This study was undertaken to assess the contributions of
teachers' knowledge of Curriculum Characteristics, value
internalization and commitment, perception of adequacy of facilities,
equipment and materials, and degree of performance of implementation
roles/behaviours to achievements in Junior Secondary Certificate
Examination in Home Economics. Effect of state and teachers'
qualification on achievement in the same examination was also assessed.
The study employed ex-post facto research design and a survey
strategy. A random sample of one hundred Junior Secondary Schools
stratified proportionally by state was selected for the study. An
instrument was developed for the study.
Three hypotheses were postulated for the study. Appropriate
statistics were used in analyzing the data. The results of the study
were presented in tables 1,2,3,4 and 5. The paper concluded by
prescribing the needed reforms in the policy related to preparation of
Home Economics teachers for Junior Secondary Schools.
The most innovative contribution contained in the National policy
of Education (1998) to the development and modernization of Nigerian
educational system is in the area of secondary education. The policy
prescribes a two tier secondary education lasting for a period of six
years. A child is required to spend the first three years of secondary
education in Junior Secondary School (JSS) and another three years in
the Senior Secondary School (SSS) if a student performs well in both
continuous assessment (C.A.) and terminal examinations. However, the
Junior Secondary School Education is pre-vocational and academic.
Stressed among the prevocational subjects proposed for Junior Secondary
School is Home Economics.
Jacobs (1985:10) enunciated that, the most innovative aspect of
Junior Secondary School (JSS) is the area of curricula activities which
consist of broad or general education, practical opportunities and
development of talents. The National Junior Secondary School Home
Economics curriculum for the first three years of secondary education in
Nigeria is an example. It is designed to provide learners with basic
intellectual and practical educational knowledge relevant to Nigerian
society. It is also part of the aim of the curriculum to prepare youth
formally for jobs as well (Omoregie, 1984:264). Based on the foregoing
information which identify the importance of the Junior Secondary School
and the Home Economics Curriculum as useful to students, the
investigator considers that attention should be focussed on the academic
achievement of the programme recipients which is the focus of this study
to ensure that the products perform effectively in the society. A wide
range of factors have influence on school achievement at various
Educators such as Wolson (1991:11) and Laxton (1992:13) have
indicated that generally students exposed to a programme of instruction
or a new curriculum attain significantly the knowledge that is embodied
in the programme or curriculum. An example of a new curriculum is
National Junior Secondary School Home Economics Curriculum.. Concerning
the issue of curriculum characteristics Badmus (1993:141) claimed that,
if teachers are to implement the National Junior Secondary School Home
Economics Curriculum properly, they must know and understand the major
distinguishing characteristics of the curriculum they are to implement.
A teacher who does not have the knowledge and understanding of the
characteristics of a curriculum may find it difficult to plan
instructional activities or help students in academic achievement.
Ibeanu (1986:44) from research evidence showed that test
manipulation such as administration, marking and grading of tests affect
students' performance or achievement. These manifest in the
inconsistency in marking caused by variety of marking severity. Various
markers of the same subject differ greatly in their standards and in the
qualities which they regard desirable or undesirable. Similarly,
teachers, equipment and facilities are determinants of academic
achievement. Agbo (1979:13) and Nwelve et al. (1978:21) reported that
lack of qualified staff affected student performance. In their study it
was revealed that the higher the qualification of the subject-teacher,
the higher the level of performance of the students. Failure to provide
these essentials, achievement motivation which is the need to compete,
to overcome obstacles and atrive for success may not be encouraged in
students. There is the tendency that the students become underachievers.
Similarly, Okakuro (2000) affirmed that, students' attitude affect
their performance in account in senior secondary schools. In her study,
it was revealed that 67% of the respondents agreed that students'
attitude affect their performance in account in senior secondary
schools, while 33% did not agree. This could be as a result of
non-provision of students' needs to encourage learning of account
and teachers' poor methods of teaching.
Awe(2002) revealed through her study that parents' attitude
towards agricultural science has impact on students' performance in
Agricultural Science. She revealed that students whose parents'
attitude towards Agricultural Science is encouraging performed better in
the subject compared to students whose parents have non-challant
attitude towards the subject. In general the performance of students in
this subject depends on the personal interest and parental interest.
