Performance

Tutors’ Perception about Teacher Trainees’ Appraisal of Tutors’ Performance as Part of Quality Teaching and Learning in the Colleges of Education in Ghana (Published)

The study intended to explore the perception of the college tutors about the performance appraisal of tutors by the student teachers as part of quality teaching and learning in the Colleges of Education in Ghana as well as improving the tutors’ performance and development. . Sixty seven (67) tutors were randomly selected from three Colleges of Education to constitute the sample for the study. A questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. The study found that college tutors generally acknowledged the relevance of performance appraisal to their job goals and development. Secondly, college tutors perceived performance appraisal feedback as irregular and unconstructive and did not reflect their actual performance. Thirdly, college tutors perceived the performance appraisal processes as being unfair because they were left out in the discussion of the assessment procedures claiming that performance appraisal by the student teachers alone is not enough, Fourthly, college tutors perceived that the student teachers judgment were affected by hallo and horn effect. Last but not least, college tutors somehow did not take their performance appraisal by the student teachers alone very seriously. It was recommended that assessment procedures and items leading to appraising the performance of the college tutors should be discussed with them to enable them state their positions openly in order to satisfy their needs. Also, there should be the need for triangulation of the assessment processes leading to appraising the performance of the college tutors to ensure checks and balances as well as validity of the results. Finally, performance appraisal feedback should be made regular, constructive, fair and useful to enable college tutors receive and support the programme as genuinely helping them to improve their performance and development.

Keywords: Appraisal, Perception, Performance, Quality, Teaching and Learning

The ambidextrous leadership and its impact on organizational performance in the Jordanian government schools from the viewpoint of teachers (Published)

The current study aimed at identifying the skillful leadership behaviors and measuring their impact on organizational performance in Jordanian government schools from the teachers point of view, and to achieve the goals of the study the researcher followed the descriptive analytical approach, in terms of applying the study tool, which was represented in a questionnaire consisting of (30) paragraphs, On the sample, which amounted to (356) male and female teachers from government schools in the Directorate of Jerash Education, the study reached a number of results, the most important of which were: The degree of availability of ingenious leadership behaviors among administrative leaders in Jordanian educational institutions is high, and the degree of organizational performance indicators in educational institutions Jordanian women are also high, and there is a statistically significant effect of adept leadership behavior in Jordanian educational institutions on organizational performance from the point of view of male and female teachers in Jordanian government schools, and the study recommended a number of recommendations, the most important of which were: the need to educate administrators in various fields The Kingdom’s governorates by adopting an ingenious leadership style in management, as it has positive benefits for the education process in Jordan.

Keywords: Leadership, Organizational, Performance, ambidextrous

Influence of Teaching Methods on Students’ Performance in Kiswahili Poetry in Secondary Schools in Lugari Sub-County, Kenya (Published)

The 2002 revised curriculum for Kiswahili for secondary school education in Kenya incorporated content on poetry. Students have continually performed poor in Kiswahili paper 102/3 in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) with the poetry section being the most failed. The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of instructional methodology on students’ performance in poetry in Kiswahili in Kenyan secondary schools, taking a case of Lugari Sub-County. The objective of this paper is to present and discuss the research findings on the methods and teaching resources used by teachers of Kiswahili in teaching poetry. The study was based on Dale’s cone of experience theory which states that learners retain more information by what they ‘’do’’ as opposed to what they ‘’hear’’, ‘’read’’ or ‘’observe.’’ The study adopted a survey research design. It targeted secondary schools in Lugari Sub-County, Kakamega County in Kenya. The researcher used stratified sampling to place schools into three strata; four schools per strata were sampled making a total of twelve schools with twelve teachers of Kiswahili from the sampled schools. Purposive sampling was used to sample Form Three students. Data were collected using two sets of questionnaires, observation checklist, and document analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the obtained data and findings placed under themes. It was found that oral questioning and lecture methods dominated poetry in Kiswahili lessons. Therefore, the research recommends that teachers of Kiswahili should explore a variety of interactive teaching methods to enhance students’ mastery of content.

