INFLUENCE OF SCHOOL VARIABLES ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS IN GOVERNMENT IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL IN UKANAFUN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF AKWA IBOM STATE
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Every society desire advancement in all sectors of life, and education is undoubtedly the supposed vehicle for such advancement (Carol, 2018). To this end therefore, enormous investments in the education sector becomes the ultimate and imperative desideratum; schools should be properly equipped with necessary facilities, teachers well trained, and above all students ought to be given access to all variables to enable them learn in the best way possible, perhaps improve their level of academic achievement.
School variables could be in form of school location, class size, library resources, teachers’ qualification, communication technology etc. (Tait, 2015). Providing learners with some of these school variables is necessary because individual students’ needs to be facilitated for quality learning to take place. The school variables main aim is to provide academic assistance and encouragement to students especially slow learners. It could be made up of several programs, such as giving the students tasks to perform, and facilities put together to help improve students’ learning abilities. One way of doing so is introduce the students to a task that recognize and aid students from disadvantaged backgrounds who have shown the aptitude to be successful in school. School variables provide students with instruction in government and other subjects and also enable them to use foreign languages, write composition and literature, as well as giving them the basic study skills necessary for success in academics at the secondary school level. School variables enhance academically disadvantaged students’ opportunities for developmental involvement in their educational experience. Academically disadvantaged students need such support services in order to become academically and socially integrated into quality education (Ido, 2018).
The problem of poor academic achievement amongst secondary school students in Nigeria is not helped by the present state of poor infrastructure in schools. Thus many students in Nigeria may be faced with obstacles that will hinder their academic success, for instance (Essien, 2014) reported that many students face hurdles emanating from poor state of school facilities, that will slow them down or stop them altogether. School variables should help students’ preparation, motivation, study skills, reading comprehension and writing skills, as well as get them familiar with the school environment. In spite of the importance of school variables, (Yoon, 2016) observed a significant lack of supportive services in African school system. For him, school variables include qualified tutors, academic planners, counselors, schedulers, feedback and technical assistance. He observed that in most African countries, students who have access to these variables rather get to suffer isolation, which according to him could lead to complication in the teaching-learning processes.
Similarly, (Anderson, 2013) had observed that lack of learners supports services by way of motivation, feedback and teacher contact negatively influence students’ ability and successful completion of academic workload, students lack of variables that support their learning service, alternation and isolation create a sense of insecurity for learners with adverse effect on learners’ drop-out rate.
There is a widely held view that students who attend schools in urban areas perform better than those who attend schools in rural areas in different parts of the world. Both (Adomako, 2015) and (Asante, 2015) opined that performance of students in urban areas in Ghana has continued to be far better than that of students in rural areas at the basic level. (Sato, 2015) argued that there is more chance of a better academic achievement in schools in urban areas in Japan, just as (Dalmia, 2015) was of the view that rural areas in the present day India were simply not up to the mark.
Similarly, available statistics on schools in the United States of America (USA) between 1993 and 2002 by the National Center for Education Statistics indicated that performance on standardized tests was higher in schools in urban area than schools in rural area CAPE (2014). Among the reasons adduced for the relatively lower performance in schools in urban are ineffective supervision, low parental support and involvement, home factors and differences in school climate including indiscipline and insecurity. Others are differences in infrastructural facilities, motivation of teachers, differences in enrolment, student-teacher ratio.
Nevertheless, the belief that schools in urban area are inherently better in academic performance than schools in rural area has been questioned by the findings of Lubienski and (Lubienski, 2015). They analyzed standardized mathematics test scores is more than 130 rural area and urban area schools. They found that “if you look at kids of equal socio-economic class, the kids in rural schools are outperforming the equivalent kids in urban schools”.
They therefore emphasized the importance of carefully considering socio-economic differences in comparison to school achievement. In a related study, Figlio and (Anderson, 2013) found that errors of selection might affect the results obtained on different categories of schools.
In Nigeria, it is the general opinion of people that schools in urban area are better in terms of the availability of human and physical facilities and consequently students’ performance than schools in rural area Alimi, Ehinola and (Alabi, 2012).
