IMPACT OF TEACHERS’ CHARACTERISTICS AND CLASSROOM PRACTICES ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN BIOLOGY IN ESAN WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

Abstract

The study investigated the impact of teachers’ characteristics and classroom practices on secondary school students’ academic achievement in Biology in Esan West Local Government Area. The descriptive survey design was used in this study. This study covered a population of three thousand four hundred and thirty one (3431). A sample size of 172 SS 2 students representing approximately 5% drawn for the study using the purposive sampling technique. Two instruments were used in the study. The instrument used was   a questionnaire titled: Teachers Characteristics Survey Questionnaire (TCSQ) and Biology Achievement Test (BAT). The reliability of the instrument was done using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient technique. Means and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the entire hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that there was a significant impact of teachers’ educational qualification and there was no significant impact of teachers’ continuous assessment practices on students’ academic achievement in Biology in senior secondary schools in Esan West Local Government Area. It was recommended that the government should encourage less qualified teachers to improve on their qualification by giving scholarship, study leave benefits and other incentives.