HUMAN RESOURCES AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN EDUCATION

ABSTRACT

 This study investigated human resources and students’ academic performance in public senior secondary schools in Education District IV of Lagos State. Three research questions were answered and three hypotheses were tested in this study. The population for the research was made up of all the public senior secondary schools in Lagos State Education District IV, Lagos State. The simple random sampling technique was used to make the selection of ten public senior secondary schools. Twenty teachers from each school were randomly selected from the ten sampled public senior secondary schools in Education District IV, given a total of 86 teachers. The study used a descriptive survey research design with the use of questionnaire in the collection of data from the participants. The Data were analysed with the use of Chi-square (X2) and correlation statistical tools. The study found that teachers’ qualification significantly influenced students’ academic performance; teachers’ years of teaching experience significantly influenced students’ academic performance and a negative relationship exists between teacher – student ratio and students’ academic performance. Based on these findings, it was concluded that teachers’ characteristics such as gender, age, qualification and years of teaching experience had significant influence on students’ academic performance. However, it was recommended, among others, that stakeholders in education should not compromise in the employment of qualified and experienced teachers; and that there should be provision of more facilities that will reduce the teacher–student ratio in schools so that academic performance can be improved.