A SURVEY OF MATHEMATICS TEACHERS’ EFFICACY AS CORRELATES OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS IN DELTA STATE.

Abstract

The study examined Mathematics teachers’ efficacy as correlates of senior secondary school students’ achievement in Mathematics in Ughelli education zone of Delta state. Correlational research designed was employed. The population of the study covered all the Senior Secondary School 3 (SSS3) Mathematics students and all the mathematics teachers teaching senior secondary schools in the 2 Local Government Area of Ughelli Education Zone in Delta State. Simple random sampling was applied to selected 7 schools out of the entire population. A sample of 160 students and 20 Mathematics teachers were randomly selected from the schools in the 2 Local Government Areas of study. The instruments for data collections are Mathematics teachers’ Efficacy scale Questionnaire (MTSES) and Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) were used to elicit information from the respondents. The instruments were validated by three experts from department of measurement and evaluation; mathematics and Curriculum studies whose correction and comments enhanced the final draft production. The test-retest method was used to determine the reliability coefficient. The coefficient total of 0.83 was obtained using cronback alpha method. The research questions using pearson product-moment correlation. Linear regression analysis was used to test hypotheses 1 – 3 while hypothesis 4 was tested using multiple regression analysis. The results revealed among others that: There is no significant relationship among Mathematics teachers’ efficacy in instructional strategies, students’ engagement, classroom management and students’ achievement in senior secondary Mathematics in Ughelli Educational zone of Delta state. Though the overall model analysis reveals that Mathematics teachers’ efficacy predicts students’ achievement but students’ engagement have more predictive effect on students’ academic achievement.