TEACHER PREPARATION, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SOME SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EDUCATIONAL DISTRICT
ABSTRACT
The study sought to investigate the relationship between teacher preparation, professional development, and students’ academic performance in selected secondary schools in Lagos State’s Ikeja Local Government Area. The study reviewed relevant and related literature under subheadings.
With the use of a questionnaire and a sampling technique, the descriptive research survey design was used to assess the respondents’ opinions. In this study, two hundred respondents were chosen at random using the stratified random selection method to represent the entire study population.
Five null hypotheses were developed and tested at the 0.05 level of significance using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient tool. The findings show that: there is a significant relationship between teachers’ mastery of content and students’ academic performance in school; there is a significant relationship between teachers’ teaching method and students’ academic performance;
teachers’ educational qualification has a statistically significant relationship with students’ academic performance; and there is a significant relationship between teachers’ years of teaching and students’ academic performance. The researchers made the following recommendations at the end of the study:
teachers should always strive to teach well in school, knowing that they are the people who are responsible for molding and changing the characters of the children in the school. Students should also be attentive to their teachers’ instructions.
THE FIRST CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Study’s Background
Before becoming a teacher, one must go through a studious stage. Uzor (2006), for example, agrees that a teacher goes through a teacher-training college or a university to become a trained teacher. According to Uzor, the purpose of rigorous teacher education or training is to fortify or arm a teacher with the skill, ability, and expertise that are inherent in the teaching process. According to Onyeji (2007), teachers are specially trained to acquire the skill of teaching (i.e. mastery of content) (mastery of methodology).
The trained and experienced teacher understands how to manage the classroom as well as how to deliver the objectives of what is taught in the classroom. A teacher, at any stage or school level, must gain relevant experience and training in order to effectively deliver the good as a professional.
In any school system, the teacher plays a critical role. According to Akande (2005), teachers’ work is critical because without them, there would be no president, governors, senators, or illiteracy would have spread throughout the world.
There is enlightenment, knowledge, and civilization in the world because of the teacher. There is no nation that can rise above its teachers. As a result, the teaching profession is important because it produces educated and learned people for the advancement of society (Wuji, 2005).
Preparation is required for the teacher to handle any subject well and effectively. This could include reading through what is to be taught, taking notes on lessons, and appropriately doting on all ‘it’s and all ‘it’s in order to deliver the lesson and maximize the objectives of what has been taught. According to Arinze (2004), effective teacher preparation is the result of the teacher’s previous professional development.
This is the result of the teacher’s rigorous education, which has enabled him to master the finer points of teaching and classroom management (Greenfield, 2006). Greenfield observes that a teacher’s preparation and professional development provide the teacher with the impetus and academic authority to effectively teach in the classroom and, as a result, the students’ effective learnability.
Greenfield believes that effective teaching results from preparation and professional development, and that effective students achieve academically in any subject, at any school level (primary, secondary and tertiary institutions).
Professional development is how a teacher prepares to teach. Arisekola (2007), for example, believes that there are stages of preparing or developing a teacher to get him ready for the classroom job of teaching and learning. The primary school teacher receives the
Nigerian Certificate of Education (NCE) to teach at the basic level, the secondary school teacher receives the degree or certificate of Bachelor of Arts in Education (B.A.Ed); or Masters in Education (M.Ed), and the tertiary institution teacher receives the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D). The above degrees or certificates allow the teacher to carry out her or his teaching duties without interference, and the students to learn with high academic achievement (Nkemjika, 2000).
A teacher must be professionally developed through the teacher-education programs available in Nigerian higher education institutions. Lawal (2002) defines a teacher as effectively developed and professionally competent when he or she has been specifically trained or educated in order to train others (the learner) (s). Not only does a professionally developed teacher know how to educate the learner(s),
but he or she also has some personality traits that set him or her apart from a non-professional, untrained teacher. According to Leon (2004), a non-professional teacher is a “cheater” because he does not know how to teach, and as a result, the learner learns poorly under the tutelage of a non-professional, untrained teacher.
Learning comes from teaching. Professionally trained teachers produce students who are academically sound. A teacher’s primary goal is for the student to achieve high academic honors and to excel in his or her educational career.
According to Adeleke (2006), a teacher’s performance is determined by the performance of the students at the end of any examination or test in the classroom. Teachers who are highly trained, prepared, professionally developed, and experienced produce students who excel in academics and character,
whether at the primary, secondary, or tertiary levels of any educational system. A student is said to have performed well if he or she receives a grade of 60 percent or higher on any examination administered by the school at the end of any school year or session.
A long-held assumption in education has been that students require challenging learning tasks, preferably of intermediate difficulty. This theory has been debunked. According to research, students require and enjoy very high success rates, which can only be obtained through tasks of an appropriate difficulty level that are clearly taught and easily understood.
For example, Good and Good (2001) and Everton (2003) discovered that high socioeconomic status elementary students learned best when teachers’ questions elicited approximately 70% correct responses, while low socioeconomic status students learned best when teachers’ questions elicited approximately 80% correct responses.
They concluded that learning is most effective when the material is new or challenging, but still relatively simple for children to understand and integrate with prior knowledge and skills. Another study concluded that almost errorless performance during learning results in higher achievement and satisfaction for younger and less able students (Filby, 2005).
Monitoring of students’ progress occurs at all levels in effective schools. Effective teachers keep track of each student’s minute-to-minute comprehension, success, and engagement rates, as well as their long-term achievement records.
Effective principals keep track of individual students’, classes’, and grade levels’ achievement levels. Superintendents who are committed to continuous improvement track average achievement scores for their classes and schools, comparing them to schools in other districts and the national average (Boot 2003).
