Influence of student –teacher relationship and learning of Economics among secondary school students

Influence of student-teacher relationship and learning of Economics among secondary school students 

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1            Background to the Study

The interaction between teachers and students and students is essentially the fundamental basis for teaching. Human beings are social creatures. Because they rely on emotional nourishment from others, they help to create and respond to a strong need for social interaction.  The school is the most influential institution in today’s society for the teaching of social and communication all being at an early age, committing the teachers in Children early years has significant influence, negatively or positively. In the school system, there are many demonstrations of behaviors that are not considering appropriate social conduct. These demonstrations usually provide evidence of the influence of the students’ earlier role models. In some cases, the extent of this “inappropriate rote modeling” has disturbed the learner’s ability to emotionally control them in the classroom. In these particular cases, it is, without a doubt, essential to building a strong student-teacher relationship to facilitate trust and caring, often those qualities that have been earlier violated by a provide adult.

Although the nature of these relationships changed as students mature, the need for a connection between students and teacher in the School setting remains strong from pre-school to higher education. Furthermore, even as schools place increasing attention on accountability and standardized testing t4he social quality of students teacher relationships contribute to both academic and social-emotional development (Pianta,2010). As such, student-teacher relationship provide a unique entry point educators and others working to improve the social and learning environments of schools and classrooms. Although students have less time with teachers during school, there is strong evidence that relationships with teachers in these settings are among the most important predictors of success.

                   Just as teachers bring features themselves into the classroom, students were to make impressions on a teacher from the moment they enter a classroom, that is important in the formation of the relationship the development over the course of the school year. Some characteristics, such as gender, are both static and readily apparent to teachers, whereas others are more psychological or behavioral in nature.

          Students’ relationships with teachers change from Primary to Secondary School relationships between teachers and students becomes less personal, more formal more evaluative and more competitive (Harter, 2006). These changes and lead to more negative and more self – evaluations and attitudes toward learning because the impersonal and evaluative nature of the relational context in Primary School does not match well with the students relates needs (Galloway, 2012).

                   This disparity applies particularly to students who have lower levels of intrinsic motivation, in that teacher-student relationship can actually exacerbate risk if they either are not positive or do not match the developmental needs to the students (Harter,2006).

                  Influence of student-teacher relationship and learning of Economics among secondary school students 

          Many educationists have observed that a good teacher-student relationship facilitate teaching and enhances students participation in the teaching/ learning processes (Carlos, 2012). For the realization of the objective of the formal classroom instruction, there should be a good rapport between the teacher and the learning.

                   The position of a teacher to students is just like that of a medical doctor to his patient. The teacher must relate with and treat his students in a way that they think well of him (Bassey, 2011). In a situation whereby this vital ingredient of effective learning is absent as a result of character/interest clash between teachers and students or students to students, it will be impossible for them to interact positively thereby paving way for the students to benefit maximally for the subjects they teach. When uncordial emotional atmosphere ensures between the giver and the recipient of an instrument, interest is cost and participation weakens, low performance or interest in the teaching-learning process must subsequently follow Gege (2008).

                   To this end, educationists now have a task of reconciling this situation if academic achievement decay is to be eradicated from our school system.

1.2          
  statement of the Problem

Studies have found the importance of student-teacher relationship; however, the effects on student’s academic achievement have not been effectively determined. Poor school student’s achievement is a concern for the most school system for behavioral reasons as well as a predictor for further school achievement. The School Community environment and specifically student-teacher relationship is a factor in how the students and teacher perform. Studies have shown that the quality of the student-teacher relationship tend to decline after students enter Junior Secondary School and continue to do so (Freeman, 2007). Research also indicates that teachers who develop relationship experience fewer classroom behavior problems and better academic performance. This study will, therefore, find out, whether student-teacher relationship such as positive relationship as opposed to other behaviors contributes to the academic performance of students in Economics in Secondary Schools.

1.3      Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of student-teacher relationship and learning of Economics among secondary school students in Eket Local Government.

Specifically, the study sought to:

i.         examine the influence of student’s attitude towards their teachers and the learning of Economics.

ii.          determine the influence of the teachers’ instructional strategies on the teacher-student relationship and the learning of Economics.

iii.        find out the influence of male and female teacher – student and the learning of Economics.

1.4     Significance of the Study

This study would benefit mostly the teachers and students from the center of the teaching-learning process. The finding of the study will provide a basis for the teachers to evaluate their attitude towards their relationship with their students. It will help the teachers to realize that each student has a certain learning capacity for learning which is definitely different from other members of the class. A good teacher perceives this and then adjusts his or her approaches and strategies to fit the individual needs and aspirations of the students.

School administrators and supervisors would use the ideas generated in this study, in this study in designing a good teacher-student relationship as a means of making teaching and learning more friendly and meaningful.

This study would also benefit the student in understanding the needs and importance of good teacher-m student relationship in academic performance. The research work would also serve as a source of reference material to the investigating public, most especially in Education sectors of Economics who might want to make further work in a similar or related topic.

1.5     Research    Questions

The following research questions were formulated to guide the study:

i.       What is the influence of student’s attitude towards their teachers and the learning of Economics?

ii.     What is the influence of teacher’s instructional strategies and the learning of Economics?

iii.  What is the influence of male and female teachers students and the learning of Economics?

1.6             Research Hypotheses

The following research hypotheses were postulated to guide the study:

i.       There is no significant relationship between student’s attitude towards their teachers and the learning of Economics.

ii.     There is no significant relationship influence between teacher’s instructional strategies and teacher – student’s relationship and the learning of Economics.

iii.  There is no significant relationship between male and female teacher- student’s relationship and the learning.

1.7     Limitation of the study

                  The researcher encountered some difficulties in obtaining information for the study such as time – frame and shortage of finance. The research work was also limited due to the ability of the researcher to cover all the public Secondary          Schools in Eket Local Government of Akwa Ibom State as the title suggests.  

1.8     Delimitation of Study

          This research work focuses on the influence of teacher-student relationship and the learning of Economics among Secondary School in Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. This research work covers only public Secondary Schools in Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. However, five public Secondary Schools were selected for the study.

1.9     Definition of Terms

Teacher: A teacher is a person who instructs, direct and provides education for students.

A student: Is a learner or someone who attends an educational institution.

Teacher-student relationship: This is the way a teacher relates to his or her students in school.

Learning: This is the acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, experience or being taught.     

Economics: Economics may be defined as “a science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses.

Attitude: A predisposition or a tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain idea, object, person or situation