Emotional intelligence and locus of control as predictors of teachers’ instructional leadership

Thesis Overview

<p> </p><div><p><strong>INTRODUCTION</strong></p><p><strong>Background of the Study</strong></p><p>Recently, the reports of poor academic achievement of students especially in<br>secondary schools has raised more attention and greater concerns among stakeholders<br>in Nigerian education. Academic achievement or academic performance is the<br>outcome of education, that is the, extent to which a student, teacher or institution has<br>achieved their educational goals (Ward, Stoker, &amp; Murray-Ward, 2000). Academic<br>achievement is commonly measured by continuous assessment or examination but<br>there is no general agreement on how it is best tested or which aspects is most<br>important, whether procedural knowledge such as skills or declarative knowledge<br>such as facts (Stumm, Hell, &amp; Chamorro-Premuzic, 2011). Irrespective of the method<br>of academic measurement, Isangedighi (1999) observed that indiscipline, drug<br>addiction, poor socio-economic background of the parents, inadequate motivation on<br>the part of students, lack of information couple with teachers’ nonchalant attitude to<br>work and students’ negative self-concept have often resulted into students’<br>inconsistent and poor academic performances. Yoloye (1999) submitted that theories<br>of educational disadvantages and social cultural pathology have been most prominent<br>in the explanation of poor academic achievement of students in schools. On the<br>contrary, a growing number of scholars, have rejected this latter view and have<br>suggested that many of the problems of learning are the artifacts of discontinuities<br>which are brought about by the separation of learning from real life functions and<br>1<br>2<br>situations (Fagbemi, 2001) and by the exclusion of the child’s language, values and<br>mode of cognition from the school environment (Ugodulunwa, 2007). It seems that<br>the causes of low academic achievement are diverse and cannot be associated with a<br>single factor alone. For in-stance, Adamu (1998) observed that self-concept and its<br>variables may be a paramount factor in academic failure. Tukur &amp; Musa (2001)<br>attributed the causes of fluctuating performances among students to teacher-student<br>inter-actions, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, classroom behavior and other<br>extraneous variables. The above may be responsible for the academic achievement of<br>students in the area of the study.</p><p>In Enugu State, the academic achievement of secondary school students has<br>been observed to be generally poor. A look at the West African Senior Secondary<br>School Certificate Examination results in the past eight years (2005-2012) shows<br>clearly the declining state of secondary school students’ achievements in external<br>examinations in the state. The West African Certificate Examinations Councils’<br>(WAEC) result analysis has it that in 2005, only 27.53% of candidates who sat for the<br>senior secondary school certificate exanimation had five credit passes and above<br>including English Language and Mathematics (WAEC, 2010).The same trend<br>continued in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011and 2012 where only 15.56%,<br>25.54%, 13.76%, 25.99%, 24.94%, 30.99% and 25.76% of candidates respectively<br>obtained five credit passes including English Language and Mathematics.</p></div><h3></h3><br> <br><p></p>