Facilities are everything used directly or indirectly for the benefit of education. It is the entire school plant such as blocks of classrooms, staffrooms, laboratories, workshops, libraries, audio-visual aids, electricity, water, playground, stationeries, storage spaces and others which the school has Alimi, Ehinola and (Alabi, 2012).
A school without facilities, either urban or rural , may not be able to achieve the stated goals and objectives of the system. Facilities in education are very vital because they are teaching and learning.
(Bandele, 2013) noted that the importance of physical facilities cannot be relegated. Facilities like modern laboratories, libraries and classrooms are to be put in place in all our schools. (Adesola, 2015) found out that the level of available resources is indeed a plus to the teachers and goes to show the level of ingenuity and commitment of the teachers toward effective delivery of lesson. There is the need for renovation of old buildings, chairs, desks and the acquisition of modern classrooms and libraries (Alimi, 2012).
(Akinfolarin, 2009) identified facilities as a major factor contributing to academic performance in the schools system. Different studies conducted by (Ayodele, 2010) and (Vandiver, 2011), showed that a positive relationship exists between availability of facilities and students’ academic performance.
Research findings on the influences of facilities in schools in urban areas and schools in rural areas on students’ academic performance are controversial.
Research suggests that smaller classes offer teachers the chance to devote more time to each student so as to improve their learning (Finn, 2012). A number of states have already implemented class size reduction programmes, and others are in the process of doing so. Skeptics is worried that, reducing class size will increase costs without producing substantial benefits. However, class size reduction programmes certainly present challenging problems as well as opportunities.
Bello and Oguntona (2015) have used various techniques to study how class size affects the quality of education. They have looked at the relationship between class size, and students’ performance and conducted various kinds of studies related to class size and its possible influences on educational practice. They found out that small classes were associated with high performance at all grade levels. Also, that small classes were superior in terms of student’s relations, teachers morale, and the quality of the instructional environment, which led to higher performance.
(Morgan, 2011) shows that although experimental studies have contributed substantially to the research knowledge about class size, not all the questions about the impact of class size reductions have seen answered, nor have all the debates been settled. However, the pattern of research findings points more clearly toward the beneficial effects of reducing class size. (Hein and David, 2014) show that several major analyses have used various analytical methods to draw conclusion through reviews of already existing research studies. The method used and the studies included vary, but most of them have concluded that reducing class is relative to increase student learning ability.
(Udosen, 2010) employed a best evidence synthesis strategy to analyze empirical studies that met specified criteria; a study was included only if the class size had been reduced for at least a year. Classes of less than 20 students were compared substantially with larger classes, and students in the larger and smaller classes were comparable. (Slavin, 2016) found that reduced class size had, a small positive effect on students that did not persist after their reduced class experience.
Robinson and (Witterbo,2011) published a review of more than 100 relevant research studies using a related cluster analysis approach. They concluded that reducing class size is especially promising for disadvantage and minority students. All the same time, they cautioned that positive effects were less likely if teachers did not change their instructional methods and classroom procedures in the smaller classes.
Grane, Raucher and Sherfinski (2009) concluded that increase in students’ achievement were largely due to the combination of students having smaller class sizes with increased students’ attention and teacher concentration on individual students. Smaller class size may improve student achievement because of its social ecology. The provision of education through small class sizes in which the students and teachers are able to get to know’ and understand one another better may facilitate increases in student achievement Fischel (2012). It therefore became imperative to undertake a study that would determine if school location has influenced academic performance of students in Government in public Secondary School in the study area, if class size has influenced academic performance of students in Government in public Secondary School in the study area, If Availability of library resources has influenced the academic performance of students in Government in public Secondary School in the study area, if teachers qualification has influenced academic performance of students in Government in public Secondary School in the study area.
Consequently, this study investigated the influence of school variables on academic performance of students in Government in public Secondary School in Ukanafun Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
INFLUENCE OF SCHOOL VARIABLES ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS IN GOVERNMENT IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL IN UKANAFUN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF AKWA IBOM STATE
