ABSTRACT

The study sought to investigate the Perceived Teacher Factors that influences students’ academic performance in agricultural science in government secondary schools in Umuahia education zone of Abia state. The teacher factors in this study were: teacher Qualifications, teacher year of work experiences, teacher use of teaching methods, and teacher family sizes. The design used for this study was descriptive survey. A sample of 378 teachers (171 male and 207 female) from a population of 6881 were used for the study. Stratified proportionate random sampling technique was used for the study. The researcher self-constructed instrument titled ‘Teacher Factor on Student’s Academic Performance Questionnaire (TFSAPQ) made up of 28 items was used for data collection. The instrument was trial-tested and the reliability index determined using test-retest method. The reliability index was calculated using Pearson Product Moment Correlation formula and a reliability co-efficient of 0.71 was realized. The instrument was face validated by three experts. The data collected was analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while t-test was used to test the null hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that teacher qualification, teacher year of work experience and teacher family size influence the academic performance of students in agricultural science. More so, teachers use of different methods of teaching affect the academic performance of students in agricultural science. Therefore, teachers without working experience and adequate qualification should not teach agricultural science in secondary schools. Based on the findings recommendations were made.