Teachers’ Demographic Variables as Predictors of Critical Thinking Skills of School Children Implications for School Counselling

摘要

This study explored the extent to which teachers' demographic variables predict the critical thinking skills of school children, and the educational implications. The study was guided by research questions and null hypotheses, which used a correlation survey design. The population size was 17,928 middle basic pupils in all government-owned schools in Enugu State, Nigeria. Out of the target population, 1,400 pupils were selected using a multistage sampling technique. The instrument used was theCornell Class-Reasoning Test, Form X, which contains 72 items and assessed the respondents' critical thinking skills. The data collected was analyzed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Major findings revealed that teachers' gender does not significantly predict the critical thinking skills of primary-school children in Enugu State, and that teachers' age does not predict critical thinking of primary school children to a large extent. Last, it was found that teachers' location does not predict the critical thinking skills of primary schoolchildren to a large extent. Based on the findings, counseling implications and recommendations are made.