Teachers’ Professional Attitudes and Students’ Academic Performance in
Secondary Schools in Ilorin Metropolis of Kwara State
Olubukola James OJO, PhD
Department of Educational Management, University of Ilorin, Ilorin,
Nigeria. P.M.B. 1515 Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State
[email protected]phone +2348033902686
Fall 2018
Abstract
Teachers are the main driver of quality outputs in secondary schools. The professional
attitudes displayed by teacher matters a lot in the educational process. This study
investigated teachers’ professional attitudes and students’ academic performance in
secondary schools in Ilorin Metropolis of Kwara State. The survey research design
was found suitable for this study. The population of the study consisted of all the
secondary school students in Ilorin Metropolis. Two instruments Teachers’
Professional Attitudes Questionnaire (TPAQ) and Students’ Academic Performance
Proforma (SAPP) were developed and used for data collection. Pearson product-
moment correlation statistic was used to test all the hypotheses at 0.05 level of
significance. The findings of this study revealed a significant relationship between all
the sub-variables of the independent variables and students’ academic performance.
Recommendations were made that teachers should adopt effective verbal
communication attitudes, classroom management attitudes and pedagogical
attitudes.
Keywords: Teachers’ Professional Attitudes, Students’ Academic Performance,
Communication Attitudes, Subject Mastery Attitudes, Pedagogical Attitude
Introduction
The quality of output produced by any nation is dependent on the quality of its
teachers. It is important to say that teachers play a very significant role in
determining the quality of education that children receive. The teachers are great
determinant in ensuring good academic performance in public examinations. No
wonder that it is often said that teacher is a very important resource in any
educational system. According to Aina, Ogundele and Olanipekun (2013), of all the
resources in the educational system, the most vital educational resources are the
teacher. Obadara (2005) opined that teachers are highly essential for the successful
operation of the educational system and serves as a key to the educational
development.
1
http://nau.edu/COE/eJournal/
According to Adedeji (1998), students’ performance is a major indices by which the
effectiveness and success of any educational institution could be ascertained. A lot of
scholars and researchers are of the view that the poor academic performance at the
secondary schools is a product of the teacher factor, school factor, home factor,
institutional factor and so on. There is a consensus among educationists and
researchers such as (Owoeye, 2000; Ajayi, 1998) about secondary school students’
poor performance in public examination such as West African Examination council
(WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) in Nigeria. In line with the earlier
statement, opinion leaders, commentators, professionals and educationist are always
in agreement as to the fact that indeed there is a decline in the academic performance
of secondary students in public examinations in Nigeria.
Based on the statement above, some blame the students for this apparent decline in
the academic performance. Majority blame the teachers for the problems in our
schools. Teachers in turn blame parents and the children. They also blame
government for unattractive condition of service and poor physical facilities in some
parts of the educational system. However, it should be noted that the students’
academic performance is dependent on a number of factors among which is the
teachers’ professional attitudes. The professional attitudes of a teacher go a long way
in bringing about effective performance of students.
The issue of teacher professionalism has to do with teachers adhering to the code of
conducts guiding the teaching profession. Nabukenya (2007) opined that teacher
professionalism affects the role of the teacher and his or her pedagogy, which in turn
affects the students’ ability to learn effectively. In the opinion of Odunusi (1999),
teachers with right professional attitudes are the hubs of any educational system
because it is them the quality and effectiveness of all educational arrangement rests.
Teachers are seen as essential pillars of education. No matter how grandiose a school
system and its curricula may be, the implementation of its programmes will be
fruitless unless competent and effective teachers handle them.
According to Fehintola (2014), in a typical classroom setting, a professional teacher
must demonstrate excellence attitudes in his teaching. It shows that teachers must
put forth an attitude that will help to transform the learners' positively in the three
domains of learning i.e cognitive, affective and psychomotor areas. A professional
teacher must demonstrate sound attitudes such as intelligence, neatness and
desirable traits. Teacher professional development has influence on a lot of variables
such as student motivation, teaching methodologies, communication skills,
organization of content and planning of lessons, students’ participation during
lessons, teacher confidence and knowledge of subject matter (Maende, 2012).
Attitude is the way people reason or acts and most of the times can either make or
mar an individual performance while carrying out their tasks and responsibilities. It
is often said that attitude may be positive or negative. Negative attitudes displayed
in the school by teachers may result in negative performance while positive attitudes
put forth by teachers in the school may result into a positive performance. The
attitude of a teacher, consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly affects
students’ academic performance. It had been established by scholars such as Shittu
and Oanite (2015) that teachers’ attitudes highly influence students' interest in
learning. Teachers’ professional attitude in the areas of communication, classroom
management and pedagogy may be a strong factor that could influence students’
academic performance in schools. Positive professional attitudes of teachers with
2
http://nau.edu/COE/eJournal/
respects to their teaching job will go a long way in bringing about positive
performance of the students while negative attitudes demonstrated by teachers in
the discharge of their responsibilities may mar students’ academic performance.
