INFLUENCE  OF ECONOMICS TEACHERS’  PERSONALITY ON STUDENTS’ CLASSROOM  PERFORM ANCE IN PUBLIC SECONDARY  SCHOOLS  IN NSUKK A LOCAL  GOVERN MENT ARE A OF ENUGU STATE

Abstract

The study  investigated the influence of Economics teachers‘ personality  traits on students’ classroom performance in Public Secondary Schools in Nsukka  Local Government Area of Enugu state.  The study adopted the Ex-post facto  research design.   The sample consisted of

19  teachers  and  their  SS2  Economics  students  numbering  336.  Nineteen  schools  were randomly selected out of thirty one Public secondary schools in Nsukka  Local government Area of Enugu State.    Purposive sampling technique was used to select all the Economics teachers of SS2 in the 19 schools.  Instrument for data collection was a researcher developed observational schedule titled the Influence of Economics teachers’ personality on classroom performance  of students  in Secondary Schools  (ETPECP)  was used for  data  collection. Students’  3rd  results  were  collected from   the] 9  teachers.   Six  research  questions  were answered using mean and standard deviation and six null hypotheses  tested at 0. 5 level of significance  using  t-   test and ANO VA.   Findings  reveal  that  teachers’  gender,   teaching experience,  qualifications,  interpersonal relationship with students,  knowledge of the subject matter  and  attitude  influence  students  classroom performance.  Based  on  the findings Recommendations were made.

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CHAPTER  ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background  of the Study

Economics is one of the electives or group of subjects studied at the senior secondary school (SSS) level under the new National policy on Education.  Economics was introduced into secondary school curriculum in Nigeria in 1966 and was first taken as a school subject in Nigeria  in  1967  as  indicated  in  the  Annual  reports  of the  West  African  Examinations Councils  (WAEC).  Obemeata  (1991)  pointed  out  that  the  number  of schools  that  teach Economics and the number of candidates that offer it in the West African School Certificate Examination  (WASCE) has been on the increase,  ever since it was first taken as a school subject  in the WASCE.  The statistics available  in the annual reports  of the West African Examination Council showed that ever since Economics was first taken,  as a school subject in WASCE in  1967,  the number of schools that teach it and the number of candidates that take the examination  has witnessed  a phenomenal  increase.  For  example  in  1967,  it  was

0.07% of the total number of candidates that sat for the examination,  in 1969 it was increased to  12.56%,  in  1970,  it  was  17.16%  and by  1976  exactly  10  years  of its  inception,  the population has risen to 76.95%.  Yusuf (2009) stated that in 1985,  441,448 school candidates entered for economics while in the same year English had 373,507.  In 1996  it was 711,377 for economics,  748,239 for mathematics,  and 748,984 for English language.  By this analysis it may be said that Economics is probably the most popular subject taken in the secondary schools in Nigeria besides the compulsory English language and Mathematics.

Despite the tremendous popularity which economics enjoy among secondary schools and secondary school pupils in Nigeria,  it cannot be claimed that economics has been given its rightful place in the secondary school curriculum in the country.  Yusuf (2009) noted that many factors which are both teachers-, students- and government-related, may be working against effective  teaching  and learning of Economics  in Secondary schools in Nigeria.  No

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wonder  students’  poor  performance   in  the  subject  has  continued  to  linger  following  the annual  release  of the  WASCE  results.  Furthermore,  most University  teachers  of economics have expressed  the view that prospective  University  students  of economics  should not study economics  in secondary  schools.  They contend that it is easier to teach economics  to students who had no previous  knowledge  of the subject than to those who had been taught economics badly  in secondary  schools  (Yusuf,  2009).  Researchers  (Adu,  2002; Yusuf,  2009)  observed that  teaching  of economics  is done  mainly  by  other  social  subject teachers  whose  special areas are outside Economics  such that some topics of Economics  are not well comprehended by the teachers themselves  that are saddled with the job of teaching the students.

