education topics
TRANSCRIPT
EFFECTS OF INVIGILATOR-GENERATED ANXIETY AND GENDER ON TASK PERFORMANCE
BY
ECHINEI J. OSHIONWU, PHD,Associate Mental Health Specialist,
Napa State Hospital, Department of mental Health,California, USA.
ABSTRACT
The study investigated the effects of invigilator-generated anxiety and gender on one hundred participants
drawn from primary six pupils of the University of Nigeria primary school Nsukka. The participants were
assigned into two groups: treatment group and control group. They consisted of 48 male and 52 female
pupils. Their ages ranged from 10 to 13 years with a mean age of 11.2 years. The stimulus material was a
story called from the Premier English by Coates (2000). A 2-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistic
was adopted to test for the significance of the stated hypotheses. The result showed that participants from
the treatment group performed poorly when compared to their counterparts from the control group: F(1,96)
=23.08, P<.001. Neither gender nor interaction was significant. Implications of the study were discussed.
INTRODUCTION
The relationship between anxiety and task performance has been a topic of interest to psychologists and
counselors alike. One early study showed that students with higher levels of anxiety have lower grade point
averages (Spielberger, 1979). Another study by Holmes (1966) found that students provided with anxiety
reducing counseling showed greater improvement in task performance than did students not provided with
such counseling. And more recent work confirms the negative effects of anxiety on college task
performance (Schreiber & Schreiber, 1995).
However, research has repeatedly revealed that high levels of cognitive anxiety can have a detrimental
effect upon a number of (varying) tasks and situations.
If people were asked what makes them different from a computer, the probable answer would be emotion
the ability to feel things. Human beings do not act like machines. However, not all our emotions are
positive. Some like anger and fear can be quite destructive. They feel individuals with tension especially in
the muscles. This tension is caused by an overload of Adrenalin, which enters the blood stream whenever
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one faces a stressful situation. It causes hyper-alertness. In part, this reaction is a survival response. It is
known as the ‘fight or flight action’ (Harchy, & Parfitt, 1993).
The feeling of anxiety is very common. Some people refer to it as nerves and everyone has experienced
anxiety at one time or the other. The feeling of general uneasiness, a sense of foreboding and a feeling of
tension is something that happens in people’s day-to-day lives.
Anxiety has both a physiological and a psychological aspect and it is the psychological aspect that affects
the way people interprets sensations (Clarke, Paridson, Windsor, & Pitts, 2000). People can become
anxious in situations merely because they perceive a threat even where there is none. Williams Janes, on
early psychologists, suggested that all human emotions actually come from people’s perception of the
situation condition people are in (Hayes, 1999), “we do not weep because we feel sorrow: we feel sorrow
because we weep”. Further studies (Schachter & Singer, as cited in Hayes, 1999) concluded that although it
is people’s awareness that produce the emotion people actually feel. It is people’s physical condition which
influences how strongly people actually feel it. In a performance situation, people don’t feel anxious
because of performing a task, the situation is anxious because of the way people feel.
Cognitive symptom of anxiety include fear of making mistakes and feelings of inadequacy and worrying
about things happening such as the presence of an invigilator during task performance. Behavioural
symptoms are not being able to do things, which normally happen naturally.
The three components of performance anxiety (physiological, cognitive and behavioural) are the same as in
general anxiety and are not always co-related (Lehre in Grinder, 1995). Sometimes, the symptoms of
performance anxiety come from one group and at other times all three. Interestingly, performance anxiety
seems to affect more females then males (Dentsch, 1999). Abel and Larkin (1990) part this down to the
theory that males are less able to express their feelings than females.
The effects of anxiety on task performance of people vary considerably across situations and contents. Age
seems to be significant in the matter of performance anxiety suggesting that as they get older, people are
more able to cope with stress (Clarke, Davidson, Windeson, & Pitts, 2000). The development of strategies
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for coping may increase with age and experience. Inability to perform is usually not due to lack of desire or
lack of ability or talent but is usually the result of physical tension, flawed mental attitudes and social
pressures. The one thing that is not clear is whether physical tension causes the flawed mental attitudes or
do flawed mental attitudes cause the physical tensions? (Clarke, Davidson, Windson, & Pitts, 2000).
While the effects of anxiety on task performance have been recognized, little efforts have been made to
examine the effect of invigilator-induced anxiety on the performance of students. Also, there is the need to
look at the gender difference on the effects of Invigilator-induced anxiety on performance of students.
These form the bedrock of this research study. The following questions guided the study:
Do students with high invigilator – generated anxiety differ from those with low invigilator
generated anxiety on task performance?
Do male students differ from their female counterparts on tasks performance having experienced
invigilator generated anxiety?
Purpose of the study
The purpose of the study is to explore the effect of invigilator- generated anxiety and gender on task
performance. This is important because the mere presence of others may trigger off anxiety. Then the
anxiety that is tended to be generated by the invigilator can be overwhelming on the students and may
affect their overall performance in a given tasks.
Hypotheses
In view of the statement of the problem, the two hypotheses listed below were tested.
There would be no statistically significant difference on task performance between pupils who
experienced anxiety induced by invigilator and pupils who do not.
There would be no statically significant gender differences in task performance among primary
school pupils who experience anxiety.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Empirical Review of Literature
Dibartolo Brown and Barlow (1997) employed an information processing signal detection methodology to
examine attention allocation and its correlates in both normal comparison (NC) and generalized anxiety
disorder (GAD) participants. In particular, the impact of neutral distractor and negative feedback cues on
performance of an attention vigilance task relative to NC participants (N = 15) when neutral distractor cues
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were presented negative feedback cues they were relevant to their performance. Instead, GAD participants
exhibited improvement during the experimental task such that their performance was equivalent to NC
participants. Across trails the clinically anxious group endorsed significantly higher levels of worry and
negative affectivity,’ however, they failed to respond with concomitant physical arousal (e.g. increased
muscle tension).
In another study, Ferguson (1995) reported the effect of performance on motivation. College students (N =
48), presented by anxiety scores, were tested on adjective pairs lists; additionally, anxiety was measured
before and after task performance. Results showed that anxiety had a marked effect on verbal learning
performance. In a second study of 24 subjects, the anxiety variable did not significantly alter verbal
learning performance. Subjects (N =60) pre-selected on the Spielberger trait anxiety test were tested on a
high-speed techistoscope recognition was not significantly altered by trait anxiety, but a significant
correlation occurred between state anxiety and performance. Subjects (N = 40) pre-selected on the
Spielberger state anxiety scale were given the scale again immediately preceding the tachistoscopic task
reveal the effect of anxiety on performance. Results showed that anxiety had no significant effect on
tachistoscopic recognition. While only one investigation obtained clear evidence that pre-performance
anxiety significantly altered performance, subjects anxiety was altered significantly as a function of tasks
performance in all four investigations. The findings suggest that anxiety may not remain at a constant level
for the duration of an experiment.
Tanaka, Takehara, and Yamauchi (2006) carried out a study to test the linkages between achievement goals
to task performance as mediated by state anxiety arousal. Performance expectancy was also examined as
antecedents of achievement goals. A presentation task in a computer practice class was used as
achievement task. Fifty-three (53) undergraduates (37 females and 16 males) were administered self-report
questionnaire measure before and immediately following the task performance. As expected, results of
regression analysis showed that performance – avoidance goals were positively related to state anxiety.
State anxiety was related to poor task performance. The positive relationship between mastery goals and
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the task score was shown to be independent of anxiety processes. Performance expectancy was related to
state anxiety through achievement goals.
Barley, Konstan, and Canlis (1998) empirically validated why unnecessarily interrupting a user’s task
should be avoided, they designed an experiment measuring the effects of an interruption on a user’s task
performance, annoyance and anxiety. Fifty subjects participated in the experiment. The results
demonstrated that an interruption has a disruptive effect on both a user’s task performance and emotional
state, and that the degree of disruption demand on the user’s mental load at the point of the interruption.
Adamezyk and Bailey (2004) conducted a study to measure effects of interrupting a user at different
moments within task execution in terms of task performance, emotional state, and social attribution. Task
models were developed using event perception techniques, and the resulting models were used to identify
interruption timings based on a users predicted cognitive load. Their result show that different interruption
moments have different impacts on user emotional state and positive social attribution, and suggest that a
system could enable a user to maintain a high level of awareness while mitigating the disruptive effect of
interruption.
In another study, Rickenberg and Reeves (2000) tested the effects of different character presentations on
user anxiety, task performance, and subjective evaluations of two commerce websites. There were three
character conditions (no character, a character that ignored the user, and a character that closely monitored
work on the website). Users were separated into two groups that had different attitudes about accepting
help from others; people with control orientations that were external (users thought that other people
controlled their success) and those with internal orientations (users thought that were in control). Results
showed that the effects of monitoring individual differences in thoughts about control worked as they do in
real life. User felt more anxious when characters monitored their website work and this effect was strongest
for users with an external control orientation. Monitoring characters also decreased task performance but
increase trust in website content.
Methodology
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The study adopted a 2 x 2 factorial research design. The study was conducted with 100 (one hundred)
participants (primary School pupils) drawn from the University of Nigeria Primary School cutting across
genders made up of 50 males and 50 females. Their ages ranged from 10-13, with average age of 11.2
years. The stimulus instrument used was the story of the inquisitive monkey culled from one of the texts
collection of stories approved for the class six pupils. The pupils were asked to read the passage culled
from Premier English by Coates (2000) and answer the six (6) questions that followed. Each question that
was answered correctly attracted one mark and wrong answer on any number attracted zero. This was used
to measure the task performance of the pupils. The validity and reliability of the stimulus material was
presumed since it was assessed by the authority of the school and was approved and recommended for the
pupils.
The classes were mixed up and grouped into two through the systematic sampling techniques. They were
numbered from 1 – 100 and those with even numbers were grouped together as one class and those with
odd numbers made up the second class for the study. Then the researcher and her assistant organized them
into A and B and created an atmosphere for examination. The researcher and her assistant served as
invigilators. The researcher and his assistant generated anxiety by giving the following instruction: this is a
very important test, and everyone found looking into another person’s work shall be severely punished. The
second invigilator researcher was more friendly, delivering the following instruction; “the test is just an
ordinary test, just take it easy and do your best, good luck.” These two varying instruction had different
interpretations to the pupils. As pupils in-group A were tensed up, their counterparts in group B were
relaxed with little or no anxiety. Then the stimulus materials were distributed to the pupils. The invigilator
for group A equally made some anxiety – inducing comments during the exercise such as “if you look into
another’s paper you will receive six strokes of the cane as she brandished the cane to the pupils.
The exercise took about 35 minutes and the papers were submitted to the two invigilators, which were then
scored separately and used for the analysis. The two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistic was
employed to analyze the data.
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RESULTS
TABLE 1: TABLE OF MEANS (X) AND STANDARD DEVIATION (SD) OF THE
TREATMENT FACTORS ON THE DIFFERENT VARIABLES
Treatment X SD N
Invigilator – induced anxiety group 28.02 4.90 50
Non-anxiety group 33.22 6.73 50
Gender
Males 31.31 6.77 48
Female 29.98 6.06 52
The table of means and standard deviations indicated that participants who were tested under the condition
of invigilator induced anxiety performed poorly on the task (28.02) when compared with participants who
were not subjected to anxiety condition (33.22), male participants also performed better (31.31) on the task
than female participants (29.98).
TABLE 2: ANOVA SUMMARY TABLE SHOWING THE EFFECTS OF
INVIGILATOR INDUCED ANXIETY AND GENDER ON
PERFORMANCE TASKS
Source of variance Sum of square Dg Mean square F Sig
Invigilator induced
Anxiety (A) 770.20 1 770.20 23.08 *
Gender (B) 122.52 1 122.52 3.67 NS
A x B 72.10 1 72.10 1.16 NS
Error 32036.38 99 33.37
Total 97830.00
KEY: * = Not Significant
A two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed that there was a significant mean effect of invigilator –
induced anxiety. Participants who were tested under the condition of invigilator – induced anxiety and
those who were tested under the condition of no anxiety differed significantly F(1,96) =23.08, p<.001. The
differences in the mean scores of the male and female participants were not statistically significant. There
was also no interaction effect between the treatment variables.
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The result indicated a significant mean effect of invigilator – induced anxiety. Participants who were
tested under the condition of invigilator – induced anxiety and those who were listed under the
condition of no anxiety differed significantly. This therefore, suggests that the first null hypothesis,
which stated that there would be no statistically significant differences on task performance between
pupils who experienced anxiety induced by invigilator and pupils who do not, was rejected. This result
may be as a result of the fact that people are different from a computer. They have emotion the ability
to feel things. Human beings do not act like machines. However, not all our emotions are positive.
Some like anger and fear such as the one induced by invigilator can be quite destructive. They feel
pupils with tensions caused by an overload of adrenalin, which enters the blood stream when they are
faced with the anxiety, which in turn affected their performance. This anxiety generated or induced by
invigilators might have destabilized the pupils and might report poorer scores than their counterparts
who did not experience any anxiety. The result of this study is consistent with the study of Dibartolor,
and Brown (1997) who found that when distractor cues were presented; it affected the tasks
performance of subjects. The result is equally in agreement with that of Ferguson (1995) who found
that anxiety has a marked effect on verbal learning performance. The result of this study is equally
consistent with the study of Tanaka, Takehara, and Yamaudi (2006) who observed that state anxiety
was related to poor task performance. The result is equally in of barley, Konstan, and Carlis (1998)
who found that interruption on user’s performance has a disruptive effect on both a user’s task
performance and emotional state.
The result of the analysis also showed that male and female participants were not statistically significant.
That is to say that male did not differ significantly from their female counterparts on task performance.
This finding may be as a result of learning effectiveness between the two genders. When a student learn
well he/she may not be adversely affected with any form of interruption including the one from an
invigilator. Moreso, no human being is immuned to anxiety. As male respond to stressful situation, so do
females and this affect their task performance equally. The result of this study is in agreement with various
prior researches. For example, it agrees with the study of Adaniczyk & Bailey (2004) who found no gender
differences in task performance among Indian subjects. The study is equally consistent with the study of
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Rickenberg & Reeves (2000) who found no gender differences in task performance at the introduction of
users anxiety.
Implications of the study
The results of this study have a number of implications to educationist. For instance, since it has been
discovered that the presence of invigilators and/or invigilator – induced anxiety positively correlates with
poor task performance. It implies therefore that invigilators who are interested to identify brilliant students
should be mindful of how they go about invigilating examinations. They should ensure that little or no
anxiety is induced so that the performance of the students would not be influenced by it. This study also
suggests that too many invigilators are not required in a particular center. This is because the more the
number of invigilators the more chances of creating anxiety on the students.
REFERENCE
Abel, J. L., & Larkin, K. T. (1990). Anticipation of performance among musicians: physiological Arousal,
Confidence and state Anxiety, Psychology of Music, 18, 171 – 182.
Adamczyk, P.D. (2004). If not now, when?: the effect of interruption at different moments within task
execution. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in coping systems table of
contents.
Bailey, B. P., Konstan, J.A. Carlis, J.V. (2000). Measuring the effects of interpretations on task
performance in the user interface. IEEE SMC conference.
Beek, F. & Ohtake, S. (2001). Adjusting windows: Balancing information awareness with intrusion. Proc.
Hfweb.
Clark, E., Danidson, J.W., Windson, W. L., & Pitts, S. (2000). Distance Learning module: The Psychology
of Music 2nd edition. London: Academic Press.
Deutsch, D. (1999). The psychology of music 2 nd edition. London: Academic pres.
Dibartolo, P. M., Brown, T.A. & Barlow, D.H. (1997). Effect of anxiety on attentional allocation and task
performance: an information processing analysis. Beh. Res. Ther, 35(12). 1101 – 11.
Grinden, C. (1995). Tensions in the performance of Music. London: Hahn & Averill,
Gross, R. (1995). Themes, Issues and Debates in Psychology. Boldon: Hadder & Stoughton Educational.
Hardy, L. & Parfitt, G. (1991). A catastrophe model of anxiety and performance. Bright Journal of
Psychology, 82, 163 – 178.
Hayes, N. (1999). Teach Yourself Psychology. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
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Ricckenberg, R., & Reves, B. (2000). The effects of interactions on task performance Proceedings of the
SIGCHI conference on human factors in coping systems table of contents.
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Spidlerger, C.D., (1979). Manual for the state –trait anxiety inventory (Form Y). mind Garden.
Steptee, A. (1989). State fright in Orchestral musician: a study of cognitive and behavioural strategies in
performance anxiety. British journal of psychology, 78, 211 – 249.
Steptee, A., Fidler, H,. (1987). Stress coping and stage fright in professional musicians. Psychology of
Music, 17, 3 – 11.
Tanaka, A., Takehara, T., & Yamauchi, H. (2006). Achievement goals state anxiety, and task performance.
Learning and individual differences, 16(2), 93 – 99.
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INDISPENSABILITY OF INFRASTRUCTURAL REFORM IN PRIMARY EDUCATION FOR
EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING
BY
DR. (MRS) A.N. OKOLO
AND
EUCHARIA NCHEDO NWOSU (Ph.D)
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA
AbstractThe study examined the indispensability of infrastructural reform in primary education for effective
teaching and learning. Two research questions guided the study. The sample for the study comprised 100
male and female teachers in Nsukka Local Government Primary Schools. The instrument for data
collection was questionnaire. Mean score was used for data analysis. Results showed that poor
infrastructural facilities such as shortage of classroom, lack of textbooks, inadequate instructional materials,
lack of sports/recreational facilities, lack of staff and pupils’ conveniences and shortage of furniture
contribute to low standard and poor quality education. Results also revealed that infrastructural reforms
such as building of new classrooms, supply of textbooks, provision of instructional materials, provision of
furniture, building of staff and pupils’ conveniences and provision of sports/ recreational facilities will help
improve learning outcomes that are of good and standard quality for youth development. The implications
of the study were highlighted.
INTRODUCTION
Education is seen as an important instrument for social change national development and national
integration (Maduewesi, 2005). Education in any society or at all levels is expected to help the members of
that society to acquire necessary knowledge, attitudes/values and competent skills for effective functioning
in the society. The primary goal of any educational institution is to achieve optimal service delivery in
teaching and learning process. In recognition of the importance of education, the international community
and governments all over the world made commitments for every member of the society to have access to
primary education.
Primary education is very essential in the development of any nation. It is the type of education
given to children between the age of six and eleven plus (FRN, 2005). Primary education determines the
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key success or failure of any educational system of the nation since it is the foundation for all intellectual
development not only for the individual but for the society in general. The rest of the education system is
built upon the primary education (FRN, 2005:17). Primary education is the foundation of all learning, the
first phase of life-long education World Bank (2006). It is very important because it is a place where the
proper tomorrow can and must be build. The curriculum established at this level of education is the
foundation for secondary and tertiary education.
The goals of primary education according to FRN (2004: 16) include: to inculcate permanent
literacy and numeracy, and ability to communicate effectively; to lay sound basis for scientific and
reflective thinking; to give citizenship education as a basis for effective participation in and contribution to
the life of the society; to mould the character and develop sound attitude and morals in the child; to
develop in the child the ability to adapt to his changing environment; to give the child opportunity for
developing manipulative skills that will enable him to function effectively; and to provide the child with
basic tools for further educational advancement, including preparation for trades and crafts of the locality.
In order to achieve these goals, primary education is designed to be free, universal and compulsory and
resources such as human, infrastructural and financial resources must be carefully managed. Similarly
Action Aid (2003) also maintained that the goals of primary education include: expanding and improving
comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged
children; ensuring that by 2015 all children, with special emphasis on girls, children in difficult
circumstances and from ethnic minorities have access to and complete free and compulsory primary
education of good quality. They goal also includes: eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary
education and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and
equal access to and achievement in basic education to good quality and improving all aspects of the quality
of education, and ensuring excellence for all, so that recognized and reasonable learning outcomes are
achieved especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills. The curriculum of primary education was
loaded with learning and practical activities geared towards the attainment of the objectives of primary
education.
Primary education is also the first formal education port of call of the individual in the society.
Therefore, it is important to know that efforts made at improving the quality of education at secondary
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level, without first laying solid foundation at the primary level, are very likely to fail (Maduewesi, 2005),
but if the efforts do not fail, there will be certainly no optimum results. Primary education on its own is the
most cost effective education which society can give to her members; and is seen as the most profitable
form of investment in education to both the individual and the society, followed much later by secondary
and tertiary education (Maduewesi, 2005).
In other words, there is need for infrastructural reforms in the primary education for effective
teaching and learning. Reform is a positive and planned specific changes that are intended to facilitate the
achievement of some defined goals (Nkemakolam, 2006). A reform in education is seen as a means of
developing ability to cope with and manage changes for improvement or progress of a nation. Education
reforms are borne out of general indignation, felt needs or growing dissatisfaction of the populace with the
present state of affairs or decay in the education sector. So reform is proposed to address social ills, correct
inequalities, fill yearning gaps and provide resources such as infrastructural facilities, financial and
manpower resources. The 1976 local government reforms gave the 3 tier levels of government (Federal,
State and Local Government) the authority to provide and maintain primary education. Later, the 1979
constitution rested the funding of primary education on state government with an understanding that local
governments would also participate in the funding. This led to the federal government withdrawal
completely from giving financial assistance to states for primary education, hence led to the collapse of
primary education in Nigeria (FRN, 2005).
The collapse led the federal government to come out with National Primary Education
Commission Decree No 31 of 1988, giving rise to the establishment of the National Primary Education
Fund called National Fund. This fund deducted directly from the federal government share of the
Federation Accounts, led to drastic reductions in spending on primary education (ie inadequate funding by
governments), shortage of infrastructural facilities, and increase in primary school fees, which led to so
many pupils dropping out from school. In fact, a study conducted by Action-Aid (2003) showed that the
reason why pupils do not go to primary schools include costs of schooling, opportunity costs, illness and
hunger, limited economic cost of education and low quality of schooling. The costs of schooling include:
the cost of books, stationary and basic equipment, uniforms, admission, registration and examination fees,
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contribution towards building and maintenance fund, construction fee, PTA fees, library fees, sport fees
and extra tuition fees (Action-Aid, 2003).
Similarly, low quality of schooling especially with regard to poor physical infrastructure (such as
dilapidated classrooms and shortage of furniture), lack of textbooks, lack of conveniences for staff and
pupils, lack of instructional materials, lack of motivated staff, poor utilization of resources, content of
curriculum, nature of teaching methods and relationship of the school and teachers with the wider
community, have negative impact on the urge to go to school and achieve the primary education aims and
millennium goals (Dike, 2002). It has been noted that there are categories of children who tend to be
excluded from the formal schooling system due to increase in school fees. Such children include children
from the poorest families, the landless, working children, children of minority groups, orphans and children
affected by HIV/AIDS and those with physical or mental disabilities (Igbuzor, 2006). This is in accordance
with researches that reported that whenever user fees are introduced in the provision of social services, the
utilization by the rich increase while utilization by the poor decrease and whenever user fees are abolished,
enrolment rate increases (Igbuzor, 2006).
In other words, the poor state of primary education in Nigeria is aptly captured in the National
Empowerment Development Strategy (2005:5) as follows:
“…the delivery of education in Nigeria has suffered from years of neglect, compounded by inadequate attention to policy frameworks within the sector. Findings from an ongoing educational sector analysis confirm the poor state of education in Nigeria. The national literacy rate in currently 57% and some 49% of the teaching force is unqualified. There are acute storages of infrastructure and facilities at all levels. Access to basic education is inhibited by gender issues and sociocultural beliefs and practices. Wide disparities persist in educational standards and learning achievement. The system emphasizes theoretical knowledge at the expense of technical, vocational and entrepreneurial education”.
