PurposeThis study seeks to examine gender differences amongst science, mathematics and technology (SMT) teachers with regards to nine school environment variables as well as the association of these variables with teachers' professional background and school characteristics.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 275 female and 260 male SMT teachers.FindingsA multiple analysis of variance revealed a statistically significant gender difference on the combined nine school environment variables. Analysis of variance further revealed a significant gender difference in work pressure, principal leadership, teacher‐student relationship and staff freedom. Gender differences in SMT teachers' perceptions of work pressure and principal leadership persisted after controlling for teachers' background and school characteristics. It is recommended that, principals of secondary schools be encouraged to be more democratic and flexible so as to foster an atmosphere of good working relationships with their teachers.Originality/valueThe study encourages SMT teachers to improve on their perception of students' learning in SMT. The impact of a teacher's interest or bias on students' can have a far reaching outcome on their learning.
The study identified basic technology difficult topics in upper basic curriculum as perceived by teachers and students in Ibadan metropolis. A research question and one hypothesis guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey of the correlational research design using multi-stage sampling technique. “Questionnaire for Identification of Basic Technology Difficult Topics in Upper Basic Education” (QIBT-DTUBE) was the main instrument for data collection. Face and content validity of QIBT-DTUBE was established by three technology education experts. The reliability coefficient for QIBT-DTUBE yielded 0.91 using Cronbach Alpha reliability technique. Research questions were analyzed using Mean and Standard deviation while the null hypotheses were tested at .05 level of significance using t-test statistics. Result obtained indicated that teachers and students perceived ten topics as difficult to teach and learn while the students identified additional nine topics that are difficult to learn. More so, a significant difference exists between the mean ratings of upper basic education teachers and students on their perceived levels of difficulty of basic technology topics. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others that basic technology specialist teachers be supported with appropriate trainings and refresher courses on all the topics identified as difficult. Keywords: Difficult Topics, Basic Technology, Basic Education Curriculum, Teachers’ Perception, Students’ Perception
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