Teachers' Conduct and Students' Academic Performance in Port Harcourt Secondary Schools

Abstract

This paper investigated teacher conduct and students academic performance in Port Harcourt Secondary Schools. It was a descriptive survey aimed at determining the extent to which teachers' conduct influenced student's academic performance. A sample of 302 teachers representing 50 percent of 604 was selected through simple random sampling technique. A 2part, 10-item, 4-point scale well structured instrument titled "Teacher Conduct and Students' Academic Performance Questionnaire" (TCSAPQ) was used to generate data for answering 2 research questions and testing 2 hypotheses. The instrument was validated by a team of experts in the Department of Educational Management, University of Port Harcourt. Test retest method was used to establish reliability co-efficient using Pearson's' Product Moment Correlation at 0.85. Means were used to answer the 2 research questions. T test statistics was used to test the 2 null hypotheses. The findings among others are that teaching styles affect students' academic performance and concluded that interrelationship exists between teaching styles and students' academic performance. It was recommended that government should re-examine the relationship that exists between teachers and students, teachers and the management with a view to establishing a good rapport that can lead to improved academic performance.