Considering the poor state of primary education in Nigeria and its negative impact on the pupils’
learning outcomes, which hinders the achievement of the free and compulsory education for all children,
which universal Basic Education tends to offer. There is need for infrastructural reforms in primary
education system in order to enhance good quality education in a conducive teaching and learning
environment. It is against this background that the researchers investigate the indispensability of
infrastructural reform in primary education for effective teaching and learning outcomes.
Two research questions guided the study:
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1. What are the infrastructural facilities that affect teaching and learning activities in primary
education system
2. What are the strategies that could be used to improve the infrastructural facilities in primary
education to enhance effective teaching and learning?
Methods
The design for the study was a survey. The study was carried out in Nsukka local government
primary schools made up of fifteen primary schools. The population for the study consisted of all male and
female teachers in Nsukka local government primary schools. Ten primary schools were selected through
simple random sampling technique. From each school sampled five male and five female teachers
respectively were selected through random sampling. Finally, 50 males and 50 females were selected for
the study giving a sum total of 100 teachers.
The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire. It is Likert Type Scale measure of a four-point rating response. The face validity of the instrument was ascertained by giving the draft copies of the instrument to experts in the field of Measurement and Evaluation and Sociology of Education, of Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria Nsukka. Using Cronbach Alpha coefficient to calculate the internal consistency of the instrument, a positive reliability score of 0.78 and 0.76 were obtained. Copies of the questionnaire were administered to respondents face to face. This was to ensure high return rate of the instrument. Mean score was used for data analysis and 2.50 was used as the cut-off point. Results
Table 1: Mean Responses on the poor infrastructural facilities that affect teaching and
learning activities in primary school.
S/N Item Description Male ( ) Female ( )1 Shortage of classrooms/dilapidated school building for teaching and
learning activities affect pupils’ learning outcomes 3.50 3.50
2 Lack of textbooks for pupils cause poor academic performance in school
3.60 3.16
3 Inadequate provision of instructional material contribute to poor academic achievement of pupils
3.33 3.50
4 Shortage of furniture in classrooms disorganizes pupils’ learning which also hinders performance
3.50 3.50
5 Lack of sports equipment/recreational facilities hinder teaching and learning activities in school
3.41 2.90
6 Lack of staff and pupils’ conveniences in the school also disturb effective teaching and learning activities.
3.06 3.20
Cluster mean ( ) 3.40 3.29
Table 1 above revealed that all the items have been rated positive by the respondents which showed that poor infrastructural facilities affect teaching and learning activities of pupils in primary school. All the items in the table show that poor infrastructural facilities in primary schools such as shortage of classrooms, lack of textbooks, lack of instructional materials, shortage of furniture, lack of sports/recreational facilities, and lack of staff and pupils’ conveniences contribute to poor learning outcomes which causes low standard and poor quality education in primary school. The finding was based
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on the attainment of cluster mean score 3.40 for males and 3.29 for females which were above the criterion mean of 2.50.
Table 2: Mean responses on the strategies for provision of infrastructural facilities in primary
schools to enhance effective teaching and learning..
S/N Item Description Male ( ) Female ( )7 Building of new large size classrooms for effective teaching
and learning outcomes by the government 3.41 3.60
8 Supplying appropriate textbooks to schools and build well equipped library in primary schools.
3.16 3.50
9 Providing enough instructional materials in schools for effective teaching and learning outcomes
3.50 3.50
10 Making provisions for enough furniture in all the classrooms to enhance learning outcomes.
3.33 3.50
11 Building of conveniences like toilet and urinal by government and communities for staff and pupils’ comfort in schools
3.33 3.50
12 Provision of sports equipment/recreational facilities in school by the government
3.20 3.00
Cluster mean ( ) 3.32 3.43
From the analysis of the table 2, the results revealed that all the items on the strategies for
provision of infrastructural facilities to enhance good quality education have been rated positive. All the
items have higher means score of 3.0 and above which shows that building of new classrooms, supply of
quality textbooks, provision of instructional materials, provision of enough furniture, building of staff and
pupils’ conveniences and provision of sports/recreational facilities will help to improve pupils academic
performance which will yield to good quality and standard education. Based on the attainment of cluster
mean score of 3.32 for males and 3.43 for females which were above the criterion mean of 2.50, it is
established that provision of infrastructural facilities in primary school can improve teaching and learning
activities of which will equally result in high academic achievement and good quality and standard
education.
Discussion
The research questions that guided the study focused on the poor infrastructural facilities that
hinder teaching and learning activities in primary schools and the strategies for provision of infrastructural
facilities in primary schools to boast pupils’ learning outcomes. The results of the research questions show
that poor infrastructural facilities such as shortage of classrooms, lack of textbooks, lack of instructional
materials, shortage of furniture, lack of sports/recreational facilities and lack of staff and pupils’
conveniences contribute to low quality and poor standard education in primary schools. The results also
16
show that strategies for provision of infrastructural facilities in primary schools to enhance good quality
education include building of new large size classrooms, supply of quality textbook, provision of
instructional materials to schools, provision of enough furniture in the classrooms by the government
provision of sports/recreational facilities and building of staff and pupils’ conveniences.
The present findings support the earlier studies of Action Aid (2003), Igbuzor (2006) and Dike
(2002). For instance, Action Aid (2003) noted that high cost of textbooks and maintenance and construction
fees prevent some pupils from attending primary schools which will lead to too many illiterates in the
society. Furthermore, Dike (2002) maintained that shortage of classroom, shortage of furniture and
textbooks, acute shortage of qualified and professional teachers and lack of instructional materials affect
pupils learning outcomes or academic performance which contributes to low quality and poor standard
education. Igbuzor (2006) also maintained that provision of social services and infrastructural facilities in
schools will boast standard education and good quality education which will help in acquisition of potential
skills and knowledge for youth development.
Conclusion and Implication
The falling standard of education in primary schools is due to lack of infrastructural facilities and
social services, which calls for infrastructural reforms. This infrastructural reform if implemented will help
improve the standard and quality of primary education for youth development in the country.
The implication of the findings of this study is that without infrastructural reforms in primary
schools, the low standard and poor quality education will persist. This low standard of education will lead
to mass production of unskilled individuals and mass illiterates, which will in turn affect youth and national
development because youths are the future, and leaders of tomorrow.
The present study was limited by the fact that the sample used was too small as the focus of the
study was teachers in Nsukka local government primary schools. This may have affected the results of the
study and generalization. The researchers therefore, suggest for further research a replication of the study
with a large population in another area.
Finally, the study recommends the need for infrastructural reforms in the primary schools for
effective teaching and learning process that will help in individual’s development in the society for a
sustainable and all-round development.
17
References
Action Aid (2003). Global education review. London: International Education Unit, Action Aid.
Dike, V. (2003). The state of education in Nigeria and the health of the nation. Africa Economic Analysis. www.AfricaEconomicAnalysis.
Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004). National Policy on Education. Abuja, NERDC Press.
Federal Republic of Nigeria (2005). Nigeria millennium development goals 2005 report. Abuja, The National Planning Commission.
Igbuzor, O. (2006). The state of education in Nigeria. A keynote address organized by Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA).
Maduewesi, E. J. (2005). Benchmarks and Global trends in education. Benin City: Dasylva influence Enterprises.
Nigeria National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (2005). Abuja: National Planning Commission.
Nkemakolam, E.O. (2006). Reforms in Nigerian educational system in the 21st century. A paper presented at the National Conference of Nigeria Primary Teacher education Association at Enugu State, University of Science and technology, 11th – 13th September 2006.
World Bank (2006). Education and the World Bank. The World Bank Group http://go.worldbank.org/ISAAVIZA
18
PAID EMPLOYMENT AND FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES IN A CREATIVE WORLD
BY
NKEIRUKA IWEBUNAKITE NWABAHDEPARTMENT OF VOCATIONAL TEACHER EDUCATION
FACULTY OF EDUCATIONUNIVERSITY OF BENIN,
BENIN CITY
ABSTRACTThis study examine achieving balance between paid employment and family responsibilities through
creativity by women in university of Benin, Edo state .The targeted population consisted of all the 1147
women in academic and non academic in university of Benin, Edo state Nigeria. The sample consist of
160(approximately 14%) female workers in University of Benin. The instrument for the study consisted of
one questionnaire for paid employed women. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics.
Respondent agreed on most of the suggested creativity skill on how to achieve a work –family balance ,but
on the extent to how much they applied these skills, the findings showed that most of the respondent where
not coping well in the application of creativity skill in their home and work place so need help. The study
recommends that creative managerial process programme be mounted, to feature in mass-media such as the
ratio and television and this same study should be run in collaboration with other home economists in other
country to find out how their paid employed women are coping with work-family life.
INTRODUCTION
Finding work-family balance in today’s frenetically paced world is no simple task. Spending more time at
work than home may mean a raise in pay, promotion and recognition, but missing out a rewarding family
life. Then again, if one is facing challenges in the family, such as caring for very young children, an ageing
parent, or coping with a difficult spouse, or financial problems, concentrating on one’s job can be difficult.
The women are worst hit in this predicament. This is so, because the women play major roles in home
making process. The women for example determines the families direction towards the attainment of
nutrition and wellness,sanity,stability ,love and happiness and the general wellbeing of the
family ,including her personal happiness. No doubt, these crucial needs require skills and creativity on the
part of the paid employed women. The question and worry therefore is how to achieve these skills and
19
creativity .This concern undoubtedly may have led to the interest in investigating how the women in paid
employment, can achieve balance between the family and work through creativity.
McNabb (2004) stated that one of the biggest challenges that successful business women/paid
employed women face, is balancing work and family. Research finding and close observations shows that
many paid employed women go through strained marriages, divorce and raising young children, sleep
deprivation, poor nutrition and stress. These observed phenomenons, does seem to take another turn as the
women enter mid-point of their careers. They may find themselves torn as they try to care for ageing parent
,meet with client , pay for their children’s college and find time for themselves.McNabb (2004).Hansen
(2007),in agreement stated, that the biggest issue finding a balance between the demand from home and
work. What then is a balance?
A balance is an even distribution of activities, Simpson (2007), stated that a balance is not about
managing time, but rather about managing our action. Allen (2007), stated that balance is to get things done
with minimal effort in both one’s personal and professional life while staying relaxed.Allen, further stated
that the athletes describe this kind of balance as being in the “zone”.” zone” strategy according to Allen , is
first getting you thinking. For example…what is something that you want you accomplish? What outcome
do you want to achieve and what is the next action you need to do in order to move your project forward?
Allen assures that “zoneing” when properly applied in work-family life balance. Being able to strike a
balance calls for creativity. The National Advisory committee’s report (1999), stated that, a good starting
point for defining creativity is firstly, thinking or behaving imaginatively, making sure the imaginative
activity is purposeful: that is, it must be directed towards achieving an objective, generate something
original and the outcome must be of value in relation to the objective.
Debating the characteristics highlighted by this definition can be a helpful starting point for women to
strike a creative balance between work and family. Achieving a balance between work life and family also
affect the woman’s health and this fact is also a problem that calls for attention. Hansan (2007), stated that
achieving some sort of balance between work and family is critical to the woman’s mental and physical
health. Hansan further warned, that if a woman’s work and family life is out of balance, time should be
taken to fix it before one or both aspects collapses.
20
There is no doubt as to whether paid employed women may not be striking a balance between their
employment and family responsibilities through creativity. This study is therefore poised to finding creative
ways to strike balance between family and work.
This study attempted to find out if the paid employed woman achieves a balance between family and
work creativity, using woman in University of Benin as the population of the study.
The following questions were raised to guide the study.
1. What are the family living end employment responsibilities where a woman can apply creativity balance successfully?
2. In what ways could creativity be applied to a family living and paid employment responsibilities by women?
3. What extent do the women (dual career) apply creativity skills to dual responsibilities?4. What problems militate against the application of creativity skill to the responsibilities of the
women?5. What ways can the application of creative skill by the woman be enhanced?
Methodology The study adopted survey design. The sample for the study was drawn from 16 faculties in University
of Benin, Edo state, Nigeria, with a Total number of 1147 female workers. The choice of University of
Benin was purposive and convenient as it was one of the very few Universities in session during the nation
wide strike in the country. From each of the 16 faculties, stratified random sampling was used to select
from each of the 16 faculties in the University of Benin. In total, 160 (approximately 14%) female paid
employed workers constituted the sample size.
One questionnaire consisting of 57 items was used for data collection. The questionnaires were
developed as a result of an intensive literature review. The questionnaire used frequencies on all data.
Comparisons were mad among various responses to determine whether relationships existed between the
variables. The questionnaire were divided into section A and B. Part A dealt with personal data of
respondent, while part B dealt with the views on achieving balance between paid employment and family
responsibilities through creativity by women in the University. The questionnaires were content-validated
using home economics experts. Question was post-tested using 20 female workers to ensure clarity of the
items.
The resulting correlation was. 93, indicating, high reliability from the respondents. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics.
21
Source* University of Benin physical and academic planning (2007)
Results Table 1. Demographic profile of 160 University employed women. (n. =160). Demograph Age (years) Number 20-25 40 25-30 40 30-35 36 35-40 14 40-45 12 45-50 12 50-60 6
GenderFemale 160
Highest Educational QualificationNCE 40HND 22M.ED / M.SC 42PH.D 30OND 26
General demographic profile of women in University of Benin, in table 1, provides a profile of paid
employed women in the University of Benin. Women ranged in age from 20 to 60, mostly between the age
20 – 25, 25 -30 and 30 -35. The least participants were women between the ages 50 – 60. Table 1 also
reveals that majority of the participants are women in academic with highest educational qualification of
M.Ed / M.Sc – 42 and Ph.d 30 , given a total of 72 ,while non academic , with NCE , 40 and OND 26 ,
giving a total of 60 .
Table 2
Question 1: What are the family living and employment responsibilities where women can apply successfully?
Table 2 indicates that majority of the respondents agreed with the suggested creativity measures that
could be applied by paid employed women to achieve a balance between work and family . items 1 (98
22
% ) , 6 ( 91 % ) , 12 ( 88 % ) 11 , and 2 ( 74% ) and ( 88 % ) , 8 , 7 and ( 75 % , 73 % and 71% ) indicates
this .
Table 2 , also revealed that 60% , 54% and 58% of the respondents in items 4, 3, and 10 , do not
agree that checking and replying calls , disconnecting phone for four hours and employing the service of a
helper , as an effective creative measure to strike a balance between work and family life . As much as 36%
of the respondents , in items 3 , where undecided , to checking and replying of mails first thing at work .
Table 4
Question 3: What extent does the women (dual Career) apply creativity skills in their dual responsibility?
The findings in table 4 indicates the extent the women (dual Career) apply creativity to their
dual responsibilities. Items 33 (85%), and 36 (91%) indicates that majority of the respondents enjoy
working at home and in the office, and have time for their husbands. But the responses in the rest items34
(78%) and generally average and low responses in the rest items in table 4, seems to point to the fact that
majority of the paid employed women do not apply creativity skills to achieve balance between work and
family life. This revelation shows that majority of the respondent must be having rough times in coping
with work and family life. Items 24 – 32 agree to this fact.
Table 5Question 4: What problems militate against the application of creativity skills to the responsibilities of the woman?
Table 5 shows that majority of the respondents have big dreams about their jobs and families and
believes that money solves problems. Findings shows also that the majority of the women , handle house
cores alone most times , and that the constants power failure makes coping more difficult because they
have to cook every day . Items 38 (94%), 40 (85%), 43 (71%) and 41 (70%), points to these facts. Even
items 42, 40% of the respondents agreed that they have a lot of unfinished projects in the office and going
to work has therefore become a bore. This finding shows clearly that 40% of the respondents are not coping
well in the work – family balance activity.
Table 6
23
Question 5: In what ways can the application of creativity skills by the women be enhanced?
Table 6 reveals that majority of the respondents agreed with the ways that application of creativity
skills by the women be enhanced. Items 57 (94%) , 50 and 56% (88%) , 47 and 49 (84%) , 52 (81%) and 54
(75%) indicates this facts . items 53 and 55 , however , shows that 445 of the respondents do not agree with
everyday job evaluation or getting acquainted and talking about their spouse profession . These findings
show that 44% of the respondents lack creative managerial skills in balancing work – family life. Only 38%
of the respondents in item 48 agreed that changing the word ‘work’ to ‘play’ , is a creative skills that could
help paid employed women , while 30% in the same item 48, where undecided . This finding shows that
majority of the respondents need help in the area of creativity skills, to balance work – family life.
Conclusion
Almost all the respondents in table 2 , items 1 (98% ) agreed that making daily or weekly lists is
an effective creative measure that could be employed by paid employed women , to achieve a balance
between work and family life . Majority of the respondents in table 3 , items 1-6 , and 18 – 23 , agreed to
all the suggested creativity skills that could be applied to achieve a work and family balance . Items 16
(96%) in table 3 , indicates the arrangement of the kitchen equipment in the order of work flow alongside
other house activities , is an effective creativity skill process while items 13 (95%) , agreed with the idea of
getting thinking first , ----What is something one wants to accomplish before starting as an effective
creative skill . Solish (2006), stated that we need to think about our work before we do it. Planning for it, as
well as paying attention to what we are thinking and feeling leads to greater productivity with less effort.
Majority of the respondents do not agree or seem to understand what turning ‘work’ to ‘play’ means
The general average responses of the respondents in table 4 , shows that most of the respondents
are not coping very well . The low and average responses to the extent of their creativity coping abilities ,
shows that majority of the respondents needs help in the area of home management and creative abilities .
Items 29 (49%) and 30 (38%) , the respondents for example , indicated that they sometimes forget that their
children are waiting to be picked up from school , and that they hate to cook at home . Items 33, and 36 , in
24
table 4 , for example , shows that Majority of the respondents enjoys working in the office and at home , in
items 33 , the respondents in items 27 , stated that they most times do not have enough time to attend to the
workload in the office . These findings indicate contradictions in responses. Table 5, generally points to the
fact that majority of the respondents have problems militating against their endeavours to achieve a balance
I work and family life. Table 6. Also shows that majority of the respondents, agreed with the suggested
ways of applying creativity skill by women.
RecommendationBased on the findings of this study, the study recommends that:
1. Home Economics teachers should mount programs to educate the women on creative managerial processes that will help them cope more effectively, balancing work – family life
2. Workshops on creative skills should be ran for the women in paid employment.
3 . Home Economists should mount weekly or monthly programmes on critical thinking and creative skills to be featured in the mass media like the radio and television.
4. This study be reworked in collaboration with other home Economists in other counties, to find out how
the women in paid employment are coping with work and family
REFERENCES
Allen. D. (2007) works at Home Balance. Workathomebalance.com
Manning G. L. and Reece B. L (2001), Selling Today –Building Quality Partnerships (8th Ed.) Upper Saddle, NJ: Prentice-Hall
McNabb. T. (2004) Wage – Earner or Family Member? FCS Students Learn How to Achieve a Balance. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences. Vol. 96. Issue 1 page. 15
Simpson C. L. (2007), Work / Life Balance Articles Workathomebalance.com
Solish. G. (2006), Work at Home Balance http//workathomebalance.com
The National advisory Committee’s Report (1 999), Striking A balance between Home and Work. http://www.quintcareers.com
University of Benin Physical and Academic planning (2007), Academic and non Academic Staff by School, Faculty, Department, Sex, and Grade. University of Benin, Benin City.
25
FACILITATIVE ROLE OF PLAY IN SOCIOEMOTIONAL ANDCOGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN.
ByBEN EJIDE
EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS, EBONYI STATEUNIVERSITY, ABAKALIKI
Abstract
The indispensable role of play in the socio-emotional and cognitive development of children is irrefragable.
Studies with lower animals showed the pivotal role of play in the development of the brain. Unfortunately,
some parents in an effort to give their preschoolers a head-start, launch them into various academic
programmes regardless of their maturational readiness for such cognitive functions. Equally, the school-age
children run a loaded schedule, including private tutoring at the end of the normal school hours. The overall
effect is that these children are pressured, hurried and denied the opportunity to be children. They have no
time to play with their peers, an important socialization experience that prepares children for adult life. This
paper underscores the importance of play in socio-emotional, and cognitive development of children with
far-reaching implications for academic achievement.
Introduction
Each epoch in human history had its view of childhood, which tinged its attitudes to children and
play. While the eastern Mediterranean civilizations and the Greeks had positive attitudes towards
children and accommodated childhood tendencies including play, the Renaissance Europe was not as
humane; children were exploited through child labor, and play was viewed as idleness and unprofitable
(Tucker,1974). The positive attitude towards children in the17th century which accepted children’s play as
a normal developmental need, peaked in the 20th century, particularly with the dawn of behavioristic
psychology that emphasized environmental rather than genetic factors as determiner of personality.
26
But the humane attitude of the 20th century was inadvertently stretched in the 21st century. The increased
investment in children led to what Miller-Browne (1994) called “superchild” syndrome, whereby some
parents deny their children the opportunity to be children; they ‘hurry’ and stretch these children because
they want precocious children who can achieve academically beyond their chronological age. The undue
pressure on these children is evident in their tight schedules; not only do they spend additional hours at
school receiving copious evening lessons, but also they get back late from school to meet a private tutor
waiting for, yet, another bout of mental strain. The preschoolers are not spared as they are enrolled in
preschool programmes that emphasized academics. The result is that these pressured children have no time
to be children. Like the medieval parents who viewed children as miniature adults, these modern parents
want to produce miniature prodigies in the academic terrain, unaware that play is a critical variable in
socio-emotional and cognitive development.
Many years ago, Parten (1932) delineated different types of childhood play, which modern researchers
still found contemporary (Goetz, Alexander & Ash, 1992). Though social play takes various forms and
involves two or more children, it varies in duration and complexity of interaction and beneficial to the child
because it inculcates respect for rules guiding the play episode, and by extension, all social interactions
(Hughes, 1991). Solitary play occurs when a child plays alone sometimes uninterested in the presence of
other children; it enhances development by enabling children deal with fears, and fosters the development
of cognitive skills. In parallel play, two or more children play alongside one another, but each preoccupied
with his own activity, neither interfering nor copying from the other though they are in the
same playground and close to one another; they play independently. Children who engaged in parallel play
were found to be good problem-solvers, popular with other children and rated by their teachers as socially
skilled (Rubin 1982). Children in cooperative play, engage in a common effort to achieve a purpose; it is
goal-oriented. They could decide to build a house, or cook some dishes, and each child in the effort
discharges enthusiastically the assigned duty aimed at achieving the common goal. Cooperative play instills
the importance of concerted effort in achieving a group goal.
In associative play, qualitatively different from cooperative play, children engage in the same play
activity (like drawing) discussing the activity, lending and borrowing materials from one another. It lacks
formal rules or overall plan, but extensive communication. A child engaged in symbolic or pretend play,
27
transforms himself into other persons or pretends that an object is something else; for instance, a doll may
be covered with a blanket to represent a real baby sleeping. Pretend play enables children try out new roles,
deal with uncomfortable emotions, and gain understanding of others’ viewpoints. Besides, it fosters the
development of problem-solving and language skills (Bodrova & Leong 1998; Davidson 1998; Furth &
Kane 1992; Nourot 1998; Singer & Singer 1990). By pretending to be a driver, driving an imaginary car,
for instance, children build what Christie (1991,1998) called emergent literacy. In sociodramatic play, a
child can role-play a doctor, a teacher or any professional. It exercises the imaginative power of the child to
imitate the pattern of behavior of the model whose role is played (Dunn & Hughes, 2001). Sociodramatic
play has salutary effects of enabling children rehearse and reproduce adult roles they observed around
them, test their own ability to explain and convince others of their ideas, regulate their emotions through
imagination, and express personal concerns in a non-threatening manner (Berger, 2003).
