3% have agreed, 4 respondents equivalent to

1.3% have disagreed and 2 respondent with percentage equivalent to 0.7% have strongly

disagreed that teachers knowledge of subject matter does not affect student’s academic

achievements. Therefore, 294 respondents which are equivalent to 98% indicate that teacher’s

knowledge of subject matter affect student’s academic performance in secondary schools.

41
Table-2.11 Teachers Teaching Experience Reduces Workload to the Remaining Teaching

Staff of the Respondents

Responses No. of Respondents Percentage (%)

Strongly agree 150 50%

Agree 134 44.7%

Disagree 10 3.3%

Strongly disagree 6 2%

Total 300 100%

From the table above 150 respondents equivalent to 50% have strongly agreed that teachers

teaching experience reduces the workload to the remaining of the teaching staff in secondary

schools, 134 respondents which are equivalent to 44.7% have agreed while 10 respondents have

disagree and 6 respondents have strongly disagree that teachers teaching experience does not

reduces the workload to the remaining teaching staff in secondary schools. Based on the forgoing

presentation of the table above, 94.7% is the highest which implies that teachers teaching

experience reduces the workload to the remaining of the teaching staff in secondary schools.

42
Table-2.12 Does Student Perform Well in History in Senior Secondary School

Responses No. of Respondents Percentage (%)

Strongly agree 170 56.7%

Agree 120 40%

Disagree 6 2%

Strongly disagree 4 1.3%

Total 300 100%

The information on the table above showcased 170 respondents equivalent to 56.7% have

strongly agreed that students performed well in secondary schools, 120 respondents which are

equivalent to 40% have agree, 6 respondents equivalents to 2% have disagreed and 6 respondents

that is equivalent to 1.3% have strongly disagreed that students does not performed well in

secondary schools. This information indicates that 96.7% of the respondents have agreed that

students performed well in senior secondary schools.

43
Table -2.13 Teachers Motivation Increase Student Academic Performance in History in

senior Secondary School

Responses No. of Respondents Percentage (%)

Strongly agree 110 36.7%

Agree 120 40%

Disagree 40 13.3%

Strongly 30 10%

Total 300 100%

The result from the table above shows 110 respondents equivalent to 36.7% have strongly agreed

that teacher’s motivation increase students’ performance in secondary schools, 120 respondents

which are equivalent to 40% have agreed, 40 respondents equivalent to 13.3% have strongly

disagreed and 30 respondents equivalent to 10% have strongly disagree that teacher’s motivation

increase students’ performance in secondary schools. Therefore, the information indicates that

76.7% of the respondents have strongly agreed that teacher’s motivation increase students’

Performance in secondary schools.

4. Discussion

Based on the presentation and interpretation of the data of this study, it was revealed that Table -

2.2 have the highest number of male respondents who are the majority. Moreover, in table -2.3

which shows the age grade of the respondents, 46.7% is the highest percentage of the table,

which vindicates that people who fall within the age of 15-25 are the major respondents.

Notwithstanding, qualification of the respondents was showcased in table -2.4 which the

44
respondents with Bachelors are the major respondents of this research. While some of the studies

above investigated the characteristics of teacher quality and distribution of teacher quality across

schools and classrooms, others also tended to look at teacher characteristic variables (i.e. degree,

certification, professional development, subject knowledge, etc.) separately. For example, these

studies considered how many teachers had bachelor’s degrees, or how many teachers had a

major or minor in their subject area. Few studies attempted to combine teachers‟ characteristics

in the process-product educational production function and teacher knowledge (content

knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and curriculum knowledge) to estimate

teachers‟ effects on students‟ achievements. It also indicates that the table -2.5 with the

respondent of 6 – 11 years and 21 - above years are the major response to this research. The

result of table -2.6 analyses revealed that 94.7% of people have strongly agreed that the teacher’s

qualification affect student’s academic performance in secondary school. This is due to the

higher qualification attained by teacher and also learn on how to manage the classroom effective

and efficiently. Moreover the knowledge gained and the experience makes the teacher to expose

more and enhance his/ her teaching ability. The result of table -2.7 indicate that the 90.7% of

respondent who are the major response to this research, this showed that teacher’s years of

experience affect student academic performance in secondary schools in Nsukka Local

Government Area, Enugu State. This is because the more the teachers teach the more they get

experience of teaching and students learned better in hand of experienced teachers as according

to the result of Olatunde (2009) whose study on influence of teachers experience and students

achievement revealed that students taught by more experienced teachers achieve higher level,

because their teacher have master the content and acquired classroom management skills to deal

with different classroom problems. The result of table -2.8 showcased based on this information

45
76.7% of the respondent have agreed that teacher gender affect student performance in Nsukka

Local Government Area, Enugu State. This means that most of male student doesn’t pay good

attention while female teachers teach; because of the gender difference and it affect the academic

performance of the students. The result of table -2.9 reveals that the 96.7% of the respondents

has the highest percentage of the response that agrees with the research questions; this implies

that teachers teaching method affect student’s academic achievements. The ways teachers

present the method of his/her teaching, lesson plan, teaching aids determine the students

understanding and performance. Based on the result obtained from the table -2.10 reveals that the

