Influence of Teacher Characteristics and Parental Factors on Students Academic Achievement in Biology in Ejisu Municipality
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of the Study
The essence of this study is to investigate how certain characteristics and factors relate to the academic performance of senior secondary school students in Biology in Ashanti Region, Ghana.
The specific objectives are:
- To determine if the qualification of teachers have an effect on the academic achievement of students in Biology.
- To find out if teaching experience is related to academic achievement of students in Biology.
- To relate parents’ level of education with students’ academic performance in Biology.
- To identify the relationship between teachers’ skill/expertise and academic
CHAPTER TWO
A REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Empirical Literature
Teachers’ Qualification and Academic Performance
Darling – Hammond (1999) examined a fifty-state survey on teacher policies, case analyses, and the National Assessment of Educational Progress and specifically looked at teacher qualifications and how other school inputs are related to students’ academic performances across all fifty states, and, discovered that teacher academic qualification i.e. teacher quality relates to increased students’ academic performance and is far more important than other factors.
Again, Charles et al (2007) explains that regular certification has positive effects on student academic performance. Also, they found out that teachers with low certification score have students with low performance; having a strong teacher is better than being in a classroom with fewer students than an average classroom. Wilson et al (2001) suggest that even with the short comings of current teacher education and certification, fully prepared and certified teachers are more successful with students than teachers without this preparation.
Ashton (1996) summarizes that teachers with regular state certification receive higher supervision ratings and student academic performances than teachers who do not meet standards.
Formal qualification of teachers is an important indicator for their knowledge and competence in teaching; it has utility in analyzing how well prepared teachers are for what they have to teach in schools.
Influence of Lack of Qualified Teachers in Our Secondary Schools
The question of inadequate teachers in our secondary schools in a state like Ashanti Region appears to be a paradox, when one remembers that Ashanti Region is saturated with trained teachers. The question is whether our secondary schools are well staffed with specialist in all subjects especially those schools in the rural areas in the face of “apparent enough trained teachers”. The answer is emphatically ‘no’ reflecting the importance of teachers in any society, Emezi (1977) said that “since teachers are the backbone of the whole educational system their education therefore is perhaps the most vital factor affecting our future. We must ensure that the teacher is an educated person who possesses an in-depth knowledge of the subject he is obliged to teach. A teacher must be a leader, an innovator, and an enlightened person”. If teachers are not well educated the country will end up producing semi-literate students.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
This research study adopted the descriptive survey research design. This enabled the researcher utilize majorly primary data in identifying views of the various participants on the effect of teachers’ characteristics and parental factors on academic performance.
Population of the Study
The population of the study comprised all Biology teachers and parents to students in Senior Secondary Schools in Ejisu Municipality. Ashanti Region.
Sample and Sampling Technique
The sample size was one hundred and twenty (120) teachers and parents from ten selected secondary schools.
The technique used in selecting the sample size of the population element was the simple random sampling method. This technique is that which a sample is selected from a population and each member of the group has a possible chance of being included in the sample (Barbie, 2001).
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
DEMOGRAPHIC DATA
Distribution of Participants according to Gender, Age, Employment status, Educational level and working experience.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 SUMMARY OF THE STUDY
The study investigates the influence of teachers’ characteristics and parental factors on student academic performance in selected senior secondary school in the Ejisu Municipality. The specific objectives of the study were to determine, if the qualification of teachers have an effect on the academic achievement of students in Biology, find out if teaching experience is related to academic achievement of students in Biology, examine the relationship between teachers classroom effectiveness and students’ academic performance and ascertain the influence of teachers skills/expertise on the academic achievement of students in Biology. Four research questions and four hypotheses were raised to guide the study.
Relevant Literature were reviewed which include Teachers’ Qualification and Academic Performance, Influence of Lack of Qualified Teachers in Our Secondary Schools, Teacher Experience and Academic Performance, The Place of Qualified Teachers as a Factor in Effective Teaching among others.
Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised Senior Secondary School teachers in Education District IV of Ashanti Region. Simple random sampling technique was employed to get 120 participants. The analysis of data was done using simple percentages while the stated hypotheses were tested with Chi square.
The following are the summary of the major findings:
- The findings of the study revealed that qualification must be obtained in order to improve academic performance.
- The result of analysis indicates that students taught by experienced teachers have better academic performance.
- The result of analysis shows that there is significance between teacher’s effectiveness and students’ academic performance.
- The findings of the study show that there is significance between teachers’ skill/ expertise on students’ academic performance.
CONCLUSION
From the results presented in chapter four above, the following were found:
The study shows a strong positive relationship between teachers’ characteristics and parental factors and academic performance.
Formal qualification of teachers is an important indicator for their knowledge and competence in teaching. Trained and qualified teachers are more successful with students as the quality of this training makes or mar the end product of a teacher’s job. Fully prepared and certified teachers know how best to handle students and draw out their intellectual resources.
Qualified teachers bring prestige to a school as their efforts bring about increased student performance.
People trace students’ performance to their teachers. Experienced teachers pass across knowledge and information which students do not possess by formulating teaching tasks using insight and experience. Hence, students taught by teachers with longer years of experience achieve at a higher level.
Effectively managed classrooms, elementary ICT skills/expertise, proper behaviour and discipline in a multicultural setting are significant for students to perform well academically.
A teacher must be a master of his subject, show interest in the students and keep students actively participating in the learning process, hence, unfolding and recollecting knowledge in the process.
RECOMMENDATIONS
In view of the findings, the following recommendations are made:
- Schools should employ qualified teachers in relation to subject learnt/their subject area.
- Preference should be given to teachers with longer years of experience as they stay more on the job.
- Teachers should consider having a full understanding of the school curricula and imbibe these characteristics needed to influence academic performance. Teachers’ should not see cases of very low performing students as hopeless but should still have high expectations for students’ academic performance by investing more time on those students.
With this, the issue of declining academic performance will be brought to the barest minimum.
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