THE EFFECT OF INADEQUATE SCIENCE TEACHERS ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN BIOLOGY; A CASE STUDY OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL IN EGOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE.

ABSTRACT
This study investigated the effect of inadequate science teachers on
students’ academic performance in biology using senior secondary schools in Egor
Local Government Area of Edo State. Stratified random sampling technique was
used in the selection of the research sample in which six secondary schools were
selected. The six selected secondary schools were further stratified into three
private schools and three public schools. The private school was located in an
urban area while the public school was located in a rural area. Twenty students
were simple randomly selected from each of the two secondary schools making a
total of 120 students and 6 teachers selected for the study.
A survey design was adopted for the study. Two researcher – made
instruments namely Students’ academic results and the teachers’ bio data were used
to gather data for the study. Data were analyzed using frequency counts and mean
while t-test statistics were used to draw the inferences and t-test. Findings from the
study shows that, there is significant relationship between teachers’ qualification
and students’ academic performance in Biology as Biology students taught by
qualified and long experienced teachers performed significantly better than those
taught by unqualified and inexperienced teachers. In addition, it was also
discovered that Biology students in public schools performed better than Biology
students in private schools due to the presence of academically and professionally
11
qualified teachers in public schools.
Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were
made; teaching qualification must be seen as a pre-condition for entry into the
teaching profession, the federal Government’s effort in the professionalization of
teaching through the establishment of the Teachers’ Registration Council of
Nigeria (TRCN) is in the right direction and should be enforced, for the
professional growth of teachers, conferences, seminars, workshops, pre and inservice
training programmes should be given adequate attention by the Ministry of
Education, State and Federal Government, Biology teachers should be encouraged
to go for both long term and short term training to boost their quality in teaching
and learning in secondary schools and lastly, private school owners should ensure
the adequate recruitment of dedicated, qualified teachers to teach Biology and
specifically, teachers who studied Biology Education.