Play, Socio-emotional and Cognitive Development
Empirical evidence (Garvey, 1990) indicated that play, in general, enhanced cognitive and social
development, for through play children interacted with their environment, and enriched their minds with an
array of environmental stimuli encountered in the process. Anna Freud (1974) suggested that the greatest
value of play resided in the reduction of anxiety in infants who experienced what she called objective
anxiety - the fear of the external world. An infant uses the primary caregiver as a secure base, from where
he explores his environment in an attempt to master it. Thus, a child tossing and hitting a doll or rattle on
the floor, feels that he is in control of the, otherwise, intimidating environment encapsulated in the doll or
rattle. Play, therefore, reduces objective fear by giving the child an illusion of control over the environment.
While Freudians focused on emotional value of play, cognitive psychologists underscored the role of
play in intellectual development. Bruner (1972), for instance, maintained that play provided children the
opportunity to learn problem-solving, and the techniques acquired used in later life in handling many life’s
challenges. Piaget (1962,1963) advanced an incisive insight into the value of play in intellectual
development of children when he suggested that every living organism sought to adapt to its environment
for survival, and adaptation could be physical or psychological. While physical adaptation enhanced
physical growth and survival, psychological adaptation facilitated intellectual growth. Two processes are
28
involved in adaptation – assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is taking environmental stimuli and
fitting them into the existing mental structures, and accommodation is adjusting the existing mental
structures to incorporate the new environmental stimuli or information. Neither physical nor intellectual
growth is possible without these two processes. Play facilitates assimilation and accommodation,
indispensable mechanisms for learning, by allowing the child interact with its environment during which he
encounters and incorporates new information (environmental stimuli) into the existing cognitive structures
and creating new schemas for novel phenomena, thereby, increasing cognitive growth. Also play facilitates
language development because children use language to communicate, ask questions, direct activities and
correct errors during social play, thus, increasing their repertoire of vocabulary and sharpening their
language skill.
But specific types of play appear to be particularly advantageous to the socioemotional and cognitive
development of the child. Sociodramatic or imaginative play, for instance, is valuable in the affective
domain, for it enhances self-awareness, self-confidence and self-control. Besides, sociodramatic play
offered children an illusion of control over their environment (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969). Role-playing a
model makes children feel powerful, and in control of the situation in an otherwise unpredictable world, a
feeling that reduces the fears and conflicts in their lives. A body of literature (Burns & Brainerd, 1979;
Dansky, 1980; Rubin, Fein, & Vandenberg, 1983; Saltz, Dixon, & Johnson, 1977) documented that
sociodramatic play predicted later creativity, besides improving children’s intellectual skills such as
memory, problem-solving skills, and language development. Besides, a plethora of research (Fink, 1976;
Smith, Dagleish, & Herzmark 1981; Smith & Sydall 1978) pointed to the invaluable role of sociodramatic
play in the development of social awareness of children, cooperation in social activities, and understanding
of social relationships. Hughes (1991:172) linked symbolic play to language development because
language and symbolic play “involve the ability to represent the world mentally” and “language
impairment is related to deficits in symbolic play.”
Imaginative play not only fosters social competence, but also enables children to tinker with future roles
as well as how to function as part of the social system. Research (Rubin, Fein, & Vandenberg 1983)
indicated that children who engaged in imaginative play were self controlled, less aggressive, and less
impulsive; exhibited positive characteristics like sharing, cooperation and overall social maturity, positive
29
attributes for future academic achievement. Similarly, Singer and Singer (1980) noted further salutary
effects of imaginative play such as increased curiosity, interest in new experiences and joy in peers. A vast
body of literature (Elder & Pederson 1978; Fein, 1975; Vanderberg, 1978; Rubin & Pepler, 1982; Rubin
1980; Ungerer, Zelazo, Kearsley, & O’ Leary, 1981) documented that play particularly symbolic play
promoted cognitive skills such as measurement, balance, spatial concepts, logical classification,
conservation and other related intellectual competencies. For instance, by playing with blocks children
acquire the notion of height, balance, and spatial concepts, necessary for learning outcomes. Research
(Schaefer, 1969) found that College students who recollected having imaginary friends during their
childhood tended to be more creative than those who never had. Similarly, Singer (1973) noted that 3- and
4 year-olds who had imaginary playmates were less aggressive, more affable and more voluble than their
peers who lacked such friends. Those who never had imaginary friends were disadvantaged in school tasks
requiring language skill.
The developmental advantages of play are not limited to preschoolers. School-age children need play as
much as preschoolers, but since they spend much of their waking hours at school, they become increasingly
peer- rather than family-oriented (Minuchin, 1977; William & Stith, 1980) and peers constitute a strong
socializing agent. Hughes (1991) noted that:
The peer group is a major socializing agent in middle childhood. It is from their peers, not from parents or teachers, that children learn about the culture of childhood. Peers will teach a child quite effectively, and sometimes very harshly about social rules and about the importance of obeying them.
Peers establish a certain moral order that may differ…from that established
by adults (p.100).
All the socializing activities of peers occur during play, where they learn all sorts of physical and
intellectual skills, which parents cannot provide. In fact, William and Stith (1980) noted that many slangs,
jokes, and riddles, were usually learnt from peers, and never taught at home.
Play and Creativity
Researchers (Pepler & Ross 1981; Smith & Dutton 1979) found a correlation between divergent
thinking in problem-solving and types of play materials. In a study, Pepler and Ross (1981) divided sixty-
30
four preschoolers into two groups. One group played repeatedly with materials that promoted convergent
thinking (such as puzzles with one correct solution), while the second group played with materials that
advanced divergent thinking (such as blocks that can be arranged in various ways); the children in the two
groups were later presented with problems requiring creative solutions. An examination of their approaches
to the problems revealed that those who were exposed to play materials that fostered divergent-thinking,
demonstrated originality in their problem-solving, using trial and error in finding solutions to the problems.
Those who played with materials that nurtured convergent thinking, were not as flexible in problem-
solving, compelling the researchers to conclude that playing with puzzles or similar materials that provided
one correct answer hardly exercised the imaginative power of children, and never tapped their creative
potentials to produce originality in problem-solving situations. In fact, many decades ago, Freud (1929)
linked play with creativity when he argued:
Might we not say that every child at play behaves like a creative writer, in that he creates a world of his own, or rather re-arranges the things of his world in a new way which pleases him?…The creative writer does the same as the child at play. He creates a world of phantasy which he takes very seriously – that is, which he invests with large amounts of emotion….(pp. 143-144)
Educational Implications of Play
The central role of play in socioemotional and cognitive development of children is indubitable.
Empirical evidence (Craig & Kermis, 1995; Slavin, 1994; Hughes, 1991) established a strong correlation
between play and socioemotional and intellectual development among children. Play, which begins in first
few months of life, progresses in complexity depending on the play materials available to the child.
Enriched environment with a variety of play materials enhances social and intellectual development. A
classic study (Greenough & Volkmar, 1973) documented the effects of play in the brain development of
animals. The researchers raised rats in three different environmental conditions. In the first condition,
described as environmentally complex (EC), a group of rats were housed in a large cage with an assortment
of play materials, which were regularly changed, besides handling the rats to ensure continuous stimulation.
The second condition labeled social control (SC), had rats placed in groups of two in standard laboratory
cages, but without play materials. The third condition known as isolated control (IC) was similar to the
31
second except that the rats were caged individually with solid walls demarcating the apartments and
without playing materials or contact with another rat.
After several weeks in their respective environments, the brains of the rats were examined. It was found
that the brains of the environmentally complex (EC) rats were heavier than those of the control groups. The
brain growth was more perceptible in the cerebral cortex, the centre of learning. The cerebral cortex of the
EC rats also contained higher levels of certain enzymes and other chemicals; the occipital regions that
control vision also increased in weight. The neurons (brain cells) of the EC rats equally increased in
complexity as a result of environmental stimulation as evidenced by the large number of branches or
dendrites that developed from the neurons. The increased dendritic growth may partly account for the
differences in brain size. The researchers noted that the changes in the neuronal growth also meant changes
in neuronal transmission as there would be greater number of synapses per neuron in the EC rats. Besides,
since synapses functioned as switchboard for neuronal transmission, the amount of information, thus,
transmitted might be greater in the environmentally advantaged rats.
What could account for the differences in the brain weight of the rats? It may be tempting to argue that
the EC rats had more exercise than the control groups; therefore, exercise explains the differences in brain
weight. But rats exposed to extensive wheel-running exercise never showed such gains in brain weight. The
researchers opined that the brain weight of the EC rats was the direct result of learning and memory; the
arsenal of complex, stimulating play materials afforded the rats opportunity to learn new experiences.
When extrapolated to human situation, this study suggested that enriched environment fostered
cognitive stimulation and the attendant learning outcomes. Consequently, parents and teachers should focus
on making the environment of the child as complex and stimulating as possible. Preschool programmes that
emphasized structured academic learning may not always produce the precocious child; rather an enriched,
stimulating environment with an array of play materials lays a solid foundation for later academic
achievement. Browne-Miller’s admonition is apposite:
… many modern parents…see themselves as having the opportunity to produce and rear a superbaby- an individual who will grow into a superchild and into a person who will excel in adulthood. This super child pressure puts children and their parents under a great deal of stress and must be avoided. Parents [should] focus on their children’s environments. Are they nurturing? Are they rich? A nurturing environment … stimulates development along many avenues. It is highly attentive to individual developmental needs. What this means is that as
32
the child grows and changes, the family environment responds to his or her changing needs (pp.96-97)
In this technological age, some well-placed parents procure all sorts of electronic devices as play materials
for their children. Stimulating as they may be, most of these gadgets promote solitary play devoid of social
benefits. Computers fall into this category. The EC rats played with the materials available to them in a
social setting; perhaps, if one animal were left with such overwhelming play materials, the brain size would
not have altered significantly. However, Tan (1985) Simon (1985) found that children playing with modern
gadgets that promoted solitary play (such as computers) soon turned them into cooperative play once
habituation occurred. They invited their peers and took turns at the keyboard, while others watched and
offered suggestions. The greatest misfortune of most Nigerian children today is their preoccupation with
television. They are glued to the television sets for hours at the expense of other useful activities. Only
power interruption provides a reprieve, and the speed with which they rush back to the screen once power
is restored attests to their attachment to the “idiot box” (Berger 2003). Critics regard children’s
preoccupation with the television as destructive and waste of time that could be profitably invested in
“physical activity, imaginative play, reading and family interaction” (Berger, 2003). Children who spend
much of their time viewing television tend to be less involved in imaginative play probably because they
are accustomed to absorbing ideas rather than generating their own (Howes & Matheson 1992), thereby,
not developing all the personal and social skills associated with imaginative play. However, children must
be part of the technological age; therefore, parents should select educational and informative television
programmes for their children, especially as it has been found that children exposed to educational
programmes on the television achieved higher in school and read more than other high school students
(Anderson et al, 2001).
Facilitating Socio-Emotional Development through Play
From Piagetian perspective, preschoolers are at the preoperational stage of cognitive development, too
unready for structured academic programmes. Accelerating their cognitive development through academic
exercises can be stressful to the child, and it is a modern form of child labor and consequently child abuse,
for the child is strained and stretched mentally beyond his mental age. Loaded preschool academic
33
programme is mental violence and potentially counter-productive, for the child can develop phobia and
hatred for school and education, hence, Elkind (1981:61) tersely warned that “the young child who is not
given enough playtime, who is pushed too hard and too soon to achieve, the ‘hurried child’ is at a
developmental disadvantage, not only for the emotional growth, but ironically for cognitive growth.” What
a child needs is good nurture, which includes the provision of stimulating recreational materials that
facilitate both socioemotional and cognitive development. Consequently, daycare centres that emphasize
play and recreation are more adaptive to the child’s developmental needs than those that focus on
academics. An abundance of empirical evidence (Barnard, Bee, Hammond 1984; Gottfried 1986;
Gottfried & Gottfried, 1984; Siegel 1984; Johnson, Breckenridge & McGowan, 1984) supported the notion
that parental care and availability of play materials were the two most powerful factors that influenced
cognitive development of children. Children exposed to different play materials and who use them score
higher on intellectual measures both at the time and later in life than children who lack these materials.
Browne-Miller advisedly observed:
An increasing number of parents feel pressured to provide a concentrated preschool education instead of childcare for their children…Some parents overlook affectionate attention in order to give their children educational advantages even before kindergarten. They place their children in preschool programs that focus almost entirely on academics, denying children ample opportunities to play and to love and be loved (p. 227).
Therefore, the resources spent on academic daycare centres can be more profitably used in enriching the
child’s home environment. Besides, Nigerian parents should begin to realize the benefits of playing with
their children. Everyday concerns and anxieties rarely permit parents to spend quality time with their
children, especially preschoolers. Play fosters secure attachment with the concomitant social and
intellectual benefits in later life. It has been documented (Ross & Kay, 1980; Stevenson, Leavitt, Thompson
& Roach, 1988) that parents’ active involvement and supportive role in a child’s play enhanced the
duration, intensity and sophistication of such play than would be found in play without an adult
participation.
34
Parents should endeavor to provide preschoolers with many play materials of varying degrees of
complexity. Emphasis should not be on modern toys, but focus should be in the social or cognitive value of
each play material, hence, Siegal (1984:163) recommended play materials that facilitated “the development
of eye-hand coordination, pull and push toys, toys that allow children to fit things together and pull them
apart, building toys like blocks, reading materials, musical toys....”
Conclusion
Nature never hurries the development of its highest species – man. Readiness is critical for any
developmental landmark. The young of many lower animals walk, moments after birth, but it takes a
human infant several months to stand and then walk. External, visible developments or growth are a
function of internal (invisible) developments, notably the brain that controls every aspect of man. What a
child can accomplish at a given time is dependent on myelination of the brain, which begins in utero and
continues through early childhood, and into adulthood. Myelination influences learning, memory and
language development. Where myelination is lacking, deficits in learning and other capacities may occur,
but where it is maximized, the mental capacity of the child is maximized. Proper nutrition, play and
stimulating physical environment are critical factors in myelination process. Therefore, precocious child is
made not by rushing or pushing the child beyond cognitive cliff, but by allowing nature to develop the child
by providing a stimulating environment that facilitates the natural process. The growing child should be
allowed to do what nature wants it to do at that age – play. It is a phenomenon human infants share with the
young of lower animals, but while play has ethological value for the young of lower animals, it has both
ethological and psychological significance for a child.
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39
IMPEDIMENTS TO THE USE OF COMPUTERS IN ECONDARY SCHOOL MATHEMATICS INSTRUCTION IN NIGERIA
Dr. Kamoru Olayiwola USMANScience Education DepartmentUniversity of Nigeria, Nsukka
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify impediments against the use of computers in mathematics
instruction in Nigeria. Five research questions were formulated to guide the study. The population for the
study was all mathematics teachers in Nigeria; however, 527 mathematics teachers participated in the
study. The instruments used for the study were a questionnaire and an interview/observation guide. The
data generated were analysed using frequency, mean, percentages. The results revealed that some of the
factors militating against the use of computers in teaching secondary school mathematics include-
Insufficient of computers (both hardware and software); Lack of in-service training for mathematics
teachers on effective use of computers in the teaching of mathematics; on-inclusion of relevant computer
courses in mathematics education programmes; and Non-availability of highly knowledgeable mathematics
educators on the use of computers in teaching mathematics, among others. Based on the findings, it was
recommended, among others, that mathematics teachers needed to be trained for effective use of computers
in teaching secondary school mathematics.
Key words- Uses of Computers; Mathematics Instruction; Secondary School Mathematics; Impediments against Computer Usage in Nigeria; and Computers and Mathematics Instruction
Introduction
In the history of education, mathematics occupies a central place among the other school core
subjects. It has been considered as an indispensable discipline and an essential tool in the formation of the
educated man. Nigeria as a nation recognizes the importance of mathematics and this is reflected in the
National Policy on Education, which spelt out the details of the Nigerian educational system. To this end,
the study of mathematics is compulsory for all students at primary and secondary school levels. Apart from
the fact that mathematics is a subject par excellence, (Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN), 2004), in which
40
reasoning power can be trained; the trend has also shown that in order to secure admission to higher levels
of education, a credit-pass in mathematics is an advantage (JAMB, 2008). Therefore, the learning of
mathematics in Nigeria represents a basic preparation for adult life and a gateway into a vast array of career
choices.
However, Imoko and Usman (2006) lamented at the poor state of the teaching and learning of
mathematics at the secondary school level in Nigeria. They stated that mathematics has been a bugbear to
many secondary school students. The causes for the poor performance and under-achievement in
mathematics in schools have been a subject of thorough and intensive investigation over the years by many
Nigerian mathematicians and mathematics educators. These include: Ale (1989), Harbor-Peters (1997),
Ohuche (1987), Osafehinti (1986), Ukeje (1997) and Usman (2007). Most of their accusation fingers point
at the inadequate teaching methods and materials used by mathematics teachers in teaching mathematics.
The world is currently expanding a new technological and information revolution that is having
an impact on society at least as great as the Industrial Revolution. Computer technology in particular is
beginning to have a significant impact on almost every aspect of our lives, especially the education sector
and the challenges posed by computer technology increase on daily bases. In the education sector,
computer does not directly change teaching or learning, rather, the crucial element is how the computer is
incorporated into instructions. As reported by Kelman (2002), in the early 1960s, mathematics teachers
were the first to bring computers into the pre-college curriculum in the United States of America.
Mathematics teachers were at the forefront of computer implementation in schools. Mathematics educators
were among the first to use computers as an aid to instruction in the traditional curriculum.
Besides, at the centre of effective use of any instructional technology (the computer) is primarily
the teacher. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 2006),
postulated that for students to become comfortable and effective users of computers, teachers must be able
to make wise and informed decisions about computers. Hence, mathematics teachers should be confident in
using computers when and where appropriate.
Although, the presence of computers in the schools in Nigeria, is mainly for the teaching of
computer literacy or computer education, but according to Usman (2002) mathematics and science teachers
are responsible for the teaching of computer literacy as a subject. The presence of computers creates
pressures and opportunities for mathematics teachers. Pressures arise because majority of the people
regarded computers as mathematical machines. People expected mathematics teachers to know more about
41
computers, to run school computer programmes, to know which computers to buy, teach programming, and
be able to train their colleagues.
However, mathematics teachers need to use the opportunity of the presence of computers in
schools to exploit the advantages to the use of computers in the mathematics instruction and go beyond the
teaching of computer education/literacy. The inability of mathematics teachers to integrate computer to
mathematics instruction may not be unconnected to certain factors that are yet to be identified. Therefore,
this study is designed to identify factors militating against the use of computers in mathematics instruction.
The results of this study should provide the education stakeholders with information on the factors
that militate against the use of computers in teaching secondary school mathematics. Besides, the need to
improve the quality of the training of mathematics teachers may be necessitated. After all, the level of
attainment in science and technology by a society depends on how seriously mathematics has been taught
and studied in the schools. Technological progress and advancement depends largely on mathematics
education and on the quality of the teachers available in the schools. The teachers’ performance may also
depend largely on the availability of instructional materials.
Therefore, for mathematics teachers to effectively integrate computers into mathematics instruction,
it is pertinent to find out the availability and use of computer laboratories in schools. In addition, readiness
of mathematics teachers in terms of their computer skills is also worthy of investigation. Finally, those
impediments against the use computers for effective instruction in secondary school mathematics were also
identified.
To facilitate the conduct of this study, the following research questions were formulated-
1. To what extent are computer laboratories available in secondary schools?
2. For what purposes are computer laboratories used in secondary schools?
3. What percentage of mathematics teachers are computer skilled?
4. What are the impediments against the use of computers for teaching secondary school
mathematics?
Methods
This study is of survey research design and covers all states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The researcher adopted the political administrative structure in which Nigeria is divided into thirty-six
states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. These states are grouped under six geo-political zones
(north-east, north-central, north-west, south-east, south-west, and south-south). The need for mathematics
42
teachers to take the advantage of computer technology, and the presence of computers in schools in
Nigeria, for the improvement of secondary school mathematics teaching and learning, necessitated the
choice of Nigeria as the area of the study.
The population for the study was made up of all mathematics teachers in Nigeria. Mathematics
teachers were used to assess the readiness of teachers for the use of computers in teaching secondary school
mathematics in Nigerian. This readiness was assessed through the mathematics teachers’ computer skills,
because mathematics teachers were assumed to have been exposed to some computer training at one time
or the other. Besides, most of them are responsible for the teaching of computer literacy in their various
schools. Similarly, mathematics teachers were used for the identification of factors militating against use of
computer in the teaching of secondary school mathematics.
Multi-stage sampling techniques were used to arrive at the samples for this study. To sample
mathematics teachers, the secondary schools were clustered along the six geo-political zones. From
each of the zones, two states were randomly selected, to make a total of 12 states.
In each of the 12 selected states, the secondary schools were stratified into federal, state, and private
schools. Twelve, (12) secondary schools were selected from each of the selected states. To ensure the
proportional representation of all three categories of secondary schools in the sample, the researcher
computed the mean of each of the school categories per state. From the computation, it was discovered
that, on the average, the ratio of federal to private to state schools is 1: 3: 8. Therefore, in every state,
one-federal, three-private, and eight-state schools were randomly selected for the study. A total of 144
secondary schools were finally involved in this study, and all mathematics teachers in these schools
were used. The total number of mathematics teachers who participated in the study was 527.
The instruments for this study were made up of an interview/observation guide and a
questionnaire developed by the researcher. They are:
Adequacy of computer, its Use, and Computer Skills of Mathematics Teachers (ADUCOSMAT)-
An interview/observation guide; and
Factors militating against the Use of Computers (FMAUC) – A questionnaire
FMAUC was administered to mathematics teachers for the purpose of collecting information on
factors militating against the use of computers in teaching mathematics. FMAUC consists of 10 items on a
4-point rating scale, that is, SA is “Strongly Agree”, A is “Agree”, D is “Disagree”, and SD is “Strongly
Disagree”. The mathematics teachers were to respond by indicating the extent of agreement/disagreement
43
to each of the items, on factors militating against the use of computers in teaching secondary school
mathematics in Nigeria.
ADUCOSMAT was used as an interview guide to collect information on the availability and the
use of computers in secondary schools. ADUCOSMAT was also used to determine the computer skills of
mathematics teachers. There are two sections in ADUCOSMAT; section 1 consists of three items with
fixed responses. The items focused on the status of the schools (in terms of its ownership), computer
laboratories availability, and the purpose for which the computers are used in the school. In section 2, there
are 12 items; each of the items describes the various computer-related tasks that are expected of a computer
skilled teacher. The mathematics teachers were rated on a 4- point rating scale (Highly Skilled, (HS);
Skilled, (S); Less Skilled (LS) and Not Skilled, (NS)) based on the performance on each of the items during
the interview.
Each of the instruments (ADUCOSMAT and FMAUC) was face validated. After the
corrections suggested by the experts were incorporated into the final draft of the questionnaires, a pre-test
was then conducted for obtaining the reliability of the instruments. The groups used for the trial-test were
similar to the real groups for the study, but with relatively smaller numbers. The data generated from the
trial test was used in determining the reliability of the instruments. This was achieved by estimating the
internal consistency coefficient of the questionnaire using the Cronbach Alpha. The following is the
reliability coefficient for each of the instruments: ADUCOSPMAT - the reliability coefficient is 0.83 and
FMAUC - the reliability coefficient is 0.70.
