Influence of Teacher-Student Characteristics on Academic Performance of Senior Secondary School Students in Rivers State

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of teacher-student characteristics on academic performance of senior secondary school students in Rivers State. In details, it examined the extent to which enthusiasm and passion, motivation and self-efficacy, and self-worth influence the academic performance of senior secondary school students in Rivers State. The study adopted descriptive survey research design, three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The population of the consisted 140,396 teachers and senior secondary school students of 2022/2023 academic session, Taro Yamen’s formula was applied to get the sample 400 teachers and public senior secondary school and students’ in Rivers State. The instrument for data collection was researcher structured questionnaire titled: “Influence of Teacher-Student Characteristics on Academic Performance of Senior Secondary School Students Questionnaire”. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha reliability method. Research questions were answered using frequency count, mean and standard deviation while the null hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics at 0.05 level of significance. Results indicated that teachers and students in senior secondary school in Rivers State have high extent in the four variables enthusiasm and passion, motivation and self-efficacy and self-worth in the academic performance of senior secondary school students in Rivers State. Based on this, it was recommended among others that government should develop and implement programs to enhance positive learning environment in schools, provide teachers training on creating and maintaining good communication, and programs should be validated and those promoting positive attitude should be continued and ‘promoted.