ASSESSMENT OF TEACHERS’ CONTENT KNOWLEDGE OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM IN SELECTED GEOPOLITICAL ZONES IN NORTHERN NIGERIA

Abstract

For effective mathematics teaching, teachers should possess adequate content knowledge of the subject matter they teach. This study assessed the teachers’ content knowledge in order to determine their mastery level across the five themes of Senior Secondary School Mathematics Curriculum (SSSMC). The study was guided by one research question and one hypothesis tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study employed the cross-sectional survey design. The population of the study was 3,154 senior secondary school mathematics teachers in two northern geopolitical zones, Nigeria. A sample of 389 teachers was selected
using multi-stage and proportionate random sampling. The instrument used to collect data for the study was Teachers’ Content Knowledge Mastery Test (TCKMT). The instrument was validated by experts in mathematics education and test and measurement. TCKMT was a multiple choice test with 50 items. The reliability coefficient of TCKMT was 0.751, established by using split – half
method. TCKMT was administered on the teachers. Data on teachers’ scores per theme of SSSMC was collated and coded. The coded data was tested for normality. Both Kolmogrov – Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk’s statistics were significant at ∝≤ 0.05. Based on this evidence, Friedman and Kendall’s W-test was used to test the formulated hypothesis. On the other hand, the generated descriptive statistics of mean, mean rank and standard deviation were used to answer the research question which was presented in form of a chart. Results showed significant difference in teachers’ content knowledge mastery level of the five themes of SSSMC. Teachers had significant highest content knowledge mastery in Number and Numeration (NN) and least content mastery in Geometry and Trigonometry (GT). However, no significant difference was found in teachers’ content knowledge mastery between GT and Newly Introduced Content Areas (LT). The study concluded that mastery level of mathematics teachers in terms of their content knowledge across the five themes of SSSMC was low. It was recommended that State Ministries of Education
should organize seminars and workshops for teachers of SSSMC with special attention paid to GT and LT to update and improve their content mastery