THE LEVEL OF INTEGRATED SCIENCE LITERACY AMONG THE JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ENUGU NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, ENUGU STATE.

1.1       Background to the Study

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Teaching is made up of several components of different dimensions such as the teacher, the students, the curriculum, the teaching method and instructional materials. Therefore, teacher qualities are the different components involved in the teaching and learning of Integrated science; importance of learning Integrated science.

With the above definition therefore, this study intends to investigate the impact of teacher qualities on the academic performance of junior secondary school students in Integrated science using two instruments: the teachers‟ questionnaire and a paper and pencil test for the students.

The major development associated with the National Policy on Education NPE (2008) is the pride of place it has given to Integrated science. The policy regards this subject as a compulsory core subject area which all students at Junior Secondary Schools cannot dispense with in their learning activities. Very importantly the policy endorsed that, the teaching of Integrated science in our Junior Secondary Schools must be seen as one of those avenues of establishing strong basis for the production of effective citizens and of foregoing a cohesive society that will support the notion of the nation building.

According to Okobiah (1999) to achieve these objectives in Integrated science education, the teachers involved in this task must implore qualified, well experienced and well attended workshop, seminars and conferences organized for Integrated science teachers. However for the current practice in Integrated science education to be vital and valid within classroom context, it must be made operational by the teacher through qualification and teaching experience, aims and objectives, curriculum context, methodology, instructional materials, resources and evaluation procedure/processes.The above statement implies not only a perception of the Integrated science education in terms of understanding on human relationship, but also in terms of its aims at producing citizens with skills, competencies, moral values and reasoned judgment to effectively live, interact, interrelate and contribute positively to the economic, social and political development of Nigerian Society.

For the diversified curriculum structures of Integrated science to be delivered by the professional teachers successfully, Integrated science as a discipline must integrate the divergent and contemporary issues in Nigerian school curriculum. However it is generally accepted fact that Integrated science education stresses societal goals with man and his socio-economic and political environment as the focal point. Integrated science is an integrated discipline aimed at solving the complex and diversified problems of man in totality.

Dubey et al (1980) stresses that it is the hope of Integrated science that knowledge, attitude and skills obtained in the process of studying will have transfer value to the lives of children so that the decision they make as mature citizens would be useful to themselves and to the whole society. Integrated science education was therefore recommended for implementation nationally in 1969 at National Curriculum Conference.

For the reorganization and reshaping of the core curricula to achieve its desirable social as well as economic goals it has naturally become the primary concern of African countries to reflect the self needs of their societies and this is where Integrated science came in. At the time it was introduced, concerted efforts were made by some associations, such as Integrated science Association of Nigeria (SOSAN) and governmental bodies such as the Nigerian Educational Research Development Council (NERDC) to get it well established along with other traditional subjects in the school curriculum. Also seminars, workshops and conferences were convened where papers were presented and discussed. As such, the teaching and learning of Integrated science was made compulsory at the school levels of education system. This was the attempt to achieve the national goals and objectives.

Ogunsanya (1984) also indicated that “the experience of many countries of the world where Integrated science has been introduced into the school curriculum has shown that such countries were initially motivated to do so by the felt need to get rid of certain social vices plugging their countries and which they believed Integrated science contributed in eliminating”.

Okam (2002) explained that Integrated science is not only concerned with the controls imposed on our lives by political institutions, but also the fostering and improvement of human relations through better understanding of others both at home and abroad. It is also devoted to the basic Social institutions and the relationships of the Nigerian polity to those organized bodies that shaped our behaviour in so many ways. The discipline of Integrated science has assumed a major dimension in the sphere of curriculum development in Nigeria.

Joof (1991) pointed out that the inability of Geography and History to prepare the citizens for their effective living in an increasingly complex world has been one of the circumstances that induced the introduction of Integrated science in the school curriculum. Ogundare 1984, Agbole 1985, Adeyoyin and Okam 1988) which agreed that an effective classroom dispensation of Integrated science can create a strong basis for inculcating attitudes favorable for sound social development of youths. Also there is a consensus in these findings associated with these studies that, the teaching and learning of Integrated science can contribute to an acquisition and sustenance of desirable attributes characteristic of effective citizenry with a given democratic framework such as Nigeria.

As a Integrated science teacher and scholar, the researcher observed through experiences for many years that teachers teaching Integrated science are not well qualified in employing and exploring the method of teaching Integrated science instruction which has resulted to student‟s negative perceptions and poor performance. As such it is against this background, therefore that the researcher was motivated to carry out an investigation in order to find out the impact of teacher quality on the academic performance of junior secondary school students in Integrated science. There is the need for teachers to use various teaching methods aimed at enhancing effective classroom management and control instead of using one single method which will lead to monotony and loss of interest from the learners.

