BIOLOGY TEACHERS' AFFECTIVE VARIABLES AS PREDICTORS OF JOB PERFORMANCE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA: A PATH ANALYTICAL APPROACH

Abstract Biology as a natural science is important for inculcating in students the skills for management of natural resources, provision of good health facilities for the people, supply of adequate food and favourable environment. Despite the importance of Biology to students’ academic social and economic developments, students’ achievements in Biology at the Senior School Certificate Examinations as conducted by both the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO) are still not satisfactory as indicated by chief examiners’ reports of the examination bodies. Research studies as well have been focused on students, teacher, home, school, and environmental factors that can improve students’ achievement in school subjects. However, most of the studies in this direction investigated these teacher factors as they influence or predict students’ achievement. Only a handful of studies especially in the African climate have studied factors that could influence teachers’ job performance. Among the few studies the dominant approach has been the correlation of one or two variables with teachers’ job performance, and these studies are scarce in the field of Biology. There is therefore need for more research attention to be drawn to teachers’ job performance, using several variables and methods that can provide causal linkages among the variables. This study adopted a correlation survey research design. The targeted population comprised all Biology teachers in public secondary schools in Lagos State and the sample comprises five hundred Biology teachers, which was selected using multi-stage sampling procedure. The instruments used are Teachers Job Performance Scale (r= 0.859), Emotional Intelligence Scale (r= 0.867), Stress Management Questionnaire (r= 0.786), Teachers’ Social Ability Scale (r= 0.625), The Teaching Anxiety Scale II, Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (r= 0.606), Teacher Self-motivation Scale (r= 0.632), and Teacher Expectations Inventory (r= 0.654). Data analysis was carried using Path Analysis on AMOS software to answer the research questions The result shows that the empirical data fits the hypothesized model showing the causal linkages among seven teacher factors and job performance. Job performance has a positive and non-significant relationship with Anxiety and Self-motivation; negative and non-significant relationship with emotional intelligence, Self-Efficacy and Expectation. However, job performance has a negative and significant with Stress Management and Social Ability. Recommendations were made to highlight the role of Government, Authorities of secondary schools and other stakeholders in ensuring that teachers perform at the highest level to improve the quality of education.