CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Teachers are incredibly significant in the learning process of students who idolize and want to imitate teachers. Teachers are the heart of the world's educational system, particularly in Nigeria. Teachers are thus at the forefront of the fight for national development. The National Policy on Education states, "Teacher education shall continue to be given major emphasis in all educational planning and development." Also, the policy states that the goal of teacher education is to produce highly motivated, conscientious, and efficient classroom teachers for all levels of our educational system. Okoye (2019) asserts that the seven fundamental goals of education are emotional, intellectual, physical, moral, aesthetic, vocational, and cultural heritage. It is important to note that the key to achieving these objectives has been entrusted to teachers.

Teacher factors are the personal characteristics of the teacher that distinguish him or her from others in order for him or her to excel in his or her chosen career.

According to Akindele (2020), one of the most important factors influencing students' academic achievement is the teacher. Qualification, age, experience, subject knowledge, and attitude toward teaching are some of the factors that teachers use to influence students' academic achievement. Because of its critical role in the teaching and learning process, teacher qualification, which is one of teachers' characteristics, is usually thought to have the greatest potential influence on schools and students. This has come under the spotlight of educational attention all over the world and is currently the target educational reform. The quality of a nation's education could be determined by the quality of its teachers. According to Deola (2022), a teaching qualification is one of several academic and professional degrees that enable a person to become a registered teacher in a primary or secondary school.

Abubakar (2020) argued that a lack of qualified teachers is to blame for students' poor academic achievement, whereas Ademulegun (2001) opined that students taught by more qualified and experienced teachers perform better than those taught by less qualified but experienced teachers in terms of subject knowledge. This revealed the caliber of secondary school teachers who taught a variety of subjects. Teachers with extensive experience on the job, according to Augrist (2004), are likely to be more knowledgeable in their specialized areas, including their teaching subjects and educational principles and theories. Umar (2018) identifies the experience gains that occur during the first year of teaching, with essentially flat effects of experience thereafter. As a result, mis-specification of the relationship between outcomes and experiences is likely to contribute to the failure to find a systematic link between quality and experience. Students' poor academic performance has been linked to some teachers' casual attitude toward their jobs. Positive teacher teachers, according to Eggen and Kauchak (2019), are critical to effective teaching. They identified a number of teacher attitudes that will facilitate a caring and supportive classroom environment, and they are as follows: enthusiasm, caring, firm, democratic practices to promote student responsibility, use time for lesson effectively, and have established a caring and supportive classroom environment. Importantly, Olude and Akin (2020) asserted that "students, who are curious stakeholders in the educational enterprise, have long suspected and speculated that some of their teachers lack the necessary professional qualifications." That is, the skills, techniques, and strategies required to effectively communicate concepts, ideas, and principles." They believed that these deficiencies contributed significantly to the rising rate of failure and subsequent dropout among secondary school students. These observations by stakeholders necessitate the need to investigate the effects of teachers' factors such as age, academic qualifications, teaching experience, and the attitude required for teaching and learning in secondary schools on students' academic achievement.

1.2       STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The issue of poor academic achievement among Nigerian students has piqued the interest of many. The situation is so severe that it has resulted in a widely attained falling level of education across Nigeria, from which Lagos state is not immune. The quality of education is determined by the instructors' execution of their jobs. Over time, students' academic achievement in both internal and external assessments was utilized to determine quality in teachers and instruction. Teachers have been demonstrated to have a significant impact on students' academic accomplishment, and they also play a vital part in educational attainment since the teacher is ultimately accountable for turning policy into action and principles based on practice during interactions with students. According to research, creating an emotionally supportive learning environment is essential for students' motivation and challenge in learning. Students feel comfortable and cheerful in emotionally supportive learning settings (Patrick& Midgley, 2022).

According to the findings of the study, perceived teacher emotional behaviors have a favorable relationship with students' academic self-concept and intrinsic drive to learn (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2019). Students' engagement and effort in learning are positively influenced when students show concern and care for them and spend time getting to know them (Tucker et al., 2022). Affective teacher behaviors are especially important for students' well-being and academic performance in competitive learning situations. As a result, students who have higher quality affective relationships with their teachers in second grade classrooms have more positive relationships with their peers in third grade, which leads to more positive relationships with teachers in fourth grade and improved academic self-efficacy in fifth grade. Teacher factors or variables have been regarded as those specific traits in a particular teacher that enable him or her to fulfill his or her task successfully in order to achieve desired results. Based on this assumption, the study intends to evaluate the effect of instructors' variables on students' academic success in economics in public secondary schools in Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja.

1.3       PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of this study is to investigate teacher factors and its effect on  economics student academic achievement. Specifically, the study will be carried out:

i.          To investigate whether teacher subject mastery affects students academic achievement in economics

ii.        To assess  whether  teachers educational qualification  influences  students’ academic achievement in Economics.

iii.      To determine if teachers’ experience impacts  students’ academic achievement in Economics.

iv.      To explore if  teachers attitude influences  students academic achievement in economics

1.4       RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

The following hypotheses will be answer in this study.

HO1: Teachers subject mastery does not affects students academic achievement in economics

HO2: Teachers educational qualification does not influences  students’ academic achievement in Economics.

HO3: Teachers’ experience does not impacts students’ academic achievement in Economics.

HO4: Teachers attitude does not influences  students academic achievement in economics

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