Teacher’s Economic Literacy as Predictors of Effectiveness in Teaching Economics in Lagos State Education District V
Chapter One
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study was to investigate Teacher’s economic literacy as predictors of effectiveness in teaching economics in Secondary schools in Lagos State Education District V, Lagos State.
Objectives of the Study
This study sought to achieve the following objectives:
- To establish the influence of teacher professional qualifications on the teaching of Economics in Secondary schools in Lagos State Education District V.
- To find out the influence of teachers attitude on the teaching of Economics in Secondary schools in Lagos State Education District V.
- To establish the influence of teaching and learning resources on the teaching of Economics in Secondary schools in Lagos State Education District V.
- To find out the influence of teaching methods on the teaching of Economics in Secondary schools in Lagos State Education District V.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
This chapter aims to review literature of an overview of teaching of Economics in Secondary schools, teacher’s qualifications and teaching of Economics in secondary schools, teachers’ attitudes and teaching and learning of adult learners, teaching methods and teaching and learning of adult learners, availability of teaching and learning resources of adult learners and summary of the literature, theoretical and conceptual frameworks.
An overview of teaching of Economics in Secondary schools
Secondary schools is an entire body of educational process, whatever the content, level or method; whether formal or informal as well as apprenticeship (UNESCO, 2006). It provides an opportunity to those who for various reasons could have dropped out of school before receiving education (UNESCO, 2005). In Nigeria, it is mainly provided to equip illiterate adults and out of school youth with numeracy, reading writing, Kiswahili, English and any other language that may be of interest to the learners (MOE and KICD, 2007).
Persons regarded as adults by their societies they belong develop their abilities, enrich their knowledge, improve technical or professional qualifications or turn them in a new direction and bring out about changes. Linderman(2005).argues that the change in learners may be in attitudes or behavior in the two fold perspective of full personal development in balanced in independent social economic and cultural development.
The Nigerian government, since independence has put emphasis on adult literacy in order to achieve fast and sustainable socio-economic development (Titmus, 2009). The objectives of the secondary schools programmes are to: eradicate illiteracy, provide knowledge, skills and attitude for work, to create self- confidence and foster positive behavior towards life. In order to achieve this, the learners have to be exposed to specific content in the secondary schools curriculum content which includes literacy, family life, health, and nutrition, civics, environmental studies and agriculture. It is hope that if this content is covered effectively, it will make Nigeria achieve her objectives of secondary schools and by extension national development as stipulated in vision 2030 (Kibera, 2007).
Nyerere (1976) emphasizes that the education provided to adults must encourage the development in each citizen by inculcating an enquiring mind, developing an ability to learn from what others do and reject or adopt the same to his or her own needs and finally it must lead to a basic confidence in one’s position as a free and equal member of the society who values others and is valued by them for what he does and not what he obtains. According to Coombs (1973), the purpose of basic general education for men and women is to offer them essential learning experiences to enable them to participate in the modern world with greater confidence and improved chances of success. Townsend (1977) contributes to this by adding that education must contribute to the material, social and cultural improvement of each individual from childhood to old age.
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Teacher qualifications and teaching of Economics in secondary schools
The effectiveness of any teaching and learning depends on the quality of the personnel involved. Mwandia (1972) argues that that the success of any literacy programmes is largely dependent on the type of teachers recruited. ( Lind (1990) agrees to this when arguing that the central to any secondary schools programme needs qualified educators at all levels. Fordman (1995) advocates for training of adult literacy teachers before the start of literacy programmes to boost their confidence and motivate learners to learn.
In Nigeria the department of Secondary schools officers, the recruitment is done locally and training done by the departments. A major setback in effective teaching and learning is the problem of unqualified teacher’s especially specialized teachers in areas like vocation and technical subjects. In most instances, curriculum is designed up to implementation without adequate manpower to translate these documents into reality (Sofalahan, 1998).