Context and Review of Literature
In a study carried out by Adu and Olatundun (2007), it was discovered that teachers’
characteristics influences students’ performance in secondary schools. Grieser found
out that successful classroom management enhances students questioning and
exploration when the learning environment is conducive and suitable for learning.
Teachers’ professional classroom management is the methods and strategies used
by teachers to bring about healthy environments for teaching and learning. Adesoji
and Olatunbosun (2008) asserted in their study that student attitude was related to
teacher characteristics.
In the work of Wirth and Perkins (2013), it was revealed that teacher’s attitude
contributed significantly to student attention in classrooms. Mucella, Melis and Ahu
(2011) investigated the effects of teachers’ attitudes on students’ personality and
performance in Instanbul Turkey. The finding from their study showed that teachers’
positive attitudes have positively influence students’ personality as well as their life
performances.
A study on the effects of teacher characteristics and attitudes on student achievement
in Kcse economics examination was conducted by Kurgat and Gordon (2014). The
findings of their study revealed that teachers have a positive attitude towards the
subject thus poor performance could be attributed to other factors than teacher
attitudes. This therefore meant that teacher’s attitude directly affected students’
attitude.
A study on the relationship that exists between teachers’ characteristics as correlates
of students’ academic performance among secondary school students in Saki-west
local government area of Oyo State was carried out by Fehintola (2014). The findings
of the study showed a significant relative contribution between teachers’
characteristics to academic performance of the participants. Ojo (2017) carried out a
study on teachers’ instructional communication abilities as correlates of students’
academic performance in secondary schools in Egbeda Local Government Area of Oyo
State. The findings of the study showed that there was a significant relationship
between teachers’ instructional communication abilities and students’ academic
performance in secondary schools.
The gap identified by the researcher is that earlier studies did not focus altogether
on the two variables of this study. Another noticeable gap that warranted this study
is that the locale or area of study of this present study differs considerably from the
earlier studies. It is on the basis of this background that this study was conducted to
investigate the relationship that exist between teachers’ professional attitudes and
students’ academic performance in secondary schools in Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara
State, Nigeria.
Statement of the Problem
The issues of poor students’ performance in public examinations in secondary schools
have been carried out by a lot of researchers in Nigeria but the results are
3
http://nau.edu/COE/eJournal/
inconclusive. The low academic performance of students in Nigeria could be attributed
to low quality of teachers employed in schools (Oluremi, 2013). A lot of factors have
been adjudged as the causes of poor students’ academic performance which are
related to teachers’ professional attitudes, chief among which are: teachers’ poor
communication attitudes, poor classroom management attitudes, poor pedagogical
attitudes and poor mastery of subject matter by teachers. It is on the basis of these
problems that this study was carried out.
Purpose of the Study
This study was carried out to investigate the relationship that exists between
teachers’ professional attitudes and students’ academic performance in secondary
schools in Ilorin Metropolis of Kwara State. Specifically, other objectives of this study
were to:
i. examine teachers’ professional communication attitudes and students’
academic performance;
ii. investigate teachers’ professional classroom management attitudes and
students’ academic performance;
iii. examine teachers’ professional pedagogical attitudes and students’
academic performance and
iv. investigate teachers’ professional mastery of subject matter attitudes and
students’ academic performance
Research Hypotheses
The following hypotheses were postulated for this study.
H1: Teachers’ professional communication attitude has no significant relationship
with students’ academic performance in secondary schools in Ilorin Metropolis
of Kwara State, Nigeria.
H2: Teachers’ professional classroom management attitude has no significant
relationship with students’ academic performance in secondary schools in Ilorin
Metropolis of Kwara State, Nigeria.
H3: Teachers’ professional pedagogical attitude has no significant relationship with
students’ academic performance in secondary schools in Ilorin Metropolis of
Kwara State, Nigeria.
H4: Teachers’ professional mastery of subject matter attitudes has no significant
relationship with students’ academic performance in secondary schools in Ilorin
Metropolis of Kwara State, Nigeria.
Method
The survey research design was used for this study because this study sought
information from a target respondent. There are 42 public senior secondary schools
in Ilorin Metropolis. The target respondents for this study were all the SS3 students
in Secondary Schools in Ilorin Metropolis. The reasons for choosing the students as
respondents was because they are in the best position to rate the professional
attitudes of their teachers in the classroom. The target population of this study was
made up of all the senior secondary school (SS3) students in Ilorin Metropolis of
Kwara State, Nigeria. However, for the purpose of this study, random sampling
technique was used to select 14 secondary schools and the same technique was used
to select 354 students as participants drawn among the senior secondary school three
4
http://nau.edu/COE/eJournal/
(SS3). All the 354 students used for this study were students who offered the four
core subject as stated in the instrument.
