# INTRODUCTION n every sphere of inter human relationship that concerns men and women, young and old, it is the teacher that takes initiative. Therefore the saying that no nation ever rises above the quality of her teachers illustrates the pivotal position which teachers occupy in the society today. Teacher's influence is always felt in every aspect of the society. All other professionals and workers within the society have at one time or the other passed through the pupilage of a teacher and whatever they now become is a direct outcome of what the teacher has taught them. (Majasan, 1996). However, we often hear people say the young must grow, we might have quoted the assertion in our expression too. Of course, not all of us understand what the statement really means. If young ones are to grow, and if they are to be adequately prepared for their roles in the society, and if the national objectives of the country are to be attained, teachers have a very important role to play. In formal education, schools will have a significant impact on children only with good teachers who set out to mould the lives of young ones entrusted to their care (Afe, 1995) Nowadays, little or no effort is done to identify secondary school students' interest in teaching profession, though the task is not an easy one but it is very important if we are serious in enhancing proper optimization of student's aptitude and orientation of their attitudes towards teaching profession. The interest of a student in a profession is a reflection of what the student like doing with profound pleasure and enthusiasm (Phillips, 1987). Power (1991) opines that a person's interest in an occupation could motivate him develop skills to enable him become proficient in his field of specialisation. A student who is well guided and to whom professional interest inventory is administered to ascertain his interest in a profession is most likely to pursue a carrier in congruence with his interest. Phillips (1987) asserts that interest exploration can stimulate counseling by suggesting occupations that had not previously considered by the client or rehabilitation professional. In the teaching profession, interest exploration is very low. Early detection of students' interest in a particular vocation can help teachers and parents guide them towards that vocation instead of allowing them to be influenced by factor that could overrun their interest and push them into careers they have no flair for. If you decide to sample the opinion of people on what profession or occupation they would take to, most of them would choose careers in the area of Law, Medicine, Engineering, Accounting and so forth. You would hardly see any mentioning that he/she would like to take to teaching profession, whereas teachers make a society and good society is a function of good school. According to Pope Pius XII (as cited by Adewuyi and Ogunnniyi 2002) "good schools are the fruit not only of good regulations but principally good teachers, excellently trained in the respective subjects which they are to teach and possessing the intellectual I Global Journal of Human Social Science Volume XI Issue IX Version I 1 and moral qualities which their important office requires men who burn with a divine passion for youngsters entrusted to them". Babatunde (1992) opines that it is when a teacher is satisfied that he/she is more stable and committed to his/her job. His opinion was supported by Agbuno (1994) when he said that satisfied teachers would produce people who are intellectually, morally and emotionally and relevantly equipped for useful living within the society. Clark (2006) observes that the plight of teachers in Nigeria has not changed over the years, especially since the post Nigeria civil war. According to her, teachers' welfare is usually neglected and the society looks down on them because of their dismal condition. Nwagwu (1976) has earlier stressed the importance of quality teachers in our school system as the drive of quality and functional education. To him money spent on provision of infrastructure aimed at mobilizing more pupils and students to school without caring about teachers' qualification and welfare may as well end up in futility. Sincerely speaking, it is necessary for one to conduct psycho-analytic dissection of our society to know the reason for vulgar disposition of our people to teaching profession. Perhaps, the reason might be the way teachers are being treated and cared for in our society. Teachers are stultified in their efforts to teach with pure passion and arouse their student's interest in their own careers. The take-home allowance of teachers at the end of the month cannot take them to bus-stop and teaching becomes indispensable like toilet. What a life! Work and no reward. It is greatly observed in recent times that there have been a great influx of people with pleasure onto non-teaching profession and this has resulted in a dearth of capable and competent hands in the teaching profession. Thus, increase desire for non-teaching profession could be traced to early senior school days of individuals. In the light of the foregoing, this research aims at determining urban senior school students' interest in teaching profession in Oyo city with a view to knowing the forces of reaction that are repelling people from teaching profession to mass drift to non-teaching profession so as to provide suggestions for effective educational planning and management without holding down the development. The specific objectives of the study are to; (i) determine the