ABSTRACT: The study investigated Availability and Utilization of Physical and Health Education Facilities in the Teaching of Physical and Health Education in Secondary Schools. The study adopted survey research design. The population of the study was all the Physical and Health Education teachers in all the ten (10) public secondary schools in the study area. Data for the study were generated through two instruments: a checklist on availability of school facilities entitled “Checklist on Availability of Physical and Health Facilities (CAPHEF)” and a questionnaire entitled “Questionnaire on School Facilities and Teaching Effectiveness (QSFTE)”. Simple percentage statistic was used in analyzing the data generated for the study. The findings showed that: availability of Physical and Health Education facilities influence the teaching of the subject in secondary schools; and that there is low level of utilization or underutilization of Physical and Health Education facilities in the teaching of Physical and Health Education in secondary schools.
Availability and Utilization of Physical and Health Education Facilities in the Teaching of Physical and Health Education in Secondary Schools
Based on the findings, it was recommended that teachers of Physical and Health Education should develop positive attitudes towards the use of Physical and Health Education facilities for their teaching as this will encourage the development of their proficiency; and that government should support and encourage the schools by organizing in-service training and seminars on how to use Physical and Health Education facilities in teaching Physical and Health Education.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
School facilities have been observed as a potent factor to quantitative education. The importance to teaching and learning of the provision of adequate instructional facilities for education cannot be over-emphasized. The dictum that “teaching is inseparable from learning but learning is not separable from teaching” is that teachers do the teaching to make the students learn, but students can learn without the teachers. According to Akande (2014), learning can occur through one’s interaction with one’s environment. Environment here refers to facilities that are available to facilitate students learning outcome. It includes books, audio-visual, software and hardware of educational technology in the library and laboratory facilities.
According to Oni (2009), facilities constitute a strategic factor in organizational functioning. This is so because they determine to a very large extent the smooth functioning of any social organization or system including education. He further stated that their availability, adequacy and relevance influence efficiency and high productivity. In his words, Farombi (2012) opined that the wealth of a nation or society could determine the quality of education in that land; emphasizing that a society that is wealthy will establish good schools with quality teachers, learning infrastructures that with such, students may learn with ease thus bringing about good academic achievement. Writing on the role of facilities in teaching, Balogun (2010) submitted that no effective science education programme can exist without equipment for teaching. This is because facilities enable the learner to develop problem-solving skills and scientific attitudes.
Furthermore, Fabunmi (2014) asserted that school facilities when provided will aid teaching learning programme and consequently improve academic achievement of students while the models guiding their provision to schools could take any form as rational bureaucratic and or political model. Whichever model is adopted, according to him, there is always a common feature of differing allocation of facilities to schools. In his words, Ojoawo (2016), however, noted that certain schools are favored in the allocation of facilities at the expense of others. Writing on poor performance of students in public examinations, London (2013) stated that in many developing nations certain physical facilities are none existent, and that those instances where amenities are available many are of substandard quality.
Contrary to this, Gamoran (2009), however, holding a contrary view noted that facilities, teachers’ salaries, books in the library and the presence of science laboratory, had little impact on variation in student achievement once student background variables had been taken into account. This statement connotes that before such student could perform well in higher educational level, he must have been groomed or cushioned by availability of resources in his elementary days upon which he now uses as spring board.
According to Hallak (2016), facilities form one of the potent factors that contribute to academic achievement in the school system. They include the school buildings, classroom, accommodation, libraries, laboratories, furniture, recreational equipment, apparatus and other instructional materials. He went further to say that their availability, relevance and adequacy contribute to academic achievement. He however, quickly added that unattractive school buildings and overcrowded classrooms among others contribute to poor academic attainment. Describing where these facilities should be located, he ascribed that educational facilities should be located in appropriate places, while the needs of the users should be put into consideration. The various facts highlighted above, then motivated the researcher to investigate on school facilities and teaching of Physical and Health Education in secondary schools in the study area.
Availability and Utilization of Physical and Health Education Facilities in the Teaching of Physical and Health Education in Secondary Schools
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Teaching is a term which is mainly concerned with passing of ideas, skills and attitude from the more experience person (teacher) to a less experience person (learners). In Akwa Ibom state for example, experience has shown that spoken words used by teachers during lesson presentation in the communication of ideas are grossly ineffective and inefficient in producing desired learning outcomes especially in science and vocational subjects like Physical and Health Education.
Every year, when the results of public examinations are released, there has been mass failure in Physical and Health Education and this have causes a lot of confusion to stakeholders in education and they have striven to investigate the causes of this. On the fore-going scholars like Edem (2016) emphasized that we learn and remember 10% of what we hear, 40% of what we discuss with others and as high as 80% of what we experience directly or practice. However, the question is could the mass failure be attributed to lack of school facilities to be used by teachers during the teaching and learning process?
Could the availability of library facilities and Physical and Health laboratory facilities in which could have led to the fall in the academic performance of students in the subject? To provide answers to these questions the researcher investigated Availability and Utilization of Physical and Health Education Facilities in the Teaching of Physical and Health Education in Secondary Schools.
