Teacher’s Use of Required Skills in the Teaching of Mathematics Contents in Osun State Public Secondary Schools

Abstract

The study investigated the extent to which secondary school Mathematics teachers use teaching skills in teaching Mathematics contents to improve students’ achievement in Osun State public secondary schools. It also examined the relationship between the use of required skills by secondary school teachers (experienced and non-experienced) and students’ achievement in mathematics. These were with a view to improving students’ academic performance in the schools. The study adopted survey research design. The population of the study comprised all the 4,856 secondary school teachers in the 387 public secondary schools in the State. The sample of the study consisted of 1,100 teachers. The selection of the teachers was based on proportionate stratified random sampling technique in the three education zones in Osun State. The instrument for data collection was titled “Teacher’s Required Teaching Skills Questionnaire” (TRTSQ). The instrument was validated by group of experts and the reliability coefficient of 0.82 was obtained using Cronbach alpha technique. Data collected was analysed using mean score and standard deviation to answer the research question while Pearson-correlation was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. One research question and one null hypothesis were raised and formulated respectively to guide the study. The results showed that secondary school teachers do not employ teaching skills in teaching mathematics content. The result also showed that there is no significant relationship between the extent of use of skills by secondary school teachers (experienced and non-experienced) and students’ achievement in mathematics (r-cal =1.29, r-crit = 3.85, P =0.47). The study concluded that secondary school education is an important stage of educational development in Nigeria and despite the importance of mathematics education to national development, the study of the subject in our schools in Nigeria is bedevilled with poor performance. The study therefore recommended government should continue to re-train the primary school teachers in their capacity building workshops especially in mathematics and sciences with a view to improving their level of competence in all areas of mathematics teaching in secondary schools across the state.