EFFECTS OF TEACHER QUALITY ON THE PERFORMANCES OF BUSINESS STUDIES STUDENTS IN SOME SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Education is globally-accepted as the most viable and instruments of change. It can be seen as tool for sustainable human development. It is equally an indispensable tool for enhancing economic growth of a nation development. Education comes from a Greek Latin word “Educere” which means to transmit knowledge, for instance education is a means by which society ensures its stability. Through education young members of society are taught the expected behavior, thr rules, values and norms which they are expected to follow. Education is seen as the cornerstone of every development forming the basis for literacy, skill acquisition, technological advancement as well as the ability to harness the natural resources of the state.
Participants in the World Conference on “Education for All” in Jomtien (2006) pointed out that education is a fundamental right of all people, women and men of all ages throughout the world. It helps to ensure a safer, healthier, more prosperous and environmentally-sound world. It is an indispensable key for personal and social improvement. UNESCO (2005) United Nation Economy of Social Committee has however pointed out that the current provision of education is seriously deficient and that it must be made more relevant, qualitatively improved and universally available. In recognition of the inestimable value of education, the Nigerian Government has adopted education as an instrument par excellence for affecting national development. Thus, education is viewed as an instrument for building a free and democratic society, a just and egalitarian society, a united strong and self-reliant nation and a great and dynamic economy (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004).
In order to attain these national aspirations, secondary schools are expected to provide a good quality instructions that will be oriented towards inculcating values of respect for the worth and dignity of individuals; ability to make rational decisions; moral and spiritual values in interpersonal relationship and shared responsibility for the common good of society, among others.
The quality of education of any nation, to a very large extent, determines the development status of that particular nation. Education can be regarded as the heartbeat of any nation. As a man nourishes his heart to be alive, a nation must also cater for her educational system to keep it ‘alive’ technologically, economically, politically, socially and to ensure quality products. The issue of quality in the educational system has been receiving a great deal of attention in the society in recent times. Parents as well as the entire society have been clamoring for quality (Nwogbo, 2007). The demand for quality in education is not out of place considering the large sum amount of money that goes into the system. Madumere-Obike (2003). Therefore, it is important to note that those who manage schools should be able to account to the stakeholders. The quality of the products of education is part of that accountability.
Education imparted through quality instruction is not only for good grades alone but also for the acquisition of the right values, skills and competences to make an individual a useful member of the society. For education to achieve this objective, it must be of high quality, which, as Nwangwu (2000) opined, “should not only consist of passing examinations (which is usually the first priority) but also include the acquisition of skills (in the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains) through improved schools’ ability to facilitate and support the work of teachers and students”. Secondary education is a very critical level of any educational system. This is because it is the bedrock on which higher education is built as the foundation of whatever a child wants to become in life academically is laid here. It is sad to note that the academic performance of students at this level is very poor in the Ikere Ekiti Local Government part of this country.
In order to improve teacher quality, efforts should be made to provide good and well adequate and functional educational services for teachers. These services include the provision of well ventilated classrooms, instructional facilities to enhance learning, library, distance learning programmes, in-service training, teachers’ resource centres services, and the promotion of (ICT) Information and Communication Technology. These tend to facilitate the implementation of the educational systems and policy, the attainment of educational goals and the promotion of effectiveness of the educational systems.
Taking a critical look at our secondary schools in Ikere Ekiti local government, the non-availability of the service have adversely affected the quality of teachers in most schools. Understanding the determinants of teacher quality is important for improving the quality of education and therefore a key issue for educational policy. A finding in the literature is that are important for teacher remain unclear. The only factor that seems to matter is teacher experience, especially in the initial years of the teaching careers.
