ENGLISH TEACHER QUALIFICATION AS DETERMINANT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' ACADEMIC PEFORMANCE IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

ABSTRACT

The study examined teachers’ qualification and instructional materials as determinants of secondary school students’ academic performance in Anambra State.   Three research questions guided the study and three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a correlational research design. The population for the study consisted of 28749 English teachers and28,000 Senior Secondary SS 11 students in 267 Public secondary schools in Anambra State. Two Instruments were used for data collection; English teachers qualification scale and students’ academic performance. The instruments were subjected to face and construct validation. Three experts, two specialized in Educational Management and one in Measurement and Evaluation, all in the Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam Campus.  The reliability was determined by the trial testing, subjected to internal consistency reliability technique using Cronbach Alpha. The sample of the study was 600 respondents which comprised 300 English teachers and 300 SS11 students. Simple random sampling technique was adopted in selecting teachers and students from the public secondary schools in the six educational zones across the state. The instruments were administered to the respondents by the researcher with the help of three research assistants who were briefed on how to administer and retrieve the instruments from the sampled respondents. Six hundred (600) copies of the questionnaires were administered by the researcher with six research-assistants who were briefed on how to administer and retrieved the completed copies on the spot. The research questions were answered using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient while hypotheses were tested at .05 level of significance using test of significance of Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. After analyzing the data, the following findings were made. The study findings showed a moderate positive relationship and significant positive relationship between teachers' qualification and academic performance.  Based on the findings of the study it was recommended among others that the state government through the Post Primary School Service Commission (PPSSC) should employ strictly qualified teachers of   English to teach in Senior Secondary Schools in Anambra State. It was noticed that students performed better in English when taught by teachers who had English teachers’ qualification in English Language. This is because the qualifications of these teachers, from training expose them to rational thinking, for proper analysis of situations before taking decisions. The implications of the study, limitations and suggestions for further studies were highlighted.