THE IMPACT OF HOME ECONOMICS TEACHERS' QUALITIES ON STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN WASSCE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Since the middle of the twentieth century, the quality of teachers has been a major topic of debate across the world. In a research, Riovkin, Hanushek, and Kain (1998) found that the impact of instructors' quality on students' achievement is several times bigger than any other generally observed variable, such as home background, favorable classroom climate, and so on.

The quality of teachers is a high-priority problem. Teacher quality varies greatly between nations and states. While highlighting the significance of teacher quality in curriculum implementation, the National Policy on Education (Federal Republic of Nigeria, Revised 2004) highlighted that no nation's educational system can climb beyond the quality of its instructors. Teachers are at the heart of any discussion about schools, and the bulk of educational policy focuses on their function, either directly or indirectly. Furthermore, in compared to other determinants of academic achievement, parents, teachers, and administrators frequently underline the critical role that instructors play. In compared to other determinants of academic success, teachers play an important role. Instructors are critical in every educational system since the quality of the system's teachers influences the system's overall quality to a large extent.

Educators and scholars have debated for years which school factors impact student progress. As policymakers become increasingly involved in school reform, this subject becomes more important since their programs are based on the assumption of a link between numerous educational characteristics such as class size, teacher quality, school size, and so on. "Quality is the primary necessary element of a product," Peter (1997) said. The traits of high-quality scientific instructors, for example, are those that improve a teacher's fitness and efficiency when executing the tasks involved with science education.

Teacher quality is a hot subject among policymakers, educators, teacher education institutions, and anyone concerned with (enhancing public education. It is a pivotal policy issue in education reform and American Council on Education (1999) stated “quality of the teacher is the key to improved student performance regardless of the condition of the schools, the affluence of the child, the nature of the community, or any other element in the lives or educational environment of school children”. Teachers who use a variety of instructional methods, experiences, assignments, and materials to ensure that children achieve a variety of cognitive objectives are considered good teachers. Well-prepared highly qualified teachers are essential if we are to ensure that our student achieve the high standards necessary for them to live fulfilling lives and become productive students.

Teacher quality was defined by Ingersoll (1996) as a measure of teacher qualification, teaching practices, teacher certification, teacher experience and teaching preparations. Content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, teaching credentials, and verbal abilities are all components of teacher qualification. Academic subject, knowledge of teaching strategies, knowledge of student characteristics and cultural background, knowledge of curriculum materials and programs, knowledge of teaching environment, subject specific knowledge of teaching strategies, and knowledge of the goals and purposes of teaching are the seven (7) areas of professional knowledge identified by Shulman (1987). According to Salvin (2003), a good teacher must be very knowledgeable about his or her subject matter and know how to motivate children. He must also know how to properly employ class time and adapt to individual variances.

A home economics teacher should strive to acquire sufficient knowledge to enable him to teach any aspect of the home economics program's content, and in order to be useful in the classroom, he must keep up to date on both the content and methods of teaching integrated science.

Teachers who are good at their jobs are knowledgeable about their subjects and have the ability to communicate that knowledge to their students verbally. They are deliberate teachers that attend professional seminars and conferences to continually examine and improve their own teaching techniques. Reynolds (1995) discovered that good teachers are capable of performing all of the tasks required for effective instruction. Quality teachers are critical thinkers who are aware of their students' developmental stages and needs, who are constantly experimenting with new strategies to solve problems in the classroom, and who have been trained to use differentiated instruction that recognizes individual differences.

One of the most common complaints about poor quality teaching in today's schools, according to Gregorian (2001), is teachers' preservice learning. Quality teacher preparation programs, according to Darling-Hammond and Frelow (2002), play a critical role in preparing quality teachers. Geo (2007) also identified the following two key teacher qualification variables that have consistently been shown to have strong, positive effects on student learning across studies: I Teacher's subject matter knowledge; he explained this using mathematics by saying that teachers with stronger mathematics knowledge produce better student achievement in mathematics when compared to teachers with less knowledge.

(ii) The degree of experience of the teacher is important. He explained it by claiming that after five years of experience, he had gained a lot of knowledge.

The purpose of this research is to see how the qualities of home economics teachers impact student performance in WASSCE.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM               

Due to the fact that teachers, for what they were hired to do, received a lot of blame for the students' poor academic performance, the problems of fluctuation/poor academic performance of students in secondary schools have sparked a lot of debate among different stakeholders in the education industry, including parents, teachers, members of society, and government at all levels. A professionally skilled teacher, according to Gods Will (2012), is someone who has obtained a systematic body of knowledge from a specialized teacher training school. He understands what he's talking about. In the classroom, school, and society, he enables education for pupils and exhibits exceptional leadership style.

As a result of the above, several research on the link between teacher quality and academic success have been done. Akinsolu (2010), who conducted research on teachers and students' academic performance in Osun state, was one of the studies on teacher quality and student performance. Borisade (2011) investigated the attributes of teachers and school variables as predictors of secondary school students' academic success. Teachers' qualities were explored as a predictor of students' academic achievement in secondary schools in Osun state. In Ondo state, Akinfe, Olofinniyi, and Fashiku (2012) explored teacher quality as a predictor of students' academic achievement. Adeyemi (2008) conducted study in secondary schools in Ondo state on instructors' teaching experience and students' learning results. A close examination of the preceding research reveals that none of them looked at the link between teacher quality and students' academic achievement in Islamic studies. As a result, the purpose of this study was to look into the effect of qualities of home economics teachers on the performance of students in WASSCE.

1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

The main aim of the research work is to evaluate the effect of qualities of home economics teachers on the performance of students in WASSCE. other specific objectives of the research work include:

1.  To examine the effect of teachers’ quality on the academic achievement of students in home economics

2.  To investigate on the factors affecting teachers effectiveness in teaching of home economics

3.  To examine the relationship between qualities of home economic teachers and students attendance to home economics

4.  To evaluate the roles of the school management in the recruitment of qualified home economics teachers

5.  To proffer solution to the above problems

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study came up with research questions so as to ascertain the above stated objectives of study. The specific research questions are stated below as follows:

1.  What is the effect of teachers’ quality on the academic achievement of students in home economics?

2.  What are the factors affecting teachers effectiveness in teaching of home economics?

3.  What is the relationship between qualities of home economic teachers and students attendance to home economics classes?

4.  What are the roles of the school management in the recruitment of qualified home economics teachers?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

Because it will discuss the relationship between qualities of home economic teachers and students attendance to home economics classes, the study on the effect of qualities of home economics teachers on students performance in WASSCE will be of immense benefit to teachers, school management, the state government, the federal government, and the ministry of education in Nigeria. The study will also look into the elements that influence effective home economics teaching and learning. Finally, the research will add to the body of knowledge about the attributes of home economics teachers.

1.6 SCOPE OF STUDY

The relationship between qualities of home economics teachers and students  home economics performance will be explored in the study on the influence of qualities of home economics teachers on student performance in WASSCE. It will also go through the aspects that influence good home economics teaching and learning.

1.7 LIMITATION OF 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

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

TEACHERS QUALITY: teachers’ quality in accordance to the study is defined as the skills and professionalism of teachers in teaching of business education in junior secondary school.

EFFECTIVE TEACHING: this simply involve the use of all the materials both intellectual and instructional in teaching of home economics

LEARNING: the acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, experience, or being taught.