CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Reward and punishment are regarded as a complete important means through which a teacher can maintain his or her class discipline in the secondary schools. Many educationists and psychologists have expressed dierent views about the eective use of reward and punishment in the secondary schools. As the study progresses, the research hopes to bring together the dierent views and feelings of others, so that the reader can be given suicient ground on which to base his or her conclusion aer reading this work. The issues of reward and punishment are mostly debated on the secondary school administered today most especially when they are related to learning process. It is equally an area of interest, which closely involves many teachers and parents who the need for education authority to define its limits, some scholars in their books suggested allowing nearly total freedom to children in learning process in the school. a prompt and an acceptable solution must be provided on this issue because the outcome will give a practical advice and guidance to those who are just entering the teaching career or to parents who show much interest over their children ‘s progress in life. This research work does not however, claim to solve the entire problems concerned with punishment and rewards in learning process in the schools, but rather it highlight some solutions which will be of great educational values to the parents as well as the public in general.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The work is on the study of the effects of reward and punishment on academic performance of students in some selected secondary schools in Oredo local government area of Edo state. Many educationists psychologists have written many books covering this topic, the writer attempts in the study. Therefore to examine the views of some of these renowned writers in addition to the research findings and personal experience so as to be able to know the following problems. 1. To find out whether effective learning can take place in form of punishment. 2. Whether there is other method of learning effectively with reward and punishment. 3. If punishment has effect on the learning process of the students in secondary schools. 4. If reward and punishment can be combined so that much can be achieved in terms of educational objectives.