Teachers are essential in the entire educational  system of any nation and are pivots on which education wheels revolve. In the pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary levels of Education, teachers play vital roles that cannot be dispensed of  Ashimole (2011) emphasized that  teaching  and  learning depends  largely  on teachers,  and that  it  is on teachers’  number, quality and devotion  that rest the effectiveness  of all educational  arrangements,  development and  growth.  Similarly  Akinsolu  (2010)  observed  that  teachers  are  vital  pre- requisites  for students’  attainment  of educational  goals and objectives.  The Federal Republic  of Nigeria  in the National Policy on Education  (FRN,  2006) also recognized the importance  of teachers  by stating that no economy can be greater than the standard of their teachers.  Therefore,  teachers remain   the   major   factor   in   any   educational   system,   and   their   quality   of teaching   is undoubtedly  one of the most important  factors shaping the teaching  /learning  and growth  of students (Fenstermacher  & Richardson,  2005).

Teaching,  according  to  Mkpa  (2009),  is defined  as  a process  of giving  instruction  to impart knowledge,  facts, skills, attitudes, interests and aptitude by a knowledgeable  and more experienced   person   to  a  less  knowledgeable   and  inexperienced  individual.  A  teacher   is therefore  a professional  who consciously  and deliberately  uses his/her wealth  of experience,

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training,  skills,  competencies,  attitudes,  interests,  knowledge  of content,  with the help  of instructional  materials,   methods/techniques    to   impart   to   a  less   experienced   persons. Therefore,  the  quality  of teachers  1s  considered  to  be  a  crucial  factor  for the  students’ classroom  performance.  Oforkansi  (2008  pl 14).  noted  that  a professional  teacher  should posses as the following qualities to be classified as a good teacher: Awareness and perception which will make the teacher to be observant of the students and the environment for effective assessment, a cheerful  disposition  which creates  friendliness  and co-operation  between  the students   and  teacher,   endurance   which   enables   the  teacher   study   the   students   and accommodate  them,  empathy which enables the teacher considers the students as individual with peculiarities. Other qualities of the teacher, according to the author are responsiveness to be able to attend to the students, humility that will make the teacher a model to be imitated by the students, impartiality which will make the teacher accept all learners as own children and resourcefulness that will enable the teacher to improvise where there is lack.

The higher the quality of the teacher in knowledge  and skills,  the higher the quality of teaching and education expected.  Likewise, the higher the quality of education offered in the system,  the  higher  the  quality  of national  development  expected.  Thus,  without  quality teachers, not much of national development may be expected. For the quality of the teacher to be maintained, the teacher must update him/herself always in order to remain relevant at all times. The teacher must be prepared to face new challenges as they occur in the system, for enhanced academic performance  of students.  Academic performance  has been described as the scholastic standing of a student at a given moment which could be explained in terms of the  grades  obtained  in  a  course  or  groups  of courses  (Bossaert,  Doumen,  Buyse  and Verschueren,  2011 ). Academic performance  is also the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their educational goal. It can be measured by the level of attainment of a person in an examination.  Mushtaq and Khan (2012) noted that the social and economic

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development   of  any   country   is  directly   linked   with   students’   academic   performance. Students’  performance  plays  an important  role in producing  the best  quality  graduates  who will become  great  leaders and manpower  for the country  thus  responsible  for the country’s economic  and  social  development  (Ali,  Jusoff,  Ali,  Syukriah,  Mokhtar  and  Salamt  2009). Students’  performances   are  influenced  by  social,  psychological,  economic,  environmental and personal  factors.  These  factors  vary  from person  to person just  as their psychological, social,  emotional and physical make ups vary.