1.2. Statement of the Problem

With the introduction of Integrated science education in the Nigerian educational system in 1969 at National Curriculum Conference which made Integrated science to be a core course or subject at the primary and Junior Secondary Schools level, Dubey and Barth (1977) conceptualized Integrated science as a process of education which utilizes the study of human life for the purposes of given children and adult the opportunity to practice and solve individual and societal problems. Therefore Integrated science as a subject should enable young people to understand their own complex industrial world. Integrated science is a subject that deals with the comprehensive study of man in relation to his social and physical environments and he deliberately applied science and technology in order to make the society a better place to live. It is observed that, there are multidimensional or multi-various teaching qualities such as, qualification, in-service training and experiences in teaching Integrated science affect the student‟s academic performance in Junior Secondary Schools in Enugu North Local Government area.

The problem of teaching and learning of Integrated science in Junior Secondary Schools is of colossal magnitude which this study attempts to analyze, because the National Policy on Education (NPE, 2004) identified Integrated science as an integrated subject which students must undergo at Junior Secondary School level to prepare them for social science based courses at Senior Secondary Schools (S.S.S.). However, for the subject to be fully appreciated by the students and to have higher performance in the subject the researcher feels that there is a need for using teacher quality, experience and teachers attendance of workshops, seminars and conferences to measure the performance of junior secondary school students in Integrated science.

1.4.             Objective of the Study

The research study aimed to investigate the impact of teacher quality as variables on the academic performance of Junior Secondary School students in Integrated science in Enugu North Local Government area. The present study sets out to achieve the following objectives:

1. To find out whether teachers‟ qualification affects Junior Secondary School academic performance in Enugu North Local Government area.
2. Whether teachers‟ experience in teaching affects Junior Secondary students‟ academic performance in Integrated science, in Enugu North Local Government area

• Whether teacher attending workshops, seminars and conferences affect Junior Secondary School Students‟ academic performance in Integrated science in the state.

1.5.             Research Questions

The study attempts to find out answers to the following questions:

1. Does teachers‟ qualification affect junior secondary school student‟s academic performance in Integrated science in Enugu North Local Government area?
2. Does teacher‟s experience affect junior secondary school students‟ performance in Integrated science in Enugu North Local Government area?

• Do teacher‟s training/attendance of workshops, seminars and conferences affects junior secondary school students‟ academic performance in Integrated science in the state?

1.6.             Research Hypotheses

Based on the above research questions, the researcher stated the following as the research hypotheses:

H_o1 There is no significant relationship between the teachers‟ academic qualification and student‟s academic performance in Integrated science in Junior Secondary School students in Enugu North Local Government area.

H_o2. There is no significance relationship between the teachers‟ teaching experience and their students‟ academic performance in Integrated science in Enugu North Local Government area.

H_o3 There is no significant relationship between teachers attendance of workshop/seminar/conferences and students‟ academic performance in Integrated science.

1.7.             Significance of the Study

This research is significant in the area of Integrated science Education for the fact that its findings will contribute immensely to researchers, teachers, curriculum planners and educational administrators. Above all it will serve to improve the teaching of the  subject and a better student‟s academic performance in Integrated science in the state.

The finding of the study will help and emphasise to the Integrated science teachers to further their education to a high standard, that is from NCE level up to PhD level, so that to foster learning and improve students‟ academic performance in the subject. The research will also help to generate more researches as related to teacher quality as they relate to Integrated science. It will also serve to encourage the researchers to research more of teaching qualities in the improvement of teaching and students academic performance in Integrated science. It will be of help to curriculum planners in the sense that, the importance of teacher as a teaching variables and the teaching of Integrated science and improvement in the students‟ academic performance will serve as suggestions so that when they are reviewing the Integrated science curriculum every topic should be accompanied with suggested teaching qualities experienced in employing teachers to teach Integrated science. Finally, it will help the educational administrators in the sense that it will highlight the need for the provision of sending the Integrated science teachers to further their education, and they should be sponsored by the government. It will also serve to highlight the needs for administrators to encourage and support teachers to be attending seminars, conferences, and workshops on Integrated science.

It will also serve to educational inspectors to encourage Integrated science teachers to be using suitable teaching method and suitable instructional materials to be used and their improvisation in the teaching of the subject.

1.8.             The Scope of the study

This study is restricted to Government Junior Secondary Schools in Enugu North Local Government area and it will only focus on “impact of teacher quality on the academic Performance of Junior Secondary School Students in Integrated science in with particular attention to Integrated science teachers. This scope is cumulatively built upon the fact that the study seeks to justify the academic performance of junior secondary school students with regard to the availability of qualified Integrated science teachers, sufficient Integrated science teachers, experience Integrated science teachers and furthering of their education from national certificate in education (NCE) to PhD degree level so that to improved the teaching of the subject in the state.

The study will only cover some selected secondary school from the three senatorial zones that has seven educational zones. In which two schools will be selected to make the total of fourteen junior secondary schools. The seven educational zones are:

The research covers the period between 2013 and 2014 and was equally delimited to the use of structured questionnaire as the instrument for data collection and a test will be given to the students, and the statistics used for the data analysis were percentage and T- test.

THE LEVEL OF INTEGRATED SCIENCE LITERACY AMONG THE JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ENUGU NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, ENUGU STATE.

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