INFLUENCE OF TEACHERS PREPARATION ON UPPER BASIC SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SOCIAL STUDIES IN ABAKALIKI EDUCATION ZONE, EBONYI STATE

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess influence of teachers’ preparation on upper basic school students’ academic performance in Social Studies in Abakaliki Education Zone, Ebonyi State. Four specific purposes, four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted descriptive research design. The Population of the study comprised two hundred and six (206) Upper Basic Social Studies Teachers in Abakaliki Education Zone, the entire population was used in the study. The instrument for data collection was self-develop questionnaire tagged “Influence of Teachers Preparation on Upper Basic School Students’ Academic Performance in Social Studies” (ITPUBSSQ) which was validated by three experts, two in the Department of Arts and Social Science Education, and one in Science Education from Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki. The overall reliability coefficient of the instrument was 0.92. The data collected for the study were analyzed using mean(x) and standard deviation (SD) to answer the research questions while t-test statistics was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that: teachers qualification, teachers knowledge of teaching experience, Teachers’ mastery of content and teachers’ classroom management influenced students’ academic performance in Social Studies in Abakaliki Education Zone while the hypotheses revealed that there are no significant difference in mean rating of female and male teachers on the influence of teachers qualification, teachers knowledge of teaching experience, teachers’ mastery of content and teachers’ classroom management on students’ academic performance in Abakaliki Education Zone. Based on the findings the study recommended that: Secondary School Education Board should always recruit teachers based on subject qualifications for improvement in the area of subjects and Government of Ebonyi State should always organize in-service training for teachers in order to enhance their teaching experience with the new trend in their field of study.