Factors that militate against effective teaching in secondary schools in Awka south local government of Anambra state

ABSTRACT: The study was carried out to ascertain the factors that militate against effective teaching in secondary schools in Awka south LGA of Anambra state. Five research questions were used as a guide and descriptive survey design was adopted, the population comprised of 664 teachers in public Secondary schools in the area of study out of which a sample of 133 was used. Instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire of 27 items designed with a four- scale response options. The arithmetic mean was used for data analysis. The findings of the study indicated that student’ factors, classroom related factors such as sleeping in the classrooms, and large numbers of students in the classroom among others militate against effective teaching. It was also revealed that school leadership factors such as lack of encouragement for teachers’ professional development, lack of support in matters of students’ discipline, among others render teachers ineffective. To the extent of the sources reviewed, analyzed and procedures used provided a complete and reliable data which shows that, teachers needs to be aware and develop the required competencies expected of them on classroom management, effective teaching method, utilization of ICT facilities, ultimately, achieving the goals of education, the following recommendation are given in order to improve effective teaching; government should provide adequate motivation, payment of teachers’ salaries and promotion of teachers when due in other to reduce lukewarm classroom practice etc. which militates against effective teaching. Parents should play active role in the children education, thereby facilitating teachers’ effort to achieve the goals of education, and this could be achieved by attending school functions, modeling desirable behavior for their children.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Content                                                                                                 Page

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE                                                                          i

CERTIFICATION                                                                                      ii

DEDICATION                                                                                  iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS                                                              iv

ABSTRACT                                                                                     v

TABLE OF CONTENT                                                                    vi

LIST OF TABLE                                                                              ix

APPENDICES                                                                                  x

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION                                                      1

Background to the Study

Statement of the Problem

Purpose of the Study

Significance of the Study

Scope of the Study

Research Questions

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE              11

         Conceptual Framework                                                                           12

Concept of Teacher Effectiveness

Competencies expected of a Teacher

         Theoretical Studies                                                                                    22

Factors that militate against effective teaching  in secondary Schools

Students’ factors that militate against effective teaching  in Secondary Schools

Classroom related factors that militate against effective teaching in Secondary Schools

Teacher factors related that militate against their Effectiveness in Secondary Schools

Parental factors that militate against effective teaching  in Secondary Schools

School leadership factors that militate against effective teaching in Secondary Schools

Summary of the Review of Related Literature                               43

CHAPTER THREE: METHOD                                                              44

Design of the Study                                                                          44

Area of the Study                                                                              45

Population of the Study                                                                    45

Sample and Sampling Technique                                                      47

Instrument for Data Collection                                                                   49

Validation of the Instrument                                                             49

Method of Data Collection                                                                      49

Method of Data Analysis                                                                           50

CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA    51

Presentation and Analysis of Data                                                    51

Research Question 1                                                                         51

Research Question 2                                                                         52

Research Question 3                                                                         53

Research Question 4                                                                         54

Research Question 5                                                                          55

Summary of Findings                                                                        56

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION OF RESULTS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMEDATION                                                58                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Discussion of Results                                                                        58

Conclusion                                                                                        61

Implications of the Study                                                                           61

Recommendations                                                                                      62

Limitations of the Study                                                                             63

Suggestions for Further Research                                                     63

REFERENCES                                                                                64

APPENDICES                                                                                 74

List of Tables

 List of Appendices

An Overview of Factors that militate against effective teaching in secondary schools in Awka south local government of Anambra state

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background to the Study

Education is a systematic process through which a child or an adult acquires knowledge, experience, skills and sound attitude. It makes an individual civilized, refined, cultured and sound in thinking. For attaining a civilized and socialized society, education is the only means since its goal is to make an individual perfect. According to parankimalil (2012) education in the broadest sense is to aid the human being in his/her pursuit of wholeness. Wholeness implies the harmonious development of all the potentials; God has given to a human. It is the aggregate of all the process by which a person develops abilities, skills and other types of behavior of positive and sometimes of negative value in the society in which he lives. Education is the most powerful instrument for social progress. It is the greatest power yet known to man for his improvement.