Different    teachers   are   likely   to   teach   differently    smce   they   possess   different psychological,  social,  emotional  and physical  make ups.  Academic performances  of students are  influenced  mainly  by their  teachers  who  they  also  play  a crucial  role  in  the  students’ educational   attainment.  The  teacher   is  ultimately   responsible   for  translating   educational policies  and principles  into  actions  based  on practice  during  interaction with  the  students. Researches   abound  on  contribution   of teachers   to  educational   achievements   of students (Mushtaq  & Kahn,  2012).  Over  time  students’  academic  performance   in both  internal and external examinations  has been low  and has always been used to determine the effectiveness of teachers  and teaching  (Ajao,  2001).  Contributing  to teachers’  effectiveness  are teacher’s personality    attributes,    teaching    experience    and   qualifications    (Akinsolu,   2010).   The prevailing  conditions  of these  factors  would definitely  have a negative  or positive  influence on the instructional quality  in schools, which may translate  to either good or poor  academic performance  of secondary  school  students.  The  Teacher’s  personality  is influential and  has great effect on the achievement  of many educational  goals (Polk,  2006).

Personality   is  the  unique  and  relatively   stable  pattern  of behaviour,  thoughts,  and emotions  shown by individuals. It makes an individual unique and different  from every other individual.  It  is  related  to  people’s  characteristic   tendencies  to  behave,  think  and  feel  in certain  ways  (Pervin.  Cervone  & John,  2005).  Personality  consists  of stable  characteristics

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which  explain  why  a person  behaves  in a particular  way  (Mullins,  2005).  Operationally, personality  is a person’s  relatively  stable precursor  of behaviour that underlies  an enduring style of thinking,  feeling and acting.  Personality traits are usually identified by what people do,  and the behaviour  they exhibit.  An individual’s behaviour  in a given situation  is also better understood by his or her personality. A teacher’s personality is a major factor affecting how he or she relates, communicates  and deals with students which are firstly translated into the students’ classroom performance.

Teacher’s personality refers to inner-qualities of a teacher, observed from the teacher’s expression  of values,  beliefs,  behavior,  and attitude  (Sronge,  Tucker  &  Hindman,  2004). Operationally, teacher’s   personality  means the specific  set of a teachers’ characteristics that make the behavior of the teacher and influence the way he/she does his/her job of teaching. These are organized  set of characteristics  possessed  by teachers,  which uniquely  influences the cognition,  motivation and behavior  of teachers  in various  situations (McKenny,  2008). Effective personal qualities include being caring, fair and respectful, having positive attitude towards the teaching profession, participating  in social interactions with students and being sincere.  Orlando (2013) listed nine behaviours of an effective  teacher (regardless of the age of the learner) which are respect for students, creating a sense of community and belonging in the classroom, warm,  accessible,  enthusiastic  and caring,  ability to set high expectations  for all  students,  has  his  own  love  for  learning,  a  skilled  leader,  ability  to  “shift-gears” and flexible when a lesson isn’t working, collaboration with colleagues on an ongoing basis and maintenance of professionalism  in all areas.  However, the big question is:  Do our secondary school  teachers  of Economic  posses  these  qualities  of an  effective  teacher?  Why  have students performance  in Economics  been persistently  reported  low?  These are some of the questions/problems    addressed   in   the   present   study.    Teachers’    personality    is   those

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characteristics of a teacher that is unique to the teacher and makes the teacher different  from other teachers in teaching exercise.

Poor academic performance  of students in Nigeria has been reported  in literature and linked to poor teachers’  performance  in terms of accomplishing  the teaching task,  negative attitude to work and poor teaching habits (Ofoegbu 2004).  Specifically,  there are reports  of high  level of below-average  performance  in Economics  with respect  to the percentage  of students that score Credit (C) and above in WACE and GCE examinations.  Onuoha (2015) in a study on the trends of Economics students’ achievement in WAEC in Enugu State observed that the percentage of the students that made D, E and F grades between 2001  and 2012 were above 60% whereas less than 40 % of the students made grade C and above in Economics. Additionally  the  WAEC  Chief Examiner’s  report  (WAEC,  2014)  highlighted  that  poor performance in Economics which has continued to linger from year to year are caused among other  factors by poor  grammatical  expression, poor  knowledge  of drawing  graphs,  simple calculations  and inadequate preparation  for examination. It was however remarked  by both Onuoha (2015) and WAEC (2014) that solution to these poor performances hinges mostly on the teachers.

