PROFESSIONAL TRAINING IN TWO-DENSE DEMOGRAPHICS IN RIVERS STATE: IMPLICATION FOR TEACHERS GAINS AND STUDENTS ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN BASIC SCIENCE

The study examined the influence of teachers’ professional training on students’ academic achievement in basic science. Two- dense demographics were used due to the observed differential in the recent students’ achievement in the subject. The study adopted a survey design. The population for the study comprised of all the students and basic science teachers in the two senatorial districts. A sample of 200 students and 100 basic science teachers selected through the proportionate sampling technique was used as active participants. Four research questions guided the study, while four null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 levels of significance. Data were raised for the study through two instruments. The scores of the Teachers Professional Training Questionnaire (TPTQ) and the Result of Students, from the teacher made test, were used to evaluate the results of tis study. The mean and standard deviation were applied to answer the research questions while the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was deployed for the analyses of the hypotheses. The finding revealed that teachers from the two districts attended different forms of professional training; however, conference attendance was more pronounced as the training attended by teachers from the two districts with more in Rivers West. On the other side, seminars were the most attended by teachers in Rivers East. There was clear cut difference in the achievement of students in the two districts, as a result of the teachers’ professional training in the two demographic as the students in Rivers West had better students’ achievement than their counterpart in the East. Consequently it was recommended among others, that Basic science teachers should be encouraged and motivated to further their studies in the subject areas in respective of their discipline by providing study leave and other financial incentive to them.