Extent of Compliance of Ethics of the Teaching Profession by Secondary School Teachers in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

The teaching profession in Nigeria was before now an all-comers job until 1993 when the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) Act was promulgated to professionalize it. From the period that the TRCN was established to regulate the profession, most of the members are yet to imbibe the new culture of the trade as contained in the Teachers’ Code of Conduct document. This study was therefore conducted to assess the level of familiarity and compliance on some of the basic ethics of the teaching profession by Principals and teachers in the secondary schools in Bayelsa state. Data for the study were the Teachers’ Code of Conduct document of the TRCN (2005) and a questionnaire on the, “Compliance Order of Secondary School Principals and Teachers (COSSPT) developed by the researcher. A sample of 1,980 (80 Principals and 1,900 teachers) representing 50% of Principals and teachers were selected from a population of 3,960. Three research questions were developed for the study. Findings revealed that the Principals were quite familiar and comply with some of the acts adjudged to be misconduct in the profession. However, the teachers do not show the same acceptable level of familiarity and compliance on the same issues that were used to assess the Principals. On the basis of the findings, some recommendations were made.