ABSTRACT
The study examined school environment and the
academic achievement of secondary school
students’ in Kanke L.G.A. Factors such as school plant planning, school
facilities, class size and school organization were examined to know their
effects on the academic achievement of secondary school students in Kanke LGA.
The study used a descriptive research designed. The target population is 25,300
students in Government secondary schools in Kanke LGA. The sample was 40
teachers, 160 students in the four selected government secondary schools. Two
hundred questionnaires was constructed and distributed to 40 students and 10
teachers each from the four sample schools. The study subjects were selected
using random sampling technique. Questionnaires were used to collect data on
the school environment and the academic achievement. Four objectives four
research questions and four hypotheses were used in the study. The hypotheses
were tested, standard deviation was used to answer the research questions.
Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient were used to analyze the
hypotheses. The study established that poor school plant planning, poor school
facilities, overpopulation and poor school organization made significant
contribution to the students’ academic achievement. It is hope that the finding
of this study will be useful to teachers, principal and parents to gain more
insight into environmental factors that affects students’ academic achievement
and therefore help improve their academic achievement.
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The relationship between school environment
and school academic achievement has been a perplexing one for educators.
Studies have found that the physical environment, siting of school in rural or
urban area, socio-economic status of the neighborhood, ethic location of the
school, overcrowded classrooms built near market center, libraries, technical
workshops, laboratories, school plant planning, among others are all school environment
variables that significantly affect school academic achievement (Fullan. M. and Watson, N. 2000).
School academic achievement in this
context refers to the extent to which schools are able to accomplish their
pre-determined objectives. School academic achievement transcends beyond
students passing final examination. It also encompasses student’s attainment in
other domains of learning (the affective and the psychomotor domains).
According to Udoh and Akpa (2004), these other domains, apart from having
influence on the cognitive achievement, also make the beneficiary of the
education system live a fulfilled life and contribute meaningful to the
development of the society.
School academic achievement research
started in the mid-1960 with the Cohen report (Cohen 1983) in the United State.
Since then, there are three distinct but interrelated branches of school academic
achievement research, namely, (a) school effects research – i.e. scientific
properties of school effects, e.g the size of school effects, (b) schools
academic achievement research – i.e process oriented study of characteristics
of schools academic achievement, and
(c)school improvement research – focusing and limiting its test of specific
models of effective schools. It must be noted that most of the school academic
achievement research studies have traditionally come from USA, UK and some
continental European countries, in particular, the Netherlands. Much is yet to
be examined on the effects of school environment factors on school academic
achievement in Nigeria.
Nigeria as a nation strives to
experience real growth and development. This requires a clearly defined
development strategy that allows intensive utilization of resources which is
endowed. These resources are the various school physical facilities they are
indispensable in the educational process. They include the sitting, the
building and physical; equipment, recreation places for the achievement of
educational objectives Tolutope (2011).
School environment with its
attendant features of instructional spaces planning, administrative places
planning, circulation spaces planning, spaces for conveniences planning,
accessories planning, the teachers as well as the students themselves are
essential in the teaching-learning processes. The extent to which student
learning could be enhanced depends on their location in the locality, within
the school compound, the structure of their classroom, availability of
instructional facilities and accessories. It is believed that a well planned
school will gear up expected outcomes education that will facilitate good
social, political and economic emancipation, effective teaching and learning
process and academic achievement of the students.
Relating this study to
international occurrences are the assertions of Fullan M, and Watson (2000),
which reported that safe and orderly classroom environment (aspect of
instructional space), school facilities
(accessories) were significantly related to school academic achievement which in-turn enhanced students academic achievement.
The two researchers, also quoted Cohen (1983: 139), asserting that a
comfortable and caring environment among other treatments helped to contribute
to students’ academic achievement.
The physical characteristics of the
school have a variety of effects on teachers, students, and the learning
process. Poor lighting, noise, high levels of carbon dioxide in classrooms, and
inconsistent temperatures make teaching and learning difficult. Poor
maintenance and ineffective ventilations systems lead to poor health among
students as well as teachers, which leads to poor school academic achievement
and higher absentee rates (Edem 1987). These factors can adversely affect
student behavior and lead to higher level of frustration among teachers, and
poor learning attitude among student.
