Relationship between Teachers’ Content Knowledge, Qualifications, Experience and Students’ Achievement in Chemistry

The study investigated the relationship between teachers’ content knowledge, qualifications, experience and students’ achievement in Chemistry in Otukpo Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State, Nigeria. The study was guided by two research questions and two hypotheses. A sample of 25 Chemistry teachers and 187 Chemistry students out of a population of 98 Chemistry teachers and 2,897 SSII students respectively from Otukpo LGA of Benue State, Nigeria was used for the study. A validated 50 item Chemistry Teachers’ Content Knowledge Achievement Test (CTCKAT) and 25 item Chemistry Students’ Achievement Test (CSAT) was the instruments used to collect data. Reliability coefficient of 0.78 was established using Pearson Product Correlation. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design. Frequencies, and Percentages were used to answer the research questions and Pearson Correlation Moment Coefficient was used to test the hypotheses. The result indicated among others that there is a strong positive correlation between teachers’ content knowledge scores in Chemistry with students’ achievement scores in Chemistry (r= 0.89), the result also revealed that, there is a strong positive correlation between teachers’ qualifications and students’ achievement scores (r= 0.72), and also there is a positive correlation between teachers’ years of teaching experience and students’ achievement (r= 0.51). The study recommended among others that students’ achievement in Chemistry is likely to improve in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State, if teachers engaged to teach chemistry have good content knowledge of Chemistry and good teaching qualifications