Senior High School chemistry teachers’ professional competence, attitudes and practices in Organising practical work in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana

Abstract

Teachers’ competence and attitudes are essential to enhance the quality of the teaching profession. This study employed a descriptive research design to explore the senior high school chemistry teacher’s professional competence, attitudes and practices in organising practical work in the Greater Accra Region. A simple random technique was used to select 170 chemistry teachers from 34 randomly chosen senior high schools for the study. A close-ended questionnaire and an observation checklist were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. The study finds out that majority of chemistry teachers had a high competency level but exhibited poor practices in organising practical work due to negative attitudes toward organising practical work. The teachers gave clear explanation and demonstrated experiments before practical work, defined problems in simple language, handled all instruments and glassware, used internet to gather information for students and prepared reagents for laboratory practical. Qualitatively, the teachers never supervised students during practical lessons. As a result, students hardly followed rules and regulations and performed practical work without a manual. Besides, practical tasks were not selected from Ghana Education Service approved textbooks. Generally, the attitudes of the teachers were not good enough to translate their high professional competence into actual practice during practical work. It was recommended among others that, Chemistry teachers in senior high schools in Greater Accra Region of Ghana should organised chemistry practical work often, offer guidance and supervise students during practical activities and develop positive attitudes toward practical activities.