Data collection started with the training of 30 Research Assistants (RAs), out of which 24 RAs
were selected, that is, two RAs for each of the states selected for the study. To determine the availability,
use of computers in schools, and computer skills of mathematics teachers, using the interview/observation
guide, the result obtained from the interview was analyzed using the frequency, percentage and mean. For
the factors militating against the use of computers in the teaching of mathematics, the mean responses of
each of the items was computed to determine which of the factors militate against the use of computers in
the teaching of mathematics. Any of the items that had a mean of 2.5 and above was declared a factor,
while the item with a mean below 2.5 was declared a non-factor militating against the use of computers in
teaching secondary school mathematics.
Results
The results of this study are presented according to the research questions that guided the study.
Research Question 1- To what extent are computer laboratories available in secondary schools?
44
Table 1: Frequency and percentages of schools with computer laboratories across school type and zones in Nigeria SCHOOL TYPE
ZONE 1
ZONE 2
ZONE 3
ZONE 4
ZONE 5
ZONE 6
TOTAL
PERCENT (%)
FEDERAL 2 1 2 2 1 2 10 83.33
STATE 4 3 4 5 7 8 31 32.29
PRIVATE 5 4 5 3 4 3 24 66.67
The result on table 1 shows that, 83.33% of the federal schools sampled, 32.29% of the state
schools sampled, and 66.67% of the private schools sampled have computer laboratories. Therefore, there
are more computer laboratories in federal schools than the private and state schools. However, state schools
have fewer computer laboratories than the private schools.
Research Question 2 - For what purpose are computer laboratories used in Nigerian secondary schools?
Table 2: Frequency and percentages of purpose for computer laboratories usage across school type
School Type
Purpose for which Computer Laboratories are used
Computer Literacy
Language Classes
Typing Skills
Mathematics Classes
Students’ Reports
*Others
Federal 9 6 -- 5 4 2
State 20 2 -- -- -- --
Private 16 4 -- 12 10 10
Percentage (%)
31.25 8.33 00.00 11.81 9.72 8.33
*Some mathematics teachers indicated that computer laboratories are used for teaching subjects like bookkeeping and commerce.
The result on table 2 indicated that, 9 out of 10 federal and 16 out of 24 private schools that have
computer laboratories are using them to teach computer literacy, but only 20 out of 96 state schools that
have computer laboratories use them for the teaching of computer literacy. On the other hand, 31.25% of
all the schools sampled for this study use their computer laboratories to teach computer literacy; 8.33% of
the schools use the computer laboratories for language classes. Similarly, 11.81% of the schools are using
the computer laboratories for mathematics classes. Finally, 9.72% of the schools use the computers for
preparing students’ reports, and 8.33% use the computer laboratories for other purposes (teaching
commerce and bookkeeping). Therefore, the computer laboratories are being used mainly for teaching
computer literacy in secondary schools.
45
Research Question 3- what percentage of mathematics teachers are computer skilled?
Table 3: Frequencies and percentage of mathematics teachers who are computer skilled across school type and gender
GENDERFrequency
& Percentage FEDERAL STATE PRIVATE TOTAL
MALEFrequency 32.00 39.00 63.00 134.00
Percentage (%) 57.14 24.22 64.29 42.54
FEMALEFrequency 19.00 41.00 42.00 102.00
Percentage (%) 57.14 39.05 58.33 48.11
TOTALFrequency 51.00 80.00 105.00 236.00
Percentage (%) 56.04 30.08 61.76 44.78
Table 3 shows the frequency and the percentages, of mathematics teachers who are computer
skilled, across school type and gender. 56.04% of mathematics teachers in federal schools are computer
skilled, 30.08% in state schools are computer skilled, and 61.76% in private schools are computer skilled.
Research Question 4- what are the factors militating against the use of computers for teaching
mathematics?
Table 4: Mean of mathematics teachers’ responses to impediments against the use of computers in the teaching of mathematics
IMPEDIMENTS SA A D SD MEAN
()1. Non-availability of computers (both hardware and
software)424 103 -- -- 3.81
2. Non-inclusion of relevant computer courses in mathematics education programmes
374 153 -- -- 3.71
3. Non-availability of highly knowledgeable mathematics educator in the use of computers in teaching mathematics
425 102 -- -- 3.81
4. Non-inclusion of the use of computer in the teaching of mathematics in mathematics education programmes
374 153 -- -- 3.71
5. Lack of frequent workshops, seminars, and conferences on the use of computers in the teaching of mathematics
425 102 -- -- 3.81
6. Irregular supply of electricity 425 102 -- -- 3.817. Inadequate security for the available computers. 425 102 -- -- 3.818. Non-availability of computer technologist to service
and maintain the computers 425 102 -- -- 3.81
46
In Table 4, items 1,3,5,6,7, and 8 have means equal to 3.81, items 2 and 4 have means equal to
3.71. Therefore, all the impediments listed in the instrument may be considered as impediments against the
use of computers in teaching secondary school mathematics.
Discussions and Findings
The study indicated that 83.33% of federal, 32.29% of state, and 66.67% of private schools have
computer laboratories. Therefore, there are more computer laboratories in federal schools than the state and
private schools.
The availability of computer laboratories in Private schools may not be a surprise because these
schools are profit-oriented. In order to attract students, the schools need to be well equipped.
The computer laboratories are used for teaching computer literacy in most of the schools used for this
study. This is not surprising because computers are provided to the schools mainly for computer literacy or
computer education. It must be pointed out that some state schools do not use the computer laboratories for
the teaching of computer literacy. From the mathematics teachers’ comments, it may be deduced that most
of the state schools have no qualified teachers to run the computer laboratories. Some federal and private
schools also use computer laboratories to teach language and to prepare the student report cards.
The following are the impediments against the use of computers in the teaching of secondary school
mathematics in Nigeria: Non-availability of computers (both hardware and software); Non-inclusion of
relevant computer courses in mathematics education programmes; Non-availability of highly
knowledgeable mathematics educator on the use of computers in teaching mathematics; Non-inclusion of
the use of computer in the teaching of mathematics in mathematics education programmes; Lack of
frequent workshops, seminars, and conferences on the use of computers in the teaching of mathematics;
Irregular supply of electricity; Inadequate security for the available computers; and Non-availability of
computer technologist to service and maintain the computers.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of the study, the following are the recommendations: More computer
laboratories should be established in secondary schools, especially, state schools where there are fewer
computer laboratories. This may help to improve mathematics teachers’ computer skills; Computer
laboratories should also be established at the various institutions responsible for the training of mathematics
teachers, to give the teachers proper and hands-on training on the use of computers in the teaching of
mathematics at secondary school level; State governments should pay more attention to education by
allocating more money to the ministry of education for adequate funding of state schools. This may reduce
47
the present gaps between federal, private, and state schools in terms of qualities and availability of human
and material resources; and the mathematics education programme needs to be reviewed to accommodate
the training of mathematics education students on the use of computers in the teaching of mathematics.
Conclusion
The advantages of the use of computers in teaching secondary school mathematics are so
numerous that Nigeria as a developing nation cannot avoid missing out. The earlier the Nigeria joins the
leagues of the nations that have harnessed this importance the better. This study has revealed that the
mathematics teachers may need to be trained on the effective use of computers in teaching secondary
school mathematics. Similarly, there may also be the need to equip the schools with computers and other
necessary conditions that may facilitate its use for the teaching of mathematics. Therefore, the provision of
all these facilities and training for teachers will not only improve the teaching and learning of secondary
school mathematics but also place Nigeria on list of the nations that are ready for technological
development.
References
Ale, S. O. (1989). Keynote address: war against poor performance in mathematics. Journal of Mathematical Association of Nigeria Abacus, 19(1), 3 - 9.
Harbor-Peters, V. F. (1997, September 1 - 6). Computer Education for All Mathematics Teachers: A Basic Preparation of the Year 2010. Paper presented at the 34th Annual Conference of the Mathematics Association of Nigeria (MAN), Abuja.
Imoko, B. I. & Usman, K. O. (2006). Information Technology (IT): A vital tool for population education. Benue State University Journal of Education, 7, 168 – 172
JAMB. (2008). UME - Guideline for Admission to First Degree Courses in Nigerian Universities 2008 - 2010. Abuja: JAMB
Kelman, P. (2006). Computers in Teaching Mathematics. Toronto: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Inc.
Ohuche, R. O. (1987). Change in mathematics education since the late 1950's- ideas and realization. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 9(2), 271 - 281.
Osafehinti, I. O. (1986). The problem of mathematics in Nigeria: any solution? Journal of Science
Teachers Association of Nigeria, 24(2), 274 - 280.
48
Ukeje, B. O. (1997). To Achieve Vision 2010 Through Mathematics. Paper presented at the 34th Annual Conference of the Mathematical Association of Nigeria (MAN), Abuja, Nigeria.
UNESCO. (1989). Training of Teachers in Computer Education. Thailand: Bangkok.
Usman, K. O. (2002). The need to retraining in-service Mathematics Teachers for the attainment of the Objectives of Universal Basic Education (UBE). ABACUS- The journal of the Mathematical Association of Nigeria (MAN) 27(1), 37 – 44
Usman, K. O. (2007). Information and communication technology (ICT) competencies for the implementation of mathematics curriculum. In D. N Ezeh & N Onyegegbu (ed). Information Communication Technology in the Service of Education. 34 - 44
49
INCLUSION OF FAMILY LIFE EDUCATION IN SCHOOL CURRICULUM: PERCEPTION OF PARENTS AND STUDENTS IN NSUKKA URBAN
BY
JOACHIM, C. OMEJE Ph.D.AND
ANTHONY, U. OKERE Ph.D.DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA NSUKKA
Abstract
The study sought to find out inclusion of family life education in school curriculum and perception of
parents and students in Nsukka Urban. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study.
The subjects for the study was 300 made up of 150 parents and 150 students. The instrument for data
collection was questionnaire. Mean score and t-test statistics were used for data analysis. Results showed
that students have a positive perception of the inclusion of family life education unlike their parent
counterparts who have negative perceptions. Also, the factors that contribute to their perceptions are
belief, value, non-use of church for the programme, and restriction on discussing of sexual issues.
Furthermore, the results showed that their perception could be improved for better through training them to
understand what it is all about, establishing a network and joint advocacy organization, among others. The
implications of the findings were highlighted and recommendations made.
Introduction
Family helps to mould human societies and as a result mould personalities of their members. The
influence of a child’s family reaches far into the future, affecting the rest of that person’s life story.
Family teaches the child about being human, their values and whether or not others are to be loved and
trusted among other things (Webb, Whitney and Debruyne, 1999). Family as noted by Kiragu (2001)
determines the context, the specific informational content and the evaluative tone of one’s initial learning
about sex. The family thus conditions the cognitive and perceptual filter through which later information
about sex is processed.
It is disheartening that most families are no longer performing their duties thus paving the way for
the disintegration of families morally, socially, academically and even emotionally. However, to revive
and rescue most families from further moral decadence and economic/social disintegration, the inclusion of
Family Life Education (FLE) into the school curriculum is advocated.
50
Family Life Education (FLE) according to Achalu and Achalu (2000) is that aspect of health
education which prepares the child, adolescent or young adults to become responsible members of their
family. It helps the individual to understand his development biologically, physiologically, and socially to
full maturity as a man or woman. They further maintained that family life education has the benefits of:
- Assisting the adolescents or young adults understand the meaning of sexuality in person and
family life as a form of behaviour and a mode of interpersonal relationship in which biological,
social and cultural factors are involved.
- Helping the adolescents acquire the necessary knowledge, attitude, skills, practices and habit
conducive to a healthy family life.
- Encouraging the adolescents/young adults develop attitudes, ideas, values and standard of conduct
essential for the full performance of the roles individuals will be called upon to play in the
establishment and orientation.
In an effort to promote positive and correct attitude to sex among growing adolescents, experts have
opined that introducing family life education in schools will go a long way to forming the students
better in their approach to sex issues. Consequently, some schools have adopted that idea while some
others are still skeptical about it. Despite the needs for family life education some critics vehemently
oppose the idea. These opponents of family life education advocated that it will encourage
promiscuity among the adolescents thereby undermining family and parental responsibility. However,
we have continued to experience more devastating and negative attitude towards this aspect of human
formation that makes the purpose very cloudy. In view of the above, this study sought to investigate
the perceptions of parents in Nsukka urban towards the inclusion of family life education in school
curriculum.
The study was guided by the following research questions:
i. What are the perceptions of parents and students towards the inclusion of family life education in
school curriculum?
ii. What are the factors responsible for their perceptions?
iii. How can their perceptions be improved for the better?
The study hypothesizes at (P 0.05) level of significant that there is no significance difference
between the mean ratings of:
i. Students and parents as it concerns their perception towards the inclusion of family life education
in school curriculum.
ii. Students and parents as it concerns the factors responsible for their perceptions.
iii. Students and parents as it concerns how their perceptions can be improved for the better.
51
The significance of the present study lies in the findings it will provide. The findings of this study will
make parents to understand their roles in the psychological formation of their children so that they will
no longer be skeptical about giving their children the fundamental instruction about their sexual
developments. This can be realized through discovering of measures to be used to improve on their
perception for better. This study will also reveal the divergent views and experiences of parents about
family life education. This revelation will help to find measures to use in implementing family life
education.
Method
The design for the study was a survey. The study was conducted in Nsukka urban of Enugu State
of Nigeria. The population of the study, comprised all students and their parents in all government owned
secondary schools in the area. The population of the parents was reached through the Parent Teachers
Association (PTA). A purposive random sampling technique was used to draw a sample of students and
parents respectively. This gave a sample of 300 respondents.
The instrument used in the study was a questionnaire. It is a Likert type measure of a four point
rating responses. The face validity of the instrument was determined by giving draft copies of the
instrument to experts in the field of Measurement and Evaluation of the University of Nigeria Nsukka.
The reliability of the instrument was determined using the Cronbach Alpha. The result of the reliability
was 0.74. Copies of the instrument were distributed by the researcher and two research assistantss to the
respondents for data collection. Mean and t-test statistics were used for data analysis.
Results
Tables I: Mean Responses on the perceptions of students and parents on inclusion of family life education in school curriculum.
S/NItem Statement Means (x)
Students Parents
1. Most of the school teachers are not married and therefore known little about family life
2.0 3.0
2. Teaching of family life education exposes students to matters relating to sex thereby making them more promiscuous
2.10 3.5
3. Family life education should not be taught to students as they are not matured enough to understand exactly what it is all about
1.0 3.0
4. Schools do not involve parents in designing the family life education curriculum and therefore they train students out of dictates of parents
2.60 2.87
Cluster mean (x) 1.93 13.92
52
A comparative analysis of the perception of both students and parents on inclusion of family life
education in school curriculum indicates that parents have negative perception towards the inclusion of
family life education. This is in disagreement with the perceptions of the students who have positive view
about such inclusion. Based on the analysis of the data the highest rated item for the parents is item 2 with
a mean score of 3.50 while the highest rated for the students is item 4 with a mean score of 2.60. From the
analysis, cluster mean scores of 1.93 and 3.92 were got respectively for students and parents.
Table 2: Mean responses on the factors responsible for their perceptions
S/N Item Statement Mean XStudents Parents
5. The belief that discussion on sex is a taboo in our society 3.60 3.106. The value for chastity before marriage is highly valued and
acceptable 3.20 2.87
7. The belief that family life education should be infused into church programmes
3.0 2.80
8. Restrictions on discussing of sex or sexual issues openly 3.5 3.0Cluster mean (X) 3.32 2.94
The analysis of the table above indicates that both students and parent respondents agreed on the
identified items as contributory factors to for their perceptions on the inclusion of family life education in
school curriculum. The analysis of the table revealed that the highest rated item on the side of the
students is item 5 while that of the parents is the same item 5. Based on the analysis of the table cluster
mean 3.32 for the students and 2.94 for the parents which were above the 2.50 criterion mean were reached
for better.
Table 3: Mean responses on how their perceptions can be improved.
S/NItem Statement
Mean X Students Parents
9. Training through workshops and discussion groups on the need to understand that family life education is not only about sex
3.60 3.60
10. Networks and joint advocacy organization made up of professionals, parents, teachers and students should be established.
3.70 3.50
11. Providing enlightenment programme to sensitize the public on what family life education is all about
3.80 3.74
12. Breaking down those traditional cultures that prohibit any discussion pertaining to sex through the use of traditional leaders. Cluster mean (X) 3.68 3.59
53
From the data collected on ways of improving perceptions, item II with mean scores 3.80 for the
students and 3.74 for parent respectively were the highest rated. This implies that there is the need for
providing enlightenment prgramme to sensitize the public on what family life education is all about.
Based on the analysis, cluster mean of 3.68 and 3.59 respectively for both students and parents were got.
Table 4: The t-test statistical analysis of the significant difference between the mean ratings of students and parents as it concerns their perception towards the inclusion of family life education in school curriculum
Group X SD No Df t-cal t-crit Alpha Level
Decision
Students 1.93 1.52 150298 9.7 1.96 0.05 Rejected
Parents 3.92 1.78 159
The data in the above table show that the mean for students was 1.93 while that of the parents was
3.92. The data were further subjected to t-test analysis in order to find out whether there was any
significant difference between the mean ratings of the two groups. The results of the analysis show
that significant difference was found as t-calculated 9.7 exceeded the t-critical 1.96 making the null
hypothesis of no significant difference to be rejected.
Table 5: The t-test statistical analysis of the significant difference between the mean ratings of students and parents on the factors responsible for their perceptions.
Group X SD No Df t-cal t-crit Alpha Level
Decision
Students 3.32 0.73 150298 0 1.96 0.05 Accepted
Parents 2.94 0.81 150
The data in the above table show that the mean for students was 3.32 while that of the parents was
2.94. The data were further subjected to t-test analysis in order to find out whether there was any
significant difference between the mean ratings of the two groups. The results of the analysis show that
significant difference was not found as t-calculated (0) did not exceed t-critical of 1.96 thereby making the
null hypothesis of no significance difference to be accepted.
Table 6:The t-test statistical analysis of the significant difference between the mean ratings of students and parents as it concerns how, their perceptions can be improved for better.
Group X SD No Df t-cal t-cri Alpha Level
Decision
Students 3.68 0.65 150298 0 1.96 0.05 Accepted
54
Parents 3.59 0.70 150
The data in the above table show that the mean for students was 3.68 while that of the parents was
3.59. The data were further subjected to t-test statistics to find out whether there was any significant
difference between the mean ratings of the two groups. The result of the analysis shows that significant
difference was not found as t-calculated (0) did not exceed the t-critical of 1.96 making the researchers to
accept the null hypothesis. This implies that status is not a factor in their responses.
Discussion
The study was guided by three research questions which focused on perceptions of parents and
students toward inclusion of family life education in school curriculum, factors responsible for their
perceptions and how their perceptions can be improved for better. The results of these research questions
showed that students have a positive perception of the inclusion of family life education in school
curriculum while their parents have negative perceptions towards it. Also, the factors that contributes to
their perceptions are their belief, value, non-use of church for the programme, and restriction on discussing
of sexual issues. Furthermore, the results showed that their perception could be improved for better
through training them to understand what it all about, establishing a network and joint advocacy
organization, providing enlightenment programme and breaking down traditional culture.
The findings are in consonance with Agocha (1989); Onuigbo (1984); Igbinoba (1986) and
McCauley and Salter (1995) Agocha said that by participating in the planning of their children’s education,
parents come to learn more about it and loose their doubts concerning innovations in school procedures.
The findings agrees with Onuigbo who said that the society around the school child is one that treats sex as
a taboo and any discussion on sex is viewed as contrary to our cultures and traditions. McCauley and
Salter also said that through advocacy, reproductive health programs can help communities start addressing
the various needs of young adults, the pressures and decisions that they face, the biological and social
process of becoming sexually active and the ways that organized efforts can best help young people.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Conclusively, it is important to note that family life education is that aspect of health education
which prepares the child, adolescent or young adults to become responsible members of their family.
Despite the above needs for family life education some critics vehemently oppose the idea. Based on this
background the study is deemed necessary.
The implication of the findings of this study is that for family life education to be fully accepted
and welcomed, the parents of these children should not be left out in the planning of the programme family
life education curriculum. Equally, the implication is that the issue of culture and religion are so sensitive
55
and should be approached with caution. Besides, traditional leaders, opinion makers and church leaders
should be involved in debunking certain health issues as they interfere with culture and religion thereby x-
raying the moral/cultural justification of family life education.
The present study was limited by the fact that some of the respondents were apprehensive of the
purpose of the investigation. They felt that it would expose their ignorance poor knowledge of sex
matters. They also felt that it would violate their religious/cultural beliefs. Furthermore, the results could
have been different if the impact of family life education on the sexual life of school adolescents was
determined. The researchers then suggest such area for further research.
Finally, the study recommend that teachers should be properly trained in matters of family life to
make them very much prepared and conversant with the topic.
REFERENCES
Achalu, E.I. & Achalu, O.E. (2000). Sex education and human sexuality for everyone. Lagos: Simarch Nigeria Ltd.
Agocha, O.A. (1989). Perception of school teachers and teacher education workers on current status of the curriculum of grade II teachers education in Benue State. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis Faculty of Education UNN.
Igbinoba, I. (1986). “Sex education? not here” Daily Times July 15.
Kiragu, K. (2001). “Youth and HIV/AIDS: can we avoid catastrophe?” Population Reports Series l. 12. John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Population Information program.
Onuigbo, P.O. (1984). “Attitudes of students and teachers in Udi L.G.A. of Anambra State towards introduction of sex education in secondary school” Unpublished B. ED Thesis HPE Department UNN.
Webb, F.S., Whitney, E.N. & Debruyne, L.K. (1999). Health making life choices (Expanded 2nd edition) USA: West Publishing Company.
56
Politics and Development of Basic Education in Nigeria
By
Gboyega Ilusanya PhDPlanning and Management Specialist
Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria,LagosEmail:[email protected]
Abstract
Politics and political instability has affected the development of basic education in Nigeria. The imbalance of educational development between the Northern and Southern parts of country had been as a result of the differences in the political moves towards education in these regions. These differences in political move, had resulted into differences in literacy rates, enrolment rates and the number of schools available in southern and northern Nigeria. Politics has also affected the credibility of data of available for educational development. The study recommended that the National Policy on Education should also be given a legal backing like the UBE Act while the whole school Development Planning Project adopted stepped down appropriately to reduce the influence of politics of basic education development.
Introduction
Politics and political instability have affected the development of education over the
years. Since the time Nigeria came into being as a result of amalgamation of the
northern and southern protectorates and up to the time of independence and now,
political moves and motives, political affiliations and political instability have
consistently influenced and determined the direction of educational system at all
levels. Nigerian educational system involves different levels and the levels are the
pre-primary, primary, secondary, non formal and adult education and the tertiary
level (NPE, 1998).
What education should bring forth in the nation is exemplified in the National Policy
on Education (NPE). Whether education has been able to bring about this desired
changes and development is a source of concern. Indicators of educational
development include access and equity in educational development and these are
interwoven into many things like gender representation, enrolment, survival,
efficiency, literacy rates, etc and generally the quality of the education system as
whole. The influence of politics on the development of Nigerian education did not just
surface at independence. The political maneuverings that affected development of
education had been there since the colonial days.
57
Nigeria is a multi-national nation of great complexity. A home to over 350 distinct
languages and nationalists. These nationalists are often distinguished by
geographical location, languages and specific cultural traits and patterns of life
(Education Sector Analysis, 2005). The fact that the country is an aggregation of
different socio-cultural traits may have contributed to the challenges being faced in
different areas of development even beyond educational development.
The political evolution of Nigeria reflected a nation that metamorphosed from
federation of three regions of North, West and East in 1952 due to Macpherson
Constitution to a federation of 36 states by 1996. There were serious political
instabilities like civil war, coup and counter coup which saw the military leading the
nation for 30 years out of forty six years of nationhood.