agents that influence students' interest in teaching vocation (ii) determine students' interest in profession that involves dealing with children (iii) examine school students' interest in becoming a career teacher (iv) examine the students' perception of teachers' remuneration The research hypotheses tested in this study are stated in null forms: i. There is no significant difference between student's interest in teaching profession and teacher's remuneration, while the reverse is the alternate hypothesis. ii. There is no significant difference between student's gender and responses to profession that involves dealing with children, while the reverse is the alternate hypothesis. II. # MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY a) Brief of the Study Area The study area is Oyo, a city in South-western Nigeria. Geographically, it is located approximately along latitude 7 0 51 1 North and longitude 3 0 57 1 East of Greenwich meridian. It shares boundary with Ogbomoso city in the north, Ibadan city in the south and is bounded to the west by Iseyin town b) Methods of Data Collection Data were collected from primary and secondary sources. Secondary data used were students' registers. Primary data for the study included oral in-depth and structured interviews. The population for this study was all male and female students in Senior Secondary School of Oyo city. The sample gotten by simple random sampling technique consisted of 270 students, 90 students from each of 3 local government areas (Oyo East, Oyo West and Atiba local government areas) in Oyo city. 3 secondary schools were randomly chosen from each of three local government areas in the city. Students of Senior Secondary School 2 classes were used. 10 students were chosen at random from each Department of Arts, Department of Social Sciences and Department of Sciences using registers for the students' rolls obtained from the Heads of the Departments afore mentioned. The registers were used to select 30 students interviewed in each school selected, and equal numbers of male and female students were chosen. In-depth oral interview was also conducted on 27 students, 3 students from each school chosen to seek students' opinion about their perception of teaching profession. Survey technique was equally used to collect data for the purpose of describing and interpreting the existing condition of school and work environments. # c) Instrument used for Validity and Reliability of the Study The instrument for the study was a vocational interest inventory. The interest was constructed using the logical approach (logical keying method). Items in the interest skill measured the interest of the respondents in a particular activity. The questionnaire items used were based on Likert's attitudinal scale requiring the respondents to provide an answer to a set of statements indicating the degree of approval or disapproval to all items. The interest inventory has a likert type answering scale with each one having a fixed score. The five points were designed in the following scoring systems. # Item mark # Scoring Response Interpretation The items for the inventory were chosen based on researchers' knowledge of the duties of a teacher, teacher's salary and student's relationship with others. The questionnaire was subdivided into two parts. The first part is soliciting for the particulars of the respondents. This personal information includes the sex, department and occupation of parent. The second part consisted of information and the column for the appropriate response by the respondents. This part also called for check-mark responses. Here, the respondents were asked to write a short response for the purpose of knowing students' perception of teaching profession. The general assumption made was that a student scoring up to 20 marks for all the five items in the interest inventory has a strong interest for the teaching. The construct validity was established by administering the inventory scale to 36 undergraduate students who were in 200 levels, reading primary education/special education at Federal College of Education (special), Oyo. The ability of the interest scale to identify the strong bias of each of the students for teaching (each scoring up to 21 marks on the scale) was an indication of construct validity. Reliability was established using the test and the re-test approach, the inventory scale was administered to a representative group of eighteen (18) senior secondary school students, for whom the scale was developed, two times with a time lapse of one week. The scores from the two administrations were compared using Pearson's product mean correlation formula. A reliability co-efficient of 0.78 was obtained meaning the instrument had a high reliability The questionnaires were administered by the investigators to the respondents with the cooperation of the management of the sampled schools. Sampled schools were visited twice over a period of two weeks. # d) Methods of Data Analysis The five point attitude scale of likert format was applied in the scoring system. Simple descriptive statistical methods such as percentage were used in depicting vividly a summary description of the various responses for a sampled drawn from a population of students. Tables with suitable self-explanatory titles were appropriately used in the analysis of results to present the discussion. Chi-square (x 2 ) test was used to test for the research hypotheses. # III. # RESULTS AND DISCUSSION This part analyzed data collected, presented the results of findings and tested the hypotheses. # i. Agents influencing students' interest in teaching vocation Table 1 -4 shows that 60.3% of respondent agreed that their interest were either thwarted or influenced by the parents. 