THE IMPACT OF TEACHER’S PERSONALITY TRAITS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN ECONOMICS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
Abstract
The study was conducted to find out teacher’s personality traits on academic performance in Economics among secondary school students in Oruk Anam Local Government Area. To achieve the objectives of the study, two research questions and hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 levels of significance. The research design adopted for the study was a survey research design due to the fact that the effect of teacher’s personality traits and academic performance in Economics among secondary school students in Oruk Anam Local Government Area was not manipulated in the study.
The population of the study was made up of all the Economics students in senior secondary 1-3 (SS1-3) and all Economics teachers in all the fourteen (14) public secondary schools in 2017/2018 session in Oruk Anam Local Government Area. The sample size of this study comprised of four (4) Economics teachers and one hundred (100) Economics students from four (4) public secondary schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area. The main instrument used in this study was a questionnaire and past result of the promotional examination in Economics of 2016/2017 academic session in Economics.
The data generated from the study was analyzed using independent t-test for hypothesis two and the result was attested at 0.05 levels of significance. Findings revealed that there is a significance difference in the academic performance of students taught Economics by conscientious teachers and those taught by unconscientious teachers there is a significant difference in the academic performance of students taught Economics by agreeableness personality trait teachers and those taught by agreeableness personality trait teachers in secondary schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Personality is a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences their environment, cognitions, emotions, motivations, and behaviors in various situations. Personality also refers to the pattern of thoughts, feelings, social adjustments, and behaviors consistently exhibited over time that strongly influences one’s expectations, self-perceptions, values, and attitudes. It also predicts human reactions to other people, problems, and stress (Gordon, 2015). Personality determines a set of important characteristics and that how people interact with others. Human personality is the combination of a number of traits.
Personality can be measured as a set of items usually questions about behaviour and feelings to which the subjects have to respond by agreeing or disagreeing with that question or statements. Ujoh (2014) described the following as the components of personality which teachers can exhibits: habits, attitudes, interests, values, principles and mental capacity or intelligence. Personality has been defined in many ways by many psychologists who wrote on the concept.
Teachers have been universally accepted as one of the most important component of education and a competent teacher is sure to affect the educational outcomes of his or her students in many positive ways. Umoren and Ogbodo (2011) pointed out that emotional stability is one of the needed competences of the teacher. They emphasized that teachers should be emotionally stable in order to change the students under their control. This leads to the question of the personality of the teacher. Personality is the projection of us to others. It helps teachers to become sensitive to children’s needs and give them the knowledge and skills required to create caring and wholesome learning environment.
Personality according to Farrant (2014), is the product of a great many characteristics or traits. It encompasses the stability of the psychological made up of the individual. It is the sum total of the general characteristics which distinguishes an individual from every other person. Since it has to do with a collection of different aspects of a person’s behaviour (profile), it is said to include the traits of ability, beliefs, attitudes, values, motivations, motives and habitual mode of adjustment.
The Impact OF TEACHER’S PERSONALITY TRAITS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN ECONOMICS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
Dunn (2010) reveals that the teaching requires a lot from teachers in terms of their personality, in order for meaningful learning to take place in their students. Facilitative teachers would therefore be less protective of their constructs and beliefs than other teachers; more able to listen to learners, especially to their feelings, including paying much attention to their relationship with learners as to the content of the subject; apt to accept feedback, both positive and negative and to use it as a constructive insight into themselves and their behaviour in the area of personality, Levin (2013) stated that there is lack of studies that examine a person’s individual personality styles and how it may have affected another person’s success. This therefore raises the issue of whether or not the teachers’ personality traits may have effect on students’ academic achievement.
This study emphasizes the need to investigate the relationship between teachers’ personality profile and students’ performance in physics, more so when such formulations about personality variables can be used to predict behaviour (Cherry, 2012). Although a direct relationship between school success and personality traits have been extensively studied alongside intelligence, the results are not as straight-forward as they are for that of the relationship between intelligence and academic achievement (Laidra and Allik, 2006).
Many researchers agree that cognitive, learner’s characteristics and personality variables, should be taken into account when predicting school performance (Chamono-Premuzic and Furnham, 2005). This study is interested in how to facilitate greater improvement in physics students’ achievement in modern physics related concepts. It is therefore necessary that the study focuses on gender as a learner variable.
Research reports on the effect of gender disparity and students’ academic achievement are conflicting and inconclusive. Studies by Yilwa and Olarinoye (2004) and Ekeh (2004) showed that males perform significantly better than female counterpart especially in science and science related fields. Galadima (2003) showed female superiority over their male counterparts in science, technology and mathematics courses.
Other studies such as Okeke (2003) and Aryibi (2004) indicate a non-significant difference in the academic achievement of male and female students in science. Thus, the issue of gender and performance in science is yet to be concluded. Hence, this study seeks to determine the effect of students’ gender on their performance considering physics teachers with high and/or low personality profile.
Research over time has revealed that personality traits are indicators and general predictors of job performance across a varied range of jobs. In the teaching-learning sphere, it has been established by research that the teacher makes a permanent effect on the personality and memory of their students by reflecting his own personality in teaching (Wheeler, 2001; Ozel, 2007; Spanjaard, 2009).
