TEACHING PROFESSION AND SOCIETAL DEVELOPMENT IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

The study examined the teaching profession and societal development in secondary schools in Rivers State, adopting a correlational research design. Three research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The total population comprised 5,747 teachers drawn from 353 secondary schools across Rivers State, from which a sample of 460 respondents representing approximately 8% of the total population was selected through stratified and random sampling techniques. Data were collected using the researcher-designed Teaching Profession and Societal Development Questionnaire (TPSDQ), consisting of two sections addressing demographic information and items on the teaching profession and societal development. Experts in Educational Management and Planning validated the instrument to ensure content validity, while Cronbach's Alpha yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.73, indicating acceptable internal consistency. Data were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used to test the hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that the teaching profession significantly influences students' academic performance, promotes moral values, and enhances civic responsibility to a high extent in Rivers State secondary schools, with strong positive and statistically significant relationships established across all three dimensions. These findings collectively affirm that the teaching profession is not merely an occupational practice but a powerful and indispensable force for societal transformation. When teachers are professionally competent, ethically grounded, and civically oriented, they produce students who are academically sound, morally upright, and civically responsible citizens capable of driving sustainable development. It is therefore imperative that all stakeholders prioritize the strengthening of the teaching profession in Rivers State secondary schools as a strategic pathway to achieving meaningful and lasting societal development.