60.2% agreed that their teacher had negative or positive influence on their interest in teaching, 57.1 % agreed that media had negative or positive influence on their interest in teaching profession while 42.5% agreed that peer groups have thwarted or positively influenced their interest in teaching. It could be adduced that whatever the disposition of students' interest to teaching profession is a function of who they interact with in the environment. Having considered the results above, it is crystal clear that teachers and parents are the agents of socialization that are in the best position to guide students towards the vocation they have interest in instead of pushing them into careers they have no flair for. ii. Students' interest in a profession that involves dealing with children Attitudinal variations in sex responses to profession that involves dealing with children Table 6 indicates the chi-square test of the relationship between gender and response to profession that involves dealing with children, at 0.01 significance level and four degree of freedom table value is 13.28 while calculated x 2 is 2.96. since calculated x 2 value (2.96) is less than critical X 2 value (13.28). Null hypothesis H o accepted and alternate hypothesis H i is rejected. The results accepts null hypothesis that there is no relationship between gender and response to profession that involves dealing with children this means that difference in sex response to profession that involves dealing with children is significant. Further findings also revealed that 40.3 percentages of male students and 28.5% of female students constituted total 68.8% of favourable response literal sense female students should have more flair for profession that involves dealing with children but in Oyo the reverse was the case. This could be adduced to girls' quest for wealth rather than engaging themselves with self-fulfilling ventures and playing motherly roles. Poor physical facilities and work environment also take lead after poor remuneration of teachers as reasons that students gave to be factors that repel their interest in teaching profession iii. Students' interest in becoming carrier teacher Table 7 revealed that the percentage of favourable response to choosing teaching as career is very low. The favourable response was 27.6%, neutral response 31.4% and unfavourable response 41%. This means that not less than two-third (2/3) of the sampled population had no interest in teaching profession, and not less than one-third of the sample population are neutral in taking decision. An approximation of onequarter (1/4) of the sampled population was interested in choosing teaching as career. It could be adduced that senior secondary students in Oyo city have a very poor interest in becoming career teachers. The reason for this from indepth interview conducted for students were attached to poor welfare of teachers, dilapidated state of school and low prestige accorded the teaching vocation. The students stressed that what was being regarded as minimum wages for teaching profession in Nigeria is not commensurable with the services being rendered by teachers. Another force of reaction as mentioned by students which mostly killed their interest in teaching vocation is the disposition of landlord to ridicule and vilify teachers before they let house to teachers. To landlord in Oyo, teachers were indispensable like toilets. This elemental hatred developed against teachers in the psychological makeup of the native wass so difficult to understand whereas ministry workers that the land-lords were treated with more respect werere receiving the same salaries with teachers iv. Students' perception of teachers' remuneration Table 8 reveales that not less than 90% of the students' sampled responses were in favour of a job that would earn them moderate salaries. The in-depth interview carried out on students revealed the same. The senior secondary school students' high responses could be adduced to the simple life of Oyo people and this had greater influence on students. Table 9 reveales that 82% of the responses considered salaries being received by teaching profession as moderate. Students in Oyo debunked that teachers' salaries were nothing short of moderate since teachers received the same with their counterparts in the ministries be it state or local. Table 10 shows a higher percentage of students that were interested in choosing teaching as a career if teachers' wages were highly increased. It could be inferred that students were at variance with the teachers' remuneration and wanted teachers' salaries increased far more than ministry workers. Students responded that nothing had more retarded the advancement of students' interest in teaching profession in Nigeria than the disposition of people who look down on teachers. It was therefore students' belief that teaching profession would have a class and be far more honoured if teachers' salaries are highly increased. This research finding shows that students in Oyo city like to be a career teacher but poor remuneration and low prestige accorded the teaching profession were the major facts killing students' interest in the vocation. Table 11 indicates the chi-square test of the significant relationship between students' interest in teaching profession and teacher remuneration the calculated x 2 value (20.0) is