SCHOOL LOCATIONS AND GENDER MODERATED VARIABLES ON TEACHERS’ QUALITY AS PREDICTOR OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL SCIENCE STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Following the potentially informing educational policy and practices across the globe, this study investigated school locations and gender moderated variables on teachers’ quality as predictor of senior secondary school science students’ academic achievement. Two research questions guided the study while two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level. The correlation survey design was adopted. The population of the study comprised 2720 senior secondary two (SS 2) students offering science subjects in all the public secondary schools in Onitsha Education Zone. A Sample size of 408 SS 2 science students offering biology, chemistry, data processing, physics and mathematics in the Education Zone was drawn using multistage procedure. Students Rating of Teachers’ Quality (SRTQ), and the achievement scores which was obtained from biology, chemistry, data processing, physics and mathematics teachers’ grade book for 2023/2024 academic session from the sampled schools were used as instruments for data collection. The instruments were validated by three experts from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The reliability of SRTQ was established using Cronbach alpha method. The reliability coefficients of SRTQ was found to be 0.71. Both SRTQ and the academic achievement scores of senior secondary school science students offering biology, chemistry, data processing, physics and mathematics were used as a method for data collection. Coefficient R and R2 were used to answer research question while regression ANOVA (linear and multiple) were used to test the hypotheses. The findings from the results revealed that low positive predictive value exist between teachers’ quality and academic achievement in science subjects among urban and rural based senior secondary school students. However, teachers’ quality is not a significant predictor of the academic achievement of urban and rural secondary school students in science subjects. Low positive predictive value exist between teachers’ quality and academic achievement of male and female senior secondary school students in science subjects. However, teachers’ quality is not a significant predictor of the academic achievement of male and female senior secondary school students in science subjects. From the findings it was recommended that senior secondary school science teachers should endavour to indicate other factors that can influence students’ achievement in senior secondary school subjects more significantly than teachers’ quality irrespective of students’ gender and school base. Base on the recommendation conclusions were made.