The pattern of political evolution of the Nigerian state has had serious influence on
the pattern of educational development. The Macpherson constitution of 1952 set the
pace for uneven development of the regions in virtually all things particularly
educational development. Fafunwa (1974:167) reported that “the regionalization of
education in 1951 and the rise of the three major political parties to power in each of
the regions in 1952 led to intense political rivalry and each party tried to out do the
other in providing social amenities for its own area of jurisdiction”. The Western and
Eastern Regional governments respectively placed highest priority on education
while the North did not. Nigeria moved away from Regional Government and into
federation of states with federal constitutions of 1979 and 1999 put in place. States
which came out of regions have become differentiated in their patterns of
educational development. Clamours for federally owned Unity Schools (government
owned special secondary schools), Colleges of education, Technical Colleges,
Polytechnics and even Universities continue to dominate the demand pattern from
states. The political moves of the past in respect of education by the Eastern and
Western Regional governments had formed the basis of imbalance in educational
enrolment at all levels and literacy rates in Nigeria.
This paper examined some effects of politics on the development of basic education
in Nigeria.
Politics and Development of Basic Education
The development of basic education in Nigeria has been affected by politics very
seriously. Regions had started Universal Primary Education Projects (UPE) earlier in
58
the 50s. The political antecedents of UPE and the politics of the project was made
manifest in an assessment of the project carried out by Ajayi in 1989. Ajayi
(Arikewuyo 2002:198) asserted that “the problem faced by the UPE project included
inadequate planning which came about as a result of over politicization of education;
lack of adequate data on which any meaningful educational projections could be
based; imbalance between the level of educational expansion and infrastructural
facilities; such as classrooms and desks, chairs and staffrooms etc.” It was also
reported that due to the politics of educational development the eastern region not
wanting to be “beaten” also started the same project of the UPE in the 50s hurriedly
to score political points and eventually had to modify it from total non fee paying to
“free lower forms & fee paying higher forms”. These developments were recorded
during the civilian regimes of the regional governments.
In 1977, Olusegun Obasanjo (then Military Head of State) hurriedly launched a new
Universal Primary Education Scheme due to his desire to score a major political point.
The same Olusegun Obasanjo hurriedly launched the Universal Basic Education
Project (UBE) in September 1999 four months after assuming office as the President
of the fourth republic (Arikewuyo, 2002). Nigeria has launched and re-launched
programmes centred around basic education and each time political motive
accounted for the prime reasons for failure. Arikewuyo (2002) noted that the UPE in
the Western and Eastern regions failed for political reasons in 1950’s and 60’s, the
Universal Primary Education launched in 1976 by Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo was
planned for 1979 but because he wanted to score a political point, hurriedly went
ahead in 1976 not wanting it to be credited to the civilian administration that was to
come in 1979. The UBE launched in September 1999 never took off until a year later
because the planning for its effective take off had not been finalized when the
launching took place.
Ehusanmi (2002) revealed that haphazard planning and overpoliticisation of the
educational enterprise has been the bane of Nigeria’s education sector. In the past,
we have hastily designed and implemented programmes without calculating the long
term cost and implications of such programmes. The Nigeria Government went into
UPE without calculating the cost implications and the burden of managing the
hundreds of schools and paying for or maintaining the tens of thousands of teachers
and physical structures that would be involved.
59
Politics of the Past and Disparity in Basic Education Development Between
Southern & Northern Nigeria.
There had been historical disparity in development of basic education between the
Northern and Southern part of Nigeria. World Bank (2004) confirmed the variation in
educational development between North and South. This variation had been linked to
the moves that took place before the sixties.
Table 1: Period of Primary School Construction in Selected
Northern & Southern States of Nigeria.
Southern States Total No. of
Schools in 2002
Total before
1980
Percent
Imo 1,299 1,012 77.9
Ogun 1,678 1,016 60.5
Delta 1,832 972 53.1
Northern States
Yobe 883 38 4.3
Taraba 1,270 40 3.1
Zamfara 825 26 3.1
Sokoto 1,893 30 1.6
Source: School Education in Nigeria: Preparing for Universal Basic Education,
Washington: World Bank p.82.
Table 1 vividly revealed the shares of current schools that were established before
1960 in a sample of states. The Southern states of Imo, Ogun and Delta have 1,299,
1,678, and 1,832 primary schools respectively. Out of these 1,012 were established
in Imo, 1,016 in Ogun and 972 in Delta before 1960. This showed that as at 2002,
77.9 percent of the primary schools in Imo, 60.5 percent of the primary school in
Ogun and 53.1 percent of primary schools in Delta had actually been in existence
before 1960. The contrast was the case in four Northern states covered by the
survey. 4.3 percent of the primary schools in Yobe, 3.1 percent of the primary schools
in Sokoto in the Northern part of Nigeria actually existed prior to 1960. These findings
confirmed the differences in development created by different political situations of
these regions during those periods.
60
The total numbers of schools in Yobe, Taraba, Zamfara and Sokoto as at 2002 were
883, 1,270, 825, and 1,893 respectively. Out of these numbers, 38 representing 43
percent were established in Yobe; 40 representing 3.1 percent in Taraba; 26
representing 3.1 percent in Zamfara and 30 representing 1.6 percent in Sokoto were
established before 1960.
Shifting Government Policy & Development of Basic Education
Various reform efforts linked to political instability tossed the management of basic
education between the state, local government and even the federal government.
Ajayi & Oni (1992) noted that the promulgation of Decree 2 of 1991 provided that
Local Government should from 1st June, 1991 fund and manage primary education.
This was also followed with Decree No.3 of 1991 which established Local Government
Education Authority (LGEA). The LGEA was charged with various functions in respect
of primary school and Decree 96 of 1993 established the National Primary Education
Commission (NPEC) at the federal level and State Primary Education Board (SPEB) at
the state level to coordinate the development at this level.
The need to align with the goal of Education for All (EFA) led to launching of UBE in
1999 and to provide legal basis and the enforcement of the provisions of basic
education, the UBE Act came into being in 2004 repealing the NPEC Act and
transitional provision and providing for the establishment of Universal Basic
Education Commission (federal), State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) for
states and Local Government Education Authority for LGEAS. The fact is that the
main structures of the governance remains but there came up an extension of role in
that it became basic education instead of primary education, extending into 3 years
of Junior secondary school, adult literacy and non formal education, skills acquisition
programmes and the education of special groups such as nomads and migrants, girl
child and women, almajiris, street children and disabled groups (Universal Basic
Education Commission, 2004).
Politics of Educational Data and Development of Basic Education
The politicisation of any data collection in Nigeria has had and still having its effect
on educational development. Data on many of the most important aspects of
education system are scarce in Nigeria (World Bank, 2004). International tabulations
and enrolments tend to neglect Nigeria on grounds that reliable information are not
available. Statistics necessary for the purpose of education planning and general
planning are not available. Fadipe (2002) noted that there is limited scope of
61
available data in Nigeria and the absence of a harmonized data base which is
current, acceptable and reliable to all stakeholders.
Education Status Report (2003) show that enrolment data in primary schools in some
states in Nigeria are far more than the number of school age children noted by the
population. Training programmes targeted at collecting “clean” data for educational
development at National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration
(NIEPA, Nigeria) made startling revelations on falsification of educational data. Some
delegates from states of the federation working unknowingly on data from their state
statistics declared such data as fraudulent, incorrect, falsified and grossly
inadequate. The issues of data falsification has been traced to the fact that political
situation have always related requests for data to allocation of resources and as such
two separate data records are kept for political reasons. World Bank (2004) while
reporting on school based data it analysed noted that “the data reported and
analysed for the period 1991 to 1998 are generally regarded as uncertain,
particularly as they apply to primary enrolments. There are regular assertions that
some states inflate these for political and resource mobilization reasons”. The
situation of politicisation of data will surely make it difficult to assess the progress
Nigeria has made towards realization of some of the EFA goals. Efforts are being
made to conduct credible National Census in March 2006 and also school census
forms have been stepped up to include portions of which individuals signing such
data is liable for prosecution if data sent to the Education Data Bank were found to
be fraudulent. Also, the Universal Basic Education commission (UBEC) had begun
head counts in schools to ensure availability of credible data (The Punch 27 th Feb.
2006). Though, this move appears inconsistent with the role of the Universal Basic
Education Commission as these may result in the provision of two sets of data one
from the Education Data Basic and the other from UBEC which may still become
controversial in the nearest future.
The World Bank study (2004) noted a suspicious gross enrolment rates in states like
Adamawa, Katsina Yobe and Taraba. Gross enrolment Rates of over 150 for several
years in states that are known to be educationally backward are difficult to accept as
reliable. Rates such as these tend to lead to a disbelief in the accuracy of the overall
education data from Nigeria.
Literacy Rates and Basic Educational Development
One of the indices of educational development is literacy rates. World Bank (2004)
lamented that describing average level of educational development in Nigeria are of
62
limited relevance. This is because the picture in northern region is very much
different from that of the rest of the country on a number of indicators. Literacy rates
differ across regions between North and South. Net attendance ratio is more than 80
percent in three southern zones and north central while in North- East and North
Western part of Nigeria it is 25 and 53 percent respectively. These are only
comparable to that of Niger Republic 30.2, Chad 39.2. Burkina Faso 27.4 and
Republic of Benin 53.2 while five other sub-Saharan African countries like Zimbabwe,
Uganda, South Africa, Gambia, Botswana have a ratio around that of the states in
southern Nigeria.
The politics of educational development in Nigeria has also had its effects on literacy
rate. Though overall literacy rate using 1991 population figure was put at 56.7,
variations in these rates for different age groups from northern and southern parts of
the country still exist. A disaggregated literacy rates that reflected the rates in
different parts of the country revealed hidden differences among the states. Table 2
shows the literacy rates for selected Northern and Southern parts.
Table 2: Literacy Rates by State, 15 – 24 year old 1991
Highest Lowest
State Total Female State Total Female
Imo 95.0 94.2 Yobe 36.9 23.4
93.1 92.4 Kebbi 40.5 28.6
92.8 90.2 Sokoto 41.1 28.9
90.4 88.5 Borno 43.2 29.9
89.4 86.2 Taraba 41.5 26.8
89.2 86.6 Katsina 48.4 35.5
Source: School Education in Nigeria. Preparing for Universal Basic Education.
Washington D.C.: World Bank p.28
Positive Step in the Recent Enactment & Development of Basic Education.
One of the strongest landmark positive contribution of politics to the development of
Basic education in Nigeria in recent time is the coming into existence of legislations
to back up government commitment to the provision of education for certain group of
people in the country. The fact that the present Universal Basic Education project
does not end at mere launching of the project in 1999 and subsequent paper work for
63
programme planning and implementation like Universal Primary Education
programme of 1976 but went ahead to legalise this process through legislation has
provided a sound footing for basic education project in Nigeria. The enactment of
UBE Act 2004 vividly made it more evident that Universal Basic Education has come
to stay and the fact that Universal Basic education funding system and pattern is
entrenched in the Act made its source of funding more likely to be sustained. The
fact that UBE is now law made its content and plan legally enforceable by those
affected by it. In the time past they are policies which are not legally enforceable.
The Child’s Right Act 2003 is another positive development which legally established
the right of a child to free, compulsory and universal basic education and that it shall
be the duty of government to provide such education among many other things.
These legislations which came through political wills and maneuverings are positive
developments as they take basic education beyond policy statements but rather into
legality that could be enforced by parents, government, community members, pupils
and other stakeholders.
Politics of Development Partners and Basic Education Development.
There is no doubt that Basic education and education in general have benefited from
the benevolence of so many development partners most of which are agencies of
UNESCO like UNICEF & UNDP others include Department for International
Development (DFID), the British Council, Japan International Cooperation Agency
(JICA), Action Aid for Land European Union. Most of these partners have rendered and
are still rendering massive, invaluable technical assistance to all forms of education
in Nigeria especially basic education. The World Bank has also been lending to
Nigeria to assist basic education. However, the actions and roles of some of these
organizations especially the World Bank which decided to withdraw and re-direct the
loan granted to support UBE project with effect from June 2006 has been seen as the
politics of a lending institution the motive which appears like the politics of the World
Bank. The author at this point is not arguing about the desirability of the loan which
are different issues, on its own but that the withdrawal of the loan in which many
other interventions are subject to is a major setback to the technical assistance to
states (not repayable loan) by DFID through Capacity for Universal Basic Education.
The technical assistance of DFID which started in sixteen states was designed to
spread to other states had to be halted as a result of the withdrawal of the loan. The
major reason advanced by World Bank for withdrawing the loan had been “non
spending of the loan” whereas, the situation was that the new World Bank Team
posted to Nigeria in Dec 2004 till the time the loan was cancelled consistently
64
frustrated all the benefiting states by moving forward and backward on how to make
request for fund, changing patterns in which terms of references must be produced
and succeeded in granting no “no objection” or at most less than 10 percent of the
request for spending over a period of fourteen months in which it held sway before
the cancellation decision. This compares unfavourably with achievement of the World
Bank Team led by Bridget Duces who was posted back to Washington D.C in
December 2004. What appears to the politics of the World Bank is that the new team
perhaps specifically came to wind up the project in Nigeria and that is why they failed
to grant “no objection” for spending the loan. One other question is really whether
Nigeria actually needs a World Bank loan to fund our basic education? I think we
need technical assistance instead of allowing the World Bank body to drag us into
another round of heavy indebtedness where they also want to dictate how and who
should be contractors on the projects which Nigerians are going to repay. The
Nigerian team suddenly developed zero skill for writing terms of reference. The
project implementation manual that specified the objectives of DFID component in
Universal Basic Education Project in Nigeria was aimed at developing and
implementation of sustainable state programmes for UBE in 16 states with priority
given to educationally disadvantage LGA’s.
The DFID parallel financial assistance to federal, state and community level schools is
equivalent to $15.0 million and an estimated provision of US $100,000 per year per
state. The DFID goals coincide with the objective of the IDA credit of the World Bank
and noted that “any lack of sufficient progress in one or more states or institutions
due to inadequate commitment and which results in IDA credit being withdrawn will
automatically trigger withdrawal of the DFID assistance”. What has happened to DFID
intervention lately in respect of World Bank withdrawal is consistent with the project
plan. One unfortunate thing is that the withdrawal of World Bank loan and its re-
direction in whatever for has implication for the planning of UBE and the achievement
of the overall EFA goal.
Making Politics Contribute Positively to Education Development
Politics can not be divorced from the shape and pattern development will take in any
nation. As many states of the world particularly African countries continue to move
towards democratic governance and multiparty political democracy, politics will still
continue to determine the process of educational and socio-economic development.
Since the emergence of what is now called knowledge society will determine to large
extent social and economic development, there is need to entrench politics of
65
inclusiveness rather than exclusiveness as democracy deepens to ensure that in
decisions that will bring about economic, social and educational transformation, the
policies are owned by the people and not a central policy that leaves the people
behind. This will encourage continuity in government programmes and the legalizing
of some processes of educational development especially the UBE and the Child’s
Right Act are welcomed for sustainability of positive development. It is therefore
suggested that, the National Policy on Education which has been variously revised in
Nigeria should also be provided with legal backing as it is easy to withdraw written
and unwritten policies but withdrawal of legislations are rather long, cumbersome
and could not be done by just one man who controls the government in a
democratic .
Lastly, the new development pioneered by Capacity for Universal Basic Education
(CUBE) in conjunction with UNICEF called Whole School Development Planning simply
called WSDP could be used as a tool to ensure stability of educational development
at the basic level even in the face of political instability. WSDP which Universal Basic
Education has now adopted for basic education development planning in Nigeria is an
inclusive project that brings about school development planning in a way that
incorporates ideas & values of all key stakeholders group in the school system. With
this, school future, programmes and priorities are jointly determined by everyone
that is affected by the school including the pupils.
Development plans become owned and monitored by everyone and does not end
with tenure of school heads since it is not his plan but a plan that involves teachers
values, non teaching staff values, community leaders values, pupils values and
parents values. Such plans are handed over for continuity and even school inspection
practices can be based on what the WSDP of the school privatised.
66
References
Ajayi, T and Oni, J.O. (1992). Functional approach to school
organization and management. Ijebu-Ode: triumph Book
Publishers.
Arikewuyo, O.M. (2002) Politics of Universal basic education in Ajayi,
T., Fadipe, J.O., Ojedele, P.K. & Oluchukwu E. E. (eds) Planning
& administration of universal basic education in Nigeria. Ondo:
National Institute for educational Planning and Administration
pp.154 – 162
CUBE & UNICEF (2005 & 2006). Whole School Development Manual,
Facilitator’s Guide and Document Template. Abuja: Author.
Fadipe, J.O. (2002) Educational Statistics and the implementation of
the UBE programme in Nigeria in Ajayi, T.; Fadipe, J.O., Ojedele
P.K.; Oluchukwu, E.E. (eds) Planning & administration of
universal basic education in Nigeria. Ondo: National Institute
for educational Planning and Administration pp. 144 -152.
Fafunwa, A.B. (1974). The history of education in Nigeria. London:
George Allen & Urwin Limited.
Federal Ministry of Education (2005) Education sector analysis draft
report. Abuja. Author.
Federal Ministry of Education (2003). Education sector status report.
Abuja: Author.
Federal Republic of Nigeria (1998). National policy on education (3rd
Edition) Lagos: NERDC Press.
Taiwo C.O. (1980). The Nigerian education system. Present, past and
future. Ikeja: Thomas Nelson.
Universal Basic Education Commission (2004). The compulsory free,
universal basic education Act, 2004 and other related matters.
Abuja The Author.
World Bank (2004) School education in Nigeria: preparing for
Universal Basic Education. Country Status Report. Washington:
Author.
67
PLANNING AND RECRUITMENT PRACTICES OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECONDARY
SCHOOLS IN ENUGU STATE
BY
OGAKWU VERA NNEKA DR. (MRS)
INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA ENUGU CAMPUS
Abstract The main purpose of this study was to compare the planning practices and recruitment procedures of public and private secondary schools in Enugu. To carry out this study, two research questions were posed and two hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Sample, data obtained from the study were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, ANOVA and t-test.The result of the analysis suggests that significant difference exist in their practices. The findings of the study indicated that planning is made well ahead of time by ministry of Education, completed before the commencement of secondary schools in public schools while planning in private schools were not made a ahead of time. Public secondary schools recruit professional teachers while private secondary schools recruit most non-professional teachers. Based on the research findings, recommendations are made for improvement.
INTRODUCTION
One of the greatest challenges confronting Nigeria today is the proliferation of private schools in
the state. (Chukwu, 1997). The apparent lack of consistent management practices in the educational system
appear to be responsible for the various ills in our schools today (Chikani, 2001). On area in which this is
visible is in the planning and recruitment.
Educational planning according to Adesina (1981) is the scientific application or rational
procedures in the process of educational growth and development so as to ensure the efficiency and
effectiveness of the educational system. Ezeocha (1990) regards planning as the process of educational
needs of the direction which education should take and how to implement educational decisions. For Eze
(1983) educational planning is the application to educational of a scientific analysis to examining one’s
alternative, choosing wisely among them, then proceeding systematically to implement choice made.
Recruitment on the other hand, according to Nosiri in Okeke, Igwe, Ozurumba and Elele (1985:210), is an
essential part of a comprehensive plan to develop and maintain staff capable of contributing maximally to
the attainment of institutional purposes. Peretomode (1995) asserted that the reason for lack of teaching
staff, stems from the fact that the status of teaching and the rewards attached to it had not attracted the best
candidates to seek jobs as teachers and to hold practicing teachers in the field. No wonder, young men fresh
from school use teaching as a stop gap or a stepping stone to further heights or jobs.
68
It has also been speculated that some of the private secondary schools in Enugu state make use of
cheap labour by employing non-professional teachers simply to maximize profit but in earnest these staff
are usually supervised by able principals and proprietors.
The recruitment of competent teachers into the teaching profession is probably the most
significant problem confronting education allover the world today, particularly in the Post Primary School
Management Board and ministries of Education respectively most of these recruitment by the commission
are politically base. For instance from the data available at the Post Primary School Management Board
Enugu State only 1516 teachers is, 30 percent are qualified to be there, that is as graduate with teaching
qualification.
Inspite of all the efforts in the organize and teach students as efficiently as possible, educational
institutions have continued to receive criticisms from the general public on inadequate planning, lack of
manpower among others. These criticisms are suggestive of some inherent weakness in the system. It is
against this background that the study asks, what are the planning and recruitment practices of public and
private schools in Enugu state?
To carry out the above investigation, the study Purposes were as follows:
1. To determine the extent to which the planning practices of principals in public and private
secondary schools compare/differ from each other.
2. Find out the recruitment procedures employed in public and private secondary schools in Enugu
state.
The study was guided by the following Research questions:
1. To what extent do the planning practices in public schools compare with/differ from those of
private secondary school?
2. To what extent do the recruitment procedure of public schools compare with/differ from those of
private secondary schools/
The study was also guided by two corresponding Hypotheses at (P<.05) as follows
Ho1: There is no significance difference between the mean ratings of principals and teachings of
public and private secondary schools on the planning practices of principals of both the schools.
Ho2: Principals in public and private secondary schools do not differ significantly in their mean
ratings on staff recruitment procedures in their schools.
METHODOLOGY
69
The study adopted a descriptive survey design. A total of 289 principals and 6,639 teachers of
public and private secondary schools within the six education zones participated.
The study was conducted in Enugu state of Nigeria and it covered both public and private
secondary schools. The state is made up of seventeen local government areas.
The population of the study included all the principals and teacher in the six education zones. This
comprised all the 289 principals and 6,639 teacher and public and private secondary schools with the six
education zones.
The sample for study consisted of all the principals since the entire population of the principals
was small. Also 15% (fifteen percent) of the total population of teachers in all the schools were used.
Accidental sampling technique was used to administer the 15% of the teachers in public and private
secondary schools. A sum total of 289 principals were used while 859 teachers responded to the instrument.
The instrument that was used for this study was Secondary School Management Practice
Questionnaire SSMPQ. The questionnaire was designed by the researcher to elicit information on the
management practices of public and private secondary schools in Enugu state. The SSMPQ has 20 item
organized under two clusters. The items were structured on a four point scale of “very Great Extent” (VGE)
“Great Extent “ (GE) “Low Extent” (LE) “Very Low Extent” (VLE). “Strongly Agree” (SA) “Agree” (A)
“Disagree” (D) and “Strongly Disagree” (SD) for the second cluster.
The instrument for data collection was subjected to face validation by lectures in educational
administration in the Faculty of Education University of Nigeria , Nsukka.
To determine the reliability of the Secondary School Management practice questionnaire SSMPQ,
internal consistency reliability using Cronbach alpha method was computed for each of the sections of the
instrument. The reliability coefficient for the two sections of the instrument are 0.32 & 0.42. This was
considered high enough for the instrument to be reliable.
The researcher administered the instrument to the subjects with the help of some research
assistants.
The data that was collected were analyzed using mean score and standard deviation based on
research questions. Also t-test analysis was used to test the hypothesis and to determine the significance of
the difference of the mean of the groups under study. However, analysis of variance was used in testing the
hypotheses to determine the difference in variance of the two groups in the variable under study. The data
70
collected through observation by the researcher and research assistants was analyzed using frequencies and
percentages.
Results
Table 1: Mean Rating X and Standard Deviation (SD) of principals and Teachers on planning
practices in public and private secondary schools in Enugu State.