Given that no academic exercise can rise above the qualities of teachers involved and the popularity  of Economics  among secondary  school subjects,  it become a very important objective  to  evaluate  those  teacher’s personality  attributes  that  may  influence Economics classroom  performance  in  secondary  schools.  Students  are  likely to perform  well  in  any examination when their teacher know them personally and have profound knowledge of their state  of physical,   intellectual  and  psychological   readiness.   A  focus  on  the  teacher’s personality  could be a good effort in identifying factors that influence their performance  in supporting  the achievement  of any education  goals.  As observed  by Polk  (2006), teacher performance  is influenced  by the  teachers’  personality  characteristics.  For  this  study  six

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teacher personality characteristics are considered. The factors that are considered are teachers years  of experience,  qualification,  teachers  inter personal  relationship  with their  students, knowledge of subject matter, teacher’s attitude and gender.

Gender as defined by Nwagbo  and Obiekwe  (2010)  involves the psychological  and socio-cultural  dimensions of being a male or a female.  Gender role is a set of expectations that prescribes  how  females or males  should think,  act or feel.  In our society,  males  are assigned  to such attributes  as bold,  aggressive, tactful  etc while  females  are assigned  the opposite attributes such as fearful, timid, gentle, etc (Dee, 2006). The socio-cultural  role or assignment  of tasks  as  belonging  to  male  or  female  realm  can  influence  the  teachers’ performance  in the teaching and learning of Economics  in the classroom which will in tum impact on students’ performance.  Odunaike, Ijaduola and Amodu (2013) in their study found that female teachers put extra effort  in ensuring  high standard of performance  by students than  their  male  counterparts.  Afolabi  (2014)  in  his  research  found  out  that  there  is  no significant difference between the performances  of pupils taught by male or female teachers. From the above studies,  it can be seen that disagreement exists over the issue of gender as a factor that influences students’ performance. The present  study therefore  intends to add to existing knowledge  in finding out if the Economics  teacher’s  gender has influence  on their students’ performance in Economics.

In  addition,  the  length  of time  a teacher  has  been  on the job  may  influence  his teaching,   attitude   to  teaching   and  which   may  directly   affect   students’   performance. According  to  Stronge  (2007),  adaptability  is sometimes  more  desirable  than  well written lesson plan and this adaptability is developed through experience and awareness. Experienced teachers  have a richer  background  of experience  to draw from and contribute  insight and ideas to the course of teaching and learning,  are open to correction and are less dictatorial in classroom.  This may affect  teachers’ relationship  with his/her students.  Chhinh and Tabata

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(2003)   in  their   study   on  the   effects   of  selected   teacher   factors   on   the   Mathematics achievement  of urban primary  school pupils  in the state of Cambodia,  revealed  that teachers’ years  of teaching  experience   among  other  factors  has  statistically  significant  relationships with the achievement  of the pupils whose economic  status had been held constant.  The debate on whether  a teacher’s years of experience  affects  students’ performance  or not is still on and the researcher  seeks to lend a voice to this.

As  regards  teacher’s  relationship   with  the  students,  Chan  (2002)  noted  that  good teaching  requires  appropriate  interpersonal  relationship  between  the teacher  and the students and the teacher’s pedagogical  skills. Because  instruction  is an inter-personal  affair, different teaching  styles work  on different  students. An aggressive  teacher  might  drive his more timid students  into their  shells.  A teacher’s  interpersonal  skill is a crucial  issue as no student  will like  to  come  close  to  a hostile  and  unfriendly  teacher.  When  a teacher  is  friendly  it will encourage  a cordial relationship  between  the students  and the teacher  and this will make the students  like the teacher  and develop  special  interest  in the subject  area of the teacher.  Geeta and  Tyagi  (2013)  asserted  that  the  positive  and  negative  interpersonal   skills  exhibited  by teachers  determine  to  a great  extent  their  effectiveness  in the  classroom  and ultimately  the impact  on  students’ performance   and reputation.  Among  other  personality  characters  of an effective  teacher  is one that has knowledge  of four broad kinds of knowledge  namely:  general pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, Pedagogical content knowledge and curricular knowledge. The pedagogical  knowledge  can be obtained  formally through  pre and in-service training, and may be further subdivided into common or specialized content knowledge. Pedagogical  content  knowledge  refers  to the manner  in which  content  knowledge  is applied for  teaching  others  and  is  obtained  through  practice   or  highly  skilled  training  programs. Pedagogical  content  knowledge  has  gained  wide  appeal  as  it links  content  knowledge  and practice  of teaching  (Ball,  Thames  & Phelps,  2008).  Knowledge  of these will make a teacher

