The characteristic of the teacher is widely believed to be important for effective teaching. Teachers’ characteristics are often associated with the teacher’s quality. The purpose of this study was to establish the influence of teachers’ characteristics on effecting mentoring in senior secondary Biology. The study focused on the following independent variables: teacher’s gender, age, experience and teacher subject area. The study investigated their influence on teachers’ effectiveness in mentoring Biology students. The study employed a descriptive research design. The sample size was 100 selected from 525 biology teachers in Ekiti State, Nigeria through simple random sampling. A validated questionnaire which was adjudged to be reliable after going through test-retest method was used for data collection. Data was analyzed using Multiple Regression analysis, which revealed that there was significant joint influence of Biology teachers’ characteristics on mentoring effectiveness in Nigerian secondary schools The study therefore recommend teacher’s overall development in enhancing the characteristics required for effective mentoring of students.

KEYWORDS: Teachers, secondary schools, millennium development goals, student relationships