ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCE AND THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN UYO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

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ABSTRACT

The study was on environmental influence on the academic performance of secondary school students in Uyo Local Government. The description survey design was adopted for the study. A total of 7185 Junior Secondary Two (JS-2) students in fourteen public secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area of AkwaIbom State made up the population of the study (State Secondary education Board, 2019). A total of 140 Junior Secondary Two (JS-2) students were randomly drawn from the fourteen public secondary schools in Uyo Local government Area on the basis of 10 respondents from each of the schools. The simple random sampling method was used in selecting the participants. The instruments used in this study were environmental influence on students academic performance questionnaire  (EISAPQ) and the students performance test (SPT). The instruments were validated by the researchers supervisor. The internal consistency reliability of the environmental influence on academic performance of students questionnaire” was determined using cronbach alpha method. The reliability coefficient was .87. mean statistic and standard deviation was used to answer research question 1,2,3 while dependent t-test was used to test hypotheses at 0.5 level of significance. The findings revealed that there is a significant influence of library facilities on the academic performance of students. There is a significant influence of instructional materials on the academic performance of students. Finally, there is significantly influence of class size on the academic performance of students. It was recommended that learning institutions and government should provide functional libraries, instructional materials, reliabilities classrooms and other facilities in schools to promote effective teaching and learning.

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction/Literature

Education constitutes a formidable instrument for social mobilization in the society. It places very high premium in the education of the young ones as the gateway to cultural, social, political, economic and technological emancipation. In the nations policy on education (FGN, 2013) education is viewed as a means of building a free, just and egalitarian society, a land full of opportunities for all citizens who are able to generate a great and dynamic economy and growing into strong and self-reliant nation. Generally, in the whole world particularly in Nigeria, Education has been considered to be the corner-stone for development. It forms the basis for literacy, skill acquisition, technological advancement and ability to harness human and materialresources towards the achievement of societal goals (FRN, 2004). It is a process by which abilities and capacities of individuals are developed.

Emeka (2008) sees education as a process by which any society through schools, colleges, universities and other institutions deliberately transmit knowledge, values and skills from one person to another. The function of education is both social and individual. Its social function is to help each individual become more effective member of the society by passing along to him the collective experience of the past and the present. Its individual function is to enable him to live a satisfying and productive life by preparing him to handle new experiences successfully (Sadler, 2010).This can only be achieved when the environment of the school is encouraging.

Environment such as the school has been seen as important force in a child’s intellectual development. Therefore much is there to be desired than gold that a student’s learning environment should be sound, full of facilities and conducive for his effective academic pursuit.

The learning experience accumulated in a sound school environment serves as the bride to overcome life’s circumstances and eventually becomes a more effective member of the society. With this in view, there is the need to introduce quality into the system by creating sound and conducive environment for teaching and learning process.

Ajayi (2010) opined that schools physical surrounding, which include the classrooms, school location, libraries, technical workshops, laboratories, kitchen methods, buildings, peers etc. are the variables that affect students’ academic achievements either positively or negatively. Hence, the school environment remains an important area that should be studied and well managed to enhance students’ academic performance.

George (2000) added that the extent to which students learning could be enhanced depends on their location within the school compound, the structure of their building, availability of instructional facilities, and accessories. It is believed that a well-planned school will gear up expected outcome of education that will facilitate good social, political and economic emancipation, effective teaching and learning process and academic performance of  thestudents.

A good number of factors can exert some sort of influence on the learner’s surrounding which can affect their learning process. Effective learning can only take place in a sound, rich and conducive environment such as the school.

Thus for learning to take place and the performance of students enhanced, the environment must be stimulating and encouraging. William (2009) observed that some of the notable factors that may influence the students’ academic performance in school are school climate, instructional materials, discipline, physical facilities, teaching quality, type of location of school and class size. This is because school with a good and conducive environment that has the best type of teachers, instructional materials and physical facilities will produce better school leavers with high achievement.

Okeke(2011) maintains that the learning environment plays a vital role on how the students perform or respond to circumstances and situations around them. This implies that no society is void of environmental influences. The learning environment determines to a large extent how a student behaves and interact, that is to say the environment in which we find ourselves tend to mold our behavior so as to meet the demands of life whether negatively or positively. The author opined that the desire for both qualitative and quantitative education has multiplied the problem of providing an effective and conducive learning environment for teaching and learning.