Two instruments were developed by the researcher to collect data for this study and
it was titled “Teachers’ Professional Attitudes Questionnaire” (TPAQ) and Students’
Academic Performance Proforma (SAPP). The instruments were structured along the
four-point likert scale of strongly agreed to strongly disagreed. The TPAQ was
structured along the four sub-variables of communication, classroom management,
pedagogical, mastery of subject matter attitudes while the SAPP was used to collect
the students’ results in four core subjects area. The two instruments were validated
by two lecturers in the Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin and a pilot test was
conducted to ascertain the reliability co-efficient of the instruments. The Cronbach
Alpha method was used to ascertain the reliability of the instruments by
administering the questionnaires to 30 secondary school students that was not part
of the schools used in Ilorin Metropolis of Kwara State at an interval of two weeks.
The co-efficient value obtained was .63.
The researcher with two trained research assistants administered all the 354 copies
of the questionnaires and only 312 representing (88.13%) were duly retrieved from
the respondents and used for data analysis. The data collected from the respondents
were tested using Pearson product-moment correlation statistics at 0.05 level of
significance.
Results
Hypothesis Testing
Ho: Teachers’ professional attitudes have no significant relationship with students’
academic performance in secondary schools in Ilorin Metropolis of Kwara State,
Nigeria.
Table 1:
Correlation Matrix of Teachers’ Professional Attitudes and Students’
Academic Performance
Students’ Teachers’ Teachers’ Teachers’ Teacher
academic Communic Classroom Pedagogic s’
Performa ation Manageme al Attitude Subject
ce Attitudes nt Attitude Mastery
Students’ Pearson 1 .201 .288 .199 .211*
Academic Correlation
Performance Sig. (2- .000 .000 .000 .000
tailed)
N 312 312 312 312 312
Teachers’ Pearson .201 1 .603** .593** .612**
Communication Correlation
Attitudes Sig. (2- .000 .000 .000 .000
tailed)
N 312 312 312 312 312
Teachers’ Pearson .288 .603** 1 .586** .737**
Classroom Correlation
5
http://nau.edu/COE/eJournal/
Management Sig. (2- .000 .000 .000 .000
Attitude tailed)
N 312 312 312 312 312
Teachers’ Pearson .199 .593** .586** 1 .714**
Pedagogical Correlation
Attitude Sig. (2- .000 .000 .000 .000
tailed)
N 312 312 312 312 312
Teachers’ Pearson .211* .612** .737** .714** 1
Subject Mastery Correlation
Sig. (2- .000 .000 .000 .000
tailed)
N 312 312 312 312 312
Source: Fieldwork
*P>0.05
Field Data
There was a strong relationship between teachers’ professional attitudes and
students’ academic performance in secondary schools in Ilorin metropolis with each
of the following: teachers’ communication attitude (r=0.201), classroom
management attitude (r=0.288), teachers’ pedagogical attitude (r=0.199) and
teachers’ subject mastery (r=0.211), at 0.05 significance level. The positive
relationship implies that the above sub-variables of professional attitudes have a
strong influence on students’ academic performance.
Findings
Based on the hypotheses tested in this study, the findings revealed that teachers’
professional attitudes have a strong positive relationship with students’ academic
performance as evidenced in all the sub-variables of the study. The p-value of .000
was less than the significant value of .05 which made all the hypotheses to be
rejected. It was found that teachers’ communication, classroom management,
pedagogical and subject mastery attitude were significantly related with the students’
academic performance in Ilorin Metropolis.
Discussion
The finding of this study on table 1 was in agreement with earlier findings by Fehintola
(2014) who opined that in a typical classroom setting, a professional teacher must
demonstrate excellence attitudes in his teaching. Furthermore, it agreed with the
findings of Ojo (2017) which revealed that there was a significant relationship
between teachers’ instructional communication abilities and students’ academic
performance in secondary schools. On the hypothesis which was tested on table 2,
the finding of this study was similar to the findings of Grieser which revealed that
successful classroom management enhances students questioning and exploration
when the learning environment is conducive and suitable for learning. It also agreed
with the findings of Wirth and Perkins (2013) who revealed that teacher’s attitude
contributed significantly to student attention in classrooms Suffix it to say that
teachers’ professional classroom management attitude focuses on the methods and
tactics adopted by teachers to ensure decorum in the classroom and thus create a
6
http://nau.edu/COE/eJournal/
healthy and conducive atmosphere for teaching and learning. The finding on table 3
was similar to the findings of Nabukenya (2007), Maende (2012) and Shittu and
Oanite (2015) who found that teachers’ professionalism in the area of pedagogy
affects the students’ ability to learn effectively. In line with the result on table 4, the
finding was similar to the findings of Maende (2012), Fehintola (2014) and Kurgat
and Gordon (2014). Teachers’ professional mastery of the subject goes a long way
in bringing about improved students’ academic performance. It can be said that good
mastery of the subject content by teachers affects the students’ ability to learn
effectively.
