EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND LOCUS OF CONTROL AS PREDICTORS OF TEACHERS’ INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Recently, the reports of poor academic achievement of students especially in secondary schools has raised more attention and greater concerns among stakeholders in Nigerian education. Academic achievement or academic performance is the outcome of education, that is the, extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their educational goals (Ward, Stoker, & Murray-Ward, 2000). Academic achievement is commonly measured by continuous assessment or examination but there is no general agreement on how it is best tested or which aspects is most important, whether procedural knowledge such as skills or declarative knowledge such as facts (Stumm, Hell, & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2011). Irrespective of the method of academic measurement, Isangedighi (1999) observed that indiscipline, drug addiction, poor socio-economic background of the parents, inadequate motivation on the part of students, lack of information couple with teachers’ nonchalant attitude to work and students’ negative self-concept have often resulted into students’ inconsistent and poor academic performances. Yoloye (1999) submitted that theories of educational disadvantages and social cultural pathology have been most prominent in the explanation of poor academic achievement of students in schools. On the contrary, a growing number of scholars, have rejected this latter view and have suggested that many of the problems of learning are the artifacts of discontinuities which are brought about by the separation of learning from real life functions and situations (Fagbemi, 2001) and by the exclusion of the child’s language, values and mode of cognition from the school environment (Ugodulunwa, 2007). It seems that the causes of low academic achievement are diverse and cannot be associated with a single factor alone. For in-stance, Adamu (1998) observed that self-concept and its variables may be a paramount factor in academic failure. Tukur & Musa (2001) attributed the causes of fluctuating performances among students to teacher-student inter-actions, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, classroom behavior and other extraneous variables. The above may be responsible for the academic achievement of students in the area of the study.

In Enugu State, the academic achievement of secondary school students has been observed to be generally poor. A look at the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination results in the past eight years (2005-2012) shows clearly the declining state of secondary school students’ achievements in external examinations in the state. The West African Certificate Examinations Councils’ (WAEC) result analysis has it that in 2005, only 27.53% of candidates who sat for the senior secondary school certificate exanimation had five credit passes and above including English Language and Mathematics (WAEC, 2010).The same trend continued in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011and 2012 where only 15.56%, 25.54%, 13.76%, 25.99%, 24.94%, 30.99% and 25.76% of candidates respectively obtained five credit passes including English Language and Mathematics, which are the minimum entry requirement for admission into Nigerian Universities.

It is believed that many