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effective  thereby enhancing his students’ performance. The least among these factors is the teacher’s  attitude which is expressed  by the way he/she dresses,  how he carries himself in class.   This  may  also   contribute   positively   or  negatively   to  the  students’   classroom performance.

Studies on Secondary school students’ academic performance  in Economics have been conducted  on such issues as teaching  methods employed  in teaching Economics, enhanced teachers’ salaries and sponsorship to conferences,  workshop’s   with their findings employed in the teaching and learning of Economics.  Yet available reports indicate that performance of students in Economics have continued to remain poor. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the  influence of teacher’s personality  attributes  on secondary  school  students’ academic performance in Economics in Nsukka Local Government Area ofEnugu State.

Statement of the problem

Economics is one of the most popular elective subjects offered  in secondary schools. However, despite the popularity, previous reports have shown persistent poor performance of students in the subject. Poor academic performance  of students in Economics  in Nigeria has been   reported   in   literature   and   linked   to   poor   teachers’   performance   in   terms   of accomplishing   the  teaching  task,  negative  attitude  to  work  and  poor  teaching  habits. Specifically, a report by Onuoha (2016) on the trends of Economics students’  achievement in WAEC  in  Enugu  state  stated that  the percentage  of the  students  that  made D,  E and  F between 2001  and 2012 were above 60%  whereas less than 40 % of the students made grade C and above in Economics.  WAEC Chief Examiners Reports have persistently  shown poor performance  of students in Economics.  The question is why the persistent poor performance in Economics? Is it that the students are not taught well in class?

Several  studies  have  also  been  carried  out  on  most  of the  ways  to  improve  the performance  of Economics students in the classroom. These studies have shown that the use

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of some innovative teaching methods that are student centered enhanced salaries of teachers and their  sponsorship to conferences  and seminars  has been proffered  as solutions  to the deteriorating state of affairs of students Performance. However, indicators from recent reports in literature suggest that among the factors that contribute to the poor classroom performance of students are teacher’s varying abilities to handle the effective teaching of Economics  due to differences in their personality make ups. Personality attributes that form the behaviors and attitudes of the teachers which directly influence students’ performance has become a topical issue in the field of education  for the realization  of objectives  of any discipline  including economics. This is because the teacher occupies  a paramount  position  in any teaching  and learning  situation.  It  is also  an agreed pre-position  that  no education  can rise  above  the quality of its teachers.  The present study is therefore designed to investigate the influence of Economics teachers’ personality  on students’  classroom performance  in Secondary schools’ in Nsukka Local Government Area ofEnugu State, Nigeria.

Purpose of the study

The main purpose  of this study is to find out the influence  of Economics  teachers’ personality traits on students’ classroom performance  in Public Secondary Schools in Nsukka Local Government Area ofEnugu state.

Specifically, the study intends to determine the influence of:

1.    Economics Teachers’ gender on students’ classroom Performance

2.   Determine  the  influence  of Economics  teachers’  teaching  experience  on students’ classroom performance.

3.   Economics teachers’ qualification on students’ classroom performance.

4.   Economics   Teacher’s   relationship   with   students   on  classroom  performance   of students

5.   Teacher’s knowledge of the subject matter on classroom performance of students

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6.   Economics teachers’ attitude on students classroom performance

Significance of study

The study has both theoretical  and practical  significance. This study draws from the Jerome Bruners cognitive theory of 1961  which states that mere presentation  of information will not  enhance  effective  understanding  or  solution  to  a problem  but when  students  are provided  with the enabling environment  (where they are allowed to actively participate  in teaching and learning process)  to explore facts and discover  facts by themselves. When an Economics  teacher  allows  his/her  students  to  participate  fully  in  teaching  and  learning process, the students will not only learn effectively but also retain longer what they learnt.

