Factors Affecting Quality In Secondary Education: A Study

Abstract

The ability to provide opportunities for high-quality education to the children in the country will determine the future of our nation. ‘Quality’ has become the watchword of current educational scenario in all the countries across the globe. A quality education is one that focuses on the all-round development of the child – the social, emotional, mental, physical and cognitive development of each student regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic status or geographic location. It prepares the child for life, not just for examinations.   This is possible only when the teachers possess favorable positive attitude towards teaching profession and determination to provide quality education to the students. The present study is an attempt to explore the attitude of teachers towards the factors that influence the quality of education in secondary schools. The researchers used a well prepared and standardized questionnaire as the tool for collection of data from a sample of 300 teachers selected from 50 secondary schools located in the rural as well as urban areas of Visakhapatnam District in Andhra Pradesh using Stratified Random Sampling technique. The data were analyzed using Mean score values, standard deviations and t-tests. The findings of the study revealed Gender and Age of teachers have no influence on their attitude towards the factors that influence the quality of education in secondary schools. However, the experience of teachers has a positive significant influence on their attitude towards quality education in secondary schools. Teachers with a teaching experience of more that 10 years exhibited better attitude towards quality improvement in secondary schools as compared to the new entrants into the profession. The study suggests that the managements of secondary schools should recruit to the schools only those teachers who have passion for teaching with a view to provide quality education to the children in secondary schools.