TEACHER VARIABLES AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN GOVERNMENT IN KWANDE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

There is always an important relationship between a teacher's competence and how well students learn. Teachers who are perceived by students as less capable, or with whom students have a poor rapport, tend to see lower academic performance in the subjects those teachers handle, suggesting a correlation between teacher quality and student academic achievement. Where the obstacle lies specifically in a teacher's own qualification, the effect on learning outcomes is often difficult for even the most disciplined student to overcome unaided. A teacher's qualification therefore goes a long way in determining the academic achievement of the students taught. A well-grounded teacher engages students' questions and doubts critically, encouraging them to question, study and read more, and gives them the clarification they need; a poorly grounded teacher, by contrast, is more likely to discourage such curiosity, instilling a lackadaisical attitude towards academic work that ultimately results in lower performance.

Government, as a subject taught in Nigerian senior secondary schools, is particularly sensitive to the depth of a teacher's own preparation, since it draws heavily on political concepts, constitutional provisions and civic processes that a poorly grounded teacher may struggle to explain accurately or connect meaningfully to students' lived experience. Any teacher of the subject therefore needs to have studied it extensively in order to command its considerable conceptual and factual detail.

Teachers at all levels of education play a decisive role in shaping the growth and direction of education generally. It is a widely accepted fact that the teacher is the most important element in the educational machine, and that teachers are highly instrumental to the success of any educational programme embarked upon by government. This is because, beyond simply implementing educational policy, the realisation of such programmes also depends greatly on teachers' dedication and commitment to their work (Ene, Anyiam & Onoja, 2022).

Recent Nigerian research continues to identify similar characteristics as central to teacher qualification: verbal ability, subject-matter knowledge, knowledge of teaching and learning, and the ability to use a range of teaching strategies adapted to students' needs. Filgona and Sakiyo (2020), studying senior secondary school Geography students in Adamawa State, found that teachers' academic and professional qualifications significantly predicted both students' attitude towards the subject and their eventual academic achievement in it, a subject-area parallel with clear relevance for the teaching of Government.

The quality of a teacher remains one of the most influential determinants of the classroom environment. A teacher's quality is generally reflected in their preparation and training, their use of particular instructional approaches, and their accumulated experience in teaching. Abdullahi, Kwashabawa and Bashar (2025), studying senior secondary schools in Sokoto State, similarly found that teachers' mastery of subject matter, together with their classroom management skills, was significantly correlated with students' attitude towards learning, reinforcing the view that a teacher's qualification is an important determinant of pupil performance.

The quality of education hinges substantially on the quality of teaching that goes on in the classroom, reinforcing the idea that quality teachers can compensate for deficiencies elsewhere in the curriculum or in available educational resources. Teacher qualification is widely regarded as an essential determinant of academic achievement, even though researchers have yet to reach full agreement on precisely which characteristics make a good teacher (Ene, Anyiam & Onoja, 2022). This remains an important issue, since the broader economic impact of higher student achievement depends, in part, on how consistently teacher qualification translates into measurable gains in student learning.

Researchers, policymakers, parents and even teachers themselves generally agree that teacher qualification matters. Defining, measuring and identifying what exactly constitutes teacher qualification, however, remains a far more controversial task.

Subject-matter knowledge is another variable commonly thought to be related to teacher qualification, though the evidence for a strong, consistent relationship is more mixed than is often assumed. Some studies of teachers' own subject-matter test scores have found no strong, consistent relationship between this narrow measure of subject knowledge and teacher performance, as measured by student outcomes or supervisory ratings; other, more recent Nigerian studies, including that of Abdullahi, Kwashabawa and Bashar (2025), have found a significant positive relationship between teachers' subject-matter mastery and student outcomes, suggesting that the strength of this relationship may depend considerably on how, and in what context, subject-matter knowledge is measured.

Secondary education is the pivot around which the development of the nation's economy revolves. It is the engine room that provides the input, and the resources, into the nation's economy and its higher education production systems.

The National Policy on Education (2011 Revised Edition) treats secondary education as follows:

Secondary education is the education children receive after primary education and before the tertiary stage. The broad goals of secondary education are to prepare the individual for useful living within society and for higher education. In specific terms, secondary education is expected to: provide all primary school leavers with the opportunity for education of a higher level, irrespective of sex, social status, religion or ethnic background; offer a diversified curriculum to cater for differences in talents, opportunities and future roles; provide trained manpower in applied science, technology and commerce at sub-professional grades; develop and promote Nigerian languages and culture within the context of the wider world cultural heritage; inspire students with a desire for self-improvement and the achievement of excellence; foster national unity, with emphasis on the common ties that unite Nigerians in their diversity; raise a generation of people who can think for themselves, respect the values and feelings of others, respect the dignity of labour, and live as good citizens; and provide the technical knowledge and vocational skills necessary for agricultural, industrial, commercial and economic development. To achieve these stated goals, secondary education is of six years' duration, given in two stages, a junior secondary school stage and a senior secondary school stage, each of three years' duration.

