Teachers’ perception on the causes of students' poor mathematics performance in secondary schools of kebbi state, Nigeria

Poor academic performance is any performance that falls below a desired standard of education. Education at secondary school level is the bedrock and the foundation towards higher knowledge in tertiary institutions. The role of secondary education is to lay a foundation for further education and if a good foundation is laid at this level, there are likely to be no problem at subsequent levels. However, different people at different times opines several reasons as to why students fail in mathematics, but most of the reasons are related to curriculum and methods of teaching rather than the students’ lack of capacity to learn. It is against this that the study investigates teachers’ perception on the causes of students' poor academic performance in Kebbi state secondary schools. Three research questions were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey design that employs mean and standard deviation for data analysis. Reliable and validated questionnaire was used to elicit information on the research questions. The population consisted of 2,157 mathematics teachers out of which 120 were sampled. From the findings, it was observed that teachers’ qualification, teachers' method of teaching and students’ environment have influence on students’ poor academic performance. The study recommends among others that government should provide qualified mathematics teachers so as to make mathematics teaching interesting and also; extensive training, seminars and workshops should be organized for mathematics teachers of secondary schools on how to employ different teaching method in the classrooms for the success of their students.