CLUSTER
A
ITEM NO
PLANNING PUBLIC SCHOOLN= 946
PRIVATE SCHOOLN = 152
X SD DECISION
X SD DECISION
1 Planning is jointly made by principals of school and ministry of education 2.3
01.04
GE 1.99
1.08
LE
2 Planning is made by the ministry of education 2.2
01.06
GE 2.50
1.03
GE
3 Planning is made by the principals 2.6
81.04
GE 2.70
0.95
GE
4 Planning is made in advance before the commencement of secondary schools programme 1.9
40.97
LE 1.89
1.01
LE
5 Consideration is given to he availability of physical plant facilities during planning.
2.46
1.02
GE 2.24
1.00
GE
6 Consideration is given to the viability of MATERIALS in the planning of programme 2.2
41.00
GE 2.05
0.86
GE
7 In planning process the planner assess the available human material and financials resources 1.5
21.39
LE 1.39
0.76
LE
8 Involving teachers while planning helps to achieve educational goal. 1.4
60.75
LE 1.45
0.77
LE
71
Data on Table 1 show that out of the 8 items on planning secondary programme, 4 items 2,3,5, and
6 were rated “to a great Extent” by both public and private secondary school respondents, planning is made
by the Ministry of Education and the principal. Consideration is given to the availability of physical plant
facilities and instructional materials and were rated “to a great extent” by both types of secondary schools.
The respondents from the two types of secondary school under study rated to “low extent” with regards to
items 4, 7 and 8 for public and private (1.94, 0.97), (1.52, 1.39) and (1.46, 1.45) planning is made in
advance before the commencement of secondary school programme and in planning process the planner
should assess the available human material and financial resources while teachers should be involve as to
help achieve the educational goal. However, while public secondary schools respondents rated “to a great
extent” with regard to item 1. planning is jointly made by principal of school and Ministry of Education,
their private secondary school counterparts rated same “to low extent”.
Table 2: Mean Rating (x) and Standard Deviation (SD) Score of Principals and Teachers on Staff Recruitment Procedure in Public and Private Secondary
School in Enough State
CLUSTER
B
ITEM NO
PLANNING PUBLIC SCHOOLN= 946
PRIVATE SCHOOLN = 152
X SD DECISION
X SD DECISION
9 Staff-orientation is usually organized for the newly recruited staff.
2.21 1.04 A 2.15 0.85 A
10 Recruitment is based on ethnic and religious considerations
2.21 1.05 A 1.97 1.01 D
11 Recruitment of part-time staff are sourced locally
3.13 0.97 SA 2.80 0.91 A
12 Recruitment is based on ethnic and religious considerations 1.85 1.10 D 1.64 0.84
13 Recruitment is based on need 2.34 1.34 A 2.05 0.94 A
14 Regular staff re consulted before recruitment of part-time staff 2.76 0.98 A 2.82 1.01 A
15 Recruitment of staff is given wide publicity
2.33 0.92 A 2.03 0.89 A16 Auxiliary teachers are
72
recruited 2.17 1.09 A 1.80 1.38 D17 The principals are not
involved in the selection and recruitment of teaching staff
2.30 A 3.16 0.87 SA
18 There is favouritism in the recruitment of teaching staff 2.12 1.39 A 2.91 0.97 A
19 In recruitment of staff, the emphasis is on competence not certificate 2.94 0.99 A 2.16 1.03 A
20 Application for vacant posts are short listed and applicants are invited for interview in respect of such vacant posts.
3.00 1.01 A 1.75 0.90 D
Data on Table 2 show that out of 12 items on Staff Management practice, both types of secondary
schools “Agreed” with regard to items 9, 13, 14, 15, 19 and 19. Staff –orientation for newly recruited staff and recruitment based on needs, regular staff consulted before the recruitment of part-time staff and it is given wide publicity favouritism in the recruitment of teaching staff and emphasis is on competence not certificate. However, while public secondary, schools respondents “Agreed” with regard to item 10: Recruitment is based on ethnic and religious considerations, their private secondary school counterpart “Disagreed”. And while public secondary schools respondents “Strongly Agree” with regard to item 11: their private counterpart “Agree”: Recruitment of part-time staff are sourced locally. Both schools types “Disagreed” to item 12: recruitment is based on academic and professional qualifications. Public secondary schools respondents on item 16: “Agreed” while the private counterparts Disagree on Auxiliary teachers are not recruited. Also while private secondary schools respondents on item 17: Strongly Agreed on principals are not involved in the selection and recruitment of teachers, their public counterparts “Agreed” on the same item 17. Finally, while public secondary school respondents “Agreed” on item 20. Application for vacant posts are short-listed and applicants are invited for interview in respect of such vacant post, their counterparts in private secondary schools “Disagreed” on the same item.
Table 3: T-test Result on Analysis of Difference in the Mean ratings of Public and Private Secondary Schools Principals and Teachers with regard to approaches on School Planning.CLUSTER
ITEMS PLANNING MEAN SCORE CALCUL-ATED VALUE
REMARKS
A PUBLIC SEC. SCH. STAFF N= 946
PRIVATE SEC. SCH. STAFF N= 152
1 Planning is jointly made by principals of school and ministry of education 2.30 1.99 3.43 Sig.
2 Planning is made by the ministry of education 2.20 2.50 -3.19 Sig.
3 Planning is made by the principals 2.68 2.70 -0.1 Not sig.
73
4 Planning is made in advance before the commencement of secondary schools programme 1.94 1.89 0.62 Not sig.
5 Consideration is given to the availability of physical plant facilities during planning. 2.46 1.02 2.47 Sig.
6 Consideration is given to the viability of MATERIALS in the planning of programme 2.24 2.05 2.16 Sig.
7 In planning process the planner assess the available human material and financials resources 1.52 1.39 1.96 Sig.
8 Involving teachers while planning helps to achieve educational goal. 1.46 1.45 0.14 Sig.
Overall 2.09 2.02 2.19 Sig.
Significant at P< 0.05 (df = 1096), critical t + value = + 1.96.
From the result of the analysis shown on Table 3 the null hypothesis should be rejected. This is
because the overall mean ratings, when compared between teachers and principals gave rise to a t-value of
(2.19) which shows a significant difference in the result at (p< 0.05). The result however reveals a
significant difference for six items in 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8 in favour of public secondary schools and two items
in favour of private secondary schools. The two items includes planning is made by the principal: (t = 0.1)
and planning is completed in advance before the commencement of secondary school programme. (t =
0.62) with respect to the overall rating of all the items in the cluster, the Table also shows that the critical t-
value is 2.19. Since this value is more than the Table value, the null hypothesis is rejected. Hence, there is
statistically significant difference in the mean rating on planning practices between public and private
secondary schools.
Hypothesis 2:
Principals in public and private secondary schools did not differ significantly in their ratings on
staff recruitment procedures in their schools (P.05) public and private.
Table 4: T-test Result on Analysis of Difference in the Mean ratings of Principals and Teachers with
regard to staff Recruitment.
CLUSTER
ITEMS RECRUITMENT MEAN SCORE CALCUL-ATED VALUE
REMARKS
B PUBLIC SEC. SCH.
PRIVATE SEC. SCH.
74
STAFF N= 946
STAFF N= 152
9 Staff-orientation is usually organized for the newly recruited staff. 2.21 2.15 0.62 No Sig.
10 Recruitment is based on ethnic and religious considerations 2.21 1.97 2.67 Sig.
11 Recruitment of part-time staff are sourced locally 3.13 2.80 3.99 Sig.
12 Recruitment is based on ethnic and religious considerations 1.85 1.64 2.31 Sig.
13 Recruitment is based on need 2.34 2.05 2.63 Sig
14 Regular staff re consulted before recruitment of part-time staff 2.76 2.82 -0.66 Not sig
15 Recruitment of staff is given wide publicity 2.33 2.03 3.76 Sig
16 Auxiliary teachers are recruited 2.17 1.80 4.22 Sig
17 The principals are not involved in the selection and recruitment of teaching staff 2.30 3.16 -9.21 Sig.
18 There is favouritism in the recruitment of teaching staff 2.12 2.91 -6.77 Sig.
19 In recruitment of staff, the emphasis is on competence not certificate 2.94 2.16 9.03 Sig.
20 Application for vacant posts are short listed and applicants are invited for interview in respect of such vacant posts.
3.00 1.75 5.48 Sig.Significant at P< 0.05 (df = 1096), critical t + value = + 1.96.
According to the data on Table 4, the calculated t-value of 5.48 was obtained which showed that
the hypothesis should be rejected. Significant difference lies within items 10, (t = 2.67) 11, (t = 3.99) 12, (t
= 2.31) 13, (t = 2.63 15, (t = 3.76) 16, (t = 4.22) 19, (t = 9.03) and 20, (t = 14.25) all in favour of public
secondary schools while only items 17, (t = -9.2) and 18, (t = 6.77) was observed to be in favour of private
secondary schools. It is also worthy to note here that items 9, (t = 0.62) and 14, (t = 0.66) are not
significant. The result reveals poor staff management practice in private secondary schools. It is worthy to
note here that recruitment is well managed by public secondary schools rather than their private
counterparts.
75
Discussion
The study was guided by two research questions and two hypotheses which focused on what
extent do the planning practices in public school compare with/differ from those of private secondary
school and what extent do the recruitment procedure of public schools compare with/differ from those of
private secondary school.
The result of research question one showed that while public secondary schools rated “to a great
extent” with regard to planning is jointly made by principals of school and Ministry of Education, the
private counterparts rated “to less extent”. This shows that principals of public secondary schools have
management foresight and easily take corrections from the Ministry of Education while their private
counterparts of principals feel that they know everything and are already acquainted and versatile with
planning and hardly interacts with members of the Ministry of Education planning.
Both secondary schools under study rated to a great extent with regards to: planning is made by
the Ministry of education, planning is made by the principal, consideration is given to the availability of
instructional materials in the planning of the programme, consideration is given to the availability of
physical plant facilities during planning. This shows that both schools under study have management
foresight. The availability of adequate psychical plant facilities and instructional materials will definitely
increase the effective and efficient functioning of schools. These are tools for the educator without which
principals and teachers, would not do their work properly. Lack of physical plant facilities and instructional
materials would hinder students from learning and teachers from effective teaching. This is also an
indication that both schools under study realize that there is need for appropriate arrangements to be made
and appropriate information disseminated before resumption of schools. Such a strategy will enable
principals and teachers to work as a team for the smooth functioning of the programme.
Public and private secondary schools rated to less extent with regards to: planning is made in
advance before the commencement of secondary school programme. In planning process, the planner
should assess the available human material and financial resources and involving teachers while planning
helps to achieve the educational goal. It is worth mentioning here that if planning is not made before the
commencement of school programme, the financial and material resources are not considered and teachers
not being involved while planning it would emphatically affect all the parties involved in the day activities
76
of the school programme. Involving all that are concerned with planning educational programme means
that it would avoid bias.
The finding that planning was not jointly made by the principals, teachers and ministry of
Education is contrary to Kontz (1983) who stressed the need for getting all the people involved in any
programme. He observed that the best planning was likely to be done when all that will be affected by it
were given an opportunity or opportunities to contribute to it. Furthermore, he cautioned that such plans
were likely to be enthusiastically and intelligently executed under these circumstances. In the same vein,
Ezeocha (1985) expressed the need for everyone participating in the programme to take part in the planning
because such participation would give a feeling of belonging to them and commit them to help out in the
implementation.
The finding that planning is not completed in advance before the commencement of secondary
school programme is not in conformity with Ukeje (ed) (1992) who stressed efficiently and effectiveness of
any such programme depended on the extend to which the planning was carried in advance before the time
of its commencement and duration is convenient to all the participants of the programme.
The finding on the availability of physical plant is upheld by Akubue (1991) who pointed that
plant facilities are educational resources that must be made available before the school begins to function
per se. Their non-availability during planning would be disastrous to the educational enterprise. No doubt,
Ogunsaju in Adesina (1984) observed in line with secondary school planning that apart from protecting
students from rain and sun, heat and cold, school buildings, represent learning environments which have
tremendous impact on the comforts, safety and performance of children.
The analysis of hypothesis 1, Table 3 revealed that there is statistically significant difference
between the mean ratings of public and private secondary schools on planning practices. The significant
difference could b interpreted as an encouragement to both school authorities under study for involving all
the parties concerned in planning particularly those in the field like principals. Since planning is a
managerial function in the educational process, the failure of secondary school planners from involving al
the parties concerned in the planning programme suggest a weakness in the management of the programme.
Non-availability of physical plant impedes the educational process.
77
The result of research question two, indicated that both secondary schools under study agreed that
newly recruited teachers should have staff orientation, recruitment is based on need, regular staff are
consulted before recruitment of part-time, recruitment is given wide publicity, there is favouritism in the
recruitment of staff, emphasis is on competence not certificate. However, while public secondary schools
respondents agreed with regard to Item 10: recruitment is based on ethnic and religious considerations,
their private secondary school counterpart disagreed. And while public secondary schools respondents
strongly agreed with regard to item 11 their private counterpart agreed: part-time staff are sourced locally.
Both school types disagreed on item 12: recruitment is based on academic and professional qualifications.
Public secondary schools respondents on item 16 agreed while their private counterparts disagreed on
auxiliary teachers are not recruited. Also while private secondary schools respondents on item 17 strongly
agreed on principals are not involved in the selection and recruitment of teachers, their public counterparts
agreed on the same item 17. Finally while public secondary school respondents agree on item 20: vacant
posts are short-listed and interviewed their counterparts in private secondary schools disagreed ion the
same item.
The study reveals that private secondary schools recruited staff not based on academic and
professional qualification and wide publicity. This is an indication that private secondary schools lack
proper funding. Normally, qualified staff requires enormous sums of money for their pay packet. Finally,
for periodic orientation to be organized for teachers in private secondary schools, it requires huge sums of
money.
The analysis of hypothesis 2, Table 2 revealed that there was a significant difference between the
mean ratings of the secondary schools under study with regard to recruitment procedures employed by
public and private secondary schools. Thus, finding is supported by the cluster mean score of 2.45 for
public secondary schools and 2.27 for private secondary schools. Mean scores of public secondary schools
is greater than that of their private counterparts. Therefore, the difference is statistically significant. Again
of public secondary schools.
The finding on quality of staff agrees with Taylor (1970) who stressed that successful education
depends, on the types of teachers and their condition of services. Obviously public and private secondary
school teachers earn more money in terms of salary and other infringement benefits than those in the
private schools. This could be one of the reasons why proprietors of private secondary schools employ
unqualified staff who cannot be employed in the public service and pay them a lower salary.
78
The finding is also in conformity with Oben (1990). In a study on the in-service needs of internal
supervisors in the South West Province Cameroon, he found that a majority of the secondary school
teachers were academically than professionally qualified.
Similarly, Obiechina (1988) conducted an evaluative study of educational programme found in
private commercial institutes within Nsukka education Zone. A major finding of the study indicated that
proprietors employed low caliber teachers who possessed mainly teacher’s Grade Two Certificates and
West African School Certificates. The lack of qualified and professional teachers in any establishment is
likely to slow down the standard of education for such schools.
The finding on wide publicity of staff recruitment is also supported by Ejuogu (1990) who posited
that there should be wide publicity of the vacant position and the advert should embody the sources to used
to fill the vacancies. He advised that vacancies should be announced on the radio, television, newspaper or
selected journals circulating among teachers. Thus, authorities of private secondary schools are called upon
to recruit academic and professional teachers. They should advertise available vacancies so that the best
candidate would be chosen.
The finding on the recruitment of quantity and quality of staff are upheld by Adesina (1981). He
stressed that institutions concerned with recruitment should clarify its intentions as the quantity and quality
of staff it wants, the salary range it propose, to offer and other conditions it can meet. Both public and
private secondary school authorities should therefore adhere to this advice in order for education objectives
to be attained. Public secondary schools should recruit staff on need while private secondary schools should
recruit qualified staff. Finally the finding of this research is in line with Obiechina (1988) who upheld after
the study he conducted on evaluative study on educational programme found in private commercial
institutes within Nsukka Educational Zone. A major finding of the study indicated that proprietors
employed low caliber teachers who possess mainly teacher’s Grade Two Certificates and West African
School Certificates. The implication was that teachers were unable to bargain properly because they used
them as stopgaps.
79
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Planning of the secondary school programme should be a concerted effort of all bodies involved:
the government through the Ministry of education, Post Primary school Management Board, curriculum
Development Centre, principal of secondary schools and proprietors of private schools. This will ensure
that the interests of all bodies, involved are taken care of. Finally administrators should plan the school
programmes well ahead of time to avoid rush and they should always make allowance for the unanticipated
problems. The planning unit of the Ministry of Education should be revamped and made a division to be
headed by a chief planning officer with training in educational planning.
REFERENCES
Adesina, S. (1981), Introduction of Educational Planning. Ile ife, University press Ltd.
Eze, A. (1983). Economics of Education. The Nigerian Experience. Owerri New Africa publishing company limited.
Ezeocha, P.A. (1990). Educational Administration and planning. Enugu optimal computer solution limited.
Chukwu V.N. (1997). Indiscipline in Secondary Schools. Lecture delivered to Vice Principals during workshop in Enugu.
Chikani, J.M. (2001). Discipline in school lecture delivered to vice principals and Dean of studies during a workshop in Enugu.
Okeke, B.S, Nosiri C.R, Elele J.D Ozurumba, N.M and Igwe S.O. 1985 Handbook on Educational Administration Owerri New Africa publishing Company Ltd.
Peretomode, V.F. (1995). (ed) Introduction to educational Administration planning and supervision. Lagos: Jaja Press Limited.
80
81
COUNSELLORS ROLES IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION BETWEEN ADOLESCENT AND THEIR PARENTS IN NSUKKA EDUCATION ZONE OF ENUGU STATE.
EKE ANYIGOR NICHOLASDEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS
EBONYI STATE UNIVERSITY ABAKALIKIAND
NCHEKE DAMIAN C.DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA
ABSTRACT The study investigated counsellors roles in conflict resolution between adolescent and their
parents. Three research questions guided the study. The subjects for the study comprised 389 SS III and 24
counsellors from 24 Secondary Schools. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample. The
instrument for data collection was questionnaire. Mean score was used for data analysis. Results showed
areas of conflict between adolescent and their parents are: the desire to visit opposite sex by adolescents,
mode of dressing, lack of provision for basic needs of the adolescent, unreasonable demands from parents,
misplaced values and societal values. Also the results show counsellors roles in resolving conflict between
adolescents and parents. Finally, the results show that counselling strategies can be used in resolving
adolescent conflicts with their families. The implications for counselling were highlighted based on the
findings at recommendations.
COUNSELLORS ROLES IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION BETWEEN ADOLESCENT AND THEIR PARENTS
INTRODUCTION
The period of adolescence whether early or late is usually characterized with conflicts. This is
particularly true in relationships with their parents. Traditionally, adolescence has been viewed as a critical
period in development (Ama-Nwachukwu, 1993). Popular discussion, plays, films, drama and book portray
adolescence as a period of storm and stress especially in a more technologically advanced society.
According to Eke, (2007), the physiological changes that take place at puberty and the necessity, to pass
through developmental tasks imposed on adolescence vocational preparation, development of basic
philosophy of life, and for sexual adjustment are some of the problems which the adolescents face.
82
Ibeh (1990) however believe that no precise limit can be set for adolescence because the period is
measured by many factors viz:
(a) Physically, it begins at the onset of puberty, the time of life during which the reproductive organ
become capable of functioning and end when an individual has matured sexually and reached his
full height.
(b) Educationally, it corresponds to the years of secondary school education.
(c) Intellectually, the ability continued to increase until about the age of 20 years or slightly older. The
rate tends to show down as the individual approaches the close of the adolescent period.
(d) Emotional changes: During adolescence some emotional states seem to reach a new intensity.
Affection, aggression and fear are especially likely to cause problem. Such emotions are to be understood
partly in terms of changing body chemistry and partly in terms of social condition such as television
programmes, movies, books, magazines and conversation. Moreover, because of his feelings of uncertainty
and social insecurity, the adolescent often derives a great deal of satisfaction from close friendship with
those of the same sex and those of the opposite sex (Unachukwu & Igborgbor, 1991).
However, according to Smith (1998), adolescence is a time of transition and includes important
biological, social, emotional, and cognitive changes that take place quite rapidly over a relatively short
period. The teenager is no longer a child, but not quite an adult. He is sexually mature and capable of
reproduction, but has not yet attained the emotional maturity or economic independence of the adult. The
range of ages spanned by adolescence is somewhat arbitrary and has changed with changes in society.
Currently, adolescence is generally regarded as beginning at about age 13 and ending at about 21.
In addition, according to Parker (2005) adolescence is the period from childhood to adulthood.
The average age range for the period of adolescence for all cultures is between 11 and 20 years. The
beginning of adolescence varies at 11 years while girls start theirs at the period of puberty marked by more
rapid biological changes. This period of adolescence is so significant in a country’s socio-psychological life
that very serious attention is given to overall development of the individual within this period.
Furthermore, according to Stanley (2006), the term adolescence refers to the transitional period
between childhood and maturity. It is also used to denote the physical, psychological, and social
83
development and maturation that take place. The time span in terms of age is roughly from twelve to
eighteen. Theoreticians tend to define adolescence as the total of all adjustments to changes and conditions
beginning with puberty. They stress that puberty is a part of adolescence encompasses more than physical
or sexual development. The necessity to cope with the conditions of puberty brings forth a variety of modes
of tension release, gratification, and defenses in the individual which are responsible for the sometimes
“unusual” behaviour frequently citied by adults as the major characteristics of this age.
However, educators, psychologists, and sociologists have long been concerned with the significance of the physical, social, and psychological dimensions of adolescence. This broad interest in the adolescent period is markedly evident; the necessity for understanding adolescence is obvious. Despite the fact that much has appeared in both professional and lay literature about this age group, there are numerous indications that adolescents are not well understood by those who are dedicated to helping them – parents and teachers. In every day, interpersonal relationship with teenagers, many adults seem to lack awareness of their psychological and physical needs, as well as a general appreciation of the changes and adjustments that adolescents undergo.
Besides, the basic goals of counselling is to effect changes in behaviour to bring about happiness
in the individual. In this agents, the counsellor has a role to pay in helping the adolescents to fully
understand himself and how he can live happily with others, especially his parents.
Certainly, the counsellor roles in providing appropriate services in the areas of personal social,
appraisal, placement and referral, will go a long way in resolving conflicts between the adolescent and
parents. It is against this background that the researchers investigate counsellors’ roles in conflict resolution
between adolescent and their parents.
The research questions, which the study investigates, are:
1. What are the areas of conflicts between adolescents and their parents?
2. What roles the counsellors pay in resolving conflicts between their parents?
3. What counselling strategies are utilized in resolving conflicts between the adolescent and their
parents.
The significance of the present findings cannot be overemphasis. The result of the study will provide
background for the search for the path that will lead parents to understand and be aware of adolescence
psychological and physical needs, as well as general appreciation of the changes and adjustments that
adolescents undergo.
84
METHODS
The design for the study is a survey type. The study was conducted in Nsukka Education zone of
Enugu state. The zone comprised three Local Government Areas namely: Nsukka Igbo Etiti and Uzo-
Uwani Local Government Area. The population comprises 389 SS III students in 24 senior secondary
schools and 24 counsellors in the same area. The choice of SS III students is based on the ground that
this group of adolescent is at the peak of the adolescence stage. Purposive sampling technique was
used to select 240 students and 24 counsellors.
The instrument used in the study was a questionnaire. It is a likert scale measure of a four-point
rating responses. The face validity of the instrument was determined by giving draft copies of the
instrument to experts in the filed of measurement and evaluation and guidance and counselling of Faculty
of Education University of Nigeria Nsukka. The reliability of the instrument was determined in a
preliminary survey of the instrument in Obollo-Afor Education zone. Using Cronbach Alpha to calculate
the internal consistency of the instrument, positive reliability scores of 0.72, 0.83 and 0.82 were reached for
the three clusters of the instrument.