Monitoring students’ progress, at whatever level or form, requires effective school administrators and teachers to use achievement data as the foundation for changes in teaching and/or school-wide improvement plans.
1.2Statement of the Issue
The problem in the teaching and learning process is caused by the teacher – factor. For example, when teachers lack the necessary mastery of the content or use ineffective teaching methods, students’ academic performance suffers.
Furthermore, teachers’ negative attitudes, poor personality, inexperience, poor classroom management, poor personal hygiene, poor teacher – student relationship, lack of communicative skills, and poor classroom judgments all contribute significantly to students’ poor academic achievement in school.
Not only that, but many teachers are lazy, making it difficult for them to prepare before entering the classroom. This has resulted in a lack of exposure to course materials and a lack of mastery of what to teach. As a result, there has been a significant decline in the quality and educational standards in the Nigerian school system.
Many teachers who teach in primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions these days are “cheaters” because they lack the necessary professional skills, cognate experience, and training that effective classroom teachers possess. As a result, a lack of training and professional development are factors working against students’ high academic performance in the Nigerian school system.
Due to the aforementioned issues, an examination of teacher preparation, professional development, and students’ academic achievement in some selected secondary schools in School District IV, Ikeja, Lagos was conducted.
1.3The Study’s Purpose
The goal of this study is to look into teacher preparation, professional development, and student academic achievement in some selected secondary schools in Ikeja, Lagos’ school district IV.
This study’s specific objectives include, but are not limited to:
(1) Determine whether teachers’ content mastery affects students’ academic performance.
(2) investigate the relationship between teaching methods and student academic performance.
(3) Determine whether there is a link between teacher qualifications and student academic performance.
(4) Determine whether there is a relationship between teachers’ experience and students’ academic performance.
(5) investigate whether teachers’ attitudes affect students’ academic performance at school.
1.4Research Issues
The following research questions will be posed to guide the study based on the background information and statement of the problem of the current study:
1. Will teachers’ content knowledge affect students’ academic performance?
2. Is there a significant relationship between teaching methods and student academic performance?
3. Is there a significant difference between the educational qualifications of the teacher and the academic performance of the students?
4. Is there a link between a teacher’s experience and a student’s academic performance?
5. Will the teacher’s demeanor have an impact on students’ academic performance?
1.5Analysis of Research Hypotheses
Four null hypotheses will be proposed based on the previously stated problem:
H01: There will be no significant relationship between the content mastery of the teacher and the academic performance of the students.
H02: There will be no significant relationship between teaching method and academic performance of students.
H03: There will be no significant difference in student academic performance due to the educational qualifications of the teachers.
H04: There will be no statistically significant relationship between teachers’ years of teaching and students’ academic performance.
H05: There will be no statistically significant relationship between teachers’ attitudes and students’ academic performance in school.
1.6The Study’s Importance
This research will be extremely beneficial to the following people:
(1) Teachers will benefit from the study’s findings and recommendations because they will gain insight into how to carry out their duties in the classroom. It will allow teachers to be more productive in their day-to-day duties of teaching and learning.
With this study, many teachers will be orientated in the art of teaching, fully aware that how they teach will affect students’ academic achievement in schools.
(2) Students: They would benefit from the study because it would help them understand that their teachers are expected to be exceptional if his/her teaching experiences would be of great benefit to the child or student. Students would be able to identify teachers who “cheat” and real teachers of note in the school system based on the study’s findings and recommendations. Students would also be able to learn from this study that they need to be taught by trained and experienced teachers if they want to excel in their academic careers.
(3) Parents: They would discover that their children’s careers are in jeopardy if they are coached by unprofessional, inexperienced teachers. With the results of this study, parents will be able to see that there is a significant difference in academic achievement between students taught by well-trained teachers and those taught by untrained, inexperienced teachers.
(4) Society: The society will be able to understand the difference in academic performance of children taught in the school system by two types of teachers (trained and untrained). This is because society benefits when children are raised properly by a well-trained teacher. Apart from demonstrating high academic achievement, students will be well behaved, which will improve the lot of society.
1.7Scope of the Research
This study will look at teacher preparation, professional development, and student academic achievement in a few secondary schools in Lagos’ school district IV, Ikeja.
1.8Study Restrictions
The scope of this research will be limited to an examination of teacher preparation, professional development, and student academic achievement in a few selected secondary schools in Lagos’ school district IV, Ikeja. Time, money, a lack of necessary materials, and other logistical issues will all impede the successful completion of this study.
1.9Terms Definition
1. Education: The term “education” is derived from the Latin word “educare,” which means “to draw out.” As a result, education is defined as the process of identifying and developing an individual’s potential.
2. The School: One of the primary agents of education is the school. It is a formal and planned institution with rules and regulations established for educating the young and charged with the responsibility of transmitting the people’s cultural heritage by demonstrating knowledge, appreciation, and adherence to its norms.
3. Teaching: According to Hyman (1990), teaching is the art and practice of imparting to a learner knowledge, skills, values, and norms that will be useful to the individual’s overall development.
4. Training: This is the process of providing a learner with a course of specific instruction or practice in order to shape, develop, or acquire desirable habits.
5. Instruction: According to Ofoegbu (2001), instruction is the process of causing someone to know or be able to do something. It is also the process of imparting specific knowledge or skills to a group of people within or outside of a school setting through observation, discovery, and experience.
6. Indoctrination: A process in which the learner is forced to accept a set of ideas without questioning them.
7. Coaching entails teaching, training, instructing, or advising an individual or group of people in a subject area where a student is deficient.
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