IMPACT OF OUT-OF-FIELD SECONDARY SCHOOL BIOLOGY TEACHERS’ CONTENT MASTERY AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT ANXIETY ON PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE IN NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

This study examined the impact of out-of-field secondary school Biology teachers’ anxiety on Content Mastery and Classroom Management on Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Niger State, Nigeria. The research design that was adopted for this study is the Correlation research design. Six research questions with four null hypotheses guided the study. The population of this study was six hundred and sixty-six (666) out- of-field Biology teachers’ in 543 public and private senior Secondary Schools drawn from the seven educational zones in Niger State. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted for this study; firstly, stratified sampling technique was used for selecting 226 senior secondary schools from 7 educational zones while simple random sampling technique was adopted in picking 501 respondents from the schools. Three researcher developed-questionnaires validated by 2 experts in science education and one psychologist were used for data collection. The questionnaire had two sections (A and B). Section A was designed to collect demographic data of respondents, while section B had 15 content mastery statements using anxiety constructs. The reliability coefficient of the instrument were 0.85; 0.84; and 0.86 respectively through Cronbach Alpha formula. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as Percentages (%), bar charts, Mean and Standard Deviation were used in answering the research questions raised while inferential statistics such as linear and multiple regressions analysis were used to analyze data for hypotheses testing at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that the level of anxiety of out-of-field Biology teachers was within the mean range of highly anxious. There is a significant relationship between the predictor (content mastery) and the criterion variables (pedagogical content knowledge). The study recommends among others that teaching in senior secondary schools should be ‘strictly’ professionalized in all respects and treated as such to remove quackery in its field of practice to ensure efficiency and efficacy.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Education is a continuous process of training and developing the knowledge, skills, mind and character of people. Ewetan and Ewetan (2015) and Ogunyinka, et al. (2015) defined education as the delivery of knowledge, skills, values and information from teachers to students. It is the bedrock of any society and a major tool for developing any nation of the world. Furthermore, Transforming Education in Niger State (TENS 2017) asserted that education is a fundamental social process that uses the context of formal, informal or non-formal instruction to transfer knowledge, skills, ideas, insights, attitude or something akin to any of these so as to empower an individual to execute certain activity to a desirable standard, or manifest desirable behaviour of benefit to himself and the society (TENS, 2017). Olurotimi and Olutope (2014) remarked that the heart of educational system is the teacher including the science teacher. They impact students with the necessary skills to better the society, as science is a tool for national growth and development. The important roles of science towards national development make it important and practically necessary for science to be taught in an organized and well- structured manner.

Science is a fundamental basic tool for man’s process and development. The ability to teach science effectively requires a thorough knowledge of how to teach science. Ogunleye and Babajide (2011) emphasized the importance of scientific knowledge in boosting national prestige, national income and international rating of the country. According to them, science gave  birth to the production of micro-computers and their innovative applications which earned the developed countries such as the United States of  America  and  Japan  unparalleled  national  wealth  and  enviable  national  prestige.

Hence, effective science teaching is pertinent, as it is the gateway to attainment of scientific and technological greatness. Schwab (1978) in Nixon (2015) divided science into three distinctive disciplines which include Physics, Chemistry and Biology.

Biology is one of the basic science subject taught in senior secondary schools. It is one of the most utilized basic science subjects in most technology and technology-related profession. This merely indicates the enormous role that Biology plays in the technological growth of any nation which cannot be undermined. It is germane to say that the technological growth of a nation leads to its social and economic development. For this reason, the importance of Biology for the development of a nation is glaring.  It is also a cross-cutting discipline that has applications in many sectors of economic development, including health, agriculture, food production, inbreeding, blood transfusion, in-vitro fertilization, hybridization to mention but a few (Akpomedaye,2014). The effective teaching of the subject in schools is therefore desirable.

Nevertheless, the problem of getting sufficient numbers of qualified teachers to staff classrooms, for efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of instructions, most especially in the sciences and mathematics is a nightmare. Cobbold (2015) submitted that United States of America (USA) and United Kingdom (UK) for example faced an uphill battle to fill their science and mathematics classrooms with qualified teachers while Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) corroborates that its member countries equally experience acute shortages of teachers (OECD, 2005). Nilsson (2003) analyzed various country reports presented at the 2000 World Education Forum in Dakar, and noted that many African countries such as Angola, Central Africa Republic, Malawi, Ghana, Eritrea, Nigeria and Zambia equally faced large shortage of teachers, with sciences and mathematics been the worst hit.