The development of Nigeria's education system since independence has been characterised by rapid expansion. Arising from this expansion, the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme has, over time, aimed to provide access to basic education for all children and to improve equal, qualitative learning opportunities across the country. This naturally raises the question of how the nation can secure genuinely qualitative education, and, more specifically, what actually constitutes a qualitative teacher.

Teacher effectiveness research is typically grounded in classroom-based, and often classroom-administered, assessments. In the Nigerian context, recent research has increasingly defined an “effective” teacher in terms of the teacher's demonstrable ability to improve student achievement as measured on standardised examinations such as the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the National Examinations Council's Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) (Ene, Anyiam & Onoja, 2022).

A qualitative teacher is generally understood to be one who selects the right approach to teaching, is knowledgeable and has mastery of the content, is hardworking and efficient, is self-disciplined and tolerant, is friendly, and serves as a role model through good character, commitment to the profession, dedication, loyalty and a sense of responsibility. The current framework for teacher training in Nigeria remains based on the National Policy on Education, which places continued emphasis on the quality of teachers.

Students' achievement, for the purpose of this study, refers to their academic achievement; the research therefore focuses specifically on the qualitative aspects of teachers and their relationship to students' academic performance.

A good teacher is perhaps one of the most commonly invoked, yet least precisely defined, of all educational terms. Shulman, a former president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, has offered an influential description of good teaching, characterising it as an environment in which students are visibly engaged, attentive and actively participating in their own learning, and in which they take ownership of, and are accountable for, their own understanding. On this view, good teaching is not merely informative but genuinely engages students emotionally, cultivates disciplined habits of mind, and develops the kind of practical thinking and problem-solving skills that can be transferred across a range of settings, ultimately shaping students' values, commitments and sense of identity.

As indicated above, the concept of teacher qualification points to certain qualities that make a qualitative teacher. There are, however, many problems associated with teacher qualification, particularly in Nigerian secondary schools. The percentage of students passing their final examinations, that is WASSCE and the SSCE conducted by NECO, has fluctuated considerably in recent years, and the underlying rate of failure remains a matter of serious national concern. The West African Examinations Council (2025) reported that only 38.32 percent of the 1,969,313 candidates who sat the 2025 WASSCE obtained credit passes in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, a sharp decline from the 72.12 percent recorded in 2024 and the 79.81 percent recorded in 2023. The National Examinations Council similarly reported a pass rate of 60.55 percent for the 2024 internal SSCE (NECO, 2024). Some analysts see the underlying problem as one of supply and demand, arguing that the teaching profession has struggled to attract the most capable individuals into the classroom; others view it chiefly as a problem of preparation, arguing that many teachers who complete university-based training programmes do not leave with the depth of knowledge and practice needed to be effective in contemporary classrooms.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The teaching of Government in Kwande Local Government Area, Benue State, Nigeria, like the teaching of any subject that requires students to grasp unfamiliar concepts, institutions and processes, cannot escape the practical difficulties associated with helping students move from rote memorisation towards genuine conceptual understanding.

As far as the research effort behind this study can establish, the relationship between teacher qualification and students' academic achievement in Government specifically, within Kwande Local Government Area, Benue State, has not previously been studied with a view to mapping out the ways in which teachers affect students' performance. It is this gap in the literature that has motivated the present research.

The falling standard of education in Nigeria remains a serious concern, particularly within secondary schools, where students continue to record poor academic achievement; continuous assessment scores are often weak, and terminal examination results are equally disappointing. This concern is far from merely historical: the West African Examinations Council (2025) reported that only 38.32 percent of candidates who sat the 2025 WASSCE obtained credit passes in five subjects overall, including in subjects such as Government, a marked deterioration from the 72.12 percent recorded just a year earlier in 2024, while the National Examinations Council (2024) recorded a pass rate of 60.55 percent for its 2024 internal SSCE.

The federal government of Nigeria has made several attempts, and enacted various laws, concerning the development of education. Among these is legislation concerning the recruitment of teachers, undertaken in order to achieve the country's educational aims and objectives; this can only be achieved where there are sufficiently qualified teachers to teach at the appropriate level. There is, accordingly, a need for this research, in order to establish whether there is any relationship between teacher variables and students' academic achievement, particularly given the scale of failure that continues to characterise recent WASSCE and SSCE results.

