Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the Teacher’s economic literacy as predictors of effectiveness in teaching economics in Secondary schools in Lagos State Education District V. It sought to provide valuable information on the challenges facing secondary schools in regard to teachers in the state to educational stakeholders and the directorate of secondary schools and to suggest recommendations to curb the problems. The objectives of the study sought to determine the extent to which teachers’ qualifications, teaching and learning resources and the teaching methodologies the teachers of secondary schools used influenced teaching of Economics in Secondary schools in Lagos State Education District V, Lagos state, Nigeria. The study was conducted using descriptive survey design.
The target population was 14 secondary schools in Lagos State Education District V. The target respondents consisted of one Secondary schools Officer, 14 teachers of secondary schools and 526 adult learners. From 541 members of the target population, the researcher used purposive sampling procedure to select a sample size comprising 1 Secondary schools Officer, 14 teachers and 250 adult learners. The research instruments used included questionnaires and interview schedules. The analysis done was both qualitative and quantative. Qualitative analysis considered the conclusions from the opinions of the respondents. Quantitative analysis considered use of frequency counts and distributions, tabulation, totals and calculation of percentages.
Data collected was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). In the study it was found out that teaching of Economics in secondary schools was faced by numerous challenges and the most prominent ones were lack of adequate trained and qualified teachers, inadequate teaching and learning resources. Therefore the researcher concluded that there were challenges facing the teachers of secondary schools which could negatively influence teaching of Economics in the secondary schools. The government should employ more trained and qualified teachers and also hold in-service programmes to improve the skills of the present teachers and also provide more teaching and learning resources which are inadequate and some of them unavailable in order to improve teaching in secondary schools. The researcher suggested that more studies should be conducted on other factors as predictors of effectiveness in teaching economics in secondary schools.
Chapter One Summary
A survey by the Nigeria National Literacy Survey conducted in 2006 revealed that there were over7.8 million (38.5percent) adults and youth who lacked the minimum literacy levels (Republic of Nigeria, 2007).
In September 17, 2015, on the International Literacy Day the then Cabinet Secretary for Education, noted that there was a shortage of adult instructors and to address the problem, he said that the Nigeria Institute of Curriculum Development will review the curriculum for training the adult literacy instructors and to ensure that they are equipped with the right skills to effectively and professionally deliver the content using appropriate methodologies.
By June 2015 the enrollment for secondary schools and literacy programmes stood at 231,305 (158,374 females and 72,391 males. Lagos State Education District V had 4,505 adult learners at the time, meaning that the enrollments rates in the country are quite poor. This is despite the much spirited efforts by the government of Nigeria and other stakeholders to fight illiteracy. The cabinet secretary also noted that UNESCO had projected that by 2015, 26 percent of all illiterate adults will live in sub- Saharan Africa, up from 1 percent in 1990 (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2015). This study therefore sought to examine the teacher factors as predictors of effectiveness in teaching economics in Lagos State Education District V.
Chapter Two Summary
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.
Chapter Three summary
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.
Chapter Four Summary
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 summary
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.
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