Teacher Qualification and Experience as Determinants of Quality Chemistry Education in Nigeria

Abstract

The drive for change is crucial for chemistry education advancement and so is teacher qualification and experience. This study investigated teacher qualification and experience as determinants of quality chemistry education in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. A survey research design was adopted for the study. Three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The population consisted of all the chemistry teachers in the 31 Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State. The study sample was 130 chemistry teachers randomly selected from the 31 Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State during a chemistry training workshop on capacity building. The instrument for data collection was the questionnaire for teachers on quality of chemistry education which contained 20–items. Cronbach alpha analysis was used to determine the reliability of the instrument which yielded .79 and the data collected were analyzed  using descriptive statistics, t-test and analysis of variance. All hypotheses were tested at .05 alpha level of significance. Results showed that there was significant influence of teacher qualification and experience on quality of chemistry education. Based on the findings, it was recommended amongst others, that chemistry teachers with appropriate pre-requisite subjects be admitted into teacher training institutions to enable them acquire needed qualifications, experience and skills for effective chemistry teaching.

Keywords: Qualification, experience, pre-requisite, interactive classroom, teacher training.