Teachers Characteristics and Teaching of Biology in Secondary Schools
Abstract
This study was carried out to examine the effect of teachers’ characteristics on the teaching of Biology in secondary schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area. Two research questions were formulated to guide the study. The population of the study comprised all teachers who teach Biology in all the fifteen (15) public secondary schools in the study area.
Purposive sampling technique was used in selecting twelve (12) teachers from six (6) public secondary schools in the study area. A survey research design was adopted for the study. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire tagged “Teachers Characteristics and Teaching of Biology” (TCTB). The data generated from the instrument was analyzed using simple percentage.
The result of the study revealed that teachers’ characteristic such as teachers’ qualification and teachers’ years of experience significantly affects the teaching of Biology in secondary schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area. Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made among others that; government and corporate organizations should encourage and sponsor teacher education by offering scholarship, in-service training and other laudable incentives to effectively equip the teachers of Biology to efficiently teach Biology. Also, teachers should strive to develop themselves to a professional level as this will enhance proper performance.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Education and its benefits can never be overemphasized as the root of economic, industrial, political, scientific and technological development. All aspects of development are centered on education. Every educational system at any level depends heavily on teachers for the execution of it programmes. Teachers there are highly essential for successful operation of the educational system and important tools for educational development (Ekperi, 2018).
It is acceptable fact the teacher is the most important factor in the educational process and that teachers are instrumental to the success of any educational programme embarked upon by any government. This is because, apart from being at the implementation level of any educational policy, the realization of these programmes also depends greatly on teachers’ qualification and commitment to work (Adeniji, 2011).
Adeogun (2012) opined that the quality of any educational system depends on the quality of its teaching staff and that without quality teachers, a school may not be able to achieve its goals and objectives. The National Policy on Education further states that, no educational system can rise above the quality of teachers in the system (FRN, 2006).
A teacher is the bridge that makes teaching and learning effective. The teacher is thus the builder whose performance depends on adequate qualification, experience and gender. This adequate knowledge and experience could be attained or achieved by acquiring additional knowledge that will stimulate his/her communication in teaching for efficiency (Oyedeji, 2013). That is, the qualification and experience of a teacher enhance or determine his/her performance. It could also be noted that the level and quality of education attained by the teacher determines the characteristics exhibited during teaching/learning process.
Teaching according to Oyekan (2012) is a continuous human activity by which the teacher connects the learners and the subject matter drawn from school curriculum. It is the cardinal duty of the teacher to help the students to learn, understand and achieve beyond their current educational status and to effectively discharge the required responsibility. It is therefore imperative for the teacher to also develop beyond their current educational status for job efficiency and proficiency. It should be appreciated that teachers are the light of the world that brightens and nurtures the vibrant lives of individuals with useful knowledge, practical skill, and proper value orientation.
Teachers have been shown to have an important influence on teaching of Biology in secondary schools and they also play a crucial role in educational attainment because the teacher is ultimately responsible for translating policy into action and principles based on practice during interaction with the students. Both teaching and learning depends on teachers: No wonder an effective teacher has been conceptualized as one who produces desired results in the course of his duty as a teacher (Afe, 2013).
In view of the foregoing, this study therefore was set out to investigate teachers’ characteristics and the teaching of Biology in secondary schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In Nigeria, the teaching of Biology in secondary schools has become a worrisome phenomenon among stakeholders in education. For instance, poor performance of students in their senior school certificate examination (SSCE) has been of immense concern to both the parents and educators.
The above trend shows that failure rate in each succeeding year is on the increase and did not indicate any improvement. This is certainly disturbing and calls for urgent action to remediate the situation in order to enhance teaching effectiveness among secondary school teachers thus salvaging the education sector out of this nagging problem.
The main problem that attracts the attention of the researcher is ineffective teaching of Biology among teachers in secondary schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area. It was on this note, that this study was investigated to examine how teacher’s characteristics affect the teaching of Biology in secondary schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study will be to examine teachers’ characteristics and the teaching of Biology in secondary schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area. Specifically, the study will seek to:
- Investigate how teachers’ qualification affects the teaching of Biology in secondary schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area.
- Examine how teacher’s years of experience affect the teaching of Biology in secondary schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area.
1.4 Significance of the study
The study of this research will be of significance in the following ways:
- The findings of the study will provide adequate information of the relevance of the teachers’ qualification and teachers years of experience.
- The Ministry of Education and Secondary School Education Board (SSEB) would become aware of the fact that qualified and experience teachers are important in handling the subject for productivity and efficiency.
- This study will be for the benefit of researchers, teachers and head of schools, ministry of education, government, students, educators and the general public.
- The findings would benefit government, teachers in their training programmes; they would know where to place more emphasis during their training programmes for intending teachers.
- The findings of the study will help future researchers to solve problems on related issues and to carry out, the same or related studies in other states, so as to establish a universal conclusion.
- Finally, the findings of the study would enable teachers to identify the qualities in them that affects the teaching of Biology in secondary.
1.5 Research Questions
The following research questions will be formulated to guide the study:
- To what extent does teachers’ qualification affect the teaching of Biology in secondary schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area?
- To what extent does teachers’ years of experience affect the teaching of Biology in secondary schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area?
1.6 Limitation of the Study
The following challenges were confronted by the researcher during the process of conducting this research study;
(i) Time constraint: The period of time given for the completion of this study was not enough in that the researcher had other school activities to carryout as at the time of this study.
(ii) Financial constraint: The high cost of transportation to visit the selected schools for this study posed a serious challenge to the researcher.
(iii) School Location: The long distance between the schools selected for the study was also a problem because some of the schools were located in the rural area.
1.7 Delimitation of the Study
The study was delimited to teachers’ characteristics and teaching of Biology in secondary schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area. Out of fifteen (15) public secondary schools located in the research area, only eight (8) public secondary schools were consider as the sample schools with the sample size of eleven (11) teachers in the study area.
1.8 Operational Definition of terms
The following terms were operationally defined so that any researcher of this report can easily do so without consulting a dictionary for meaning of these words.
- Teaching: This refers to the act of helping others to learn effectively.
- Biology: Is the science that deals with the study of living things
- Teacher: Is a person who helps others to acquire knowledge, competence or value.
- Teachers’ Qualification: Academic and professional credentials that enable a teacher to become a registered teacher in secondary schools.
- Teacher’s experience: Teacher experience is the time spent by a teacher in the teaching profession.
- Teachers’ characteristics: These are attributes possessed by teachers in their professional development.