In Nigeria for instance, Akinsolu (2010) investigated the problems of teacher shortage in secondary schools in Kwara State and found out hidden shortage of teachers have contributed to massive failures as a result of poor teaching quality. Adeyemi (2011) remarked that the poor performance of students in Mathematics was as a result of poor knowledge in the subject which was brought about by hidden shortage of teachers teaching Mathematics in schools. Similarly, in Ekiti State, Adeyemi (2011)   reported serious unfilled vacancies in Biology as he stated  that, out of the 2178 Biology teachers needed in urban schools in 2011, only 762 teachers were in post leaving a deficit of 1416 Biology teachers. Similarly, Adeyemi (2011) examined the performance of Nigerian students in Physics, Chemistry and Biology in the West African School Certificate examinations and reported that “the high failure rate was due partly to the acute shortage of science teachers”. The result of this shortage of qualified teachers in Secondary Schools may have required teachers to teach outside their specialty areas, which is known as out-of-field teaching (Adeyemi, 2011; Hobbs, 2012; Du Plessis, 2015; Nixon et al, 2017).

Out-of-field teaching (OOF) has been a trending phenomenon which is referred to as teaching in a subject area where the teacher does not possess the prerequisite academic and professional qualification, or the teacher has neither a major nor a minor tertiary teaching qualification. For example, if a graduate of Chemistry Education is assigned to teach Biology or Physics at Secondary School, then such a teacher is assigned OOF. In the same vein, if a National Certificate in Education (NCE) holder is assigned to teach Biology  or  Chemistry  at  the  senior  Secondary  School  then  such  teacher  is  OOF. Ingersoll ( 2004) in Du Plessis (2017); Nixon, et al. (2016) and Cinkir and Kurum (2015) explained that, out-of-field teaching entails teachers teaching subjects for which they have little training or no certification in or teach subjects /year-levels outside their field of qualification or expertise. This explanation was expanded further by Weldon (2016) to mean that secondary school teachers’ teaching a subject for which they have not studied above first year at university and for which they have not studied teaching methodology. To a certain level, no school is spared in this menace, from public to private, from religions to secular schools and from urban to rural schools. Survey of teaching force of many nations has shown that, a very high percentage of teachers are assigned to teach out of their field of specializations (Cinkir & Kurum, 2015; Sambe, 2015; Subair & Talabi, 2015).

Today, out-of-field teaching is not seen as an aberration neither is it restricted to only few subjects. It affects all subject areas and year levels with science subjects and mathematics been the most affected. Kenny and Hobbs (2015) reported that, Out-of- field teaching is a global phenomenon and is widespread across various countries. It affects countries such as USA, UK, South Africa, Namibia and Nigeria to mention but a few. The concept of OOF teaching can be related to what is called ‘specialization’ in some regions of the world.  This practice appears in schools as a result of managerial decision by the principals or proprietors, governmental recruitment and placement procedures (mis-assignment), shortage of qualified teachers, continuous curriculum changes and transformation oblige teachers to teach subjects for which they do not have the required qualifications (Du Plessis, 2017). This problem is one of the major unrecognized  administrative  problems  in  our  school  system.  It  is  described  as education’s ‘dirty little secret’ and ‘a wolf in a sheep’s cloth’ by some other researchers (Du  Plessis,  2015).  The  comments  of  these  various  researchers  only  reflect  their concerns for ‘out-of-field’ teaching which negatively affected the images and output of our  school  system.  This  expresses  the  havoc  that,  this  practice  has  caused  to  the education sector and also a threat to the professional ethics of teachers.

In view of that, this phenomenon in teaching is under-theorized and under-researched (Du plessis, 2015; Schueler, et al., 2016) in respect to their professional knowledge and practices. By virtue of this practice, out-of-field teachers are faced with huge knowledge gaps  in  the  mastery  of  content  and  in  the  skills  delivery,  which  make  them professionally incompetent. However, this gap may be as a result of inadequate and inaccurate understanding of the content and lack of skills to deliver. They continually face the challenge of understanding the structure and nature of the discipline. This may decrease their teaching effectiveness which may affect their capability to teach effectively and efficiently in the classroom. As a result, impede students’ achievement. Therefore, inadequate knowledge of the teacher in the subject matter, alongside poor preparation coupled with feelings of inadequacy may manifest in form of anxiety. The consequence  of  this  anxiety  may  cause  the  out-of-field  Biology  teachers  to  teach Biology in a perfunctory or careless manner.

Anxiety is an affective construct which is defined as “something felt‟ by Freud, it is a kind of unpleasant emotional state or condition that includes feelings of uneasiness, worry and apprehension. According to American Psychiatric Association (2013) anxiety is a psychological and physiological state which is characterized by physical, emotional, cognitive and  behavioural  components.  Supporting  this  definition,  Jenaabadi,  et  al. (2016) attest that anxiety is a group of physical, behavioural and mental changes occurring in response to threat which results in ineffectiveness, wearing out, lack of energy and power, and an exhaustion of the inner resources of an individual due to unsatisfied needs. Teaching anxiety is the association between anxiousness and teaching which the out-of-field Biology teacher experiences during instruction from preparation to execution of classroom activities.   Anxiety as an affective state, Tüfekçi (2018) classified anxiety into three types as trait (A-trait), state (A-state) and situation-specific anxiety. Trait anxiety is a kind of constant personality trait in an individual that is inborn, State anxiety, is a transient or momentary anxiety and situation-specific anxiety is associated with explicit situations and events. Out-of-field teachers’ anxiety is a state condition which is seen as a psychological discomfort or apprehension which is unique to  out-of-field  teachers  who  are  responsible  for  teaching  learners  how  to  learn effectively  and  professionally  in  a classroom  setting using all  skills and  sub  skills required for teaching. A-States related behaviours of OOF Biology teachers’ include feeling of inadequacy as a result of teachers’ insufficient content knowledge, lack of knowledge about subject-specific and topic-specific strategies and loss of confidence. Cheng and Liao (2016) and Buckler (2013) classified symptoms of A-States into cognitive and somatic or physiological. According to them, cognitive symptoms include anxiousness, nervousness, fear, panic, mental disorientation and apprehension, while physiological A-States are increased respiration, rapid pulse, sweaty palms, stress, burnout and high blood pressure. A-States symptoms were adopted in this study in order to determine the anxiety levels of the OOFT. A-traits did not apply in the present study because; they tend to be innate or in-born and are not acquired as a result of experience (Aynur & Aydın, 2014; Bilali &Tarusha, 2015).

Studies have shown that anxiety is considered on a continuum from normal levels of anxiety,  which  can  be  helpful  (facilitating),  to  excessive  anxiety  which  can  be detrimental (debilitating)  and may negatively impede performance.   The continuum include from mild level, to moderate level, to severe level and lastly to panic level of anxiety which can hamper on the teaching process, from preparation to actual implementation stage. However, Sammepet and Wanphet (2013) purported that teachers with higher levels of anxiety give less verbal support to their students, spend more time organizing classroom  exercises and  their students are liable to hostile remarks  and actions. For instance, OOFT who do not understand about the positive and negative sides of a Biology model or practice about different possible experiments that could be used for a particular topic (content knowledge) may have difficulty in instruction which may lead to high anxiety.

Content Mastery (CM) as a variable is a phrase that describes the teacher’s knowledge of a subject specific area which is obtained through formal training at the university or Colleges of Education. Content knowledge is foundational to effective teaching. Evens, et al., (2015) defined Content Knowledge as the knowledge of subject or discipline per se and included substantive structures and syntactic structures. Substantive content knowledge refers “to the concepts, principles, laws, and models in a particular content area of a discipline while syntactic content knowledge is the “set of ways in which truth or falsehood, validity or invalidity are established. More so, Geoffrey, et al. (2014) affirmed that content knowledge is a long established basic prerequisite for teaching a subject,  and  it  is  an  essential  requirement  for  teacher  certification.  Literature  on teachers’ knowledge  posits that a deeper and  coherent  knowledge can  be used  for identifying relevant and accurate examples of concepts. This implies that teachers with stronger content knowledge are more likely to teach in ways that will help students to construct knowledge, create appropriate questions, suggest alternative explanations, and propose additional inquiries (Uya, 2011; Afolayan, et al., 2013).

The evidence gained from different studies on Content Mastery is contradictory. Several studies show a positive relationship between teachers’ preparation in the subject matter they later teach and anxiety while others have less unequivocal results. Morteza and Morteza (2013) in a study of teachers’ anxiety among practicing EFL teachers in Iran reported that EFL teachers, experience high rate of anxiety (57.62%) as a result of language proficiency. Most researchers have found that anxiety declines linearly as a function  of  mastery  of  the subject  (Haciomeroglu,  2014).  Others  have  reported  no statistically significant differences between levels of anxiety and content mastery of pre-service teachers (Akinsola, 2008). Additionally some previous studies found that younger and newly employed teachers experienced higher levels of anxiety than older and experienced teachers (Du plessis, 2015; Nwimo, 2004) while other studies indicated that older and experienced teachers’ exhibit higher anxiety than newly employed teachers.

Ultimately, literature has indicated that, content knowledge is not sufficient for effective teaching  without  pedagogical  knowledge.  Thus,  what  makes  a  teacher  capable  of teaching is how well he or she facilitates learning. This facilitation is achieved by combining subject content knowledge with Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). This is because subject mastery is distinguishable from PCK and is not enough to bring students comprehension (McConnell, et al., 2013; Kola & Sunday, 2016).

PCK is a practical knowledge that is used by teachers to guide their actions in a highly contextualized classroom setting. That is, their own special forms of professional delivering of their subject matter. Aina and Sunday (2015) acknowledges PCK to be the analytic bond between teacher’s content knowledge and teachers’ knowledge of pedagogy. It is the characteristics of teacher knowledge of how to teach the mastered content. This construct is unique and is used only in the realm of education (teaching). Agboade  (2009)  reiterated  that  PCK  enables  the  teacher  to  transform  the  content mastery into a form that students can use. It helps teachers create an understanding of how certain topics and problems are presented and adapted to the learners’ interest and abilities.   This knowledge is developed over time and through experience (Loughran, et al., 2012; Evens, et al., 2015).  PCK enable science teachers to use pictures, drawings, examples,  models,  videos  and  analogies  which  are  to  help  students  to  understand specific science concepts. For instance, teachers have to know about the positive and negative sides of a Biology model or practice about different possible experiments that could be used for a particular topic (Halim, et al., 2014). If teachers do not know the positive and negative sides of demonstrations, they cannot use the demonstrations in their courses and their students can have misconceptions in these courses.

With regard to the relationship between anxiety and PCK, previous studies had mixed results as to whether or not anxiety differed based on a teachers’ PCK. However, the result is inconclusive.   A plethora of studies indicated that older teachers’ exhibited higher level of anxiety while some other studies showed that older teachers had low level of anxiety (Nwimo, 2004) based on their PCK. Some researchers have argued that there is not always a sharp distinction between PCK and subject matter knowledge because subject matter knowledge functions as a source to be transformed for teaching, On the other hand, student-teachers having inaccurate and inadequate knowledge might transfer their own misconceptions to their students and in this way add to students’ conceptual  difficulties.  Kaya  (2008)  showed  that  there  was  a  significant interrelationship between the subject matter and pedagogical knowledge of the pre- service science teachers. Similarly, many researchers such as Halim, et al., (2012), Van Driel and Berry (2012) concluded that content knowledge had influence on pedagogical content knowledge and their anxiety level.

The recognition of one’s PCK is most evident when teaching outside an area of subject expertise, despite having a strong specialist content mastery and a developed knowledge of pedagogy in one owns discipline, a combination of such teacher’s skill is not enough to use it to teach in another subject area (McConnell, et al., 2013). Similarly, when an out-of- field Secondary School Biology teacher is confronted with topic in which he has little familiarity, he gets challenged both in content knowledge, skills and in attitudes to confront situations. Consequently he becomes unqualified to teach that subject. It is worth noting that, this construct differs from one discipline to another, for example PCK for teaching Biology is different from PCK for teaching Chemistry or Physics. According to Du Plessis (2015), out-of-field teachers (OOFT) do not feel in control of their PCK as they mostly avoid challenging part of the curriculum and at the same time shy away from assigning group work describing it as difficult. It was further noted that insufficient PCK restrict the ability of OOFT to maximize the curriculum potentials and its expectations. Thus, restricted PCK of a classroom OOF teacher can negatively affect teaching. A classroom  is a workplace or learning  environment where teaching  and learning activities take place. Classroom, according to Nwiyi (2017) is the meeting point for both teachers and students where curricular activities are implemented. The classroom environment is characterized by a network of interpersonal relationships directed at the attainment of educational goals by the teacher. The process of organizing human and material resources in the classroom for the purpose of educational goals is referred to as classroom management.

Classroom Management is a terminology often used to describe the process of ensuring that lessons are  smoothly carried  out despite disruptive behaviours  of the learners. Sakirudeen, and Sunday (2017) defined classroom management as any action a teacher takes to create an environment that supports and facilitates both academic and social- emotional learning. This ranges from the physical environment, establishing rules and procedures, maintaining students’ attention to lessons and engagement in activities to improve  teacher-student  relationships.     Furthermore,  Yasar  (2008)  claimed  that classroom management is a comprehensive concept that consists of three independent dimensions: people management, behaviour management and instructional management. The  people  management  dimension  is  centered  on  how  the  teacher  perceives  the students and how they view their relationship with the students. Behaviour management focuses on a teacher’s pre-planned methods of preventing misbehaviour, rather than simply their reaction to it once it occurs. Finally, instructional management dimension is based on the daily routines of the classroom and allocation of materials.  To this end, good classroom management can imply good instruction delivery and prevention of misbehaviour (proactive) before they occur in the classroom environment. However, teachers sometimes have problems with learners’ behaviour and frequent manifestation of classroom indiscipline, which often result in high level of stress on the part of the teacher and symptoms of burnout or anxiety (Ali-Satar, 2017).

On  the  influence  of  classroom  management  and  anxiety,  Findings  from  previous studies also had mixed result. Some studies revealed that the newly employed teachers experienced higher level of anxiety in the management of behavior, while a plethora of studies indicated  that there was  no  difference in the level  of anxiety in classroom management and time management (Kowsalya & Nalinilatha, 2017). Some other empirical studies revealed low level of anxiety was experienced by unqualified science teachers who had been teaching for over many years. The success of any teaching to a large extent depends on the way classroom management are deployed. However, failure to  effectively  manage  the  classroom  by  out-of-field  teaching  can  have  an  overall negative effect on the sound academic performance of the students. Conversely, ineffective management leads to serious condition of indiscipline and causes damage to the conducive climate for learning. In a disorganized and chaotic classroom where the out-of-field Biology teacher is grossly inadequate in CK and PCK, little teaching may take  place  and  students  in  such  a  class  may  be  bored,  uninteresting,  confused, inattentive, annoyed, lost, asleep, unsecured, resentful and not concentrating when they perceive that the teacher is not communicating effectively or carrying them along in the classroom teaching (Ngerem & Ezikpe, 2017). Researches indicate that females are getting significantly poorer in science education than males even when they are in the same classroom (Ewetan & Ewetan, 2013; Ambe & Agbor, 2014).

Gender as a variable refers to masculinity and feminity found in an individual. In education, gender inequality has remained an issue of concern and interest to teachers, school administrators and stakeholders in the education sector. Gender differences have become critical issues of concern around the world most especially to educators and researchers. Awodun et al, (2015) reported that there is no country in the world that has reached equality state between women and men in different critical areas such as in economic participation or in education.   Some researchers believe that people react differently to anxiety based on their gender when put under same experiences, expectation and similar circumstance. This is so because they perceive the threatening situation differently as a result of their biological, psychological and emotional differences (Morteza & Morteza, 2013).

On  the  influence  of  anxiety  on  gender,  findings  from  studies  appeared  to  be inconclusive.   Some previous studies have reported higher levels of anxiety in males than females. Lampadan (2014) reported that there is a correlation between science anxiety and gender differences in teaching as females are more anxious than their male counterparts.  A  perusal  of  empirical  educational  literature  reveals  that  there  is significant noticeable difference in the proportion of male to female science teachers. However, this phenomenon has been disturbing despite the clamour for gender equality treatment and advancement in teaching of science.  Uzoma (2019) stated that males and females secondary school teachers’ level of stress/ anxiety has no significant difference. In the same vein, Akinsola (2014) reported that there was no significant difference between male and female pre-service teachers teaching anxiety in mathematics. Similarly, in studies conducted on pre- service teachers by Yayli and Gungor (2012) and Aynur and Aydin (2013) in Turkey found that there was no significant difference between anxiety of male and female English as a foreign language (EFL) instructors towards  teaching.  Studies  have  indicated  that  teacher’s  experience  irrespective  of gender exerts a great influence on students’ achievement.

The term teacher experience is used here to denote the number of years a teacher has been practicing the art of teaching. Experience, they say, is the best teacher. Teachers’ experience is a unique quality for teaching effectiveness. Experienced teachers are great asset to novice teachers who need advice, encouragement and continuous guidance. Austin & Omomia (2014) stated that experience is directly related to teachers’ ability to plan lessons, address divergent student responses, and reflect on their teaching effectiveness and their ability to stimulate student inquiry. Ameen, et al. (2002) and Clayford (2010) commented that experience improves teaching skills while students learn better at the hand of teachers who have taught them continuously over a period of years. According to Rice (2003) the magnitude of the effect of teacher experience varies depending on the teacher’s level of education and the subject area. He further opined that experience gained over time, enhances the knowledge, skills, and productivity of workers.   These   qualities   facilitate   students’   skills   and   also   enable   thorough understanding of Biology concepts. Some studies show a stronger positive relationship between teacher experience and teacher anxiety.    Kumar and Deo (2011) discovered that junior college teachers experienced extremely more anxiety/stress on most of the dimensions of stress in comparison to senior teachers. Additional years of experience had a significant positive effect on teachers’ while very few years had a negative impact on their performance. Study by Numaya (2013) affirmed that younger and less experienced teachers  felt  greater anxiety/stress than  their colleagues from  pressures associated with discipline, poor promotion prospects and management issue. Teachers with long years of experience are confident that even the most difficult student can be reached if they exert extra effort; while teachers without experience feel a sense of helplessness.

Research on teacher experience is sparse and the results are inconclusive, as there is a wide range of findings on the relationship between years of teaching experience and teachers’ anxiety.   Past studies on the effects of teacher experience showed that experience had statistical significant effect on teachers’ anxiety. Nwimo (2004) stated that there was difference between anxiety and years of teaching experience. In the same vein, Numaya (2013) submitted that anxiety and years of teaching experience had no significant difference while Nwimo (2004) also found no significant difference when age, gender and work experience were considered. Some studies also revealed that experienced teachers with longer years of service experience more anxiety than less experienced ones as a result of work over load and managerial responsibilities. In a relationship among teacher variables and school type, Adesoji and Olatunbisun (2008) discovered a correlation between years of experience and public schools in urban area.

School   type   (ownership)   in   Nigeria   is   the   controlling   force   in   terms   of   the administration of the school and this could be divided into two broad structures which are: Public and private schools. Schools that are established and run by governments are called public schools while those established by non-government agencies such as individuals, associations or organizations and missionaries are referred to as private schools  (Owoeye  &  Yara  (2011).  These  schools  are  established  for profit  making. McConney and Price (2009) as well as Weldon (2016) reported that OOF teaching is more prevalent in private schools than in public schools. In a survey of teachers in Perth metropolitan region of Western Australia (WA) in 2007 and  2008, Weldon (2016) reported that the rate of OOF teaching in government schools stood at 14–18% while that of non-government schools was 27–30% whereas schools in rural location had higher rate of OOFT  as it is 26% in government  and 39–44% in non-government schools.

On the influence of anxiety on school type, findings from studies appeared to be inconsistent.   Some previous studies have reported higher levels of anxiety exists in private school teachers than in public school teachers, while other studies revealed that public school teachers have a higher anxiety level than private schools teachers’. Other studies show no difference in level of anxiety. From the foregoing, Public and Private schools are situated in geographical areas using the location planning techniques to ensure even distribution (Owoeye & Yara, 2011).

School location is one of the powerful factors that influence the distribution of educational  resources.  School  Location  is  defined  as  the  environmental  condition around a school. According to Mhiliwa, (2015) the location of the school is crucial to teacher’s performance. Schools are located both in urban and rural centres. As the names denote, urban schools are schools located in Urban or Metropolitan centres while rural   schools   are   schools   located   in   rural   or   remote   areas.   Oredein   (2016) conceptualized urban schools as schools located in urban centre where there is high population density containing a high variety, beauty and common place views, such as recreational centers, modern markets, banks, hotels, and good road network. Owoeye and Yara (2011) accentuated that highly qualified teachers prefer to serve therein rather than the rural areas. Rural schools are schools located in rural areas, where there is low population  density,   containing  low  variety  and  isolated  place  views  with  few settlements with subsistence mode of life, monotonous and burdensome.

Making a critical analysis of location, Owoeye and Yara (2011) and Oredein (2016) noted that teachers do not accept postings to rural areas because their conditions are not up to the expected standard, and their social life in the areas is virtually restricted as a result of inadequate amenities, deficient facilities, unequipped playground and libraries are  without  books.  These  reasons  have  given  rise to  OOF  teaching  as  many  rural teachers teach subjects out of their areas of specialization. Literature posits that low- income public schools had higher rates of out-of-field teaching than schools in prosperous or urban communities. In rural schools in Western Australia, about 48% of teachers reported teaching out-of-field across all sectors, with the independent sector reporting 70% of secondary teachers working out-of- field (McConney & Price, 2009; Shaplin, 2014). Findings from literature reviewed appeared to be inconclusive. Christopher, et al., (2018) submitted that there were significant differences between anxiety/stress and biographical variables such as gender and certification and between public schools and private schools, while Pasek (2006) reported that qualification and anxiety of 154 teachers in Australia had no significant differences. However, Sharma (2008) found out that there is a high and significant relationship between teachers’ qualification and anxiety.

With regard to the relationship between level of study and academic-related anxiety, research  findings  have  been  mixed.  Whereas  most  of  researchers  have  found  that anxiety declines linearly as a function of year of study (Aftab & Khatoon, 2016), others have reported no statistically significant differences between levels of study with regard to anxiety (Bowers, 2010). Additionally, teachers in urban schools are more qualified than their counter part in rural schools. Teacher qualification refers to academic and professional qualifications that enables a person to become a registered teacher at all levels of education. It also relates to the acquisition of relevant knowledge, skills and competence and creativity needed for quality productive engagement in the teaching profession. Teachers’ certification status and degree in area of specialization are very significant and positively correlated with students learning outcomes in science and mathematics. It is the most important factor in improving students’ achievement in Biology. Teacher specialization is a pre-requisite requirement for meeting the objectives of the Biology curriculum (Ofosuhene, 2018).

Research on the value of a teacher’s advanced degree is mixed: some studies show that while additional teacher education has a negative correlation with anxiety in some cases, others find that it positively affects anxiety.  Ayansina ( 2015) and Ewetan and Ewetan (2013) found that a teacher’s advanced degree is not generally associated with increased anxiety, but having an advanced degree in Math and Science for Math and Science teachers appears to influence anxiety. In the same way, Oludipe (2014) stated that the findings of other studies about the impact on anxiety of teachers’ advanced degrees are inconclusive because they considered only the level of the degree and not the subject of the degree, which may affect teachers’ anxiety and student achievement in disfferent ways than the degree level.

1.2       Statement of the Research Problem

Despite  the  importance  of  teachers  to  students’  academic  achievement,  results  of students in  Biology  and other related  science  subjects  in Senior School  Certificate Examinations  (SSCE)  such  as  WAEC  and  NECO  in  Niger  state  has  fallen  to  an alarming level. In Niger State, there is the problem of shortage (dearth) of qualified teachers’ in senior secondary schools to teach science subjects (TENS, 2017).

TENS (2017) reported that senior Secondary Schools in Niger State lacked sufficiently qualified teachers to teach core   science subjects, such as Biology and   Mathematics. Pilot study conducted by the researcher shows that Senior Secondary Schools in the state are plagued with hidden shortage (where teaching in a subject is given by teachers considered to be inadequately qualified) and modernized shortage (where teachers who are formally qualified but already are out of touch). The result of this shortage of qualified teachers in senior Secondary Schools may have required the head teachers which are to a greater extent in control of their schools to bear the brunt of assigning teachers’ to teach outside their specialty area. This has led to increased use of non- subject teachers which are recruited as a result of management decisions  as “quick fix” (quick replacement of non-subject teachers’ to teach the subject); “hire less qualified teachers”, deploy or redeploy teachers trained in another field or substitute teachers. All these leads to out-of-field teaching, which has been a trending phenomenon in most of our schools. Although there is no statistics to show for the existence of out-of-field teaching in Niger State, this hydra headed monster is a reoccurring phenomenon in our schools.

If out-of-field Biology teachers’ who may be anxious about Biology are charged with teaching students Biology, their anxieties may have consequences on their students’ achievement. Since this teachers have inadequate knowledge of the content and skills to teach this subject effectively, they may transfer their own misconceptions of the subject to  their  students  and  in  this  way  add  to  students’  conceptual  difficulties.  Anxious teachers may unintentionally transfer anxiety to students in their classroom. The consequences of this practice may have resulted in raised anxiety levels which have shown up in a spectrum of behaviors and students achievement in internal and external examinations.  This problem is widespread and continuing. For this reason, this study is one of such endeavours, as it tends to bring to light the concept of OOF teachers’ anxiety and how it impacts students’ performance. It is against this background that the study focuses on the impact of out-of-field secondary school Biology teachers’ Content Mastery and Classroom Management anxiety on Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Niger State, Nigeria.

1.3       Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of this study is to understand the impact of out-of-field secondary school Biology teachers’ Content Mastery and Classroom Management anxiety on Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Niger State, Nigeria.

The objectives of the study are to determine:

1.   The level of anxiety of out-of-field Biology teachers’ on Content Mastery

2.   The   level   of   anxiety   of   out-of-field   Biology   teachers’   on   Classroom

Management

3.   The influence of out-of-field Biology teachers’ anxiety on Content mastery and

Pedagogical   Content Knowledge (PCK)

4.   Examine  the  relationship  between  out-of-field  Biology  teachers’  anxiety  on

Classroom Management and Pedagogical Content Knowledge

5. The relationship between out-of-field Biology teachers’ anxiety on Content Mastery,  school type,  school location, gender, years of teaching  experience, educational qualification on Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)

6. Examine the relationship between out-of-field Biology teachers’ anxiety on Classroom Management, school type, school location, gender, years of teaching experience, educational qualification on Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK).

1.4       Research Questions

The following research questions were raised to guide the study

1.     What is the level of anxiety of out-of-field Biology teachers’ on Content Mastery?

2.     What  is  the  level  of  anxiety  of  out-of-field  Biology  teachers’  on  Classroom

Management?

3.     What is the relationship between out-of-field Biology teachers’ anxiety on Content

Mastery and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)

4.     What  is  the  relationship  between  out-of-field  Biology  teachers’  anxiety  on

Classroom Management and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)

5.     What is the correlation between out-of-field Biology teachers’ anxiety on Content Mastery, school type, school location, gender, years of teaching experience, educational qualification on Pedagogical Content Knowledge?

6.     What  is  the  correlation  between  out-of-field  Biology  teachers’  anxiety  on Classroom Management, school type, school location, gender, years of teaching experience, educational qualification on Pedagogical Content Knowledge?

