ABSTRACT

This research work aims at investigating the influence of teachers qualification on academic achievement of basic science student in Umuahia north L.G.A. in Abia State. The Research utilized survey and Ex-post facto design. Seven hundred and fifty (750) junior Secondary school students in five schools selected through simple random sampling served as sample for the study. Student's examination score and questionnaire were the instrument used for data collection. The data was analysed using Simple Regression and t-test. After the analysis the result show that there is a significant difference (p< 0.05) in the academic achievement of basic science and that students who were taught by teachers with basic science qualification perform better than students taught by teachers without basic science qualification and also the F value of 38.13 was highly significant at 5% indicating that the model used fitted. The R2value of 0.0576 indicate a 5.76% variability in the achievement of students explained by teacher qualification in Umuahia North L.G.A of Abia State. Qualification of teacher's has a positive effect on the student performance and students taught by qualified basic science teachers perform better than those taught by unqualified teachers. Recommendations were made among which is, Since this study has proved that there is high proportion of unqualified Basic Science teachers in our junior secondary schools, Government should provide an incentive for teacher who are interested in Basic Science to go on for training in it, they should have automatic scholarship of this. Government should set aside funds for organizing seminars, workshops, conferences, etc. for improvement of Basic Science teachers. The inspectorate division of the science unit should visit schools regularly and monitor the use of funds. Finally, the researcher calls on the government, communities, Parents, teachers, school authorities, everybody to rethink towards improvement of the qualification of Basic Science teachers.