ABSTRACT

 This study investigated the influence of teacher variables on the academic performance of pupils in mathematics in Imo State. The teacher variables considered are gender, qualification, experience, attitude and teacher-pupil relationship. Guided by five specific purposes, the researcher formulated five research questions and five hypotheses. A purposive sample of three hundred and sixty (360) primary six pupils and forty-two (42) primary six teachers were selected. Twenty-four out of sixty-four (64) public primary schools in Ikeduru LGA were used for the research. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. Two validated researcher-made instruments titled: Teacher Attitude Questionnaire (TAQ) and Teacher-Pupil 6 6 Relationship Questionnaire (TPRQ) with Cronbach-Alpha reliability coefficients of 0.792 and 0.820 respectively were used for data collection. Also, pupils’ academic performance in mathematics culled from their 2019 Common Entrance Examination scores were utilised for the study. Research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used in testing the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. Findings showed that teachers’ gender, qualification, experience, attitude and teacher-pupil relationship have significant influence on the mathematics academic performance of primary school pupils in Imo State. Recommendations were made in line with the study outcome which include that teachers as the vehicle through which knowledge is passed to the pupils, should show more love, support, care and attention to the pupils in order to promote teacher-pupil relationship; they should endeavour to garner as much experience as possible during their service years asit makesthem teach better along their professional career; Teachers with higher qualifications should be given preference during engagement while others with lower educational qualifications like NCE and TCII should be given on-the-job training as they are encouraged to add more qualifications to what they already have.