The teacher in the educational process refers to the person who instructs and is at the center of the teaching –learning process that may be also known as educator, instructor, lecturer, counselor, professor and so on. The teacher is the prime mover of the educational system because he is acknowledged as a guide or helper in the process of learning.

Presumably every generation, since the beginning of human existence, somehow passed on its stock of value, tradition, methods and skills to the next generation. The passing on of this cultures and knowledge was made possible by education via teaching and learning.

Teaching has existed for ages; it is one of the oldest of human activities or occupations. As an activity, it is an interpersonal influence aimed at changing the behavior and potentials of another person (Gage, 2011). Teaching is concerned with the activities which have to do with guidance or direction of learning for others (Ryans, 2011). Teacher exercise a powerful influence in building up the mind and morals of generations.

For quite a long time now, especially in the last two decades, Nigerian school system has undergone a lot of changes to reflect the prevailing economic condition in the country such as high rate of unemployment, lack of technological know-how, among others. So the need to evolve an educational system that will be functional and responsive to provide occupational opportunities and improved standard of living and ultimately make in Nigeria a self reliant nation is obvious. These revolutionary changes have made teaching in modern times to become high specialized. Teaching should be based on the right materials, methods and environment which seek not only to put into the mind of pupils and students items of knowledge but also to guide them to use this knowledge in real life situations.

The teacher must not only instill his own opinions into the receptive minds of the learners, but he must always teach them to think and form their own opinion, moreover, teachers have tremendous impact on the student academic achievement and they vary greatly in their effectiveness (Keeling, 2009). There is no doubt that most teachers in schools are effective and are committed to their students and profession as well trying their best to meet students needs every day. Research has shown that an effective teacher can lead all the students to learn even those from poor families (Stronge, 2010). However the key question is if most teachers are effective does it matter that a small percentage of them are ineffective? The answer to this question is “yes”, it matter a lot because one ineffective teacher inhibits the learning of a large number of students overtime. A teacher can be responsible for 20 to 200 students each year depending in the school and class size. From these estimates, it is plausible that an ineffective teacher can depress the achievement and inhibits the learning of many students during the course of his/her career (Chait, 2010).

Effective teaching is crucial for students to achieve good performance in their academics unfortunately, there are factors that disrupt effective teaching which make it difficult for students to learn, these are factors go a long way to affect students performance at both internal and external examinations.

The annual releases of Senior Secondary Certificate Examination results (SSCE) conducted by West African Examination Council (WAEC) justifies the problematic nature and generalization of poor secondary school students performance in different school subjects. For instance in the November/December 2013 WASSCE, a total of 308,217 candidates registered for the examination, out of which 299,784 candidates consisting 163,706 male and 133,202 female candidates sat for the examination, out of the total number of candidates representing 97.26% have their result fully released, while 8,433 representing 2.74% have a few subjects still being processed due to some errors mainly traceable to the candidates. Of the total number of candidates that sat for the examination, 120,125 candidates (40.46%) obtained 6 credits and above, 161,721 candidates representing (54.48%) obtained 5 credits and above. In addition 198,832 candidates representing (66.98%) obtained credits and above in 4 subjects, while 230,325 candidates, representing (77.59%) obtained credits and above in 3 subjects. A total of 256,500 candidates (88.41%) obtained credits and above in 2 subjects. However a total of 86,612 candidates representing (29.17%) obtained credits in 5 subjects and above including English language and mathematics.

Based on this, when compared to November/December 2011 and 2012 WASSCE, there is a marked decline in candidates performance as contained in the table below.

Table 1: Percentage of Candidates that Obtained 5 Credits and above from 2011 to 2013 WASSCE Examination

Source: WAEC (Nigeria).

Furthermore the result of a total number of 38,260 candidates representing (12.88%) are being withheld in connection with various cases of examination malpractice

However with only 86,612(29.17%) candidates obtaining 5 credits and above in the WASSCE examination what is the fate of the 213,172(70.83%) candidates who did not obtain 5 credits and above in the examination including mathematics and English language.

