School Variables And Academic Performance In Social Studies

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 1.1 Background to the Study

The school is a social and learning agent that provides an enabling environment within which a child may be formally educated in order to attain educational goals.  Human beings have unlimited capacity to learn but may however, be limited by the behaviour patterns and facilities that the immediate environment offers. According to Umoh (2006), nature only provides the raw materials in form of potentials, but it is the environment that determines the extent of development.

In furtherance to the menace caused by low academic performance in the Nigerian academic system, it could be deduced that there exists a vacuum in the quality of pupils produced and the required quality of individuals for various institutional needs in the country.

In assessing the cause effect of the level of pupils’ academic performance, the researcher considers some school variables as those instruments that could enhance or mar pupils’ academic performance. The school variables include the school size, school type, family structure, class size, school location, instrumental materials, leadership style, teacher’s qualification and other school variables deemed fit to affect pupils’ academics performance in social studies Coleman (2000).

Glass and Smith (2000), despite conventional wisdom that school in put makes little difference in pupils’ learning a group of body of research suggests that the following factors can be attributed to poor academic performance school type, location, size, ventilation, leadership etc. the school can make a difference and a substantial portion of that difference is attributable to other factors mentioned above. Hence, the school variables remain an important area that should be studied and well managed to enhance pupils’ academic performance.

The issue of poor academic performance of pupils in social studies in primary schools in Nigeria has been of much concern to the government, parents, teachers and even pupils’ themselves. The quality of education not only depends on the teachers as reflected in the performance of their duties, but also in the effective coordination of the school variables. It is believed that the school physical feature has a form of relationship with the pupil academic performance in terms of the school size, structure, location and type.

School Variables And Academic Performance In Social Studies

A school with a highly populated pupil may result in the teachers not been able to monitor the performance of pupils and thus reducing the pupils’ academic performance and also, research has postulated a form of severe relationship between the school size and the pupils’ academic performance say public school and private school. Also, the location and availability of educational resources at the disposal of the pupils in terms of school variables affect their level of academic performance.

As opined by Bernadette (2002) no nation has ever hoped to be self reliant and build a dynamic economy when their people are wallowing in ignorance, superstition and abject poverty. The teaching learning process involves an array of interventional process at the center of which are the school and teachers, whose role remain pivotal to the success of educational programmed. Ekanem (2006). Moreso, intelligent is not the only determinant of academic achievement of pupils. Academic performance of pupils is always associated with the many components of learning environment. According to Bosque and Dore (2004), learning and teaching environment ought to implement six functions, inform, communicate, collaborate, produce seaffold and manage. They added the conceptually speaking, the learning environment refer to and the whole range of components and activities within which learning happens.

The large to determine empirical relationship between pupils performance and factors like location of school, class size, school laboratory environment, school type and structure etc. motivate this research study.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Academic performance, which is measured by the examination results, is one of the major goals of a school. Hoyle (2008) argued that schools are established with the aim of imparting knowledge and skills to those who go through them and behind all this is the idea of enhancing good academic performance.

Poor academic performance of pupils in social studies has in the past given a cause for concern for academicians and school operators and such variables that could tend to influence the pupils’ performance are basically from the school. This has brought about children droppings from schools, nuisance and other vices have multiplied tremendously. Against these and gap this anomaly has generated, this project is done to bridge the gap for posterity.

School Variables And Academic Performance In Social Studies

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to investigate school variables and academic performance in social studies among primary school pupils in Ukanafun Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Specifically, this research is carried out to:

1. To determine the difference in academic performance of pupils in urban school and pupils in the rural schools.
2. To determine the difference in academic performance of pupils in large class size and their counterpart in small class size.
3. To determine the difference in academic performance of pupils in public schools and those in private schools.

1.4 Significance of The Study

The study is highly significant in enabling parents, educationalist and educational stakeholders in measuring school variables in relationship to pupils academic performance.

1.  The study will be significant in that it will enlighten parents and guardians of pupils on which schools (schools in the urban area or schools in the rural area) would be effective to ensure excellent performance of pupils.
2. The study will be of benefit to educationist who are interested in knowing how non classroom factors/ variables affect pupils academic performance.
3. This study is also germane to parents who are interested in the educational performance of their pupils, most especially in social studies and parents who are tending to mold their children to become social scientists in the future as this study tends to access school variables and academic performance.
4. It will further help government particularly educational administrators, and social science provider when making policies on the supply of equipment to primary schools.
5. Finally, this research is hoped to serve as related literature for those embarking on a future related study.

1.5 Research Questions

The following research questions guided the study:

1. Is there any difference in academic performance of pupils in urban schools and their counterpart in rural schools?
2. Is there any difference in academic performance of pupils in large class size and those in small class size?
3. Is there any difference in academic performance of pupils in public schools and those in private schools?

1.6 Research Hypotheses

Based on the above stated objectives, the following null hypotheses were formulated and tested.

1. There is no significant difference in academic performance of pupils in urban schools and their counterparts in rural schools.
2. There is no significant difference in academic performance of pupils in large class size and their counterpart in small class size.
3. There is no significant difference in academic performance of pupils in public schools and their counterpart in private schools.

1.7 Limitation of the Study

In the course of carrying out this investigation the researcher was confronted with certain problems which posed significant threat to the success of this exercise prominent among which are:

1. Financial constraint, in that the researcher depended only on the financial contribution of his parents which was scarcely adequate to produce and process materials required for the researcher.
2. Limited time frame of only a semester allowed by the College authority for the completion and submission of research findings was not sufficient for a research work of this magnitude. For this reason, it was difficult to cover a good scope of investigation on the issue.