The researchers personally administered the copies of the questionnaire to the respondents. Mean
score was used for data analysis.
RESULTS
The results show that areas of conflict between adolescent and their parents are the desire to visit
opposite sex, mode or dressing, lack of provision for basic needs, unreasonable demand from parents,
misplace values, and societal values that conflict with the religious values of the parents. Also the
results show that counsellors have to a great extent roles in resolving conflict between adolescents and
their parents.
Finally, the results show counselling strategies use in resolving adolescent conflicts with their
parents are, counsellors visiting families regularly, persuasion, and organizing workshop/seminars.
85
Table 1: Mean response on areas of conflict between adolescents and their parents.
S/NItem Description Mean X
Areas of conflict between adolescent and their parents
1 The desire to visit opposite sex led to conflict between adolescents and their parents
3.70
2 The mode of dressing in order to belong to the present demand which the adult frown at, brings conflict
3.70
3 Lack of provision for basic needs, of the adolescents by parents even when they can afford them can be a cause of conflict between them
3.28
4 Unreasonable demands from parents by the adolescents even when they know that their parents cannot afford it leads to conflict
3.11
5 Misplaced values by adolescents which make them not to conform to societal norms, leads to conflict.
3.48
6 Societal values that conflict with religious values of the parents become a source of conflict when the adolescent adopt the societal values.
3.40
Cluster Mean (X) 3.44
Based on the analysis it can be observed that the respondents have rated all items on areas
of conflict between adolescents and their parents positive. The mean score 3.70 of items 1 and2, which are
the highest rated in the table show that the desire to visit opposite sex by adolescent and mode of dressing
being put on by adolescent in order to belong to the present demand, which the adults frown at, brings
conflict. From the table it could equally be observed that all the ratings were all above the criterion mean of
2.50.
Table 2: Mean response on the roles counsellors play in resolving conflict between
adolescents and their parents.
S/NItem Description Mean X
7 Where there is a conflict between adolescents and their parents, at times if necessary to interview both parties separately so as to resolve this differences
3.33
8 Educating both adolescents and their parents is at times a necessary tool to 3.33
86
use when there is conflict.
9 When there is conflict between adolescents and their parents, there is need to mediate between the two parties by a counsellor to solve their problem.
10 Apportioning blame where necessary is another vital tool to use when there is conflict between adolescents and their parents.
3.33
Cluster Mean (X) 3.33
From the responses to the questionnaire items in table 2, it is shown that counsellors can
play some roles in resolving conflict between the adolescents and their parents. The analysis of the items
7,8,9 and 10 in the table suggests tools the counsellors can use in resolving conflicts. The mean scores of
3.33 in both cases are indications of the reliability of tools. Also the grand mean of 3.33 suggests the same.
Table 3: Mean Response on counselling strategies to use in resolving adolescent conflicts with
their parents.
S/NItem Description Mean X
11 When counsellors visit families regularly, there can hardly be conflict between parents and their adolescents.
3.45
12 Persuasion is at times a tool to be used in resolving conflicts between the adolescents and their parents.
3.45
13 Organizing workshop on problems of adolescent for parents can be an effective method of reducing conflicts.
13 Apportioning blame where necessary is another vital tool to use when there is conflict between adolescents and their parents.
3.34
Cluster Mean (X) 3.34
Based on the analysis of the table, it could be observed that all the items on table 3 have
been rated positive and the ratings are above the criterion mean of 2.50. The mean scores 3.45 of items 11
and 12 with the highest mean scores show that measures like counsellors visit to families regularly,
persuasion and organizing workshop or seminars on problems of adolescent for parents can be an effective
method of reducing conflicts.
DISCUSSION
The research questions that guided the study focused on the areas of conflicts between adolescents and
their parents, roles the counselors play in resolving conflicts between their parents, and counselling
strategies being utilized in resolving conflicts between the adolescents and their parents.
87
The result of the investigation show that areas of conflict between adolescent and their parents are
the desire to visit opposite sex, mode of dressing, lack of provision for basic needs, unreasonable demand
from parents, misplace values, and societal values that conflict with the religious values of the parents. Also
the results show that consellors has to a great extent roles in resolving conflict between adolescents and
their parents.
Finally, the results show counselling strategies use in resolving adolescent conflicts with their
parents are counsellors visiting families regularly, persuasion and organizing workshop/seminars.
The result were based in the attainment of cluster mean scores 3.44, 3.33 and 3.34 respectively for
all the research questions.
The present finding is in line with study of Eke (2007) which state that, the physiological changes
that take place at puberty and the necessity, to pass through developmental tasks imposed on adolescents by
society; like press for independence, vocational preparation etc are some of the problems which the
adolescents face. Also Bolus, Lar and Okpode (1991) pointed out that students who are within the bracket
of adolescent needed to be counselled in the areas of tolerance, respect for elders and constituted authority,
health of he body and mind, and the proper use of leisure hours. This seeming unending list gives credence
to the fact that there are many areas of conflict by adolescent and their families once there is an attempt to
exercise control, advice, prevent or discourage them by their parents.
CONLUSION AND IMPLICATION
Adolescence is most frequently described and discussed from an external frame of reference in which
the criteria are adult standards and expectations. More helpful to those who work with the adolescent
are perceptions based upon a frame of reference using criteria from the world of the adolescent.
The implication of the findings of this study is that, it is vivid that little things matter. Every bit of
correction given to the adolescent is likely to generate crisis. For instance, correcting them on their mode of
dressing, scolding them and taking decision about them without involving them could generate crises. It is
implicit in this findings that parents, counsellors and school should be more prepared to receive shocks
when adolescents derail. This is because almost everything is viewed negatively by the adolescents.
88
The present study was limited by the fact that the sample covers only Nsukka education zone of
Enugu state. This may have affected the result of the study. The results could have been different if the
study was extended to adolescents from different geographical background. The researchers then suggests
inclusion of adolescents in other geographical areas for further research.
Finally, the study recommends workshop and seminars on adolescents should be giving to
counsellors to equip them with update modern techniques of counselling adolescents and resolving their
crises.
REFERENCES
Ama-Nwachukwu, G. (1993) Understanding child development. Nsukka: Chulbson International Press.
Bolus, I., Lar, C.T. and Okpede, D. (1991) Over handling the Nigeria school system through Guidance and Counselling services. Jos: Ehindero (Nig) Limited.
Eke, E.I. (2007) Lecturer note on (Ed. 511) Psychology of adolescence. University of Nigeria Nsukka.
Ibeh, A. E. (1990) Psychology of education, childhood in teaching and learning Lagos: Kola Okanlawon Publishers.
Parker, E.D. (2006). Adolescent and the society. htt://www.Access Parker 1.400 A.S.
Smith, B. D. (1998) Psychology, Science and Understanding. United States of America McGraw-Hill Companies.
Standley, S.D. (2006). Adolescent in today’s society. Highlights: An Stanley/ATS digest htt//www. Let ATs.
Unachukwu, G.C. and Igborgbor, G.C. (1991) Guidance and counselling. A realistic approach. Owerri: International Universities Press.
89
CHALLENGES OF USING ICT IN THE TEACHING OF MUSIC COURSES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA
BYNWOKENNA, EDITH .N.
DEPARTMENT OF ARTS EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA
Abstract
This paper examines the challenges of using ICT in the teaching of Music courses at the University of
Nigeria, Nsukka. Seventy-five (75) student sof the Department of Music made up the population. Data was
collected through questionnaire. Percentages as a descriptive standard tool was used in analyses. It was
found among other things that ICT driven courses are offered in the Department of Music and that the
courses are taught using the lecture, face-to-face method. It was found that majority of the respondents
believe that learning would be more effective if ICT is integrated in the teaching method. The paper
examines the main challenges facing the government, policy makers and University administrators in
handling the advent of new information technology and in making use of the technological potentials with a
view to enhancing teaching and learning of music education in the University. It then makes some
recommendations.
Introduction
Things have really changed in music programs these days. Today, some music educators are
getting creative by integrating Information Communication Technology (ICT) into curriculum. Many
schools require the use of ICT in all subjects and because we live in a technology infused world, a music
technology programme seems to be a natural outgrowth of students preferred method of engagement with
the world and their learning environment. Most students today use ICT in every aspect of their daily lives,
for example, laptops and cell phones. It is therefore the job of teachers to reach students in any way that
would enhance and improve their learning. There is an assumption that ICT can help the students
understand the content of curriculum by helping them think in new ways and thus improve their intellectual
power. This is because ICT can be used to plan content in relevant context by engaging student sin
90
authentic problem solving. It can help students to work with real data and access information to help them
make informed decisions.
ICT can be broadly defined as technologies that provide an enabling environment for physical
infrastructure and services development of applications for generating transmission, processing, storing and
disseminating information in all forms, including voice, test, data, graphics and video (Gentry, 1995). One
of the benefits of ICT is instant access to information from a multiplicity of sources (Manning, 1996). The
Department of Music, University of Nigeria provides comprehensive training in the theory and practice of
both African and Classical European Music including the music of selected cultures of the world. However,
the teaching of music and maximal assimilation of content materials by the students has been a problem for
the teachers. The implication of this is that the curriculum is calling for a change in traditional teaching
practices and a move toward more student-centered approaches to teaching and learning. To successfully
achieve this, there is need for effective utilization of ICT in the students’ training programme. This is
because new technologies offer exciting possibilities for transforming music education curricula often
music education classes tend to employ a traditionalist, teacher-centred than of lecture, reading and
discussion. McClintock (1999) and others argue that the current computer technology makes feasible a
student-centred “constructivist” pedagogy by providing readily accessible resources and multiple
alternative sources of information. Although emerging computer technologies may hold the promise of
reforming traditionalist approaches to undergraduate courses in music, students in these classes often have
widely varying degrees of computer literacy. It may be that the Department of Music, University of Nigeria
can best equip the students with useful technological skills by offering them experiences that require them
to acquire only that technology necessary to meet their immediate goals in particular curricular context. In
this way, course content drives the acquisition of technology related skills such a constructivist approach to
technology views it as a tool to achieve specific student objectives rather than a subject matter per se. This
suggests that the best way for student to gain appropriate technological skills is for them to experience and
use technology not under a separate agenda but as part of their own knowledge.
The purpose of this article is to look at the challenges of using ICT in the teaching of music
courses at the Department of Music, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
91
Theoretical Background
ICT revolution poses a number of challenges to the teaching and learning of music in Nigeria
schools. This is because information explosion is irrevocably changing traditional values, assumptions
about the nature of working life and the cultural identity of nations. The growth in access to the internet and
to electric resource in general has changed higher education. Not only has it changed the experience of
students but has also inspired an invigoration approach to teaching music. The use of ICT in education has
rapidly changed the way that people learn in a short period of time. It can be said that ICT has enhanced the
educational process in several key ways. The largest benefit of ICT is the easy and fast access that has
come from the internet. ICT has the capacity to provide higher interactive potential for users to develop
their individual, intellectual and creative ability. Thus ICT provides productive teaching and learning in
order to increase students/ creative and intellectual resources. It provides opportunities to the students to
develop capacities for high quality learning and to increase their ability to innovate.
It has been predicted that with the use of ICT education will no longer be an unpredictable and
exciting adventure in human enlightenment but an exercise in conformity and an apprenticeship to
whatever gadgetry is useful in a technical world (Schwarz, 1996). The most overlooked fact is that ICT
should be used as an educational tool rather than a means of education. Nothing can replace the integrations
between students and teachers. Once the process of learning from a fellow person has been automated to
something mechanical many things will be lost. Online courses remove the ability to deal with truly great
teachers in a personal way, and it also removes the ability to truly interact with other students. As Guru-
Rosenblit (2003) pointed out, this explains why most students prefer to study in classrooms and lecture
halls, even when provided with the opportunity to get videotaped lectures, exercises and intimate tutoring
through their electronic media. Obasi (2006) citing Guru-Rosenblit (2002) notes that in a wide national
study carried out in Israel that purported to enhance the use of ICT in Israeli Universities more than 1000
faculty members reported using various forms of e-learning in their classes in the last three years but only
1% of them used the electronic media to substitute classroom encounters.
The National Center for Education Statistics (Henke, Chen & Goldman, 1991) reported that only
20% of practicing teachers considered themselves able to integrate electronic learning into their classroom
contexts. Similarly Bauer (1999) , found that while music educators were using the internet in moderate
92
amount for research, correspondence and their own learning, it was not being used extensively for teaching
students. Taylor & Deal (2000) indicate that music teachers do not feel that they have the background
necessary to fully utilize technology in instructional setting.
Given the above findings, it can be stated that an obvious dilemma occurs when trying to weigh
the values of electronic learning and the time required to afford collegiate music education students the
technology skills needed to meet curricular objectives. The advent of new information technologies is a
quasi-revolutionary phenomenon, and it is worth asking whether it can be assimilated by the very
traditional institutions called the School or the University or whether our education systems will recognize
that new information technologies offer totally new ways of organizing learning and teaching?
Purpose of Study
The general purpose of the study is to look at the challenges of using ICT in the teaching of music
courses at the Department of Music, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Research Questions
The following research questions are raised to guide the study:
1. What is the nature of ICT usage in the teaching of music courses in the Department of Music,
University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
2. What are the factors inhibiting the use of ICT to deliver music courses in the Department of
Music, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Method
The design is survey. The study is designed to cover all second, third and final year students of the
Department of Music, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The total population is 155 from which 75 students
were randomly sampled. The instrument for the study is Application of ICT to Music Courses
Questionnaires (AICTMCQ). The questionnaire was developed to gather information on the students’
opinions on the two research questions. The data generated were analyzed using descriptive statistical tool
of percentages.
Table 1: Percentages of Students’ Opinion Regarding the Nature of ICT Usage in the Teaching of Music Courses.
93
S/No Item No. that said Yes
% of Sample
No. that said No
% of Sample
1 Does the Department of Music offer ICT driven courses
50 67 25 33
2 Are ICT facilities available for teaching in the Department of Music
1 1 74 99
3 Are ICT driven courses taught through e-learning method
0 0 75 100
Table 2: Ranking of factors that inhibit the use of ICT to deliver music courses Factors
Rank order 1-5
Lack of qualified
staff
Low level of funding
Lack of basic
infrastructure
Problem of literacy
Absence of adequate
policy
Class size vis-à-vis access
to ICT facilities
Cost to students
1 30 32 31 22 25 12 202 21 18 22 16 14 20 163 15 12 17 8 18 16 184 11 11 3 11 12 9 115 8 2 1 18 6 18 10
Discussions and Conclusions
The results (table 1) indicate the following concerning the opinion of the respondents regarding
the nature of ICT usage in the teaching of music courses in the Department of Music. Sixty-seven percent
(67%) of the respondents agree that the Department of Music offers ICT driven courses. However 1200%
of the respondents disagree that those courses are taught through e-learning methods. Most of the
respondents agree that they will understand music lectures better if ICT is integrated into teaching of the
courses, but 00% of them say that ICT facilities are not available in the department. However, 80% of them
prefer learning these courses by lecture method. The foregoing results are not surprising. This is because
the most overlooked fact is that ICT should be used as an educational tool rather than a means of education.
Nothing can replace the interactions between students and teachers. Once the process of learning from a
fellow person has been automated to something mechanical many things will be lost. E-learning remove the
ability to deal with truly great teachers in a personal way and it also removes the ability to truly interact
with other students.
94
It is seen from the findings that although ICT surely has a place in the teaching of music courses in
the department of music, there should be as much human interaction as possible in teaching the courses.
This agrees with the observations of Ogunsola and Oluwasenmi (2004) that Nigerian educational
institutions face the challenge of globalization and the information age for the transformation of the
academic system from the traditional role of teaching learning, research and development technology to
those driven by the information communication technology. Their view is supported by Ikedia (2002) who
argue that creating the atmosphere for ICT is the greatest challenge that faces the virtual Universities and
that there are certainly doubts about whether electronic communication can ever substitute for the social
interaction with teachers and students which have been central to University education for many years.
The findings on research question 2 (table 2) show that the respondents ranked low level of
funding, lack of basic infrastructure, lack of qualified staff and absence of adequate policy in this order as
factors inhibiting the most, the use of ICT to deliver music courses in the Department of Music, University
of Nigeria, Nsukka. These findings agree with earlier reports (Wolfe, 1996) that the problems with
computer literacy programs are financial, equipment and educational resources. The current ICT
infrastructure and level of preparedness for its diffusion into the Nigerian educational system pose a serious
challenge to the ability of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka to be part of the global information age Obasi,
2006). This is because of current low level of funding of education in Nigeria, lack of basic infrastructure
and lack of qualified teachers in the area of ICT.
Conclusion
New technologies offer exciting possibilities for transforming music education curricula. Although
emerging ICT may hold the promise of reforming traditional approaches to undergraduate courses in music
education students as was revealed in this study, still prefer face to face lecture method. The findings of the
study reveal also that the students agree that they will understand lectures better if ICT is integrated into
teaching of the music courses. Despite this fact, they still preferred face to face lecture method. The reason
might be that they have not gained the necessary knowledge which will enable them to use ICT in learning
with proficiency. This is increasingly becoming a concern at all levels of education. Consequently, the
main challenges which face the government, educational policy makers and Universality administrators
appear to be as follows:
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1. Should ICT education in Universities be primarily oriented towards the training at all levels of
future specialists in computer technology or should it aim from the outset at providing more
or less everybody with a minimum of understanding of ICT and of its use in any field of
study.
2. Considering that adequate teacher training is a prerequisite for effective ICT education, what
should be the policy concerning certification of computer teachers and how can the danger be
avoided that those adequately trained leave the education system in order to take jobs in
business and industry.
3. Since any policy implies a choice between several options or rather a number of choices
concerning different steps in a process which is expected to lead to a desirable and, in this
particular case, the challenge can be formulated as follows:
how does the university prepare her students to adequately face and handle the advent of new
information technologies and at the same time make use of the technological potentials with a
view to making teaching and learning of music education more effective.
The findings of this study have identified some constraints which could reduce the effectiveness of
ICT in the music classrooms, such as funding, equipment, educational resources, literacy etc. It is
recommended therefore:
1. that government should provide adequate funding for Universities to enable them create the
enabling environment for introduction of ICT facilities in teaching and learning.
2. that the department of Music should develop/revise the music programme curricula with a
view to making them fully ICT driven.
References
Bauer, W.I. (1999). Music educators and the internet. Contributions to Music Education. 26
Gentry, C.S. (1995). Educational Technology: A Qeustion of Meaning. In Instructural Technology, Past, Present and Future. 2nd Edition, Englewood CD.
Guru-Rosenblit, S. (2003). Paradoxes and Dilemmas in Managing E-Learning in Higher Education. Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE), University of California, Berkeley.
Manning, L.M. (1996). Economics on the internet: Electronic Mail in the classroom. The Journal of Economic Education 27.
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McClintock, R. (1999). The educators manifesto: Renewing the progressive bond with posterity through the social construction of digital learning communities. New York Institute for Learning Technologies.
Obasi, S.N. (2006). Challenges of running ICT driven open and distance education courses at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Conference Proceedings of the Institute of Education on Information Communication Technology in the Service of Education.
Ogunsola, L.A. & OIuwasenmi, H. (2004). Nigerian Universities Libraries and the Challenges of Globalization: The way forward. Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship Vol. 5 No. 2-3, OAU, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
Schwarz, G. (1996). The rhetoric of Cyberspace and the real curriculum. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision 12.
Taylor, J. & Deal, J. (2000). Integrating technology into the K12 Music Curriculum: A national survey of music teachers. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Technology in Music instruction, Toronto, Canada.
www.cashe.naggoya-u.ac.jp/publication/Journal/no2/09.pdf.
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MUSIC EDUCATION AND SOCIAL COMMITMENT IN NIGERIA: A HISTORICAL
EXCURSION
BY
ADEOGUN, ADEBOWELE OLURANTI
DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA
Abstract
Music education in the hands of committed educators is a vehicle of personal and social transformation.
This paper reviews historically how socially committed music education in Nigeria has been since the pre-
colonial time. It observes that music education began to score low in term of social commitment to the
Nigerian society since Nigeria began to copy extra-African music education content and methods. It
suggests modernization of music education in Nigeria as a panacea for success.
Introduction
When, in 1987, the eminent Nigerian music educator – Mosunmola Omibiyi-Obidike, asked the
question: ‘Whither music education in Nigeria?’, only a few discerning Nigerians then realized that she was
foreseeing a bleak period of music education in Nigeria. Thereafter, music education in Nigeria came to a
state of crisis. In part, this has to do with its lack of commitment to the contemporary Nigerian society. This
situation tends to have arisen historically; it, therefore, needs to be subjected to an historical examination.
But before that is done, it is necessary to define our basic concepts – music, education, music education and
social commitment.
Defining music and education
Music, as Walker (1998: 57) maintains is ‘a living analogue of human knowing, feeling,
sensibility, emotions, intellectual modus operandi, physical awareness, and all the life-giving forces which
affect human behavior and knowing’. It ‘contains symbols and tropes of the very life of a society in all its
intellectual, emotional physical and mercantile manifestations’ (Blacking, 1973: 10). It ‘is a way of
knowing about life…of being human’ (Lundquist, 1985: 55). ‘Music’, in the words of Ellis (1985: 15), ‘is
concerned with the education of the whole person’.
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Education, in this context, may be understood as ‘a quest to gain understanding of what it means
to be human in all its illogicality, its unpredictability, its irrationality, and in all its uniquely varied cultural
ways of doing and thinking’ (Walker, 1998: 58). This meant that music education could be taken as a
deliberate and efficient strategy for promoting cultural learning, through ‘instruction and encounter’
(Swanwick, 1988: 128). It is a means of learning to be a person in a community through intelligent
participation in every aspect of a social life. The “whole person” with which music education is concerned
is the person who draws sustenance from the community-wide cultural and musical traditions and
practices, uses it for what is musically worthwhile (i.e. useful to real life); uses it for community ends to
serve others, to inform it with community’s purpose and to resist all unworthy ends.
Music education, as such, is central to the development of people’s articulation of their
understanding of the world. It is the means by which society learns about its musical self and others, and
creates a musical knowledge of culture, tradition, and identity in imparting a basis on which to dialogue
with other music cultures and accept or reject, or integrate their ideas. A thing is committed when it
responds to and addresses the changing nature of its milieu. A socially committed music education is here
understood as that in which music education is considered central to the social transformations demanded
by society.
Music education and social commitment
Storr (1992: 1) writes that no culture so far discovered lacks music of some form, and that the
activity of music making arose early during human evolution. This suggests that music, whether oral or
written, has purpose(s) it performs in the human society. The nature, extent and the purposes of art in
general and particularly, the art of music have, however, remained contentious issues. Concerning the
purposes of art of music in human life, two main schools of thought are easily identifiable in literature – the
“aesthetic functionalist” and the “utilitarian functionalist” schools (Temmerman, 1990:149).
The movement known as aesthetism or art for art’s sake emerged in the nineteenth century
Western Europe (Podro, 1982; Siegesmund, 1998). It takes the view that that there is a special kind of
experience called the aesthetic that all the arts are push able into. It contends that art exists for its own sake
and has to be practiced as such. The aesthetic in music rests customarily on the notion of “autonomy”:
autonomy both of music and the music makers, takers, teachers and students from the wider socio-cultural
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processes. The aesthetic community conceives music as a form of expression essentially distinct from the
verbal, the literate and the visual. It thinks of musicality as a special gift, imparted only to a chosen few.
Music is practiced solely for pleasure.
