CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
A teacher is a person engaged in interactive behavior with one or more students for the purpose of effecting a change in those students. The change, whether it is to be in knowledge (cognitive), skill (psychomotor) or feeling states (affective), is intentional on the part of the teacher (McNeil and Popham, 1973). This designation distinguishes the teacher from instructional materials and other school personnel.
The essential task of the teacher is to arrange the conditions of the learner's environment so that the processes of learning will be activated, supported, enhanced, and maintained (Gagne, 1976). Teacher management style is a crucial factor in arranging the conditions of the learner's environment for effective teaching.
Personality management style may be viewed as the dynamic organization of those traits and characteristic patterns of behavior that are unique to the individual (Callahan, 1966). Some social psychologists take the position that management style is purely a matter of social perception that it is meaningless to speak of anyone 's management style apart from the particular people who interact with him, get impressions about him, and use trait terms in describing him (Holt, 1971) .
A trait is a simple behavioral pattern - a disposition or tendency to behave in a describable way. According to Allport (1966), a trait (1) is more generalized than a habit, (2) is dynamic and determinative in behaviour, (3) may be viewed either in the 1ight of the management style which contains it, or in the light of its distribution in the population at large, and (4) cannot be proved nonexistent by the sheer fact that some acts are inconsistent with it.
Research on teacher personality is based on the assumption that the teacher as a person is a significant variable in the teaching-1earning process. Management style influences the behaviour of the teacher in diverse ways, such as interaction with students, methods selected, and learning experiences chosen (Murray, 1972).
The effective use of a teacher's personality is essential in conducting instructional activities. Management style aids teaching, for communication takes place between the teacher and the learner even in the absence of the spoken word (nonverbal communication). The teacher whose personality helps create and maintain a classroom or learning environment in which students feel comfortable and in which they are motivated to learn is said to have a desirable teaching management style (Callahan, 1966).
Each individual has characteristic attributes of management style which influence both the manner in which he behaves toward others and the ways in which they respond to him. The teacher with pervasive authoritarian characteristics, for example, is likely to reflect them in his relationships with students and in the techniques he uses in his instruction (Morrison and Mclntyre, 1912).
This study is set to investigate the effects of teacher's personality on school discipline in secondary schools. The importance of management style type and leadership behaviour among teachers in school administration cannot be over looked given the background that it determines the extent to which a school goal and objectives can be achieved. It must be noted that one cannot talk about teachers personality without mentioning the leadership behaviour of teachers in school discipline. Thus,
The school teachers' leadership behaviour and management style type influences both the students and other teachers in term of school discipline.
A teacher is exposed to three types of leadership style: Authoritarian leadership style, Democratic leadership style and lastly, the Laissez Faire leadership style (Falodun, 2003). The leadership style adopted by the School teacher often determines the perception which the students and other teachers will have about school discipline.
For instance, if a secondary school teacher adopts the authoritarian leadership style, this will invariably influence the perception or the students that teachers are autocratic, rigid and unforgiving. This will also make students to tag school discipline as harsh and unfriendly. Olaleye (2008) contents that leadership behaviour of the school principal, either male or female contributes to a range of perception which the students have about their teachers.
Research on management style type of school teachers has for long being of interest to educational manager and evaluation experts. To some authorities, management style is important because it directly affect the school learning culture; others have argued that the management style of teachers usually enhance the school discipline. Adetona (2003) noted that the task of any school teacher is to produce well educated boys and girls through effective teaching and discipline. Management style type of a teacher often determines the leadership behaviour of such teacher in effecting discipline in a classroom situation or within the school environment. School discipline is associated with higher students' motivation, good academic performance, and improved attitudes of the students towards their teachers.
A significant challenge for secondary school teachers in Nigeria today is to identify the students need and the type of leadership model to be employed in transforming the students. The leadership model developed by Bass and Avolio 1997) identified three leadership behaviours. First is the Transformational Leadership Behaviour and can be identified by certain behaviour which includes inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. Secondly, The Transactional Leadership behaviour which can also be identified with exchange of rewards tor meeting agreed upon objectives. This leadership behaviour monitors the students to ensure mistakes are not made but allows group work among the students. In this case, the female teachers intervene only when things go case wrong. Thirdly, the Non-Leadership Construct, popularly known as the Laissez Faire leadership behaviour where the female teacher leaves the students to their own devices as well as giving them no direction.