Teaching methods and teaching and learning of adult learners
Adults learn in a variety of ways thus it is important to use multi teaching methods in teaching a particular topic as many adults wants to be involved with learning. Adult learners learn differently hence it is important to involve different delivery format and teaching methods. The adult educator should provide learning opportunities for the adult to expand their knowledge and skills. The selection of delivery skills is pegged on several factors which include the purpose of the educational program (programme outcome), objectives (outcome), anticipated number of participants, participant travel (distance and expense), available facilities equipment and resources estimating budget (Mboya 2013).
Mboya notes that teaching methods are mainly divided into three categories which are; one way communication method, interactive or two way communication methods and the laboratory or skills development methods. The selection of methods depends upon intended objectives and maturity of the learners. According to Mboya, the one way communication is mainly used when the objectives are primarily focused on transition of information from one or more source to a group of learners. It targets to expand the knowledge of the learners, and it may include lectures use of resource persons, symposium, panel discussion and computer aided instruction.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction.
This chapter consisted methodology used to carry the study. It was subdivided into research design, target population, sample size and sampling procedures, research instruments, validity of instruments, reliability of instruments, data collection procedures and analysis techniques.
Research design
Kombo and Tromp (2006) defines a research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a way that aims at minimizing expenditure of efforts, time and money. This study was conducted using descriptive survey as the design which Orodho (2005) as a method of collecting information by interviewing or administering questionnaires to a sample of individuals. This design was suitable for this study as it collected data which would describe the existing conditions in secondary schools in Lagos State Education District V.
The Target population
Mugenda and Mugenda (1999) define target population as the population to which the research would like to generalize his nor her results. The study was conducted in Lagos State Education District V, Nigeria. The study targeted all the 14 secondary schools in the area which has a total population of 526 learners, there are 14 secondary schools teachers and one Secondary schools Officer.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS, PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION
Introduction
This chapter deals with data analysis, presentation and discussions on the research findings which were collected in 11 secondary schools, the study investigated the Teacher’s economic literacy influencing teaching in Secondary schools in Lagos State Education District V. The teacher factors were: teachers’ demographics, teacher’s qualifications, attitude of the teachers, teaching and learning resources and teaching methodologies. The findings of this study are based on the responses of the Secondary schools Officer, Secondary schools teachers and adult learners who were sampled out. The chapter is organized into the following sections; questionnaire return rate, demographic information and findings from the research questions based on the study objectives.
CHAPTER FIVE
FINDINGS, CONCLUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter provides a brief summary of the study, conclusions and recommendations and suggestions for further studies.
The findings of the study
The study revealed that;
The Secondary schools sub sector of Adult and Continuing Education has not attracted qualified ad professional teachers and this has affected the process of teaching and learning. The study established that most of the SSE teachers are certificate holders with only few being diploma and/or degree holders. Demographic data of the teachers of Secondary schools indicated that most of the teachers were either holders of Primary, WASSCE OR NCE certificate with a few having diplomas, p1 certificates holders. This implies that most of the teachers are untrained. This is further affected by the fact that very few in-service training seminars are held in the state with the longest taking two or three days; this has especially affected negatively the teaching ability of the recently employed teachers who are not trained and have no adequate knowledge of the curriculum they are supposed to teach.
Only few teachers are permanently employed by the government and this has affected the motivation of the other teachers of Secondary schools who take a majority and this can negatively impact teaching of Economics in the secondary schools. Most of the teachers of Secondary schools in Lagos State Education District V are part time teachers and only three are employed by the government. This has affected their sense of job security and also their motivation as they are poorly paid and renumeration rates are very poor, this could negatively teaching of Economics in some Secondary schools as some of the teachers who have household responsibilities are forced to look for complimentary jobs in order for them to meet their basic needs and that of their families. The Secondary schools in Lagos State Education District V lack adequate teaching and learning materials which make it very difficult to achieve the objectives of teaching and learning. The researcher found out that most of the teachers value and utilize teaching and learning resources but in spite of this, the study established that most of the respondent; both teachers of secondary schools and adult learners, indicated that their centers lacked sufficient or adequate teaching and learning resources. The study found out that teaching/learning resources in Secondary schools are provided mainly by the government, N.G.Os and at sometimes the learners purchase their own materials. The researcher further found out that resources such as classrooms or learning facilities and basic teaching and learning items such as chalk and posters and photocopying services often lacked, especially in centers where part time teachers worked.
