Structural Modeling of Teacher Characteristics, Skills in Teaching, and Students’ Achievement in Secondary School Physics

Abstract

In this paper, the author examined the relationships between teacher characteristics and teacher teaching skills and the concomitant effects of the relationships on senior secondary school students’ achievement in Physics. It was hypothesized that teachers who were well qualified (that is read physics/mathematics and education in universities) and has considerable years of teaching experience would demonstrate appropriate teaching skills as measured by good lesson preparation, lesson presentation and evaluation of the objectives of the lesson. It was further hypothesized that demonstration of such appropriate teaching skills would encourage students to learn better and do well in Physics. To test these hypotheses, twenty senior secondary school Physics teachers and 863 senior secondary school Physics students were randomly selected from twenty-four senior secondary Schools (SSS) in Ogun and Oyo States, Nigeria. The study lasted for four weeks. Each teacher was observed for 10 lessons and rated using Teacher-students Interaction Observation Schedule. At the end of the fourth week Physics Achievement Test was administered to the students. Results showed that there was a significant and positive relationship between teacher characteristics and teachers’ skill in lesson preparation, presentation and evaluation. Experienced and qualified teachers demonstrated appropriate teaching skills. It was found out that experience and qualified teachers had adequate skills to prepare for physics teaching in schools. It was found that teacher characteristics had influence on students’ achievement in Physics. However, the mediating effect of teacher teaching skills had non-significant effect on students’ achievement in Physics. The results suggest that only qualified people should be employed to teach Physics in senior secondary schools.