Despite these breakthroughs, government and employers in the field of education are yet to give adequate consideration to teachers’ personality traits, as a factor that can determine teachers’ effectiveness, and their students’ academic performance. It is therefore on this premise, that this study was designed to investigate if any relationship exists between teachers’ personality profile and students’ academic performance in physics.
The Impact OF TEACHER’S PERSONALITY TRAITS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN ECONOMICS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
However, there has been an increasing interest in the big five personality traits and the role they play as regards academic performance of students. Of particular interest is the role that these traits play in the academic performance of students. These traits, popularly known as the ‘Big Five’ include conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness to experience, extraversion and locus of control. The acronym CAOEL is used to describe them.
These personality traits affect academic performance in students, either positively or negatively. And so parents, educationists, psychologists, counselors, are all worried at the rate of decline of academic standard. The acronym CAOEL denotes the traits: conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, extraversion and locus of control to experience King, (2015).
Conscientiousness are those traits which shows a teacher who is self-disciplined, careful, thorough, organized and determined; agreeableness describes one who is sympathetic, trusting and cooperative. Such teachers work with students easily with little or no friction. It will be on this background that the researcher is therefore motivated to examine teacher’s personality traits and the academic performance in Economics among secondary school students in OrukAnam Local Government Area.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The problem of underachievement has assumed a worrisome dimension in the Nigerian educational system. Desperate to make it anyhow, students have devised various illegal means to succeed in examinations, even when they are not academically competent. And unfortunately, the system has buckled under the pressure. Examination malpractice has risen steadily to become a seemingly untamable monster.
It is increasingly becoming difficult to equate competence of people with supposed academic performance as represented in their certificates. Many candidates are unable to defend the result they supposedly acquired honorably. And of course this has consistently led to inability to compete effectively in the job market which has become a serious issue. Several factors have been researched into in the past as to the cause of this social malaise, but there seem to be indications that some hidden factors may be responsible that needs unraveling.
This desire to see this problem curbed gave rise to this study and the researchers’ aim is to see if there is a way in which the teacher’s personality traits can help, especially from the perspective of the analytical and scientific approach of measurement and evaluation. This study is therefore will aim at an examination of the influence of teacher’s personality traits on academic performance in Economics among secondary school students in OrukAnam Local Government Area.
The Impact OF TEACHER’S PERSONALITY TRAITS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN ECONOMICS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study will be to investigate the influence of teacher’s personality traits on academic performance in Economics among secondary school students in Oruk Anam Local Government Area. Specifically, the study intends to:
- investigate the influence of conscientiousness personality trait on the academic performance in Economics among students in secondary schools in OrukAnam Local Government Area;
- investigate the influence of agreeableness personality trait on academic performance in Economics among students in secondary schools in OrukAnam Local Government Area.
1.4 Research Questions
The following research questions will be stated to guide the study:
- To what extent does conscientiousness personality trait influence the academic performance in Economics among students in secondary schools?
- To what extent does agreeableness personality trait influence academic performance in Economics among students in secondary schools?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
The following research hypotheses will be formulated to guide the study:
- There is no significant influence of conscientiousness personality trait on academic performance in Economics among secondary school students
- There is no significant influence of agreeableness personality trait on academic performance in Economics among secondary school students
1.6 Significance of the Study
The findings of this study shall be of immense significance to the following: educational stakeholders, teachers, students and future researchers. This study will educate the stakeholders in the education sector on how the individual personality traits of teachers can influence their students’ academic performance.
To the school administrators, the findings of this study will guide them in method of recruiting teachers as well as effective supervision and monitoring of teaching and learning in schools. This study will also enlighten the teachers on different types of their personality traits and how these traits can influence academic performance of students in secondary schools. It will create awareness on the need to be effective in their teaching and be supportive to students in order to achieve increased achievement in examinations.
To the students it may enlighten them on the need to adopt good learning styles that will assist them to learn effectively irrespective of their teacher’s personality traits. This research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the effect of teachers’ personality trait on student’s academic performance, thereby constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area.
1.7 Delimitations of the Study
This study was delimited to teacher’s personality traits (conscientiousness and agreeableness) and academic performance in Economics among students in secondary schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area. The study was also in all the teachers and students in Economics in all the secondary school one to three (SS1-3) in the 2016/2017 in selected public secondary schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area.
1.8 Limitation of Study
The following challenges may be encountered in the occurs of this study:
Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint– The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.
- Definition of Terms
The following terms will be defined as will be used in the study:
Personality: the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character.
Academic Performance: Is the outcome of education; the extent to which a student has achieved their educational goals
Trait: a distinguishing quality or characteristic, typically one belonging to a person.
Personality Trait: These are the characteristics that teachers have individually possessed which include conscientiousness and agreeableness as will be used in this study.
Conscientiousness teacher’s trait: This is the personality trait of being careful, vigilant, efficient and organized.
Agreeableness teacher’s trait: This is a teacher’s trait manifesting itself in individual behavioural characteristics that are perceived as kind, sympathetic, cooperative, warm and considerate.