Objective two of the study sought to establish ways in which teachers’ attitudes affected teaching of Economics in the state. The researcher found out that the teachers of Secondary schools in Lagos State Education District V have a positive attitude towards teaching the adult learners and also towards their learners. This is supported by the fact that despite being poorly paid, rarely enumerated and receiving very few incentives, most of the teachers continue teaching adult learners and fulfilling their responsibilities as teachers of Secondary schools. The researcher found out that the teachers agreed that teaching adult learners is interesting and not difficult at all, they also viewed their clients or learners as ones having ability to learn and who were self- driven and willing to learn. This study further established that most of the teachers were confident in teaching adult learners. The teachers also felt that the topics they taught were relevant to the adult learners this positively impacted teaching of Economics in Lagos State Education District V.
The final objective of the study sought to understand how the teaching methodologies employed by the teachers affected teaching of Economics in Lagos State Education District V. The Secondary schools Officer in the state encouraged learner –centered methods in order to effectively involve the adult learner. Due to the nature of adult learners the teaching strategies used in the secondary schools should cater for the disabilities like short concentration plan, family commitments, employment and responsibilities held by the learners. The researcher found out that the teachers taught using learner- centered methodologies such as group discussions and individual reading assignments and also demonstration, they also oftenly use lecture method as a methodology. This study further found out that the learners felt adequately involved during the teaching and learning process and this has a positive impact on teaching of Economics in the Secondary schools in Lagos State Education District V.
Conclusions
The findings of the first objective indicated that most of the learners were NECO and diploma certificates holders. The Secondary schools Officer indicated that the state encountered various challenges in acquiring qualified and professional Secondary schools teachers the main one being that very few are employed by the governments. Some teachers also indicated that they had not received any training on how to teach adults and was further worsened by the fact that very few in-service trainings and workshops were held. Based on this findings, it was concluded that low professional qualification of SSE teachers in Lagos State Education District V negatively affected the teaching and learning process in the centers.
The findings on objective two indicated that majority of the teachers of Secondary schools have a positive perception or attitude towards teaching adult learners and also towards the learners themselves. The Secondary schools Officer in Lagos State Education District V supported this by indicating that the teachers were very helpful and assist the learners fully. Thus, it was concluded that a positive attitude of the teachers of Secondary schools facilitated a successful teaching and learning process in the Secondary schools. In order not to dampen the general positivity of the attitudes of the teachers, the government and the directorate of Secondary schools in Lagos State as a whole need have strategies improve the renumaration packages and incentives of the teachers and also mobilize ways of getting adequate resources for teachers, learners and the centers.
The findings on the third objective noted that most Secondary schools have inadequate teaching and learning resources. The Secondary schools Officer further supported this by indicating that the lack of teaching and learning resources in the state slows down the teaching and learning process. Therefore, it was concluded that lack of availability or insufficient teaching/learning resources in Secondary schools hampers the process of teaching and learning.
The finding of the final objective established failure to vary and balance the use of teaching methods affected the teaching and learning process as most teachers used the lecture method, group discussions and individual reading assignments while neglecting brainstorming, demonstration, role play and projects and case studies. Overemphasis on a few methodologies of teaching was likely to affect the teaching of Economics in Secondary schools.
Recommendations
Based on the study findings, the following recommendations were made:
- The teachers of Secondary schools should be trained in Secondary schoolsand the curriculum made possible to reach so that the teachers acquire the relevant skills in teaching adult learners.
- In service training should be encouraged in order to provide more opportunities for continuous professional development and institute policies that ensure all practicing teachers take part in the in-service
- The government should employ teachers of Secondary schools who are qualified and professional in order to improve the teaching and learning
- Teachers of Secondary schools should be adequately motivated so thattheir attitudes towards teaching adult learners and the learners are not negatively
- Stakeholders in Secondary schools such as the government, private NGOs and religious groups should combine efforts and provide adequate teaching/ learning resources in Secondary schools in Lagos State Education District V in order to improve teaching of Economics in the centers.
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