STUDENT ATTITUDE IN SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHING AS A PROFESSION IN OWERRI MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF IMO STATE
ABSTRACT
The study focuses on the attitudes of secondary school pupils in Owerri Municipal Council about teaching as a profession. The study’s goal is to identify the salary-related factors that discourage students from pursuing a profession in education. The study was led by four research questions. The study is a descriptive survey with a population of 500 people.
The sample size of 220 was chosen using a basic random sampling procedure. As a data-gathering instrument, a structured questionnaire was used. For data analysis, mean () statistics were utilized. The findings include salary-related variables discouraging students from pursuing a career in education, parental, service condition, and existing teacher status discouraging students from pursuing a career in education.
The recommendation includes the government motivating and funding schools by adequately giving salaries as and when due to teachers, reaching a conclusion and summary, and suggesting more investigations.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 STUDY BACKGROUND
The government is continually looking for methods to improve education standards to keep up with the changing world. There was a time when education was solely focused on logic and intellectual development. Today, the emphasis is on comprehensive education, which equips children to function in a technologically oriented environment. Attitudes are the most accurate predictors of student performance (Hendrickson, O. 2000).
Attitudes are formed through education and can be modified through education and persuasion utilizing a variety of tactics. Once developed, attitudes contribute to shape the experiences an individual has with an object, subject, or person. Although attitudes evolve gradually, as people are exposed to new knowledge and new experiences, they form new attitudes and modify existing ones.
The term “attitude toward teaching” refers to a person’s feelings, behaviors, and commitment to teaching. If the student is dedicated and has a positive attitude, his performance will improve and his efforts will bear fruit. 2005; Adesina and Akinbobola). It was explained that the more actively a person participates in a learning process, the better he assimilates and remembers the learned skills (Ali, 2002). Assert that teachers impart both formal and informal learning.
As a result, teachers play critical roles in the country’s educational success. The contributions of teachers to the attainment of education in many countries should not be overlooked. Despite teachers’ efforts to instill knowledge in our youth, some people have labeled teachers and the teaching profession as unimportant characters and occupations in our society.
They have failed to recognize that proper development of young people in a rapidly changing world (e.g., Nigeria) necessitates the development of rational thinking habits and the use of educational approaches to solve problems are the products of teachers, and that teachers have not been professionally recognized.
Because of some negative views toward teaching displayed by all kinds of people, teaching as a job in Nigeria has never been so amazing. Secondary school students now account for a larger proportion of the total student population in Nigeria. According to Magasam (2009; 5).
“Over the years, since I began teaching as a career, I have had many occasions to ponder whether the true significance of school education is realized by the majority of those who participate in effecting it, whether the teachers, the pupils, their parents and guardians, or the state officials, involved are deeply conscious of real importance to what is going on in the schools.”
Many respondents shared the aforesaid viewpoint because the job is seen as both painful and frustrating, therefore those who are already in the area see it as a stepping stone to a better profession.
This is what Adejumost (2000; 65) has to say about teaching.
“The typical irritation associated with teaching has caused many instructors to use it as a launching pad to hunt for other employment, such as an engineer who became a teacher when he was not expecting much from the work when he arrived, and that he would have immediately the economy improved.”
Magasam (2009; 44) backed up this point of view by stating:
“Teachers are among the lowest paid professionals in the world, which is why they are so despised.” Even when their colleagues achieve political power, whether by election or through hard work and preferment, it has always been impossible to elevate them all at once because to the vast number and the discriminating qualificants involved.
The future asserted that the teacher educated the physicians, the layers, the engineers, the professors, the kings or queens, and the judges, that he laid the moral foundation for good citizenship, and that he was the primary builder of nation development.
Students’ attitudes are heavily influenced by their personal qualities and temperament, which appear to be inextricably related. Teaching is a career that prioritizes service over personal gain (Gooding’s et al, 2005).
Teaching entails human nurturing, connectivity, tenderness, and love (Hargreaves, 2004). Student attitudes have also been found to be influenced by gender (Dodeen, 2003). They discovered that female students have a more positive attitude about the teaching profession than male teachers.
Many factors contribute to people’s impression of teaching as a tough profession. When it comes to choosing a profession, students confront a number of challenges. In society, they begin to feel deprived, alone, and isolated. This could result in an unfavorable attitude toward the teaching profession. Students’ attitudes are extremely important in the teaching profession. A student’s poor attitude may have a detrimental impact. Influence on his or her learning ability
Teaching is one of the oldest occupations. True, the requirements for entry into the teaching profession have not always been the same as those for other professions.
Education quality is declining. Nobody can seriously contest it.
According to Taiwo (2000), the teaching profession has declined in respectability.
According to Omoregie (2004), the majority of students have a negative attitude toward the profession. The teaching profession has suffered greatly since it has been unable to attract the greatest people due to low pay scales, limited opportunities for advancement, and job insecurity, particularly in private schools.
People who could not stand the stress of a teaching career in the past sought work in other fields, but such avenues are now closed due to the difficult economic conditions.
