Teacher Expertise and Secondary School Students' Academic Achievement in Biology in Calabar Municipality Local Government Area, Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which secondary school students' perceptions of their biology teachers' subject content mastery, classroom management skills and communication skills predict students' academic achievement in biology in Calabar Municipality Local Government Area (LGA), Cross River State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design with a predictive orientation was adopted. The population comprised 5,436 Senior Secondary Two (SS2) Biology students in public secondary schools; a multi-stage sampling technique yielded a sample of 180 students from six schools. Data were collected with the Teacher Expertise Questionnaire (TEQ; 15 items, four-point scale) and a 40-item Biology Achievement Test (BAT), and were analysed with mean and standard deviation and standard multiple linear regression, with variance inflation factors (VIF) used to assess multicollinearity. Students rated all three dimensions favourably. Jointly, the dimensions significantly predicted achievement, and each made a significant unique contribution: communication skills (β = .40), subject content mastery (β = .39) and classroom management skills (β = .25). Because the design is cross-sectional and non-experimental, the results indicate statistical prediction, not causation. It is recommended, among others, that professional development for biology teachers address all three dimensions and that multilevel and longitudinal studies be undertaken to test these associations further.