Oladele et al. (1993) discovered that, lack of qualified teachers,
lack of well equipped library, parental guardian influence attitude of
students. Instructional materials and time allocation are another
important factors affecting students' performance in Agricultural
science in secondary schools. In the same vein, Ashien (2003) revealed
in his study that, lack of interest and lack of qualified teachers and
instructional materials are some of the factors affecting students'
performance in senior secondary school Certificate Examination in
principles of accounting. This means that, all these factors are
important in order to improve the performance of students in accounting.
In this light, the study examined critically some factors affecting
achievement in Home Economics Junior Secondary School Certificate
This is an Ex-post-facto research design. Two types of ex-post
facto designs--Causal comparative and multiple correlational designs
were involved in the study.
The independent variables for correlational part of the study were:
1. Performance of Teachers' implementation roles/behaviours.
2. Teachers' knowledge of Curriculum characteristics
3. Teachers' value internalization and commitment
4. Perceived adequacy of instructional resources and materials.
5. Teachers' Qualification.
While achievements at Junior Secondary Certificate Examinations in
Home Economics was treated as a criterion (dependent) variable.
The target population for this study consisted of all Junior
Secondary Schools in South-Western State of Nigeria including all the
teachers and students in home economics in these schools.
A random sample of one hundred Junior Secondary Schools stratified
proportionally by state was selected purposively from schools situated
in not more than three Local Government Headquarters of each of the
states of study.
The main research instrument used in the study was a questionnaire
for teachers in Junior Secondary Schools. The questionnaire was designed
to elicit information on Junior School Certificate Examination (JSCE)
results for 1999 as it was the final examination carried out at the time
of the study.
Each of the schools involved in the study was visited. The
questionnaire was delivered by hand by the researcher. A questionnaire
was given to each of the teachers involved in the study. The researcher
collected the questionnaires on completion and one hundred completed
questionnaires were used for this study.
ANOVA and multiple regression analysis were the statistical tools
used to analyse the data. All tests of significance were carried out at
.05 confidence level.
The means score of achievement in Junior School Certificate
Examination in Home Economics was determined in each of the states
involved in the study.
The results of the study are presented in tables 1,2,3,4 and 5.
Of all the correlation coefficients only the correlation between
teachers' qualification and performance of teachers'
implementation roles/behaviours on the one hand, and teachers'
perceived adequacy of instructional resources and materials were
significantly correlated at 0.05 level of significance, r=0.2240 with t
= 2.2753; r = -0.342 with t = 3.6029 respectively.
The intercorrelation matrix also revealed that achievement in
Junior School Certificate Examination in Home Economics is not
significantly related to any of the five predictor variables; its
strongest relationship is the teachers' qualification r = -0.1699,
t = 1.7067. The ANOVA summary on the goodness-of-fit of such a
regression is given in table 2.
The test of goodness-of-fit gave an F-value of 0.74581, df = (5,94)
which is less than 2.29 at 0.05 level of significance. The null
hypothesis was therefore retained. The coefficient of determination,
which is the square of multiple R indicates that the variables jointly
account for only 3.8 percent of the variations in achievement at Junior
School Certificate Examination (JSCE) in Home Economics.
An attempt to identify such other variables led to the
determination of the effect of state (location of examination) and
teachers' qualification (from the hint obtained from the
intercorrelation matrix) on achievement in Junior School Certificate
A summary of the Analysis of variance is given in table 4.
The F-values for the influence of State and Teachers'
Qualification were found to be 7.127 and 1.047 respectively with df of
(4,90) and (1, 90). 7.127 is larger than the critical value of F with df
= (4,90) [equivalent] 2.89. Hypothesis 2 was therefore rejected while
hypothesis 3 was retained. It was concluded that, there was a
significant State effect on Achievement in Junior School Certificate
Examination (JSCE) in Home Economics but the effect of teachers'
qualification on achievement was not significant.
Discussion of Results
Arising from the Central concern of the study, it is surprising
that, achievement in Junior School Certificate Examination in Home
Economics is not significantly related to any of the variables studied
either singly or jointly. In view of these findings, it shows in
particular that there was no significant relationship between degree of
implementation (the extent to which actual use of the curriculum
corresponds with intended or planned use) and achievement in Home
Economics. This result supports the studies by Udoh (1990:51) and
Okoroafor (1989:48) that there is no significant relationship between
degree of implementation and the Junior Secondary School (JSS 3)
students' achievement in French and English respectfully. Badmus
(1993:146) pointed out that, it is one thing for teachers to know what a
curriculum is all about, it is a different thing for them (teachers) to
perform their implementation roles as expected.