Hence, the literature does not yet provide clear policy advice about the type of teachers that are most effective, and therefore should hired and kept in the education profession based on their observed characteristic. Estimating the effect of teacher characteristics on student’s performance is complicated because students, teachers are almost never randomly allocated among schools and classroom. The teacher is the pivot of the education process. They impact knowledge and inculcate skills, attitude to the students; even some students do emulate some habits from their teachers. The teacher is like an umbrella to their students without a teacher in an educational system some goals and objectives cannot be achieved. The teacher is the key in the entire education programme in the whole world. Education therefore what teachers make of it. Thus competent, experienced, devoted and professionally, qualified, trained, hardworking teachers are an essential foundation for a good educational system, even a modest, decent and well presented person must be employed in an educational system as a teacher. In other words, the attainment of national objectives for the adequate preparation of students.
Statement of the Problem
Research studies have shown that many secondary school products in Nigeria are poor in reading, writing, computational and vocational skills. Many of them also perform woefully in various examinations (Foster, 2003; Uzoka, 2006). There are two parameters that are commonly used to determine the level of students’ results, especially in standardized tests, and their behaviour or performance after school (Ijaiya, 2008).
In the recently May/June (2016 WAEC) West Africa Examination Councils results, only 52.97%, that is, 878,040 out of 1,014,573, had five credits including English Language and Commerce. For the National Examinations Council which has been released in 2016, only 96.5% of the 1,022,474 candidates had five credits that could qualify them for admission into higher institutions, then the remaining 3.5% candidates would drop out and majority of them would become political thugs, who terrorize the population.
Since one of the purposes of education is acquisition of knowledge and skills, students’ performance after graduation can be seen as a reflection on their performance in school. The government also stated that no education can function and rise above the quality of the teachers. There has also been persistent outcry from educational unions, the parents and some concerned individuals poor provision of facilities that provide essential services for teaching and learning as well as their utilization. The genuine of this outcry is depicted by the progressive poor performance of students in examination. Although several attempts have been made at improving teacher quality and teaching facilities, these efforts have not been proportionately reflected in students’ overall performance. Rather, such attempts have only sustained the highly bookish curriculum inherited from the colonial masters and made the educational system consumptive rather than productive (Jimoh, 2008). Therefore, there is the need for teachers to acquire enough skills to make them relevant technologically. Also, the relevance and adequacy of educational effective utilization to students’ academic performance cannot be overemphasized. Thus, the specific problem of this study centres around investigating the extent to which provision, of teacher quality on the performance of Business Studies Students in some selected Secondary Schools in Ikere Local Government.
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study is investigating the relationship among the effective of teacher quality on the performance of Business Studies Students in some selected secondary schools in Ikere local government.
Significance of the Study
The problem of poor academic performance among public secondary school students is a serious issue that requires continuous and systematic investigation. A growing body of research shows that students’ academic performance is more influenced by effectiveness teacher quality by standard, race, class, academic record or the school a student attends (Sanders, 2007). There have been several research studies carried out on improving teacher quality for quality instruction but very little has been done in the area of provision of services that can enhance teaching and learning.
This study may hopefully provide some insight for educational planners and policy-makers by highlighting some educational services such as education resource centre services, library, in-service training, computer services and internal supervision of instructions. The suggestion of this study may positively assist teachers and school administrators to re-examine the educational services that are available to them and identify the services which are essential for quality teaching and learning.
The findings also contribute to existing literature by extending the stock of knowledge on the effect teacher quality on the performance of student in the secondary schools Ikere Ekiti local government. It will also provide some useful reference materials for future researchers who might be interested in conducting similar studies elsewhere.
Finally the study is expected to guide educational planners on the provision that may improve the effect of teacher quality on student performance in our public secondary school teachers.
Scope of the Study
This study was concerned with the effects of teacher quality on the performances of Business Studies students in some selected secondary schools, in Ikere local government.
This study concerned only public secondary schools. Private secondary schools were not included in this study because they were not directly under the control of the state governments.
Research Question
The following research questions are raised for the study
- What are the qualifications of teachers teaching Business Studies in junior secondary schools in Ikere Local Government Area of Ekiti State?
- How many qualified professional teachers are available to teach business study in your schools?
- Would student taught by professional qualified teachers perform better than those taught by non professional qualified teacher?
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