Secondly this work draws from Albert Banduras learning theory (1977) which posits that people learn from one another, via observation, imitation and modeling. It encompasses attention,  memory and motivation.  People learn through observing others behavior,  attitude and  outcome  s  of those  behaviors’.  This  implies  that  teachers’  behavior  or  attitude  can influence learning.

Practically the findings of the study will be of benefit to the teachers,  students,  curriculum planners, School administrators and future researchers.  The findings will help teachers to gain a  better  understanding   on  how  best  to  package  themselves,  having  known  that  their personality make up has a great influence on their students’ performance. The findings of this study will make the Economics teachers to be conscious of themselves each time they are to enter  class,  ensuring  that  they  are  is in  the  right  frame  of mind,  well  dressed  and well prepared  to transfer  knowledge  to the  students  since  it  is on that  consciousness  that  the effectiveness  of their teaching  exercise  solely lies on them. This will make an Economics teacher an outstanding one. The findings of the study will stimulate the Economics teacher to always build up their personality trait for effective performance of students.

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The findings of this study also will help students to better appreciate and understand economics  more  as it  becomes  more  interesting to them and Economics  classes becomes lively being taught by a teacher that possess a good personality characters.  With the result of the study,  the teacher  exhibit the right attitudes when teaching  Economics  will attract  and boast the students’ interest on the subject which will enhance their classroom Performance.

The outcome of this study will enable school administrators  to identify their expected role in employing Economics teacher of good personality  attributes.  The result of the study will enlighten the administrators more on the need to set their priorities first in recruitment by first looking out for teacher with the best attributes or personality make up.  When this is done students will other things being equal improve  in their classroom performance in Economics.

Scope of the study

The study will be carried out using Economics  teachers and their students in public Secondary schools in Nsukka Local Government  Area of Enugu state.  The study will focus on determining the influence of Economics teachers’ personality traits on students’  classroom Performance  in  Secondary  school.  Specifically,  the  study will  determine  the  influence  of Economics  teacher’s  Gender,  teaching  experience,  qualification,  knowledge  of the subject matter  and  attitude  on  students’  classroom  performance   in  public  Secondary  schools  in Nsukka Local Government Area ofEnugu State.

Research questions

The following research questions guided the study:

1.   What   is  the   influence   of  Economics   Teacher’s   gender   on   students’    classroom performance?

2.    What  is  the  influence   of Economics   teacher’s   teaching   expenence   on  classroom performance of students?

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3.   What is the influence of Economics teacher’s qualification on classroom performance  of the students?

4.   What  is  the  influence  of Economics  teacher-students   relationship  on  the  classroom performance of the students?

5.   What  is  the  influence  of Economics  teacher’s  knowledge  of the  subject  matter  on students’ classroom performance?

6.   What is the influence of teacher’s attitude on students’ classroom performance?

Hypothesis

The following null hypotheses were posed to guide the study:

Ho:  There is no significant influence of Economics Teacher’s gender on students? classroom

Performance

Ho.  There  is  no  significant  influence   of teacher’s  teaching  experience  on  Economics students’ classroom performance

H03.  There  is  no  significant  influence  of teacher’s  qualification  on  students’   classroom performance.

HO,:  Economics teachers’  interpersonal relationship with the students does not significantly affect students’ classroom performance.

HO,:  There  is no significant  influence  of teacher’s  Knowledge  of the subject  matter  and

Economics students’ classroom performance.

HO¢:   There  is  no  significant   influence   of teacher’s   attitude  and  students’   classroom performance.

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