Though the relationship between achievement and qualification was
statistically not significant, indicates that students taught by holders
of Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE teachers) tend to achieve
higher than those taught by degree holders because they were found to be
more effective than the degree holders. This finding is not surprising,
by policy, holders of the Nigerian Certificate in education (NCE) are
especially trained to teach in Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) (NPE
These findings point to two major things. First, it calls for the
need to view users of any curriculum as being important. It is believed
that involvement of users-to-be in curriculum tasks fosters motivation.
If the users of the curriculum from which high academic achievement is
expected were actively involved in the development, they would have been
familiar with the demands of the curriculum and in particular all the
independent variables in the study that were not significantly related
to achievement. For example, if teachers are familiar with the
implementation roles/behaviours or the prescribed procedures to teach
the contents in a curriculum, students' achievement will be high.
Second, it points to the fact that, the incentive for teachers should be
reviewed so as to motivate teachers (Fullan and Pomfret 1977:386). Such
incentives include time, in-service training, involving teachers in
curriculum planning and development, provision of appropriate
instructional resources, regular payment of teachers' salary and
other forms of people-based support (Badmus 1993:215).
The findings of this study have far reaching implications for
policy reform related to preparation of Home Economics teachers for
junior Secondary Schools in Nigeria and for teaching and supervision of
Home Economics in Nigerian Schools. First, the policy of planning and
developing curriculum at the National level and disseminated to the
entire users at the classroom level should be reviewed. This approach
proves difficult in getting across to teachers the ideas about the new
curriculum and the theoretical considerations underlying it, in such a
way as to ensure that these are reflected in their practice. Second, the
findings of the study call for ultimate policy to re-structure the
course content of teacher-education curriculum on Home Economics in
Colleges of Education and University to reflect their requirements in
Junior Secondary Schools and to equip them for effective performance of
their duties. For example, the subject method course should teach the
prescribed teachers' implementation roles/behaviours and also teach
the approximate uses of the newly prescribed instructional resources and
materials. Micro-teaching should be emphasized in subject method. In
addition, the curriculum development course should be designed to
include the major characteristics of the curriculum such as the
philosophy, objectives, values, goals, assumptions and other essential
characteristics of the National Junior Secondary School Home Economics
Finally, it should be a matter of policy that, in-service
education, courses, and seminars related to the problems of the Home
economics teachers should be organized on a continuing basis to make
them attain greater proficiency in their work. This policy is essential
to be able to tackle the following problems.
1. the teachers' lack of clarity about the curriculum.
2. the teachers' lack of the kinds of skills and knowledge
needed to conform to the new roles/behaviours.
3. the unavailability of required instructional materials, and
4. lack of knowledge and understanding of the major characteristics
of the curriculum.
5. updating of practicing teachers' knowledge.
Achievement in Junior School Certificate Examination in Home
Economics (dependent variable) do not relate significantly to
performance of Teachers' implementation roles/behaviours,
Teachers' value internalization and commitment, perceived adequacy
of instructional resources and materials and teachers'
qualification (independent variables).
Agbo, J.N. (1979) "Factors that contribute to the Poor
Performance of Secondary School Students in Enugu Educational Zone in
School Certificate and Ordinary Chemistry", PGDE Project, Institute
of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, p. 13.
Awe, A.F. (2002) " Parental Influence On Students'
Performance In Agricultural Science In Ihjebu-East Local Government Area
of Ogun State". Undergraduate project. UNIBEN.
Ashien, K.P. (2003) "A Study of Factors Affecting Students
Performance In Senior School Certificate Examination In Principles of
Accounting in Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State
Nigeria" Undergraduate project. UNIBEN.
Badmus, M.M.O. (1993) "An Assessment of the Implementation of
the National Junior Secondary School Home Economics Curriculum in
South-Western States of Nigeria" Ph.D. Thesis, University of Benin,
Benin City, pp. 141-146.
Barker-Lunn (1970) "Streamining in the Primary School
Slought". National Foundation for Education Research.
Douglas, J.W.B. (1964) The Home and the School (London: MaeGibbon
and Kee, p. 144).
Federal Republic of Nigeria, National Policy on Education (1998)
(Lagos: Federal Ministry of Information, Printing Division, p. 26).
Fullan, M.1 and Pomfret, A. (1977) "Research on Curriculum and
Instruction Implementation" Review of Educational Research, Winter,
Vol. 47, p. 386.
