Abstract: The study examined School Environment and Students’ Academic Performance in Business Studies. A survey design was employed in carrying out the study. The population of this study consisted of all Business Studies students in junior secondary three (JS3) class. Two hundred (200) respondents was the sample size of the study. The main instrument used in this study was Business Studies Achievement Test (BSAT). Independent t-test statistical method was adopted in analyzing the data collected. Findings revealed that: there is a significant difference in students’ academic performance in large class size and those in small class size; there is a significant difference in students’ academic performance in urban schools and those in rural schools in Business Studies in Obot Akara Local Government Area.
School Environment and Students’ Academic Performance in Business Studies
Based on the findings, it was recommended that: the community and other philanthropists should be encouraged to support the development of schools to improve the facilities such as the library and laboratory facilities to improve the teaching-learning process irrespective of the location and the number of students in class.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
There are many school factors that contribute to students’ under achievement; which include school size, evaluation systems, acceptable pear, social roles, grade structure, noise and extra curriculum opportunities. This school environment is supposed to serve as a practical ground for teaching health habits, attitude and other good practices. Charles (2003) stated that better school environment creates better behave students reducing bullying and vandalism. Dudek (2000) opined that school environment could be said to be the external influence the school that can influence academic performance of students irrespective of the intelligent quotient. School environment can also be considered as the second teacher since space has the power to organize and promote pleasant relationship between people of different ages.
However, the school environment provides the avenue for the students and the teachers to exercise their potentials in the teaching/learning process. In Okeke (2000), it was generally accepted that school environment and students can hardly be separated in terms of students’ academic performance, hence, the school environment contributes to the inculcation of the students life by nature (the complex of emotional and intellectual attributes that determines a person’s characteristics actions and reactions) and nurture (the consequences of the interaction between the child and the other members of the environment). This means that the environment which include the environmental facilities such as school building, classroom facilities, library facilities and laboratory facilities influence the students participation in secondary school which may also influence their academic performance.
Moreso, Chiu (2011) observed that school environment encompassed material and human resources; and teaching and learning occur by the interaction between the teacher and the students as well as the interaction of the students with the material resources. This implies that the school environment include the teachers laboratory facilities, library facilities, the temperature (hot or cold) of the environment, class size, classroom facilities amongst others. This therefore formed the background to this study to investigate school environment and students’ academic performance in Business Studies in Obot Akara Local Government Area.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The implementation of every curriculum takes place in an environment called school. Therefore, the environment should be conducive enough for both teachers and students for effective teaching/learning to occur. Specifically, teaching and learning occur mostly in the classroom and as it is in the National Policy on Education (2013), a classroom was meant to carry only 35 to 40 students at the secondary level of education in terms of class size; and the computer laboratory facilities and library facilities supposed to be made available for students to use in learning basic concepts of business studies which will prepare them for the task ahead in the field of commercial studies.
Unfortunately, cases in secondary schools in Obot Akara Local Government Area had been in the reverse direction as the classes are large and the number of students increases without equal supply of materials in the school. This increase in the population of students is as a result of the free and compulsory education policy in the state. Also, the issue of overcrowding in classrooms, the case of lack of school facilities likes the library, computer and typing laboratories are another. However, these and others have made serious problem in the teaching/learning process on the educational system in the Local Government Area.
School Environment and Students’ Academic Performance in Business Studies
Furthermore, the researcher identified some problems in the teaching and learning of Business Studies to include: in-effective instructional process due to poor teacher-students relationship; lack of classroom activities arising from large class sizes and inadequate facilities; ineffective classroom supervision and follow-up for slow learners by teachers due to large class size; inability to evaluate students’ performance by teachers; unsafe and un-conducive classroom environment due to noise, lack of space and poor ventilation. The above mention problems had raised concern in the researcher to examine school environment and students’ academic performance as it affects Business Studies in secondary schools in the study area.