Poor academic performance according to Aremu (2003) is a performance that is adjudged by examinee, which is falling below an expected standard. Different people at different times have passed the blame of poor academic performance in secondary school to students’ low retention, parental factors, association with wrong peers, low achievement motivation and the likes. However Marakingo (2003) believed that the falling level of academic achievement is attributable to teachers’ non use of verbal reinforcement strategy. Other found out that the attitude of some teachers to their job is reflected in their poor attendance to lesson, lateness to school, unsavory comment about students’ performance that could damage their ego, poor utilization of instructional materials and method of teaching affects pupils’ academic performance. It is therefore imperative for teachers to be aware of the factors militating against effective teaching in order to create a positive learning environment for all students to learn.

• Statement of the problem

When the issue of Nigerian educational system is raised, the first sets of thoughts that come to mind are decline in standard, deterioration of facilities, examination malpractices etc. this calls for an in-depth study and analysis aimed at tutoring all stakeholders in the education system on how their actions or inactions have individually or collectively contributed to the collapsing state of education in Nigeria.

There is no need to shy away from tackling the challenges posed by factors that militates against effective teaching in secondary schools since education is no doubt, crucial in social, economic, political and technological development of a nation. The greatest asset to any society is her citizens and their capabilities. These capabilities can be acquired through quality education. It is in recognition of this that the international community and government all over the world have made commitments for citizens to have access to quality education.

Over the years, Nigeria has expressed a commitment to education in the belief that overcoming illiteracy and ignorance will form a basis for accelerated national development. However there are several challenges that have impacted negatively in the educational sector in Nigeria.

One of these challenges is teachers’ ineffectiveness in secondary schools which work against quality education. These factors threaten the advancement of the aim and objectives of the national policy in education to which the philosophy is linked. The level of ineffectiveness of secondary school teachers has lead to lack of enthusiasm for the subjects which give room for poor performance and eventually examination malpractice.

This researcher is worried that little or no empirical study has been done to highlight the factors responsible for teachers’ ineffectiveness in secondary schools in Awka south LGA of Anambra state and a vital step in addressing them.

Purpose of the Study

This study is undertaken to identify, Factors That Militate against Teachers’ Effectiveness in Secondary School in Awka South LGA of Anambra State.

Specifically, the study seeks to identify

1. Student factors that militate against effective teaching.
2. Classroom related factors that militate against teachers’ effectiveness.
3. Teacher related factors that militate against their effectiveness.
4. Parental factors that militate against effective teaching.
5. School leadership factors that militate against effective teaching.

• Significance of the Study

Identification of the factors that militate against effective teaching is an important study because the findings will benefit the Teachers, Students, Parents, Educational Administrators, the Government and all Nigerians in different ways.

Findings of this study will help teachers to develop a positive attitude towards teaching as a profession as well as acquire relevant personal and professional skills for effective teaching.

Finding of this study will give students insights on how their actions or in actions contribute to teacher ineffectiveness, to motivate them to change and adopt positive behavior to promote teacher effectiveness.

Findings of this study will buttress more to parents how their poor and nonchalant attitudes towards their children’s academic life militate against effective teaching, which will enable them to turn a new leaf.

To the government, Administrators, managers of educational institutions, the findings of this study will reveal different areas of focus in educational plans and policies to enhance teachers’ effectiveness.

So there is need to utilize the findings of this study by the various stakeholders in the education process which will help to enhance teaching and learning effectiveness in the secondary schools in the area of the study.

• Scope of the Study

The study focuses on the Factors that Militates against effective teaching in Secondary Schools in Awka South LGA of Anambra state and covers student factors, Classroom related factors, Teacher related factors, Parental factors, School leadership factors that militate against effective teaching.

• Research Questions

The following research questions guided the study

1. What are Student factors that militate against effective teaching in secondary schools in Awka south LGA in Anambra state?
2. What are Classroom related factors that militate against effective teaching in secondary schools in Awka south LGA in Anambra state?
3. What are Teacher related factors that militate against their effectiveness in secondary schools in Awka south LGA in Anambra state?
4. What are Parental factors that militate against effective teaching in secondary schools in Awka south LGA in Anambra state?
5. What are School leadership factors that militate against effective teaching in secondary schools in Awka south LGA in Anambra state?