Glass, G.V. and Stanley, J.E. (1970) "Statistical Methods in
Education and Psychology" (London: Prentice-Hall International
Ibeanu, M.E. (1986) "Evaluation of the Academic Achievement of
Secondary School Students in Home Management in the Eastern States of
Nigeria", Ph.D. Thesis, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, p. 44.
Jacobs, J. (1985) "Schools and the New System of
Education", Sunday Sketch January, p. 10.
Laxton, A. (1992) "Improving the Performance of Students'
Academic Achievement in Secondary Schools", Journal of Curriculum
and Instruction, vol. 18:1, June, p. 11.
Nwelue, G. Egede, C., Nzurum, O. (1978) "Factors Associated
with Students Poor Performance in Physical Sciences in West African
School Certificate Examination" P.G.D.E. Project University of
Nigeria, Nsukka, p. 57.
Oladele, S.O; Ayodele, M.O.; Oluyide, F.A. and Alawode, F. (1993)
"Factors Affecting Students' Performance In Secondary Schools
In Obokun Oriade and Ilesa Local Government Areas of Osun State"
Undergraduate Project, UNIBEN.
Okakuro, E (2000) "Factors Responsible for the Performance of
Students In Accounting In Senior Secondary School Certificate
Examination In Ward South Local Government Area of Delta State"
Undergraduate project UNIBEN.
Omoregie, O. (1984) "A Similation Model for Measuring the
Fitness of the 6-3-3-4 System's Mid-Secondary Out-put in
Nigeria" Journal of Nigeria Education Research Association. Vol.
Okoroafor, C.N. (1989) "An Evaluation of the Junior Secondary
School English Language Curriculum in Bendel State", M.Ed. Project,
University of Benin, Benin City, p. 63.
Udoh, G.E. (1990) "An Assessment of Implementation of the
Junior Secondary School Curriculum in Akwa Ibom State", M.Ed.
Project, University of Benin, Benin City, p. 51.
DR. MEDINAT M.O. BADMUS
Senior Lecturer in Home Economics Education
Department of Vocational and Technical Education Faculty of
University of Benin, Benin City
Table 1: Intercorrelation Matrix of Teachers' qualification,
Achievement in Home Economics, Teachers implementation Roles/
behaviours, Knowledge of Curriculum characteristics, Value
internalization and Perceived adequacy of instructional resources
1. Achievement in Junior 1 -0.0016 0.1309 -0.0394
Secondary Certificate Exam.
2. Performance of Teachers' 1 -0.0318 0.1205
3. Teachers' knowledge of 1 -0.1171
4. Teachers' value 1
5. Perceived adequacy of
Instructional resources and
6. Teachers' Qualification
1. Achievement in Junior 0.1245 0.1699
Secondary Certificate Exam.
2. Performance of Teachers' 0.1493 0.2240 *
3. Teachers' knowledge of 0.1177 -0.1154
4. Teachers' value 0.0584 0.0561
5. Perceived adequacy of 1 -0.342 *
Instructional resources and
6. Teachers' Qualification 1
* Significant at 0.05 level.
Table 2: ANOVA Summary for Prediction of Achievement in Junior School
Examination in Home Economics.
Multiple r. 0.19534
R. Square 0.03816
Sources df SS MS F
Regression 5 1.02749 0.020530 0.74581
Residual 94 25.90033 0.27554
achievement in Junior School Certificate Examination (JSCE).
Table 3: Mean Score of Achievement in Junior School Certificate
Examination in Home Economics
Qualification Laos Ogun Oyo/Osun Edo/Delta Ondo
N.C.E. 1.21 1.07 1.01 1.05 1.74
Graduate 1.39 1.08 1.25 1.12 1.78
[bar.x] (Mean) 1.24 1.07 1.05 1.09 1.76
Qualification [bar.x] Mean
[bar.x] (Mean) 1.22
Table 4: ANOVA Summary for Effects of State and Teachers' Qualification
on Achievement in Junior School Certificate Examination (JSCE) in Home
Source SS DF MS F Sign
State 6.301 4 1.575 7.127 * 0.000
Qualification 0.231 1 02231 1.047 0.309
Interaction 0.127 4 0.032 0.144 0.965
Explained 7.035 9 0.782 3.536 0.001
Residual 19.893 90 0.221
Total 26.928 99 0.272
* Significant at 0.05 level