TEACHERS EMPATHY SKILL AS CORRELATE OF STUDENTS ACADMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE.

Abstract

The study determined the correlation between teachers’ empathy skills and students’ academic achievement in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Two research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The correlational research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 21,272 senior secondary school students in SS2 in 267 public secondary schools in Anambra State. The population comprised of 9550 male students and 11,722 female students in 267 public secondary schools in Anambra State. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire and Students’ Academic Achievement Scores (SAAS). The questionnaire was subjected to face validation. A coefficient value of 0.86 
was obtained. The application of Cronbach Alpha reliability method yielded co-efficient values of 0.83 and 0.87 for cluster 1 and 2 respectively with an overall reliability coefficient of 0.85. Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistic was used for data analysis. The finding of the study revealed that teachers’ cognitive skill and teachers’ affective empathy skill have high positive relationship with 
students’ academic achievement in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Findings further revealed that teachers’ cognitive skill and teachers’ affective empathy skill have significant relationship with students’ academic achievement in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Based on these findings, the researchers conclude that teachers’ empathy skill has significant relationship with 
students’ academic achievement in public secondary schools in Anambra State. The researchers recommended that principals of public secondary schools should provide teachers with continuous professional development opportunities that focus on enhancing their cognitive empathy skills.