CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
to the Study
The lecturing profession is one which
is very sensitive as it involves centrally the shaping of minds. Which is why
it is often described as a noble profession among few others. Ideally, a lecturer
should be passionate about the lecturing job and sometimes go beyond his or her
job description and take pride in the fact that he or she is taking part in the
shaping of something productive and beautiful and would translate in the
formation of the best minds that would lead the future generation.
However, recent times has shown that
not everyone who goes into it for the right and noble reasons. With bad
government, lecturers aren’t given any priority or any of the preferential
treatments that some other sectors like oil company worker and politicians get.
They are owed months old salaries and in some dire cases years. There is hardly
a session that goes smoothly without cases of industrial actions in form of
strikes which always lasts for weeks and months.
The effect is that lecturers lose
interest in the core values of their jobs and since government is always unable
to see the importance of the child’s education, attention isn’t paid on the
effect of this cycle which always ends in the lecturer’s lackadaisical attitude
towards his or her job, on the students academic performances.
1.2 Statement
of the Problem
The process of a successful lecturing
and learning relationship always begins with the students being inspired to
want to learn. This takes a lecturer who is dedicated in understanding each
child and his or he needs and adapting the lecturing and lesson materials to
suit the child’s learning methods. However, when the lecturer’s attitude
towards his work is that of indifference and nonchalance, it always shows on
the child’s performance especially in primary and Tertiary Institutions. At
secondary level, the child always needs constant motivation and supervision as
this is the age range where adolescent related problems emerge and most turn to
delinquents. This research work has taken it upon itself to study the effects
of lecturers'' attitude to work on the student’s academic performance at Tertiary
Institution level. This research will be carried out with Tertiary Institutions
in Lagos Local Government Area of Rivers State Nigeria as a case study.
1.3 Research
Questions
i.
what
is the relationship between a lecturer''s attitude towards his lecturing job and
his or her students’ academic performance.
ii.
How
directly proportional is this relationship.
iii.
What
are the factors that inform a lecturer’s attitude to his job.
iv.
How
can government step in to combat the negative effects in the case of a
noncommittal attitude.
1.4 Objectives
of the Study
This research work aims at studying the
various ways a lecturer’s attitude to his or her work can bear upon the child’s
academic performance. The factors that inform the learning speed and skills of
students will be studied and briefly enumerated. The percentage of these
factors that are informed by the lecturers attitudes to his work and his
commitment to lecturing will be studied alongside
The work also aims at highlighting the
learning process of the students and which of the traditional instructional
materials invented by an enthusiastic lecturer the students responds most to.
This will be pursued through a study of a cross section of lecturers’
behaviours within and outside the classroom,.
1.5 Significance
of the Study
This research work is significant in
that it will highlight greatly the importance of a lecturers attitudes to work
in determining the student’s academic achievements in the Tertiary Institution
level
With this, attention will be drawn
towards this and more emphasis will be laid on the recruiting of lecturers who
have a passion for the job and courses could be set up which will aim at
coaching lecturers on the effects of their attitudes to the profession on the
students.
1.6 Research
Hypothesis
The hypothesis on which the present
research work is founded on is the assumption that there is a direct relationship
between a lecturer’s attitude to his or her job and the students'' level of
achievements in the subject he is lecturing. Furthermore, it is taken that this
relationship affects the students directly seeing that a devoted lecturer
stands a better chance of making learning interesting for the students than the
indifferent one.
1.7 Scope
of the Study
This study only covers the relationship
between a lecturer’s attitude to his or her work and the student’s achievement
at Tertiary Institution levels. It will be studied with the public and private Tertiary
Institutions of Lagos as case studies.
In measuring the academic achievements in questions, focus would be given to
both subjects grades and other extracurricular activities which the lecturers
engage the students in.
1.8 Limitations
of the Study
Measuring through the child’s academic
achievements in the ways we mentioned in the scope of the study and matching
them with our observation of their lecturer during their lecturing sessions
required lots of time commitment on the part of the researcher. This is one of
the major challenges met in the course of this research work and while it
serves as a motivation for it, it has been a limitation in that it reduces the
time allocation required to fully understand the said relationship between each
set of lecturers and their students in this study.
1.9 Definition
of Terms
Lecturer: This
refers to a person who helps others to acquire knowledge, competences or
values.
Attitude: an
acquired or predisposed mental state regarding an object with some degree of
positivity or negativity which is perceived from a social or personal stimulus.
Work: the
effort applied to produce a deliverable or accomplish a task.
Student: A
student is a learner or someone
who attends an educational institution.
Academic Performance: This refers
to
the extent to which a student, lecturer or institution has achieved their short
or long-term educational goals.