Empirical research evidence shows that students' perception of their school teacher’s management style type emanates from the leadership model employed by the teacher. employed by the teacher. Again, students' perception of their teacher's management style, especially the female teachers is found to be a stereotyped one (Adebowale, 2007). It follows that it is not only the It follows that it is not only the management style and leadership behaviour of the school teachers that form the perception of the students about schoo1 discipline but also certain factors which include societal view of discipline; the religious contention of the role of discipline in learning; peer perception about school discipline and even, the values a family holds about the values a family holds about discipline.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The issue of declining academic performance of students in Nigeria secondary schools has generated much interest among stakeholders in the education sector. The quality of secondary education has not kept abreast of the expansion in enrolment. Although, this according to UNESCO (2001) continues to be a global concern, it is the general belief that teachers personality affect students performance. In a way therefore, what constitutes competence in teaching is intimately connected with the type of teacher education programmes available for preparing secondary school teachers.
The quality of education depends on the ability, hard work, personality and behavior of the instructors and teachers, many teachers have under-estimated the impact of their behavior and personality on students’ academic performance. Teachers are considered the most crucial factor in implementing all instructional purposes and students' performance is tied into the teachers' capability. Teachers therefore, need to be aware that their personality has a paramount role in improving students' achievements. It is imperative to determine the relationship between teachers' personality and students' achievement in any educational system.
On the other hand, there has been little research
with regard to the link between teachers' personality and student’s academic
achievement. The researcher will conduct a study in this area and he hopes that
the findings of the study will
significantly contribute to inform teachers to know
that their personality will influence the academic
achievement of the students. All these strategies are planned for the purpose of
improving the teaching methods. However, most
of the emphases are not focused on personality which in many studies, it was proven that
personality is one of the factors in improving the teaching
effectiveness However, the problems may arise on how to identify the
personality dimension of teacher based on: Is there any
relationship between personality and teaching effectiveness
and how it influences their teaching effectiveness?
This study sought to “Determine the effects of teacher’s personality on the academic performance of students in Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State.
1.3 PURPOSE OF STUDY
The purpose of this study is to
i. Find out the pattern of discipline among teachers in secondary school
ii. Discuss the concept of personality in relation to teachers’ traits
iii. Discuss the correlation between personality type and leadership behaviour of teachers in secondary school
iv. Examine the effects of teachers’ personality on discipline in secondary school
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION
i. Is there any significant relevance of the use of academically qualified teachers in teaching?
ii. Is there any significant effect of the use of instructional materials on the teaching of student academic performance?
iii. Is there any relationship between school discipline and students academic performance?
iv. Is there any significant difference in teaching performance between male and female teachers?
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
The study when conducted will serve the following:
i. Enhance a desire to be professional in teaching from the side of the teacher has this can better the students understanding of the subject
ii. Enhance students and teachers alike to understand the importance of practical chemistry to the effective teaching and learning of the subject
iii. Give an insight to the importance of the use of instructional materials to enhance effective teaching.
1.6 DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
There are many limitations that may hinder smooth process of this research. This includes:
i. Wrong information may be provided by the respondent, this might result from the respondent, feeling he has no enough time to assimilate the question
ii. Short time limit imposed on the project
iii. Lack of sufficient materials and money
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The research topic for this study is the effect of teacher’s personality on the academic performance and of students in Ijebu North local government. 15 secondary schools were selected where 10 teachers (including other science teachers) and 15 students each were selected, this is as a result of time limit and other factors.
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: Academic achievement or academic performance is the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has attained their short or long-term educational goals.
LEADER: This is person who by action of guiding, giving examples of encouragement by activities directs, the affairs of a group, or organization.
MANAGEMENT: This is the process of completing a desired task by ensuring that a group of work is done well together and that each individual plays his or her maximum part.
MOTIVATION: These are those things, situations or conditions which when provided for an individual would make each person want to work harder for higher productivity.
PERSONALITY: Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. The study of personality focuses on two broad areas: One is understanding individual differences in particular personality characteristics, such as sociability or irritability.
PRODUCTIVITY: This is the optimal utilization of the human and material resources of an organization in order to achieve the goal of the organization. It is researching the highest level of performance with the least expenditure of resources.
TRANSACTIONAL LEADER: This is a leader who focus mainly on the task or job requirements.
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER: This is a leader who promotes interpersonal relationship through creating vision, encouraging commitments from all and institutionalizing changes.
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