Influence of classroom condition on student performance in secondary schools in Izzi Local Government Area.

Influence of classroom condition on student performance in secondary schools in Izzi Local Government Area.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

Classroom is an institutionalized setting for teaching in its most common form, it is a place where a teacher and students meet regularly for a designated period of time to engage in meaningful teaching-learning activities. The classroom management refers to some forms of arrangement and coordination that go on in the classroom. Classroom management as a concept according to Olowoye (2002), refers to the method or technique which a teacher adopts to ensure that every learners utilizes available resources and with the sole aim of achieving the goals of the school system towards learning. Also, it is the smallest foundational unit of the school system. (Adeyemo, Adegbola & Oke, 2009). Therefore, classroom is a major component of teaching and learning process that entails the use of both human and material resources while the material resources consist of students teaching and non-teaching all of which would have to be put in an orderly way so as to facilitate learning. In a nut shell, a classroom management is the orchestration of the learning environment of a group of individual within a classroom setting.

A close look at how class activities evolve reveals the need for a classroom management- system that is invisible, established, monitored, refined and re-established. While teachers work with students and have different dispositions and abilities, they must be prepared to create, implement and maintain an environment in which learning is the centre. (Everton, 2005).

Teaching may be characterized as an activity aimed at the achievement of teaming and practiced in such manner as to respect the students’ intellectual integrity and capacity for independent judgment (Scheffler, 2008).    Here, teacher is a classroom manager which   is   concerned with the utilization of available resources in the accomplishment of the stated educational instructional objectives.

The place of teacher in creating a good learning environment cannot be overemphasized. Classroom is a place dominated by the teacher’s authority he sees to the provision of materials for work, regulates the time for activities, assigns duties to the class prefects and monitors who are expected to use this delegated authority to do what the teacher wants, the teacher and alternatively affect their motivation and aspiration (Igbaji, 2012).

Students come to classrooms with different social and academic abilities and different life experiences. It is the teacher’s job to teach students what they need to know to be successful in life. Academics are a large part of this, but students also need to know how to interact with others to be successful in the future.

Managing the classroom is a critical part of effective and successful instruction. Effective classroom management, which initiates with well-organized and efficient lesson planning preparation, helps a teacher to teach and students to learn. Students perform well in an optimistic classroom atmosphere and an environment in which they feel secure, safe, cared for and involved.

To ensure a favorable classroom environment, it should be well equipped and facilitated. The classroom physical arrangement provides students with effective instruction and promotes smooth teaching learning process. Physical facilities should be provided as they are helpful in improving the overall performance of the school (Olowoye, 2002).

Physical environment refers to physical characteristics of the room. Physical classroom environment is a combination of different things i.e., lighting, temperature, ventilation system, size of the room, floor, walls, desks, chairs, rugs, whiteboards, computers etc. Teacher and students are considered the main elements of the classroom environment. Favorable physical environment has a significant positive effect on the efficiency of any organization and acts as catalyzing agent to provide a straight way for achieving predetermined objectives of an organization. But unfortunately, physical environment in our classroom is not conducive for smooth teaching learning process resulting fatigue and frustration among the students. According to Halstead (2004), the physical environment is designed in such a way that obstructs the learning process although researches have established a close correlation between the amount of work individual do and its physical environment. It stands to reason that a student sitting in an insufferably hot, airless room listening to a lecture on cryogenics would not learn as much as he would in a cool, comfortable space. Unfortunately, college buildings are designed to attract people from outside but they failed to provide a safe and comfortable internal atmosphere for students. Teachers vary in how they manage their classrooms, but little is known regarding the relationship between secondary school classroom management styles and student outcomes (Brannon, 2010). From the foregoing, the study sought to find out the influence of classroom condition on students’ performance in secondary school in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

Statement of the Problem

          The standard for many classrooms today is to have desks aligned in rows within the classroom. This system of arrangement seems to make students lose focus and creates a higher number of disruptions in the classroom. This structure does not encourage interaction between students and focuses more on the students as an individual completing their own work. Humans are social creatures that want attention, and if they are not able to get it from their classmates then they will commonly act out to get attention from their teacher.

One of the first areas that make a noticeable impact on student success is the physical environment of the classroom. This can pertain to a variety of details. It can be structure, resources, color. All of these can play a role in determining whether the classroom will be conducive for learning or not if well managed.

Despite all the efforts school managements and government had made in the past to provide effective classroom condition, performance of students in some secondary schools in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State do not show this. The problem of this study therefore is to ascertain influence of classroom condition on students’ performance in secondary school in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

Purpose of the Study

          The general purpose of this study is to examine the influence of classroom condition on students’ performance in secondary school in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

Specifically, it sought to:

1. Determine how class size affects student’s performance in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
2. Ascertain the effect of class assessment in student’s performance in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
3. Determine how peer pressure influence student’s performances in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
4. Ascertain whether seating arrangement affects student’s performance in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

Significance of the Study

          This study will be of great help and importance to the school management, students, the government, researchers and other users of information.

          School Management, The findings of this study will help them make appropriate planning and budget as regards the things needed to have a conducive classroom condition for effective teaching and learning.

          To the students, it will help them to realize the importance of classroom assessment in their academic pursuit. And thereby increasing their performance.

          Government, The findings of the study will expose the need of the learner as well at the teacher for effective curriculum planning and instruction.

Others to benefit from this study include researchers and other users of information which include non-governmental organizations, classroom instructors at different level, curriculum planners etc.

Scope of the Study

          This study is on influence of classroom condition on students’ performance in secondary schools and will specifically focus on class size, peer pressure, seating arrangement and class assessment.

Research Question

The following research questions guided the study:

1. How does class size affect student’s performance in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State?
2. What are the effect of class assessment in student’s performance in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State?
3. How does peer pressure influence student’s performance in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State?
4. How does classroom seating arrangement affect student’s performance in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State?