School libraries in the educational institutions such as secondary schools are important to the live-wire and foundational up-bringing of children. This is because libraries primarily stock materials that are of interest and developmental growth for young, teenagers and youths of the era Rasaq (2000) and Edeghere (2001). However such collections of materials, to an extent make provisions for teachers, whereas the services are mainly aimed at students in the schools. School libraries are known as learning laboratory for the school. They provide the total learning package required by the students and their teachers. Ifidon (2006) said that a school library is a collection of a wide variety of library materials and resources housed in each school, centrally organized by staff, professionally prepared to offer services to students and teachers that will enrich and support the educational enterprises. This means that, a school library assists and supports the educational programme of the schools by storing instructional materials for use in teaching and learning (Ifidon, 2006).

Instructional materials are the different teaching resources and apparatus which a classroom teacher employs to facilitate his or her teaching for the achievement of the stated objective. Agun (2002) defined instructional materials as those materials which are helpful to the teachers and students and which maximize the learning in various areas. The use of instructional materials in the teaching is very important because it provides a concrete basis for conceptual thinking, motivates the people to learn and capture the students’ imagination if used correctly (Ajalla, 2007). Effective teaching of any subject will not only stimulates students’ interest in the subject but also enhance their achievement in the examination. To achieve effective teaching and learning process, there is the need for use of instructional materials.

Class factors are very important in the teaching and learning activities particularly when a student performance is being considered. There is a consensus among other researchers and educationist that students’ performance decreases as class size increases (Fabunmi, 2000).The National Policy on Education (2004) recommended that the teacher-students ratio should be 1:40.The influence that class size have on academic performance cannot be overemphasized; the lower the teacher-students ratio in the class, the more effective communication between the learners and the teacher.

Birr (2000) opined that school with large class size recorded poor academic performance while better performance was associated with schools with small class size. To achieve a significant increase in academic performance however requires a dramatic reduction in class size. Class size of fifteen or fewer could be expected to increase achievement scores by approximately half a standard deviation.

Adeyemi (2008) holds similar view that small class size due to fewer students in the classroom, promote teacher-students interaction hence effecting teaching positively. Achiles (2003), in a similar study shares the view that small class size do not only improve students’ academic achievement but also improve their behavior and discipline both in the class room and outside school.

It is increasingly becoming more difficult to be an effective teacher today than ever before. This is because the demands of the learners are more complex and more varied than before. Earlier, a teacher was expected to be more vast in book knowledge, he must be expected to know his student but now it is not so. Ibebassey (2002) describe instructional materials as object, devices and things that are used by the teacher to transfer and to share their encoded lesson with their learners who will decode such lessons by analyzing and interpreting them to facilitate effective learning. 

Statement of the Problem

A recent trend in Nigeria is the issue of poor performance of students of secondary schools in external examination such as the West African Examination Council and National Examination Council

Major concern has been on the qualities of teacher and non-commitment of the students to their studies due to distractions that hamper learning but very little attention has been given to the learning environment. The environment in which student learn such as classrooms, libraries, laboratories, playground, aesthetics amongst others are variable that is also thought to be having effect on the teaching learning process which could invariably affect students’ academic performance. Hence, the learning environment remains an important area that should be studied and well managed.

Chike (2017) in line with Ike (2012) have pointed that poor teaching experience, inadequate or poor physical infrastructure, unsatisfactory building design are likely to cause some physical discomfort for the student and are therefore bound to influence their academic achievement.

Based on these, the researcher intends to examine the influence of the environment on academic performance in secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area and make recommendations on how to improve them to ensure quality standards are maintained.

Significance of the Study

It is hoped that this study will provide information for Parents, Educators and School Administrators to reflect upon various environmental factors that help students in achieving their academic goals. In so doing, thy can investigate the possibility of introducing those factors to their school, which may consequently lead to enhancing students’ educational outcomes in school. This study will also be significant because the findings will stimulate Parents, school managers, teachers, students and the society’s awareness on the importance of conducive learning environment. The findings of the study will also assist school administrators and curriculum planners to develop strategies that would reduce negative effects of poor learning environment on academic achievement of students in institutions of learning. The findings of this study shall also be useful to school Proprietors, government, school administrators and Parents in understanding the influence of school environment on academic performance of students in schools. This study will also be of importance to students themselves as it will be made known to them the effects of school environment on their academic performance.

ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCE AND THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN UYO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA