LEVEL OF ACQUISITION OF LABORATORY MANAGERIAL SKILLS BY BASIC SCIENCE TEACHERS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study investigated the level of acquisition of laboratory managerial skills by basic sciences teachers in secondary schools in Anambra Stae. Two research questions guided the study while two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The design of the study was descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprised of 298 basic science teachers from Aguata, Awka, Nnewi, Ogidi, Onitsha and Otuocha zones. The entire population was studied without sampling due to its manageable size. The instrument for data collection was a researcher-developed instrument tagged Acquisition of Laboratory Managerial Skills Questionnaire (ALMSQ). The instrument was validated by two experts and the reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach alpha which yielded reliability co-efficient of 0.90. The research questions were analyzed using mean while the null hypotheses were tested using t-test and ANOVA. The findings of the
study revealed that basic science teachers had high level of acquisition of laboratory managerial skills; teaching experience had significant contributions to basic science teachers’ level of acquisition of laboratory  skills, and that their academic qualifications had no significant effect. Based on the findings, the study recommended that since the basic science teachers in secondary schools have high level of acquisition of laboratory managerial skills, Government, Education Managers and Administrators in Nigeria should create a unit in the Ministry of Education to handle issues that will promote and sustain the basic science teachers’ applications of these skills for effective teaching and enhancement of students’ achievement in basic science.