CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

       A teacher or school teacher is a person who provides education for public (children) and students (adults).  The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education.  In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional qualifications or credentials from a university or college.  These professional qualifications may include the study of pedagogy, the science of teaching. Teachers, like other professionals, may have to continue their education their education after they qualify, a process known as continuing professional development.  Teachers may use a lesson plan to facilitate student learning, providing a course of study which is called the curriculum.

Competence (or competence) is the ability of an individual to do a job properly.  A competency is a set of defined behaviours that provide a structured guide enabling the identification, evaluation and development of the behaviours in individual employees.  The term “competence” first appeared in an article authored by R.W White in 1959 as a concept for performance motivation.  Later, in 1970, Craig C. Lundberg defined the concept in “Planning the Executive Development Programme”.  The term gained, “Testing for Competence Rather than for Intelligence”.  It was since been popularized by one time fellow Mcber and Company (Currently the “Hay GroupJ colleague Richard Boyatzis and many others, such as T.F. Gilbert (2008) who used the concept in relationship to performance improvement.  Its use varies widely, which leads to considerable misunderstanding.

       The school environment has a strong positive relationship with students’ rating of their overall school satisfaction, students’ self-esteem, and academic performance.  Teacher’s competency enhances a teacher’s ability to create an environment that is fair, understanding, and accepting of diverse students, ideas, experiences, and backgrounds.  Teachers have been found to be the single most important factor influencing student achievement (Cochran-Smith, 2002; Kaplan and Owings, 2002; Lasley, Siedentop, and Yinger, 2006). The present study will focus on factors which may influence teacher’s competency in classroom situation, including (a) teacher use of continuous Assessment; a technology-based tool the teacher can use for communication with students, (b) number of special education students, (c) class size, (d) teacher use of research based best practices, and (e) instructional leadership.  Few studies have examined the factors together applying a mixed methods research to identify the complex relationships between all of the factors and student achievement.

       A study of teacher classroom practices as they relate to student achievement is important for several reasons.  Understanding the reasons why the teacher is important will give insight to professional development planners.  Identifying such factors contributing to increased student achievement is paramount in this age of accountability.  The federal of Nigeria mandates for student achievement through the various examination bodies are not going away; schools are held accountable through statewide assessments of all students.  Teachers need to be held to high standards and implement research-based best practices in their classrooms. Identifying factors contributing to student achievement is very important.  Regarding leadership, the principal indirectly impacts the performance of teachers under his or her leadership as well as the climate and culture of the building (Stewart, 2008).

       The idea of highly qualified teachers is a good one, but compliance has not been widespread (Viadero, 2007).  Some states in Nigeria have set low expectations for teacher quality, and sometimes it depends it depends on what school in which a teacher teaches in.  The question which begs to be asked is what defines teacher quality?  If a student is asked about a teacher a teacher who is highly qualified, they will most likely say that it is the teachers who spend extra time with them and who makes the class content clear and attainable  (Lewis, 2005). Conversely, the unqualified teachers are the ones who are boring and don’t connect with them.  Students don’t care about educational certificates or years of experience.  Anobi (2006) recognizes that as true educators, teachers are always learning; and teachers need to continue to define the meaning of highly qualified, instead of doing as little as possible within the meaning of the law.  As teachers, educators need to move from mere competence to excellence in practice.

       Defining teacher quality is a question that resurfaces again in the literature on teacher preparation.  Does content knowledge in addition to knowledge about teaching make a difference in student achievement (Kaplan and Owings, 2001)?  One group believes quality teachers possess content knowledge and have studied instructional ideas and practices that have increased student achievement, while another group believes teachers just need strong content knowledge.  Kaplan and Owing (2001) found disagreement in the literature over whether traditional teacher preparation positively affected student achievement.  They found that teachers who learn and practice sound pedagogical practices techniques can affect students’ measured achievements and also students whose teachers had strong content knowledge and had learned to work with students who came from different cultures or special needs tested higher than one full grade over their peers.

Academic performance means how students deal with their studies and how they cope with or accomplish various tasks given to them by their teachers.   Academic performance of the student is also defined as the ability of the student to study and remember facts and being able to communicate his knowledge orally or on paper Johnson (2010). Researchers reveal that there are various factors responsible for the unsatisfactory academic performance of the students.  These factors are poverty, extraordinary co-curricular activities, ineffective teaching and administration, absenteeism, lack of basic educational facilities, culture, and trend of unfair means during examination inside the school etc.  The student living in the rural areas is directly affected with these factors. Therefore, the researchers want to investigate the causes of this fallen standard and unsatisfactory academic performance of the students.  For this purpose, the study in hand was conducted to investigate the factors responsible for the poor academic performance of the students at secondary level.

Due to the increasing nature of poor academic performance of secondary school students especially in external examinations like West African Examination Counsel (WAEC) or joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB), many educationists tend shift the blame on lack of fund from the government to provide quality textbooks.  However, these might not be the main reasons why students perform poorly in examinations.  It is clear from all indications that some secondary school teachers are not competent which might lead to poor academic performance of the students.

Statement of the Problem

       Competent teachers are the most critical piece in improving student academic performance and closing the achievement gap.  The most important difference between the most and least effective classrooms is the teacher (William, 2007).  The single most important influence on student learning is the quality of teaching, yet most schools don’t define what good teaching is (Danielson, 2006). This is a problem because if it is not defined, teachers may not be given  the opportunities to improve practices in the classroom, it is the student’s achievement that may be harmed as a result.

Purpose of the Study

       The purpose of this study is to find out the impact of teachers competence in teaching and learning of computer and students academic performance in secondary schools in Enugu south local government area.  Specifically the study aim to:

1.  Determine teacher’s competence in secondary school

2.  Determine the factors influencing teacher’s competence

3.  Investigate the student perceptions of teacher leadership style and how these perception affect students’ academic performance

4.  Examine the impact of teaching styles on students’ academic performance

Research Question

       The following research questions will be addressed by the study:

1.  What are the teacher’s competence in secondary school

2.  What are the factors influencing teacher’s competence

3.  What are the student perceptions of teacher leadership style and how these perceptions affect students’ academic performance in computer literacy

4.  What are the impact of teaching styles on students’ academic performance.

Significance of the Study

       A major concern in schools is to increase student academic performance.  One way to do this is to focus on classroom environment with the teacher at the centre which will influence student academic performance and create the best environment in which to facilitate learning and engage students.  The study is therefore significant for the following reasons:

·        This study will be useful to both teachers and students who may want to know the factors that could make or mar student’s academic performance.

·        Understanding classroom climate variables will allow for professional development fro teachers to focus on areas to increase student achievement.

·        Lastly, understanding the importance of teachers and their impact on student performance will help school administrators at secondary schools retrain teachers to make their teaching student-centered.

Scope of the Study

       This study centers on the impact of teacher’s competence in teaching and learning of computer and student academic performance in secondary schools in Enugu South local government area.  It is aimed at all secondary schools students in Enugu south Local Government but due to time, money and other factors it will be limited to only five schools in Enugu south local government area of Enugu state.