Colin (2001) summed it up perfectly when he stated that teaching is never a job for somebody who wants it to be predictable and normal.
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
In light of this research issue, shifting student attitudes toward teaching, as well as the overall trend in technological advancement in our world today, pose a significant danger to the teaching profession as a career. The government’s neglect of the teaching profession has also made it a third choice of career for future teachers. When compared to their peers in other sectors, teachers are facing more difficult circumstances.
Among other issues, there is a difficulty with the compensation structure for teachers in comparison to their counterparts in other professions; the profession has lost its long-held respect and social recognition among secondary students. Against this context, this study seeks to discover a solution by identifying secondary school students’ opinions regarding teaching as a career in Owerri Municipal Council, Imo State.
1.3 THE PRIMARY RESEARCH QUESTION
What variables affect high school students in Imo State, Nigeria, to choose teaching as a profession?
1.4.1 QUESTIONS FOR RESEARCH
The following sub-research questions led the study:
What is the level of family impact on the decision to become a teacher?
What effect does gender have on the decision to become a teacher?
To what extent does the school impact students’ decision to pursue a career in education?
1.4 STUDY OBJECTIVES
The study attempted to analyze the factors that influence the choice of teaching as a profession by attempting to:
explore the extent of familial impact on the decision to become a teacher;
determine the influence of gender on the decision to become a teacher;
determine whether the school environment has an impact on job paths
1.5 THE STUDY’S IMPORTANCE
The findings of this study will benefit the following groups of people: the government, teachers who are already in the field of education, parents, and aspiring teachers (that is student).
The study’s findings will draw the government’s attention to the necessity to offer enough teaching aids, infrastructure, a decent teaching atmosphere, and good service conditions in order to make teaching an engaging and appealing career.
The study’s findings will also highlight to working teachers the necessity to improve their field competences in order to satisfy the profession’s current demands. It will also cause teachers to reclaim their former status as the mother of all other disciplines.
The findings will demonstrate to parents the value and importance of the teaching profession as a marketable vocation in today’s society. It also serves as secondary material for other researchers who may like to conduct research on a related issue or within the scope of this study.
1.6 LIMITATIONS
This study was expected to have the following limitations:
Because the study was only conducted in one state, the findings may not be applicable to the entire country. Without the assistance of research assistants, the researcher collected data on his own.
The current study also anticipated financial restrictions. Despite receiving bursary funding, the researcher was unable to conduct the study at the national level.
Because the researcher works full-time, the time available to complete the study was limited.
1.7 RESTRICTIONS
The study was conducted in Imo State, Nigeria, and focused on the factors that influence high school students’ career paths. The emphasis was on kids in both urban and rural schools, as well as school counselors at the selected schools.
1.8 TERM DEFINITION
1.8.1 Work
A career, according to Arnold (1997:21), is a series of employment-related jobs, activities, actions, and experiences. A career describes how one sees oneself in the context of one’s social environment, in terms of one’s future objectives, past successes or failures, and current competencies and traits (Raynor & Entin, 1982:262).
A career, according to UNESCO (2002:4), is the interaction of work responsibilities and other life roles during a person’s lifespan, including both paid and unpaid labour. Career is also defined as a person’s progress and actions during a lifetime, particularly those related to that person’s jobs (Oloasebikan & Olusakin, 2014:44). The term “career” in this study refers to any sort of professional activity that students seek, whether paid or unpaid.
1.8.2 Career counseling
Career guidance is defined as a collection of multiple processes, techniques, or services designed to help an individual understand and act on self-knowledge and knowledge of opportunities in work, education, and leisure, as well as to develop decision-making skills to help him or her create and manage his or her own career development (Herr, Cramer & Niles, 1996:44). In this study, career counselling refers to services that help people make educated professional choices.
1.8.3 Career guidance
Career counseling is defined as assisting in the development of self-awareness, understanding of the career issues involved, and behavioral solutions accessible (Herr et al., 1996:44). In this study, career counselling refers to a verbal process in which a professional counsellor and counselee work together to overcome career challenges.
1.8.4 Professional Development
According to Herr et al. (1996:44), the phrase is commonly used in business and industry to denote a sequence of roles available in some occupational or specialized work field, with the term typically connoting opportunities for growth. In this study, the term “career path” was used to describe how people attain their goals or how their lives progress. In this study, the terms pathway and career choice were used interchangeably.
1.8.5 Feldman (2009:349) described gender as a state of being male or female that is manifested through social or cultural distinctions and differences rather than biological ones. Gender is defined in this study as a state of being male or female as determined by society.
1.8.6 The Family
Berns (2010:77) defined family as two or more persons related by birth, marriage or adoption who reside together. In this study, a family can either be nuclear or extended or the guardians of the student.
Do You Have New or Fresh Topic? Send Us Your Topic
STUDENT ATTITUDE IN SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHING AS A PROFESSION IN OWERRI MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF IMO STATE