1.5       Research Hypotheses

The following research hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 significant level

1.   There  is  no  significant  relationship  between  out-of-field  Biology  teachers’

anxiety on Content Mastery and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)

2.   There  is  no  significant  relationship  between  out-of-field  Biology  teachers’

anxiety on Classroom Management and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)

3.   There  is  no  significant  correlation  between  out-of-field  Biology  teachers’ anxiety on Content Mastery, school type, school location, gender, years of teaching experience, educational qualification on Pedagogical Content Knowledge

4.   There  is  no  significant  correlation  between  out-of-field  Biology  teachers’ anxiety on Classroom Management, school type, school location, gender, years of teaching experience, educational qualification on Pedagogical Content Knowledge.

1.6       Scope of the Study

The geographical scope for this study is all the out-of-field Secondary School Biology teachers’ employed to teach in public and private senior Secondary Schools in Niger State. Niger State has a landmass of 72,000 km2 of approximately 8.6.million hectares. It lies on latitude 3.200  East and longitude 11.300  North.   The State derived its name from River Niger and is situated in the North-Central geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The State has 25 Local Government Areas and is the second largest State in Nigeria. It shares boundary with Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Zamfara (North), Kebbi (North- West), Kwara (South-West) and Kaduna (North-East). The population of Niger State based on the 2006 National Census figures was below 4, 000,000 people. The content scope for this study is Biology teaching while the variable scope: dependent variables are   anxiety,   content   mastery,   pedagogical   content   knowledge   and   classroom management techniques and the independent variable is out-of-field Biology teachers while the moderating variables are gender, teaching experience, school location and type. The instrument scope is the questionnaires developed by the researcher and the time scope (fieldwork aspect of this study) will last for eight weeks.

1.7       Significance of the Study

Findings of the study would be useful to students, teachers, parents, educational administrators,   education   planners,   policy   makers,   researchers   and   the   entire educational system.

Findings of this study would be useful to the students.  Students deserved to be taught by a competent, confident and a well-prepared Biology teacher’ who will teach the students’ in order to gain understanding of the abstract nature of Biology,  by moving from a simpler understood concept to a more difficult concept  in Biology.

To the teachers, this study would help the out-of-field Biology teacher to embark on self-empowerment to better their core knowledge, identifying appropriate pedagogical skills suitable to a content area as proposed in the curriculum and to adequately relate instruction to classroom management.

To the school administrators, it would provide the school administrators with an insight on  this  caliber  of Biology  teachers’  and  begin  to  checkmate  their activities  in  the classroom and offer support where necessary.

Findings of this study would be useful to policy makers as it will enable them to provide policies that can support, protect and prepare out-of-field teachers’ especially when teaching circumstances are challenging.

The education planners would ensure intensive professional development opportunities for the out-of-field Biology teachers’, and to give continuous close monitoring with the school heads to address their limitation.

Findings of this study would be useful to the parent by having an open discussion of out-of-field teachers’ with the parents. It would encourage the parents to show empathy hence collaborate and work with school management to fill the gap in pedagogical content knowledge.

This study would encourage the Ministry of Education to train this group of teachers as professionals. This will be relevant to on-the-job training and in-service teacher development. Also the Ministry of Education would be encouraged to know the cadre of teachers to remove from the teaching position, by so doing entry into the teaching field will be curtailed and controlled, thus focusing on manpower planning, training and development.

This study could contribute to the debates about the importance of teacher on students’ achievement, and  the reality of out-of-field teaching  in Nigeria and  Niger State in particular.    It will contribute to literature as one of the few studies on out-of- field teaching in Nigeria and would add to the growing research on quality and effectiveness of Biology teachers’ education in Nigeria.

1.8       Operational Definition of Major Terms

Anxiety: This refers to out-of-field Secondary School Biology teachers’ feelings of worry, apprehension, nervousness wearing-out and ineffectiveness during the cause of their teaching in the classroom.

Classroom Management: This refers to the classroom arrangement that has been specially created to promote teaching, involves the proper control of the classroom and also the provision of learning experience to students.

Classroom Management Techniques: This refers to the management of behaviour and instruction in the classroom by the out-of-field Biology teacher.

Content Mastery: This is the conceptual understanding of Biology curriculum

Out-of-field teachers’: This refers to teachers’ teaching Biology outside their field of qualification.    This  includes  graduates  in  relevant  field  teaching  Biology  without education background. The field might be year level. For example NCE holder with major in integrated science is assigned to teach Biology in senior secondary school or a B.Sc holder in Biochemistry or B.Sc (Ed) in Physics assigned to teach Biology. Pedagogy: This refers to methods of teaching Biology.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge: This refers to a teacher’s knowledge about the teaching of Biology such that the particular learning demands characteristics to content- specific topics are put in to account.

School Location: Location of school means the area where the schools are built in relation to the availability of social interaction that will enhance instruction.

School Type: This refers to the authority that owns and finances a school. In this study private and public is considered as school type.

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