Conclusion
This study focused on teachers’ professional attitudes. Teachers constitute a major
factor in the realization of the goals of secondary education in Nigeria. The study
focused on some aspect of professional attitudes expected by a secondary school
teacher. Professional attitudes of teachers covered in this study are communication,
classroom management, pedagogical and subject mastery. However, other
professional attitudes expected of teachers which were not covered by this study can
be carried out by future researchers. In the area of methodology, future researchers
can expand the sample of study and also used other instrument apart from the
questionnaire as a means of collecting data from the respondents.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of the study, the followings were recommended for
improvements
• Teachers should adopt effective verbal communication attitudes while teaching
the students in the classroom so as to bring about improved students’
performance.
• Classroom management attitudes of teachers should be such that will instill
discipline among the students.
• Teachers should develop sound pedagogical attitudes in the three domains of
learning so as to enhance the students’ performance.
• Teachers should show good mastery of the subject content in their areas of
specialization so as to be able to impart the necessary knowledge to their
students which will in turn bring about improved students’ performance.
References
Adedeji, S. O. (1998). Resource provision and utilization and academic performance
in pre-vocational secondary school subjects in Osun State, Nigeria,
(Unpublished doctoral thesis), University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Adesoji, F. A. and Olatunbosun, S. M. (2008). Student, Teacher and School
Environment Factors as Determinants of Achievement in Senior Secondary
School Chemistry in Oyo State, Nigeria. The Journal of International Social
Research 1(2) 13-34
Aina, J. K., Ogundele, A. G., & Olanipekun, S. S. (2013). Students’ proficiency in
English Language relationship with academic performance in science and
technical education, American Journal of Education Research, 1(9), 355-358.
Adu, E. O and Olatundun, S. O. (2007). Teachers’ perception of teaching as
7
http://nau.edu/COE/eJournal/
correlates of students’ academic performance in Oyo State Nigeria” Essays in
Education, 20: 57-63.
Ajayi, I. A (1998). Unit cost of secondary education and students’ academic
achievement in Ondo State, Nigeria (1991-1995) unpublished Ph.D. Thesis,
University of Ibadan, Ibadan.
Fehintola, J. O. (2014). Teachers’ Characteristics as Correlates of Students’
Academic Performance among Secondary School Students in Saki-west Local
Government Area of Oyo State. Journal of Educational and Social Research 4
(6): 459-468
Kurgat, S. J and Gordon, T. J (2014). The effects of teacher characteristics and
attitudes on students’ achievement in Kcse Economics Examination.
International Journal of Education Learning and Development 2(5),33-43.
Maende, B. J. (2012). Influence of professional development on teacher
effectiveness in public secondary schools in Mumias District, Kenya. An
unpublished M.Ed. Thesis: Maseno University.
Mucella, U., Melis, S. O & Ahu, E. (2011). The effects of teachers’ attitudes on
students’ personality and performance in Instanbul Turkey. Procedia - Social
and Behavioral Sciences 30 (2011) 738 – 742
Nabukenya, M. (2007). Influence of teachers’ professionalism on teacher
performance in Busiro County Secondary Schools, Wakiso District.
Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Makerere University.
Obadara, N. O. (2005). A prospective longitudinal study of psychological predictors
of achievement. Journal of School Psychology, 34(3), 285 - 306.
Odunusi, M. A. (1999). Essential elements of strong parent Involvement programs.
Educational Leadership, 47, 18-20.
Oluremi, O. F. (2013). Enhancing educational effectiveness in Nigeria through
teacher’s professional development. European Scientific Journal, 9(28), 422-431.
Owoeye, J. S. (2000). The effect of interaction of location, facilities and class size
on academic achievement of secondary school students in Ekiti State Nigeria.
Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.
Shittu, R. O. and Onaite, R. A. (2015). Teachers’ Attitudes: A Great Influence on
Teaching and Learning of Social Studies. Journal of Law, Policy and Globalization
42, 131-137
Wirth, K. R. and Perkins, D. (2013) Learning to learn.
www.macalester.edu/academics/geology/wirth/learning.doc
8
http://nau.edu/COE/eJournal/
