Teachers’Characteristics and Teaching Styles as Determinants of Students’Achievement in Senior Secondary Schools Civics and English Language in Osun State,Nigeria

The study examined the status of senior secondary schools’students’achievement in Civic Education and English Language in Osun State.It also investigated the Civic Education and English Language teachers’characteristics in the state and determined the teaching styles of Civic Education and English Language teachers in the study areas and finally assessed the influence of teachers’characteristics and teaching styles on students’achievement in secondary schools Civic Education and English Language.The study adopted Discriminant Analysis.The study sample consisted of 600 senior secondary school students,30 Civics teachers,and 30 English Language teachers that were selected using multi-stage sampling procedure.Four instruments were constructed and validated before use.Three research questions were asked and answered while one hypothesis was tested and verified.The results among others showed that more than 50%of the students that participated in the study had high status of achievement in Civic Education while more than 40%of English Language students that participated in the study had low status of achievement.The study also showed that teachers’characteristics pertinent to both Civic Education teachers and English Language teachers were,effective discipline skills(Civics,M=1.20,SD=0.407;English,M=1.40,SD=0.498)and good communication with parents(Civics,M=1.43,SD=0.504;English,M=1.40,SD=0.498).In addition,there was significant influence of teachers’characteristics and teaching styles on students’achievement in Civics and English Language in senior secondary schools(X^2(2)=16.37,p<0.05).The study concluded that teachers’characteristics and teaching styles are major determinants of students’achievement in Civic Education and English Language.

Effectiveness of Enriched Demonstration and Lecture Instructional Strategies on Senior Secondary School Students’Achievement in Chemistry

The study determined the relative effectiveness of enriched demonstration and lecture instructional strategies on senior secondary school students’achievement in Chemistry.To achieve this,two research questions and three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study.Quasi-experimental design:specifically the pre-test,post-test,nonequivalent and non-randomized control group was adopted for the study.A total sample of one hundred and sixty-six(166)SS 1 students,drawn using multistage sampling technique were used for the study.The instrument used for data collection was Chemistry Achievement Test(CAT,r=0.82).Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions,while analysis of covariance(ANCOVA)was used to test the hypotheses.Findings from the study revealed that:there is significant difference between the achievement of students exposed to two enriched instructional strategies and those exposed to enriched traditional lecture strategy;there is no significant difference between male and female students exposed to the three modes of instructional strategies;and there is no significant interaction effect between the instructional strategies and gender.It was recommended that chemistry educators should focus attention on reforming or enriching the traditional instructional strategies and that chemistry teachers should particularly make use of the enriched demonstration strategy in their classroom interactions,among others.

The Impacts of Highly Resourced Vocational Schools on Student Outcomes in China

Policymakers in developing countries have prioritized the mass expansion of vocational education and training(VET).This study examines whether the quality of VET in developing countries increases by investing greater resources per student.To achieve this goal,we examine the impacts of attending model schools(which have far more resources per student)on a range of student cognitive,non-cognitive,and behavioral outcomes.Using representative data from a survey of approximately 12,000 VET students from China,multivariate regression and propensity score matching analyses show that attending model vocational high schools do not benefit student outcomes,despite their substantially greater resources.