Keywords: Influence, Kenya, Kiswahili Poetry, Lugari, Performance, Secondary Schools, Students, Teaching Methods

Gender Differences in English Language and Science Related Subjects in the Context of Higher Education in Thailand (Published)

This study was conducted at a university in the surrounding areas of Bangkok to cross-compare academic performances between female (n = 406) and male (n = 496) students in both English language skills and GPA scores in science-based subjects. 902 second-year students were selected from four separate faculties to examine the interaction of the gender variable across a broader spectrum of academic backgrounds; faculty subgroups were clustered accordingly: business studies (n = 315), engineering (n = 317), computer science (n = 178) and veterinary medicine (n = 92). T-tests calculations indicated that female students’ level of attainment was significantly higher in both academic spheres: English (females: 56.85, males: 47.87; [sig: p = <0.05]); GPA (females: 70.5, males; 63.75; [sig: p = <0.05]). Furthermore, according to faculty subgroup comparisons, females consistently outperformed their male counterparts in both English language and science related subjects, and also outnumbered their male peers in the top-100 achievers in both domains.

Keywords: English proficiency, Gender, Performance, Science, variability

Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance in Colleges of Education in Southwest, Nigeria (Published)

This study was carried out to assess factors affecting students’ academic performance in Colleges of Education in southwest, Nigeria. Four hundred and eighty students from six Colleges of Education were randomly selected for this study. Data collected were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics. The results obtained showed that 52.4% of the respondents were between 20 – 24 years of age, predominantly female (67.6%), supported by family/guardian (88.9%), stayed off-campus (69.8%), had personal motivation for studying Education (65.8%) and bold (91.1%). Also, results of parental background revealed that the parents were married (63.8%), educated (68.2%), and earned average income of ₦60,604.5/month. The study concludes that students’ factors, parental background, school factors, and teachers’ factors have serious influence on students’ academic performance. It is hereby recommended that school facilities should be adequately provided; Colleges of Education should be given appropriate attention and funding while government should provide alternative power supply by purchasing generator plant for Colleges of Education.

Keywords: Academics, Affecting, Education, Factor, Performance

Improving Teaching of Christian Moral Education in Secondary Schools in South East Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria through Commitment in Teachers’ Behaviour (Published)

Nigerian society exhibits symptoms of serious moral decay. There is consequently widespread concern about the moral predicament in the nation. This paper is an attempt to investigate how commitment in teachers’ behaviour could improve the teaching of Christian moral education in secondary schools in the southeast geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. South-east geopolitical zone is the area of study and the population comprised of all the Christian Moral Education teachers in the states that make up the zone. 300 teachers were selected out of 967 Christian Moral Education teachers in the area using purpose sampling technique. Fixed response questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. Mean was used to analyze data. Result show-cased that the teaching of Christian Moral Education could be improved through commitment in teachers’ behaviour. Based on the findings, the study stresses that a greater percentage of the work of improving the teaching of Christian moral education lies in the hands of the teachers as commitments in teachers’ behaviour becomes a necessity of immediacy and paramount. This however forms the contribution of the study.

Keywords: Christian Moral Education, Commitment, Improving, Performance, Teachers’ Behaviour.

A Comparison between Two Test Item Formats: Multiple-Choice Items and Completion Items (Published)

This study aimed at investigating the influence of item formats upon students’ performance and item psychometric characteristics. The students of evaluation and measurement 68 students were chosen to collect the data, 2 test format were applied; Multiple Choice items test and Completion items test. The results indicated that students performance was effected by the type of the  test items, female students’ performed higher than male students’ on the 2 forms, and the psychometric characteristics of the test were found to be affected by test format.