98% of the respondents indicate that teacher’s knowledge of subject matter affect student’s

academic performance in secondary schools. Other studies have sought to measure teachers‟

knowledge more directly by looking at teachers‟ performance on certification examinations or

other tests of subject matter competence. By using findings from such measures, these studies

implicitly assumed a relationship between teacher content knowledge as measured by such

assessments and the kinds of teaching performances that produced improved student

achievement. Studies using this approach typically found a positive effect of teacher knowledge,

as measured by certification examinations or tests of subject matter competence, on student

achievement. The teacher that has not mastered the subject matter has nothing to teach the

learners. The knowledge of the subject and mastering of the contents is very paramount in

teaching professions. Any professional teacher in teaching most have the ability to teach his/her

subjects to the best of the knowledge. Based on the forgoing presentation the result obtained

from table -2.11indicates that 94.7% respondents has the highest response which implies that

teachers teaching experience reduces the workload to the remaining of the teaching staff in

secondary schools. It’s always says experience is the greatest teacher when you have an

46
experience teacher, as head teacher or an expert he/she uses the skills, knowledge potentials gain

through experience to manipulates ways or divine a means of solving problem without much

challenges when it arises. Based on the information obtained from table -2.12 the results show

that 96.7% of the respondents have agreed that students performed well in secondary schools.

This is also achieved when the schools have qualified and experience teachers to teach student

with effective and efficient understanding that enhanced learning in any public schools.

Notwithstanding, based on the result from table-1.13 the information indicates that 76.7% of the

respondents have strongly agreed that teacher’s motivation increase student’s academic

performance in secondary schools. Therefore, those that impart the needed knowledge or those

that build and mold character must be motivated adequately because motivation is the key to

performance and improvement. Hence it is believe that motivated teacher always complete the

task set for him/her, even when such task or assignment is difficult or seem uninteresting.

47
 CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Introduction

This chapter presents the summary, conclusion and recommendations for further studies

based on the findings.

5.2 Summary

The study was carried out to examine the influence of teachers’ variables and student academic

performances in senior secondary schools, the purpose of this project are: to determine the extent

to which teachers’ qualification influence student’ academic Performance in senior secondary

schools, to find out the influence of teachers’ years of experience on student’ academic

performance in secondary schools, to investigate the influence of teachers’ communication skills

on student’ academic performance in secondary schools. The result shows that the professional

qualifications of teachers significantly and positively influence the academic performances of

their students. The higher the qualification of the teachers the better the student’s academic

performance in senior secondary schools. Teaching experience significantly influence academic

performance of students. Studies have sought to measure teachers‟ knowledge more directly by

looking at teachers‟ performance in classroom settings. Teacher’s motivation increase student’s

academic performance in secondary schools.

5.3 Conclusion

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Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions are arrived at: The professional

qualifications of teachers significantly and positively influence the academic performances of

their students. The higher the qualification of the teachers the better the student’s academic

performance in senior secondary schools. Teaching experience significantly influence academic

performance of students. This finding revealed that students taught by more experienced teachers

achieve higher level, because their teacher has master the content and acquired classroom

management skills. The majority of senior secondary school teachers in Nsukka Local

Government Area, Enugu State were professionally qualified; most of them had university

degrees or a minimum of NCE. The ratio of teacher to students is also within acceptable range,

but their teachings were not effective. The knowledge of subject matter also affects student’s

academic performance in secondary schools. Studies have sought to measure teachers‟

knowledge more directly by looking at teachers‟ performance in classroom settings. Teacher’s

motivation increase student’s academic performance in secondary schools. Therefore, those that

impart the needed knowledge or those that build and mold character must be motivated

adequately because motivation is the key to perform and improvement.

5.4 Recommendations

Only highly experienced and professionally trained history teachers should be entrusted with the

teaching of history at the senior secondary school level. In addition, senior secondary school

history teachers should be encouraged to participate fully in marking public Examinations such

as those organized by the West African Examination Council and National Examination Council.

49
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Madahunsi, S.O., (1995), "An Investigation of Causes of under achievement among

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 APPENDIX I

QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE TEACHERS RELATED VARIABLES AND ACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE OF STUDENT IN HISTORY

FACULTY OF ART EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY EDUCATION

Dear respondent

I am ONU BLESSING CHINAZA a final year student of History Education

I am carrying out a research on the ‘Teachers Related Variables and Academic Performance of

Student in History’ using senior secondary schools in Nsukka Local Government Area, Enugu

State as a case study and I need your response to aid the success of this research work so I can

disseminate the right information to the society.

Please read and carefully tick the appropriate column for each question as promptly as possible.

All information gathered shall be used purely for this research purpose and shall be treated

confidentially.

Thank you.

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 SECTION A

Instruction: please fill up, in the appropriate space that indicates your answer to the question

Name of school: ………………………………………………………………………………..

Qualification: N C E Bachelors Masters

Class: ……………………………………………………………………………………………

Gender: …………………………………………………………………………………………

Age: 15 - 25 years 26 – 35years 36 – 45years 46 and above

54
 SECTION B

Keys:

SA- Strongly Agree

A- Agree

U- Undecided

D- Disagree

SD- Strongly Disagree

INSTRUCTION:

Please read the following items carefully and indicate your choice by making a tick in the space

provided.

N ITEM SA A D SD
O

1 Does Teachers’ Qualification Affect

2 Does Teachers’ Years of

3 Does Teachers Teaching Method

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 schools?

4 Does Teachers Knowledge of

5 Does Teachers’ Gender Affects

6 Does Teacher’s Teaching

7 Does Teacher’s Motivation

56