An Assessment of Teachers Knowledge, Attitude to and Perception of Statistics in Oyo State Primary Schools (Published)
This study ascertained the knowledge content, perception and attitude of primary school teachers towards the statistics component of the Nigerian primary school mathematics curriculum. The study population consisted of all primary school teachers in Oyo State, Nigeria and the sample comprised of 127 teachers who responded to the three questionnaires that were developed, pilot tested and validated by the researchers and adopted in collecting data for the study. They are: Teacher Statistics Content Knowledge Questionnaire (TSCKQ) with Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient index of 0.81, Teacher Attitude to Statistics Teaching Questionnaire (TASTQ) with Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.69, Teacher Perception of Statistics Questionnaire (TPSQ) with Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.72. Multi-stage sampling technique was used in selecting the required number of respondents for the study. First, purposive sampling was used in selecting the sample State (Oyo State). Simple random sampling was adopted in selecting three local government areas in the State. Purposive sampling was used to select ten public primary schools in the local government areas and purposive sampling was also used in choosing mathematics teachers from the selected schools. The data collected were analysed using descriptive and correlation statistics at 0.05 level of significance. Findings show that mathematics teachers’ possesses the adequate content knowledge of statistics needed for teaching the statistics related topics in the primary school mathematics curriculum; that they possess a positive attitude in the teaching of statistics and the right perception of statistics. More so, there is a negative relationship among teachers’ knowledge of statistics, their attitude to teaching statistics and perception of statistics; there is a moderate positive correlation between teachers’ attitude to teaching statistics and their perception of statistics. It is thus recommended that teachers at the primary level of education be continually updated with the current statistical knowledge, perception and attitude; so as to foster better teaching and learning of statistics cum mathematics at the level.
Keywords: Primary School, Teacher Statistics Knowledge, Teacher attitude, Teacher perception
Teachers Perception and Practice of Automatic Promotion in English Speaking Primary Schools in Cameroon (Published)
Differences in the perception and outcomes of automatic promotion may be due to discrepancies in its implementation. Automatic promotion was conceived in Cameroon to be accompanied by support mechanisms and it is necessary to find out teachers’ perceptions and practice of automatic promotion especially against a backdrop of the inability of many primary school pupils to read and write. Teachers have a firsthand experience about the outcomes of automatic promotion. Their perception and practice may provide a basis for improving quality. Thus the study was a survey that incorporated a 15-item closed ended questionnaire and an interview. 275 primary school teachers and examiners of the First School Leaving Certificate Examination took part. Data were analyzed descriptively using frequencies and means. Findings revealed a negative perception of automatic promotion and discrepancies between the conception and implementation of automatic promotion which may explain the drop in quality. Implications and recommendations are discussed.
Keywords: Automatic promotion, Implementation, Primary schools., Teacher perception, practice