STUDENTS PERCEPTION OF TEACHING AS A PROFESSION

TABLE OF CONTENT

Title page

Approval page

Dedication

Acknowledgment

Abstract

Table of content

CHAPETR ONE

1.0   INTRODUCTION 

1.1        Background of the study

1.2        Statement of problem

1.3        Objective of the study

1.4        Research Hypotheses

1.5        Significance of the study

1.6        Scope and limitation of the study

1.7       Definition of terms

1.8       Organization of the study

CHAPETR TWO

2.0   LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPETR THREE

3.0        Research methodology

3.1    sources of data collection

3.3        Population of the study

3.4        Sampling and sampling distribution

3.5        Validation of research instrument

3.6        Method of data analysis

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

4.1 Introductions

4.2 Data analysis

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Summary

5.3 Conclusion

5.4 Recommendation

Appendix

 Abstract

This study investigated the perception of study towards teaching as a profession. A case study of some secondary schools in Benin City. The purpose of carrying out this study is to highlight student’s perception on teaching as a profession. To find out the perception of the students towards the teaching profession, some research questions were posed to guide the researcher.

1. What is the perception of students to the teaching profession?
2. What are the different factors that influence students perception towards the teaching profession?

iii.           Are teachers performing the primary obligation of the teaching profession? Furthermore, the population of the study consists of some secondary schools in Benin City. Random sampling was used to select one hundred students employed in the study out of the population. The instrument employed in collecting data was the questionnaire. The use of percentage was made in analyzing the data.

 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background of the study

The introduction of the study has to do with career development. It is inevitable pertinent to understand what career is. The advanced learner’s dictionary defines career as way of making ones living, a profession course through life. The meaning of a profession has been a matter of interest among different scholars. A profession can be defined as an occupation that requires specialized training and techniques. According to wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, a profession is a form of employment especially one that is respected in society as honourable as is possible only for an educated person and after training in some branch of knowledge. From this definition, it is obvious that career is an important factor that determines the life of any human beings for years, the primary concern of people has been on how they can find the right job to engage themselves in this enhance the need for career guidance for young people to enable them choose properly whatever work that may be considered appropriate in life is deemed necessary. It follows therefore, that choosing a career or profession is one of the most important decisions a person will make in his lifetime. There are different kinds of career, which one can choose in life some of these are medicine, engineering, law, accountancy, perfuming arts, banking, teaching to mention but a few, however, the area of this study is the teaching profession. Professionals including teaching fraternity need to be equipped with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to enhance learning in a fast changing environment. According to Desimone (2009), professionals in teaching should evolve over research which lead to a more thorough understanding of the factors that contribute to effective teacher professional development and effective education, like: research on teachers’ knowledge of, skills in, and attitudes towards formal and informal collaborative, inquiry based, and contextualized education, development and evaluation of programs, interventions, and tools that foster collaborative, inquiry based, and  contextualized learning, with a specific focus on teacher performance and the effects of this performance on students’ learning. Thus, in order to stimulate and assess effective professional development (in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes) and its impact on, for instance, students’ knowledge acquisition, creative or inquiry thinking, or attitudes and motivations, these concepts first need to be well defined and elaborated on (ELAN, 2014). Among the factors that make teaching a profession are autonomous and trust. That is, teaching is an autonomous profession because it is concerned with the effects of central control on teachers’ professionalism. The second factor, teaching as a trusted profession as it combines statements about trust, integrity, and the desirability of having an influential and independent professional body for all teachers, with those teachers evaluating their work, using their professional judgment and directing other staff in the classroom (Hargreaves et al., 2006). Mainly through case studies, teachers are also involved in creating the knowledge that drives their functioning as professionals. Teachers’ professional knowledge and actual practices may differ not only among countries but also among teachers within a country. To gain an understanding of the prevalence of certain beliefs and practices it is therefore important to examine how they relate to the characteristics of teachers and classrooms. It is even more relevant to look at the impact on teachers’ beliefs, practices and attitudes of professional background factors such as type of training, certification and professional development, subject taught, employment status (part-time versus full-time) and length of tenure. It is important to note that any of these relationships can have different causal interpretations (OECD, 2009). Explicitly, true contribution to the advancement of theory and practice of teacher professional development, is better guided by combination of different parts how do professionals learn, what constitutes teachers’ attitudes towards education or inquiry learning The development, implementation, and evaluation of new interventions (e.g., which interventions, methods, or tools have the desired effects on both teachers and learners), The development and validation of a variety of measurement instruments and methods that assess pedagogical content knowledge, skills, and attitudes of both teachers and students (ELAN, 2014). This study tackles teacher trainees’ aspect of this task in terms of attitude towards their training programme and teaching itself.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

To all professionals, the way they perceive themselves and the value of their services tend to influence their efficiency and hence productivity. For teachers, such perception is influenced by the views of the public about teaching. A teacher tends to be psychologically handicapped by public perception of the value of his/her service. Teachers tend to be humbled by the psychological pressure put on them by the feeling that, despite their irreplaceable service, their career is not regarded as a profession by the public. According to Nenty (2010), pressure emanating from negative views from the public of teaching as a career by the society tends to reduce the amount of affective and cognitive investments on teaching and learning by teachers and teacher trainees. Such views tend to kill the aspiration and inspirational stamina of teachers.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objectives of the study are;

1. To investigate the critical analysis of student’s perception of teaching as a profession.
2. To investigate the attitude of student towards teaching as a profession
3. To ascertain the relationship between student perception and teaching profession
4. To ascertain the factors that would bring about the desirable change in students perception towards teaching as a profession.

1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

For the successful completion of the study, the following research hypotheses were formulated by the researcher;

H₀: there are no relationship between student perception and teaching profession

H₁: there are relationship between student perception and teaching profession

H₀²: there are no factors that would bring about the desirable change in students perception towards teaching as a profession

H₂: there are factors that would bring about the desirable change in students perception towards teaching as a profession

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Since the inception of man, the teaching profession will continue to retain its dominance in the production of manpower in all fields of human endeavours. It is hoped therefore that the findings of this study will help the school management board and the teaching profession by providing better conditions of services for teachers. This in turn will serve as a tonic for enhancing the proficiency of the school system especially in the secondary schools. This study will in consequence help to stimulate students perception and interest and improve their performance in choosing teaching as a career.

1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Scope of the study covers the student’s perception of teaching as a profession. The researcher encounters some constrain which limited the scope of the study;

1. a) AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study
2. b) TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.
3. c) Organizational privacy: Limited Access to the selected auditing firm makes it difficult to get all the necessary and required information concerning the activities.

1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS

STUDENT: A student or pupil is a learner or someone who attends an educational institution. In Britain, those attending university are termed “students” while “pupil refers to a an attendee of a lower educational

PERCEPTION: Perception (from the Latin perceptio) is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information, or the environment.

 TEACHING: Definition of teaching for English Language Learners.  The job or profession of a teacher.  Something that is taught: the ideas and beliefs that are taught by a person, religion, etc.

PROFESSION: A profession is a vocation founded upon specialized educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested objective counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation

1.8 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows

Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (overview, of the study), historical background, statement of problem, objectives of the study, research hypotheses, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, definition of terms and historical background of the study. Chapter two highlights the theoretical framework on which the study is based, thus the review of related literature. Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study. Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding.  Chapter five gives summary, conclusion, and recommendations made of the study

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