FUOYE Journal of Education Vol. 1 No. 2, Dec., 2018

Abstract

Attitude is a point of view about a situation; it is a way of thinking. It is an inward feeling expressed by outward behaviour. It has implications for the learner, the teacher and the social group with which the individual learner relates. Attitudes are formed as a result of certain kinds of learning experiences or even be learned simply by following the example or opinion of a parent, teacher or friend. The objective of this study was to assess science teachers' attitude towards science teaching in senior secondary schools in Ekiti State. Specifically, the study compared the attitude of science teachers towards science teaching on the basis of their: areas of subject specialization and school type. It was a descriptive research of the survey type in which simple random sampling technique was used to select 80 science teachers from both public and private secondary schools in Ekiti State. A questionnaire instrument adapted from Attitude Scale towards Teaching Profession (ASTTP) was used for the data collection. Data description and inferential statistics (t-test and ANOVA) were used to answer the research questions and also test the hypotheses. The findings of the study showed that science teachers generally had positive attitude towards science teaching (t= 15.31 at p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the attitude of the science teachers towards science teaching on the basis of on their areas of subject specialization. There was however a significant difference in the attitude of science teachers towards science teaching based on school type (t= -0.99 at p > 0.05). It is recommended that adequate instructional materials should be made available to science teachers to further enhance their positive attitude towards teaching. These teachers should be trained and retrained in their areas of subject specialization for an improvement in their attitude.