COMPETENCIES REQUIRED BY CHEMISTRY TEACHERS FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF CHEMISTRY IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ORUMBA SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

This study was designed to find out the competencies required by Chemistry teachers for effective teaching and learning of Chemistry in secondary schools in Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State. Three research questions were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was four hundred and thirty-two (432). This was made up of fourteen (14) Chemistry teachers and four hundred and eighteen (418) SS3 students offering Chemistry at West African Senior School Certificate Examination. Convenience sampling was used to select five (5) secondary schools in the local government area. Due to the manageable size of the population, there was no sampling. Self-structured questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. One set of questionnaire was used for both the teachers and the students. The questionnaire contains a total of 51 items. The questionnaire was validated by three(3) Chemistry lecturers and the internal consistency of the instrument was established using Cronbach Alpha method and this yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.78. Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation. Based on the data analysed, the following finding were made: the competencies required by Chemistry teachers include: classroom instruction, classroom management, assessment and personal competencies, inadequate number of qualified teachers, lack of pedagogical skills of some Chemistry teachers, inadequate equipment for laboratory practical, poor funding among others were factors militating against Chemistry teachers' competencies, provision of adequate number of teachers, provision of good and equipped laboratories, employment of laboratory assistants, among others were some of the strategies for improving Chemistry teachers' competencies for effective teaching and learning. Based on the findings, some of the recommendations made include that the state government through the post primary school commission (PPSC) should ensure that adequate number of qualified Chemistry teachers are employed for secondary schools, the state government should make adequate provision for training and retraining of Chemistry teachers through in-service training, part-time programmes, seminars and workshops among others.