PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS AND EDUCATIONAL MEDIA RESOURCE UTILISATION AMONG PUBLIC JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Utilisation of Educational Media Resource (UEMR) is important for the teaching and learning process because it enhances learning in and out of classroom situations. Students learn abstract, new, and novel concepts more easily when presented in both verbal and visual form, which helps them recall what they have learned. However, many secondary school teachers in Ogun state are not using media resources to complement their teaching activities. Previous studies on UEMR focussed largely on teachers’ competence and school factors without adequate consideration of the psychological factors. This study was, therefore, carried out to examine psychological factors (Personality Factors–PFs, consisting of Big 5 factors, Critical Thinking Ability - CTA and Teacher Attitudes towards UEMR) among public junior secondary school teachers in Ogun state, Nigeria. The study was premised on the Information Utilisation Theory, while the mixed methods design was adopted which consisted of survey and phenomenological approach. The multi-stage sampling procedure was used. Ogun state was stratified into four ethnic-political zones (Remo, Ijebu, Yewa and Egba). From each stratum, eight Local Governments Area (LGAs) were randomly selected. The probability proportionate to size sampling technique was used to select 28 public junior secondary schools across the LGAs. A total sample of 1170 Junior School teachers were drawn using Yamene’s formula. The instruments used were Personality Factors (r=0.81), Critical Thinking Ability (r=0.83), Teachers’ Attitude to UEMR (r=0.80) and UEMR (r=0.99) scales. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 most experienced teachers, while unstructured interviews were conducted with 15 students. The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson product moment correlation and Multiple regression at 0.05 level of significance, while qualitative data were thematically analysed. The majority (60.0%) of the teachers were female and 67.8% had bachelor’s degree. The resources optimally used by the teachers includes: audio ( x =2.84); realia ( x =2.81); computer packed instruction ( x =2.81); visual resources ( x =2.73) and audio-visual ( x =2.69) against the threshold of 2.50. The teachers’ CTA ( x =2.95) and attitude to UEMR ( x =3.00) were high against the 2.50 threshold. The PFs (r=0.50); CTA (r=0.53) and teachers’ attitude to UEMR (r=0.47) had significant relationships with UEMR. There was a significant joint contribution of all the variables on UEMR (F(3,1081)=179.32; Adj. R2 =0.36) accounting for 36.0% of its variance. The PFs (β=0.23), CTA (β=0.30) and teachers’ attitude to UEMR (β=0.37) made significant relative contribution to UEMR. Science teachers used educational media more than other subject teachers. Computer, mobile phone and chart were mostly used. Students complained that their teachers only used educational media resources for lesson introduction. Personality factors, critical thinking ability and teachers’ attitude to educational media resources influenced educational media resources utilisation among public junior secondary school teachers in Ogun state, Nigeria. These factors should be considered to improve media resource utilisation among teachers.