Teacher Characteristics and Students’ Choice of Teaching as a Career in Osun State

Abstract

The study investigated the teacher characteristics that influence students’ choice of teaching as a career among secondary school students in Osun state, Nigeria. A sample size of 250 students was drawn from 10 randomly selected senior secondary schools in three local government areas of the state. Data were collected using a validated 35-item questionnaire titled “Teacher characteristics and students’ career aspiration”. The result revealed that factors such as quality of teaching, mode of dressing and communication skills are prominent among what students assess in their teachers as motivators towards choosing teaching as a career. The study also showed a significant relationship between students’ attitude to choice of teaching as a career and teachers characteristics (χ2 = 3.73, p < 0.05). There was also a significant difference between the attitude of private and public school students towards teaching as a profession with regards to teachers characteristics (t = 3.274, p < 0.05). The study concluded that with the prevalence of the observed problems, there is urgent need to work towards repositioning teaching as a career that would attract the interest of people with the potential to deliver the educational need of the Nation by addressing some of the teacher characteristics that can influence students’ choice of teaching as a career.

Key words: Teacher-characteristics, Career, Choice