greater than critical X 2 value (6.64) at 0.01 level of significance and 1 degree of freedom. The results reject null hypothesis (Ho) and accept alternate hypothesis (hi) which means there is significant correlation between students' interest in teaching profession and increase in teacher's remuneration. # The main findings Findings revealed that students had the high interest in teaching profession but institutionalizing oppression as a result of poor remuneration being received by the vocation is making students lose their interest in the profession. Remuneration determines the prestige accorded to profession in Nigeria. This finding corroborates that of Afe (1995) which showed that there was a great decline in the number of students who wants to be a teacher because of poor remuneration and low prestige accorded the vocation. The result of this study also revealed that nothing had more influenced or thwarted students' interest in teaching profession than the disposition of parents and teachers themselves to eulogize or vilify the profession. The findings of this study also saw the need to build the interest of students in teaching as a profession, this is supported by the assertion of Philips (1987) which states that "interest exploration can stimulate counseling by suggesting occupation that had not been previously considered clients or rehabilitation professional". Building student's interest in the teaching vocation has become necessary in order to have teachers who are sound and committed to their teaching profession. IV. # RECOMMENDATION It is crystal clear that Senior Secondary School Students in Oyo city have very low interest in becoming career teachers despite the fact that they like teaching Global Journal of Human Social Science Volume XI Issue IX Version I to profession that involves dealing with children. In the teachers' remuneration were highly improved. Not less than 78% response interested in teaching profession if profession. This has been attributed to a number of reasons such as poor welfare packages of teachers, dilapidated facilities of public schools and disposition of landlord to vilify and ridicule teachers they are accommodating in their houses or before renting houses to them. Based on the findings of this study to reverse the ugly trend in students' interest in teaching profession, government and other stakeholders in education must swiftly take an action by highly improving teachers' welfare, school physical facilities and work environment. There is urgent need for proper coordination of the necessary machineries towards innovation in policies that can arouse young people's interest in teaching profession. These will go a long way in improving standard of education that has been experiencing a downward trend in Nigeria. V. 5, revealed that a higher percentage of students'responses (68.8%) were looking forward to professionthat involves dealing with children. Further finding showsthe distribution pattern of the favourable response(68.8%) to profession that involves dealing with childrenand that 30.2% were science students, 23.5% were Artstudents and 15.1% were commercial students. Furtherfindings revealed that science students showed muchmore interest than students in other departments in aprofession that involves dealing with children. It could beadduced that the science students might have in mindof profession like paediatric, (branch of medicineconcerned with children and their diseases). © 2011 Global Journals Inc. (US) December © 2011 Global Journals Inc. (US) DecemberAn Analysis of Urban Secondary School Students' Interest in Teaching Profession in South-Western Nigeria © 2011 Global Journals Inc. (US) December An Analysis of Urban Secondary School Students' Interest in Teaching Profession in South-Western Nigeria DecemberAn Analysis of Urban Secondary School Students' Interest in Teaching Profession in South-Western Nigeria ## LIST OF TABLES * Basic Concepts in Educational Management in Adewuyi A. (Ed). Introduction to Educational Management JOAdewuyi 2001 Greenlight Press and Publishers Oyo * Basic Text on Teacher Education JOAdewuyi AOOgunwuyi 2002 Odumatt Press and Publishers * JOAfe Teacher Education in Nigeria: Benin City 1995 Nigeria Educational Research Association, University of Benin * Globalization and Teacher's Professionalism PABarnabas International Journal of Research in Education 4 2007 1 and 2 Dev Universa Consorta * JYBello Basic Principles of Teaching. Ibadan: Spectrum Books Ltd and John Willey and Sons 1981 * Principles of Education for Teachers in Africa EBCastle 1975 Oxford University Press Nairobi * Teacher Job Satisfaction Antidate for Efficiency and Poor Performance OClark African Journal of Studies in Education 2 1 2006 * Teaching of Science Curriculum in West Africa MCole Journal of Education 19 2 1995 * Teachers Education in Globalized Economy' JBFadokun International Journal of Research in Education 1 2 2004 * JMajasan Teaching as a Profession. Ibadan: His Will InforResources Management Ltd 1996 * Universal Primary Education in Nigeria: Issues, Prospects and Problems NNwagwu 1976 Benin City Ethiope Publishing Corporation * Education from Ancient Time to Early 20 th Century EAOduolowu Ogunsanya M. 1999 Andrian Publication series Ibadan Basic Processes in Education * Occupational Interest Inventories: An Often Untapped Resource JPhillips Journal of Applied Rehabilitation counseling 1987 * A Guide to Vocational Assessment. Second Edition, Pro-ED. Inc Texas Global Journal of Human Social Science Volume XI Issue IX Version I PWPower 1991