Beyond the direct effects that poor
facilities have on students’ ability to learn, the combination of poor
facilities, which create an uncomfortable and uninviting workplace for
teachers, combined with frustrating behavior by students including poor
concentration and hyperactivity, lethargy, or apathy, rates a stressful set of
working conditions for teachers. Because stress and job dissatisfaction are
common pre-cursors to lowered teacher enthusiasm, it is possible that the
aforementationed characteristics of school facilities have an effect upon the
academic achievement of students.
Previous studies have investigated
the relationship of poor school environment including problems with
student-teachers ratio, school facilities, school population, classroom
ventilation, poor lighting in classrooms, and inconsistent temperatures in the
classroom with student health problems, student behavior, and student
achievement (Haffman 1980; Fullan, 2001; Ndagi, 2000). To complement these
studies, the present research examines the aforementioned areas of school environment
factors such as school plant planning itself, class size, school facilities,
and school organization affect the academic achievement of schools in Nigeria.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Emphasizing the importance of
school environment on school academic achievement started with Coleman’s Report
in the United States. Since then, various researches have been conducted on
school academic achievement. These researches, however, were centered on the
developed countries. With the exception of few works (Adesina 1984; Akinyeni,
1983; no serious attempt has been made to study how school environment factors
serve as determinants of school academic achievement in Nigeria secondary
schools. It is on this basis that the present study seeks to Junction how environment
of the school itself, class size, school facilities, and school organization
are structurally significant to academic achievement of school.
1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purposes of this study are:
i.
To examine the effects of school plant
planning on the school academic achievement
ii.
To examine the impact of school
facilities on the academic achievement of schools
iii.
To explore factors such as class size
that has been perceived to promote or inhibit students learning in the academic
process of students in secondary school.
iv.
To investigate the extent to which
school organization affects the academic achievement of the school
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
i.
To what extent does school plant
planning has on academic achievement of school?
ii.
To what extent does a school facility
affect school academic achievement?
iii.
What effect does class size has on the
academic achievement of students in secondary school?
iv.
To what extent does school organization
has on the academic achievement of the school?
1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
Ho1 There is no significant difference
between school plant planning and school academic achievement
Ho2 There is no significant difference
between school facilities and school academic achievement
Ho3 There is no significant difference
between class size and academic achievement of students
Ho4 There is no significance difference
between school organization and school academic achievement
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
It is hoped that this study will
provide information for parents, educators and school administrators to reflect
upon various factors that can aid the school to help students to achieve their
goals. In so doing, they can investigate the possibility of introducing the
recommended factors to their school, which may sequent lead to enhancing
students’ educational outcomes in school. In addition, the fact that this study
is conducted in public schools, it shares quite a lot of similarities with many
other counterparts. In this connection, this study provides a valuable
reference for other schools to reflect upon the school environment as it affect
the academic achievement of student in secondary school.
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This research work focuses on
school environment factors as determinants of school academic achievement. This
research work covers all public secondary school students in Kanke Local
Government Area of Plateau State. However, four public secondary schools will
be used as case study.
The secondary schools are;
G.S.S Forgwang – Apmer
G.S.S Forkhir – Amper
G.S.S Dungung – Ampang
G.S.S Dawaki – Kabwir
1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
Apart from time-frame and shortage
of finance, the major limitation to this research is the inability of the
researcher to cover the whole public secondary school in Kanke Local Government
Area of Plateau State as the scope of the study suggest.
1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Academic
Achievement: Knowledge attained or skills developed
in school subjects by test scores.
Secondary
School: Secondary
school (also “high school”) is a term to describe an educational institution
where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually
compulsory up to a specified age, takes place. It follows elementary or primary
education, and may be followed by university tertiary (education).
School: A school is
an institution designed for the teaching of students (or “pupils”) under the
direction of teachers
School
Plant Planning: A school’s physical environment
includes building and the surrounding.
School
environment: The
Physical and social features that surround school environment.
Physical
resources: They
are natural resources that are in the school environment which are useful for
instructional facilities development.