Physics Teacher Demand and Supply in Relation to Students’ Academic Achievement in Public Senior Secondary Schools in Southwest Nigeria (2017–2023)

Abstract

This study analysed the trend relationship between demand and supply of physics teachers and students’ academic achievement from 2017 to 2023 in public secondary schools in Southwest, Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive research design of retrospective-trend survey. The population comprised 6 Directors of Administration and Supplies of State Ministries of Education and 2,140 principals of Senior Secondary Schools in Southwest Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure involving the use of simple random sampling, total enumeration, and convenience sampling techniques were used to select 30 respondents which comprised 3 Directors of Administration and Supplies and 27 Senior Secondary School principals from 27 schools in Ekiti, Ogun and Oyo States. Checklists were used for data collection. Descriptive data were analysed using mean, trend line charts, and lag effects between two time-series datasets were tested using Cross Correlation Function (CCF). Findings revealed that a significant time-based relationship exists between school demand for teachers from 2017-2023 and academic achievement of students in Physics. The most substantial and significant correlation appeared at Lag +1 which showed a negative relationship between current academic performance and the demand for Physics teachers in the subsequent academic year (Lag +1: r = .608, p < .05). The study recommends that government should prioritise recruitment, training, and retention of physics teachers in schools where the supply-demand gap is most severe.