Influence Of Teachers’ Characteristics On Students’ Academic Performance In Biology
[SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ILORIN METROPOLIS]

It has been observed that teachers teach science in away that merely requires the students to listen, read and regurgitate. This depicts negative attitude to teaching. Several research findings have confirmed the hypothesis that teacher’s attitude either towards science or towards science teaching affect their students achievement in and attitude towards science.
Odiri (2011) added that the teacher is the driving force of the education system. The teachers must be given the required tool that will equip them to make teaching/learning to be effective. It is very unfortunate that many teachers fail to realize their importance to the education system. Some of them refuse to realize that the way they teach, behave and interact with students can be more permanent than what they teach. Teachers are seen by students as an authority, role model and the only source of all knowledge and information in the formal classroom setting. Students will learn and trained if the teachers use good methods and having positive attitude towards his/her teaching. Students draw from their teachers' disposition to form their own attitude which may eventually affect their learning outcomes. Attitude of teachers towards their students must be positive so as to carry them along. The teachers are seen by students as role models whose behaviours are easily copied by students. What teachers like or dislike, appreciate and their feeling about learning can have an impact on the students (Yara, 2009). It has been observed that most teachers teach in a way that only enables them to memorize the concepts and calculation without really understanding it and applying what they have been taught. This happens as a result of the teachers’ negative attitude towards the teaching. This teacher's negative attitude has caused a lot of problem to the teaching and learning of all subjects. One's attitude towards any subject, job or situation determines the person performance in that particular field of study. If a teacher develops a positive attitude towards his/her job, it would make the teacher to work harder towards the success of his/her students. When the students notice that their teachers are hard-working and have concern for them, it motivates them and this will result to good performance.
Yara (2009) stated in his findings that teacher’s attitude towards mathematics is a predictor of students achievement in mathematics. Oguniyi (1982) cited in Yara (2009) found out that students positive attitude towards science could be enhance by the teacher related factors such as teachers enthusiasm resourcefulness and helpful behaviour.
The role of teacher in the success of any educational system cannot be overemphasized and that is why the National Policy on Education (2013) stipulated that no educational system can rise above the quality of its teacher, this shows the importance of teacher in the school. The teacher's attitude in the classroom is very important in the learning. According to Ololube (2009), teaching is seen as a diverse and complex activity because the goal of any teaching task is achievement of the set objectives. The author argued that all the interrelated actions of the teacher in any given moment in the classroom must lead to students' academic achievement. Teachers are very important in educational effectiveness, they are charged with the responsibility of implementing the school curricular and pedagogical techniques. The attitude of teacher in the teaching of can lead to effective teaching and learning of the subject. You cannot give what you don't have. For this reason, for teaching to be effective, the teacher must have a positive attitude towards the teaching of the subject. It is only teacher with positive attitude and interest on the subject that can motivate the students to learn. The teacher is the students' key to success. They play an important role in imparting the knowledge and equipping the students to be useful to themselves and the society.
Teachers’ Availability and Students’ Academic Performance
Akinsolu (2013) stated that many studies have equally been conducted to relate the quantity of teachers and academic performance. Ijaiya (2000) investigated the problems of teacher staffing in Kwara State secondary schools and found that there is an acute shortage of teachers in Kwara State secondary schools thus contributing to massive failures as well as poor quality teaching. In a study of relationship among school size, resource utilization and school effectiveness in Ilorin Local Government Areas, Ibitoye (2003)discovered that there is a significant relationship between enrollment, utilization of classrooms provided for teachers, the teaching of learning activities and students’ academic performance.