Keywords: Item, Item Format, Performance, Psychometric Characteristics, Test

Students’ Mathematics And English Language Mock Examination As Predictors To School Certificate Performance In Physics. (Published)

This study was an ex-post-facto survey, which investigated students’ mathematics and English language (mock) achievement as predictors to school certificate performance in Physics, using two hundred and fifty (250) students randomly selected from public secondary schools in Rivers State. The data was analyzed using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and t-test inferential statistics. In order to predict the performance of students on physics based on their performances in Mock examinations on mathematics and English language, the multiple regression analysis (R2) was used. Results showed that there was a significant relationship between the performance of students in English language Mock examination and their performance in physics. There was also a significant relationship between students’ performance in mathematics mock examination and their performance in physics (SSCE). Although there exist positive dependence of performance of physics (SSCE) on their collective performances in. mock examinations on mathematics and English language, the predictor variable Y1=38. 79 EM+0.17Mm where the partial multiple regression coefficients are 38.79 and 0.17 respectively. Based on these findings, it was recommended that learners of physics should be involved in acquisition of knowledge in mathematics and English language, if their performance in physics should improve.

Keywords: English Language, Mock Examination, Performance, School Certificate, Students’ Mathematics, physics

THE FORMS AND LEVEL OF MOTIVATION FOR TEACHERS OF KISWAHILI IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ELGEYO MARAKWET COUNTY, KEIYO SUB-COUNTY, KENYA (Published)

Language subjects (Kiswahili or English) are important to the education of a student. This is evident in entry requirements or clustering of subjects performed to enable learners join higher learning institutions. Currently, for one to be absorbed in courses like medicine, law and engineering, he or she must score grade ‘A’ in English or Kiswahili. To accomplish their task, teachers need to utilize all the professional training, be innovative, creative, dedicated to the interest of learners in school and helping them during extra time beyond the school daily timetable. Teachers should be motivated to accomplish the noble task. This paper is designed to identify the level of motivation for teachers of Kiswahili. The study was based on Expectancy theory by Victor Vroom who explained that motivation is a combination of three factors: Valence, Expectancy and Instrumentality. The theory stresses that students and teachers expect to get a reward from the effort they put in their work. Survey research design and Stratified random sampling was used to select teachers teaching Kiswahili from the selected 14 schools out of 29 schools in Elgeyo Marakwet County. The sample included teachers and students. Questionnaires and document analysis were used in data collection. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics mainly frequencies, percentages, variances and standard deviations; t-test was applied in testing the hypothesis. The paper recommends that Head teachers and other administrators need to adopt a workable motivation schedule to improve the teachers’ level of motivation and consequently performance

Keywords: Kiswahili, Level, Motivation, Performance, Teachers

CHILD ABUSE AND STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN BOKI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF CROSS RIVER STATE (Published)

Child abuse is an act of inflicting serious, physical injury and emotional torture on a child or person, which is intentional or unintentional and could endanger the physical, health, emotional, social, moral and educational wellness of the child. The contributing factor of child abuse can be identified as poverty and ignorance on the part of the parents or guardians and others. Observing the alarming endless cry of students and those hurt in the process and maltreatment, the researcher was therefore interested in investigating child abuse as it affect the academic performance of students in Boki LGA of Cross River State. To achieve this purpose two (2) null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. A sample of 200 respondents were randomly selected for the study. The selection was done through simple random sampling technique. The questionnaire was the main instrument used for data collection. Test re-test reliability of the instrument was established, while Pearson product moment correlation analysis was the statistical technique considered appropriate. The critical level of .05 was used to test each hypothesis. The result of the analysis revealed that child physical abuse and sexual abuse were statistically related to students’ academic performance. Based on the findings recommendations were made on the need to affectionate and intensified campaigns for awareness creation on the menace of child abuse – physical and sexual abuse as they deaden the future of the child, family and society.

Keywords: Abuse, Academic, Child, Performance, Students