This study aims at determining whether there is a relationship between the quality of teachers and the academic achievement of secondary school students in Government.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The objective of this research is to study the connection between a teacher's qualification level and dexterity and a student's academic achievement, by first finding out what goes into the proper learning of the Government subject by students. This study is set to achieve the following specific objectives:

i. Determine the effect of teacher qualification on students' academic achievement in Government in senior secondary schools in Kwande L.G.A, Benue State.

ii. Investigate the effect of teachers' years of teaching experience on students' academic achievement in Government in some selected secondary schools in Kwande L.G.A, Benue State.

iii. Establish the impact of teachers' knowledge of subject matter on students' performance in Government in some selected secondary schools of Kwande L.G.A, Benue State.

iv. Find out whether teachers' teaching methods affect students' academic achievement in Government in selected secondary schools in Kwande L.G.A, Benue State.

1.4 Research Questions

The study sought to provide answers to the following research questions:

i. What is the effect of teacher qualification on students' academic achievement in Government in senior secondary schools in Kwande L.G.A, Benue State?

ii. Does teachers' years of teaching experience affect students' academic achievement in Government in secondary schools in Kwande L.G.A, Benue State?

iii. What is the impact of teachers' knowledge of the subject matter on the performance of students in Government in secondary schools in Kwande L.G.A, Benue State?

iv. Do teachers' teaching methods affect students' academic achievement in Government in secondary schools in Kwande L.G.A, Benue State?

1.5 Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were raised for this research:

HO1: There is no significant relationship among students' academic achievement in Government taught by teachers of different qualifications in senior secondary schools in Kwande L.G.A, Benue State.

HO2: There is no significant relationship among students' academic achievement in Government whose teachers have different years of teaching experience in senior secondary schools in Kwande L.G.A, Benue State.

HO3: There is no significant relationship between the academic achievement of students in Government whose teachers possess knowledge of the subject matter and those whose teachers do not possess knowledge of the subject matter, in senior secondary schools in Kwande L.G.A, Benue State.

HO4: There is no significant relationship between students' academic achievement in Government whose teachers use different methods of teaching, in selected secondary schools in Kwande L.G.A, Benue State.

1.6 Significance of the Study

The purpose of any educational research is to contribute to the development of knowledge. The findings of this research should be of great help to government and other stakeholders by revealing the relationship between the quality of teachers and students' academic achievement in schools. This should, in turn, guide the relevant ministry in adopting recruitment policies that prioritise qualified, highly effective teachers, that is, teachers with strong content knowledge, teaching experience, professional certification and overall academic ability, consistent with the findings of Filgona and Sakiyo (2020) and Ene, Anyiam and Onoja (2022) on the importance of these variables to student outcomes.

The findings should also benefit students, particularly those in postgraduate studies, providing a basis from which to extend, or build upon, what previous researchers have already established or left undone in this area.

The research findings should be of benefit to any individual interested in the relationship between teacher variables and students' achievement, and of value in scholarly writing related to the area more generally. It should also encourage teachers to plan and deliver their lessons more effectively, and encourage unqualified teachers to pursue further study so as to meet the minimum qualification required for teaching.

The research findings should further help inform curriculum content aimed at improving the quality of both teachers and students, and should therefore be of significance to curriculum planners. The information generated by this study should be of benefit to curriculum developers working within the framework of the National Policy on Education, helping to forestall lapses of the kind identified above.

1.7 Basic Assumptions

In this study, it is assumed that:

i. There are both qualified and unqualified teachers in the schools studied.

ii. There are both experienced and inexperienced teachers in the schools studied.

iii. The schools have some, though not all, of the basic materials needed for learning.

iv. Some of the teachers approached will cooperate with the researcher.

1.8 Scope of the Study

The study is concerned with the relationship between teacher variables and students' academic achievement. The researcher restricted the study to teachers and SS II students of public senior secondary schools in Kwande L.G.A, Benue State.

REFERENCES

Abdullahi, U., Kwashabawa, B. B., & Bashar, S. I. (2025). Teacher mastery of the subject matter and classroom management skills as correlates of student's attitude to learning in senior secondary schools in Sokoto State. Rima International Journal of Education, 4(5), 279–292.

Ene, C. U., Anyiam, L. I., & Onoja, A. E. (2022). Influence of teachers' years of teaching experience on students' academic achievement in Basic Education Certificate Examination in Basic Science. African Journal of Science, Technology and Mathematics Education, 8(Special Issue 1), 488–494.

Filgona, J., & Sakiyo, J. (2020). Teachers' qualification as a predictor of attitude and academic achievement in Geography of senior secondary school students in Adamawa State, Nigeria. International Journal of Research and Review, 7(11), 279–289.

National Examinations Council [NECO]. (2024). 2024 Senior School Certificate Examination (internal) results. Minna: NECO.

Omojemite, M. D. (2025). Effectiveness of interactive teaching methods on students' performance in Social Studies and Civic Education: An experimental study in Nigerian secondary schools. Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Language.

West African Examinations Council [WAEC]. (2025). 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results. Lagos: WAEC.

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