The idea of music as aesthetic education is articulated most consistently in Reimer (1989). It is
based on the ‘the belief that music is best understood in terms of the aesthetic qualities of pieces of music
alone’ (Reimer, 1989: 120). In the extreme cases, aesthetism is put at par with formalism – the view in
which musical meaning and our response to music is associated mainly with internal structural
relationships. As a conceptual approach to music education, the focus is to the structural properties of
musical works such as melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, dynamics, texture and form. Students are
intentionally taught to pay exclusive attention to the syntactical in music in order to achieve a distinctive
aesthetic experience. Elliot (1995) vigorously disputes Reimer’s aesthetic concept of music education and
gives praxial (refection and action upon the world in order to transform it) music education as an
alternative.
The utilitarian functionalist school believes that the arts are central to social change. This may be
viewed from three perspectives. From the first perspective, music is viewed as civilizing. Aristotle, for
instance, sees music as promoting the general welfare of humanity and society. Levi and Smith (1991: 12)
see civilizing music as ‘instrumental to the formation of admirable character, to the maintenance of
participatory democracy, and to the institution of the just society’. Closely allied to this notion is the
rationalist approach to music creation that begins with thought and the formalist view of composition as the
imposition of form on matter via technique and skill.
The second perspective is the romantic notion of the (musical) arts. It asserts that composition is
the expression of emotion through inspiration that leads to self-discovery and self-definition (Levi & Smith,
1991: 21). Taken separately, these two perspectives – civilizing and the romantic – are limited conceptions
of the value of music education to the individual and society. They do not fully account for the ways people
use music to re-define themselves and resist oppressive social forces in their lives.
The third perspective on the centrality of arts education to social change is grounded in Dewey’s
(1934: 345) position that arts need to be central component of education because the arts are an
‘incomparable organ of instruction.’ In arguing that changes in the individual imagination are antecedent to
changes in society, Dewey (1934: 345 – 346) writes that:
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Only imaginative vision elicits the possibilities that are interwoven within the texture of the actual. The first stirrings of dissatisfaction and the first intimations of a better future are always found in works of art.
A synthesis of the three perspectives, the civilizing and the romantic perspectives as well as the idea that
development of the imagination is the impetus for social change, is the notion of arts as transformative.
From this perspective, Greene (1991: 8) suggests that music ‘offers opportunities for perspective,
for perceiving alternative ways of transcending and of being in the world’. It creates spaces in which
anything is possible. This free space is a possible world that breaks down social barriers and allows young
people to name themselves, envision alternative realities, and engage in remaking their worlds (Dewey,
1934; Greene, 1995). Music is an applied aesthetic pursuit in life and society. Music makers are
empowered to indict society as well as to offer possibilities for change. Music making is employed to
facilitate teaching about issues that pertain to social responsibility and to offer possible liberation and social
transformation. Music in this context is a vehicle for communicating ideas, revealing symbols, forging
connections, and helping to prepare individuals for social interactions (Dewey, 1934; Ellis, 1985; Greene,
1995; Swanwick, 1988). Thus, music education is a primary site for promoting personal and social
transformation.
One can then say that music education is socially committed to the extent that the aesthetic and
the utilitarian functions of music are put at par. This is because the two views are not exclusive; rather they
are alternative. They are two sides of the same coin; neither being of value without the other. They are like
the point and counterpoint of harmony. Both should be complimentary and inform each other, and in
themselves not separated.
Music education with social commitment serves two main purposes. One is the preservation of the
musical heritage of the society and the other is the transformation of that heritage. Mere preservation
strangles new initiatives, suppresses creativity and smothers anything which threatens to disturb the safety
of the familiar. Transformation without preservation makes a music practice loose its identity. For the
music teacher, the task of preserving the heritage is much easier than the business of its transformation. Yet
to be meaningful and effective, a music teacher must be a transformer of society because music education
is an agent of change. And music teachers are the major instruments of any music educational change. This
stance requires that the music teacher understands the students (according to the generation(s) in which
they live) and the curriculum meant for them (Campbell, 2004; Wade, 2004).
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Learners as people have unique capacities that must be facilitated. They have their strengths,
passions and sensibilities they must be helped to discover. They have their pasts which they must be helped
to understand. They also have a future which they must be helped to find so that they can build their lives
meaningfully, purposefully and with fulfillment. One of the roles of music education is to help learners
develop the social, musical, spiritual and emotional qualities of their character. The music teacher as such
must be in sync with the needs and wants of the learners.
About the music curriculum, Whitehead’s (1957: 6 – 7) suggestion that, ‘there is only one subject
for (music) education, and that is life in all its manifestations’ is pertinent here. And, ‘music’ is, what Elliot
(1995) has called, ‘a form of life’. This is so because music is not a thing but something lived, just as our
life with other human beings is something lived. Musical life is a communion upon which music makers
and takers base their lives. Music education could be central to the maintenance and furtherance of cultural
life. It is effective to the extent that it enables a people to live a musical life. The music teachers are
effective to the extent they align curricula content with the learners’ wishes, hopes, aspirations and
dilemmas; to the extent they use music to reflect life and educate about life. Much depends on the
educational policies formulated and pursued, the arrangement made for implementing the policies of
education and the type of music education given. This paper explores historically how music education in
Nigeria has been socially committed.
Indigenous African music education and social commitment
The age-old indigenous Africa music has been an integral part of education, incorporated not only
into the arts as a whole, but also into everyday life. As Nzewi (2000: 1) notes, ‘music is a philosophy of
life; a transaction of the meaning and processes of communal living, …a process of conducting
relationships, coordinating the societal systems, coping with realities of human existence and probing the
supernatural realm or forces’. Chernoff (1979: 164, 162) also writes that:
Music is essential to life in Africa …The development of musical awareness in Africa constitutes a process of education; music’s explicit purpose, in the various ways it might be defined by Africans is, essentially, socialization …Within the complex balances of community activities, Africans manage to retain a focus on the individual. Just as they encourage a musicians’ confidence in order to enhance creativity, so too do they encourage participation in order to enhance the possibilities for personal happiness and community realization.
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From these, one can surmise that in indigenous Africa, the pursuit of music solely for pleasure is
not over emphasized. The crucial and innate entertainment ideal of music making, however, is made to
permeate other conceptions and applications of music to life and societal systems. Music serves as an
agency of human socialization and transmits a wide range of cultural knowledge.
. Music making is an educational process that aids community members in going through the very
act of inheriting their musical traditions. It is a process of bringing community members into communion to
gain a sense of belonging together; of building the community sonically; of processing and projecting
group identity. Music education enables teachers and students as learners to indulge in interactive music
making and taking to recognize and judge what is socio-personally significant in life well-lived. Adequate
fit exists between the indigenous African music education system and the indigenous African socio-cultural
structures.
The indigenous African system of music education with its effective social commitment is still
available to some degree in rural Nigerian locations. The intensity has, however, diminished due to such
factors as Islamization, foreign missionary activities, imported state and school systems, colonization and
urbanization. An urgent need is the systematic documentation of what should constitute a literary
knowledge of the indigenous African music heritage.
Islam, music education and social commitment
The introduction of Islam and Islamic education in certain parts of Africa has been well
documented (Trimingham, 1959, Turaki, 1999). Islam reached West Africa from across the Sahara in the
eight century (Clarke, 1978). In Nigeria, traces of Islamic influence had been found in certain parts of
Kanem-Bornu Empire towards the closing decades of eleventh century. It has expanded in every direction
in Hausaland and beyond from the fourteenth century to the present day, and gained considerable ground.
In the Muslim areas of northern and south-western parts of Nigeria, the Islamic religion and ideology as
well as Islamic system of education still underscore the structure and culture of society to an extent.
The spread of Islam has led to the establishment of Koranic schools in various parts of Nigeria for
the teaching and learning of Arabic languages and Muslim culture as well as the adoption of Islamic
musical way of life. Koranic schools are aimed at the general education and training of all adherents.
Winters (1987: 179) notes that:
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The (Koranic) school programme for a student consists of learning the Koran, Islamic studies and a trade. The student studies the Koran or Islamic text for around 14 hours a day, advancing at his own rate and graduating from one level of studies to the next on the basis of personal merit and maturity. During breaks from studies….student over 15 years of age …usually learn a trade.
In learning a trade, Clarke (1978: 138) observes that:
One acquires a cognitive map and/or ideology and in some cases the capital and skills to become, for example, a tailor or trader. To be a successful trader would involve becoming part of a network which would provide the beginner with his first hand capital or credit, food, accommodation, social life and a common bond – Islam. One who wished to become a tailor in a Muslim society would undergo a 2- or 3-year apprenticeship during which he would live and work with his master to be influenced by latter’s ideology, learn the theory and practice of Islam and acquire the skills and part of the capital necessary for his trade.
Koranic schools have become a socialization process through which Muslims internalize the
(musical) norms, culture and beliefs of their society. Koranic chanting and call to prayer have been turned
into important symbols of a distinctive Islamic music culture acquired by all believers for communicating
with Allah. With the indigenous apprenticeship fused with Islamic education system, indigenous concepts
of music making have merged somewhat with a growing zeal for a musical heritage connected with Islam
and shared by Muslims all over the world.
King (1980: 309) notes that Usman Dan Fodio’s reformatory jihad of the nineteenth century
against all un-Islamic practices ‘did not impose any lasting restrictions on music, nor did they effect any
noticeable changes in musical practices which had their roots in the pre- jihad…which continued to flourish
in the post-jihad emirates’. As such, in most Islamized Nigerian communities, Islamic music education has
been able to achieve a smooth fusion with the indigenous musical life of the people (Fafunwa, 1974). It has
helped in preparing music makers and takers who can imagine and value musical life in an African Islamic
world. The evolved African Islamic music education is not only Theo-centric but also socio-centric. It has
engendered glaringly rich traditions of music in all Islamized Nigerian communities despite European
imperialism.
But contrary to King’s (1980: 309) observation, Islam has had some deleterious effects on music
making and taking in Islamized Nigerian communities. Musical practice is being dichotomously viewed as
halal (permitted) or haram (forbidden) in compliant with the Koran, the hadith literature and the sunna (the
traditions of the Holy Prophet). Hence, only qira’ah (koranic chant), adhan (call to prayer), talbiyyah
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(pilgrimage chants), madih, na’t, tahmid, etc (eulogy chants), shi’r (chanted poetry with noble themes);
family and celebration music, occupational and military band music are, for instance, considered halal. The
use the drum and songs in mosques as well as the making of music related to pre-Islamic or non-Islamic
origins is considered haram by hardliners. Muslims’ participation in traditional Nigerian dances is
considered haram as it involves mixed dancing. As it is, the idea that the only music worth teaching and
learning is the Islamic one in some Islamized Nigerian communities needs a creative discussion through
reflection.
The consideration of musical practice as haram or halal has generated ambivalence towards
modern music education. While there are some Nigerian Muslim parents who encourage their children to
study music in schools and colleges, there are some too who are vehemently opposed to their children
studying music. The latter insist that it is strongly in conflict with their deeply held religious beliefs and
values. The present need is to reject this false dilemma and acknowledge a third option – a point of balance
of between the practice of haram and halal music. A need is for modern schools and colleges to be
responsive to these sensibilities as far as possible.
In most Islamic contexts, it is the men more than women who have right to participate actively in
public musical life. The former monopolize public musical affairs. Most women are restricted to music
making at the home front. If allowed to participate in public music performance, the fundamentalists insist
that women must perform veiled; their sphere of activities and responsibilities must be separated from
men’s. Such perception of women as sexual temptresses perpetuates a reductionist view. It sees women
primarily as sexual rather than human beings. This has served to suppress many Nigerian Muslim women’s
creative musical abilities and prowess. Empowering Nigerian Muslim women musically for active
participation in public musical life through modern music education is a sine qua non for national
development.
It is worthy of note that Islam introduces a written tradition to Nigeria. But literary music studies
have not been accorded any essentiality in the Muslim rationalization of African Islamic music education.
An urgent need is the promotion of a literary African music tradition in Nigerian Muslim communities.
Western music education and social commitment in colonial Nigeria
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A perusal of literature by early Arab and European explorers and travelers shows that they were astonished
to discover that Africans were living simple but highly fulfilling life marked by robust daily performance of
music for their physical and spiritual wellbeing as well as communal solidarity (Blacking, 1973; Chernoff,
1979; Nzewi, 2003). But their reports, upon their return to Europe, often sensationally written, show that
they described the performances they watched in rather uncomplimentary terms. Lander (1967: 292), for
instance, writes that:
On the morning of Thursday, the 12th, we left Chiadoo, followed by the chief and an immense crowd of both sexes, amongst whom were hundreds of children, the ladies enlivening us with songs at intervals, without any regard to time, forming altogether a most barbarous concert of vocal and instrumental music, which continued to our great convenience and annoyance till we arrived at Matone, when they took leave of us and returned.It would be difficult to detach singing and dancing from the character of an African, as to change the colour of his skin. I do not think he would live a singe week in his country without participating in these his favourite amusements, to deprive him of which would be indeed worse than death…Yet even on these instruments they perform most vilely, and produce a horribly discordant noise, which may, perhaps be delightful to their own ears, but to strangers, if they have the misfortune to be too near the performers, no sounds can be more harsh and disagreeable than such a concert. Of all amusements of Africans, none can equal their song and dance in the still, clear hours of night, when the moon, walking in beauty in the heavens, awakens all the milder affections of their nature, and invites them to gladness and mirth. On these occasions all care is completely laid aside, and everyone delivers himself up to the dissipation of the moment, without a thought of tomorrow, his heart having no vacuum for melancholy anticipations.
Similar specious beliefs, views and assumptions about Africa, its people, culture, religion, general life,
society and music, made popular in Europe at that time by European explorers abound in literature. It
informed the European missionaries’ decision that:
All aspects of African culture were to be cast down… drumming was an abomination, nakedness a sin, African music praised the Devil. The true convert would show his mettle by casting away all wives but one, observing the Sabbath and no other day, eschewing nakedness and wearing European dress, speaking, reading, and writing English and paying little or no attention to the social obligation of his tribe, clan or extended family. Such converts, cut off from the society in which they had grown to adult years, naturally developed a relationship of dependence towards their new missionary mentors, a relationship which, because these people were undergoing processes of re-education, took on a child-like quality. It was easy for missionaries to simplify this situation, and create a picture of the African as “child-like” (Flint in Turaki, 1999: 55 - 56).
Between 1842 and 1882, eight Christian missions - the Wesleyan Methodist Mission, the Roman
Catholic Mission, the Church Missionary Society, the American Baptist Mission, the United Presbyterian
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Church of Scotland, the Qua Iboe Mission, the Primitive Methodist Missionary Society, and the Basel
Mission – had established schools and churches in the southern part of Nigeria as their major instruments of
conversion to Christianity. The missionaries preoccupied with the contrasting of civilizations, especially in
matters of culture, religion and music, stigmatized Africans and their music. They imported European
music education ideas rather wholesale to Nigeria and implanted it as they sought to evangelize and imbue
Nigerians they encountered with European culture. Churches and schools were used to implant music
associated with the European culture. Converts learnt “civilized” music according to their religious
ecclesiastic conscriptions. Some converts were exposed to literary music education.
Trusting Nigerian converts were brainwashed to disparage indigenous African culture and African
music. They were coerced to wage unrelenting crusades against their indigenous musical way of life which
were construed to be not only inferior but sinful and devilish. Missionaries did translate their hymns and
songs into some Nigerian languages. But they were generally unawares of the importance of linguistic
tones to the understandability and aesthetic quality of the African music. Alienation and huge decline of
indigenous African musical traditions set in among the western educated elite as Western music and
methods became the basis of music education in Nigeria.
Later, a schism between Nigerian missionaries and their mentors led to the development of a kind
of church music in which indigenous music making was made to achieve a fit with Christian hymnody. A
rich tradition of indigenous hymnody has developed from this late nineteenth century roots. But the
hallmark of indigenous hymnody created by Nigerian intellectuals remains the writing of music with
correct intonation devoid of aesthetic innovation and creative experimentation. Because it failed to explore
deeply the indigenous musical resources, the efforts so far have not had spectacular effects. ‘The
indigenous hymnody’, as Euba (1992: 49) notes, ‘did not attract many Yoruba (Nigerian) converts. For one
thing, the church remained staid and genteel’.
The number of churches, however, has grown considerably. And, church music making has ranged
between the conservative Afro-Christian hymns and progressive ones that are responsive to some extent to
the Nigerian culture in which it has found itself. Some church denominations in Nigeria have, to some
extent, incorporated ideas about African music and religion into their musical life. Yet, the imported
European church music has remained the mainstay of music education in Nigerian schools and colleges. A
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present need is to steer away our music education system from its preoccupation with Christian-based
musical selections and fit it into the social, cultural and historical fabric of our society.
Between 1885 and 1960, when Nigeria served as a colony of British, the colonial administrators,
preoccupied with the demonstration of British superiority and civilization in their institutions, conquered
the Nigerian minds, land and cultural systems. Nigerians officially ‘lost their right to self-steering, their
freedom of choice as to what to change in their own culture or what to copy or reject from the other culture’
(Ajayi, 1968: 190). The colonial administrators imposed on indigenous Nigerian cultures completely
different worldviews, definitions, norms and values, language, political, musical and academic ways of
living. The teaching of music was solely defined in terms of western traditions as the colonizing and
civilizing view of Western music predominated in the imported school system. Indigenous African and
Afro-Islamic music education systems persisted vibrantly outside the school’s but denied official
recognition.
Ambivalence and ambiguity characterized the operation of colonial music education. Christian
missions operated under colonial administration as voluntary agencies in the provision of music in schools
and colleges. But in northern Nigeria, because the colonial administrators signed religious non-interference
pact with the Muslim rulers, Christian missions were prevented from teaching of their Christian religion-
based music in established colonial schools so as not to offend Muslim susceptibilities. Since then, many
western educated Nigerian Muslims have learnt to detest the teaching of music in the school system.
Colonial music education in Nigeria followed practices in Britain, with a few imperialistic twists.
Its purpose was to carry the message of cultural colonization: Africans and their music were subordinated
to Europeans’. Schools largely produced native musicians for colonial functions and ceremonies, and
catechist-cum-music teachers as well as choirmasters for the missions. Students were exposed to Western
music education system where aural-oral learning and spontaneity were derogated. Formalist model of
music education in which music is taught disconnected from its social contexts was entrenched. The
aesthetic ideals and practices of western classical music were held out as the highest standard of human
achievement to which school educated Nigerians should aspire. Students were made to see music outside
the colonial school contexts as both unknowable and pointless.
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Certain Nigerians were encouraged by colonial powers to go to Europe and study Western music
system, and various European music experts were invited to Nigeria as teachers, educators, scholars and
advisers to entrench the Western music education models. Subtle allowance for and interest in African
music enabled some European scholars to partially describe encountered Nigerian musical practice to their
home audience. Few colonial educators encouraged some Nigerian students to study their indigenous
music. But very few school teachers were familiarized with the indigenous musical knowledge and modes
of thought that the masses of Nigerian people wish to preserve and honor throughout the colonial period.
In all, the colonial music education system emphasized European ideology, tradition, and history.
It obstructed and undermined the transmission of African cultures and music as educated Nigerians were
forced to adopt European perspectives on musical life and their role in it. It served imperial ends by
restricting the significance of Nigerian musical heritage to a subordinate level appropriate to colonial
subjects. It did not promote any significant social integration with Nigerians who were unable to attend the
colonial school to learn music.
Nigerian popular music as a cultural manifestation emerged in Nigerian urban centers such as
Lagos, Calabar, Enugu, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Kaduna and so on during the colonial period. It evolved out of
indigenous, Afro-Islamic and Western influences and was enabled by intercontinental trade, colonial
commercial and broadcasting networks and the migration of labor. It is mediated by a complex corporate
network comprising companies that record, manage, advertise, publish and broadcast mass-mediated music.
Its learning sites include the brass bands of schools, the service bands of the security forces, ‘gospel’ bands,
popular combos and bands, studio bands, session men. The indigenous apprenticeship system is used as its
primary learning mode. Hitherto, the popular image of the Nigerian popular musicians is that of drop outs
and never-do-wells. This image has changed as many Nigerian pop musicians have contributed immensely
to the improvement of the society. Popular music has laid a greater emphasis on the singer than the song,
thereby engendering “star cultism”.
Just before independence, a period of cultural renaissance flowered. Nigerian nationalist leaders
spearheaded the revival of the indigenous African cultural arts. But their efforts did not go beyond merely
making music part of national ceremonies. Cultural re-sensitization through music education was scant
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because some of the nationalists were still colonial in their thinking. Throughout the colonial period music
education was solely committed to the colonial course in Nigerian society.
Postcolonial music education and social commitment
After Nigeria’s independence, colonial structures and institutions were left to remain in place for
too long a time. For instance, the Federal Government of Nigeria did not publish its National Policy on
Education and Cultural Policy until 1977 and 1988 (seventeen and twenty-eight years after independence)
respectively. Admirably, the policies enjoin the use of music to teach Nigerian culture. Music education has
been introduced at all educational level. National music curricula have been put in place. It is, however,
known that in many schools and colleges, music education is at a low operational level. It has not been put
into wider context that encompasses national values, beliefs and objectives. This is because the policies
have been allowed to suffer immense implementation betrayal due to a lack of political will.
An examination of the present Nigerian music curricula to understand it as political texts (social
realities) – to see whose decisions about curriculum, about whose knowledge is made official – reveals that
the bourgeois musical choices of the ruling Nigerian educated elite are promoted. The Nigerian national
music curricula center almost exclusively on Western classical music. The musical diversity of the Nigerian
people, which has been more rapid and multifarious in the last five decades, is marginalized. The learner-
alienating Western music education models and contents are favoured while the indigenous African
pedagogical principles and theoretical frameworks are denigrated. The curricula, as such, have been very
disempowering. This implies that the inherited colonial music education system, though deemed irrelevant
and inappropriate, has not yet been dismantled. It has continued to greatly influence the musical
socialization of generations of Nigerian children who were unborn during the actual period of colonization.
Music education policy makers need to know that it is no longer reasonable to isolate or prioritize
African musical legacy in hierarchies that alienate or marginalize the cultural roots of Nigerian students. A
living musical tradition is one where past and present form a simultaneous order; where the past is altered
by the present as much as the present is altered by the past. Productive consideration of African music
heritage ‘must take into account a history that has paralleled the African experience both on the continent
and in the Black Diaspora’ (Irele, 2001: 2). Historical perceptions of what constituted the African music
heritage must be profoundly significant to the aims of educating the modern Nigerian.
110
There is also the identity problem (Okafor, 1991) in which students who have grown up in
indigenous and/or Afro-Islamic musical environment have been assumed to come into the music classroom
tabula rasa. They are coerced by their teachers with dominant Western classical music orientation to
withdraw from their original environment in order to study Western classical music. After their studies,
they have had to return to their former musical background. This meant that the students have been forced
to change their identity twice. Rather than being helped to discover their own identity, they are made to
face identity confusion. Music education as such is neither contributing fully to the creation and
maintenance of our national identity nor to the rediscovery of our indigenous music culture. It is making us
to suffer lingering problems of cultural dependency on Europe and America.
Conclusion
With these problems, the present music education system in Nigeria lacks social commitment. It is
not for the masses of Nigeria. It is of the elite, by the elite, for the elite. It is neither aiding us in inheriting
our musical tradition nor helping us to live an African life. It is neither enabling us to appreciate the real
values of Nigerian communities nor allowing us to approach the music cultures of other people with respect
and seriousness. It is not preparing the modern Nigerian person for world respect enhanced by the
distinguished Nigerian peculiar contributions derived from the Nigerian musical past and present to the
confluence of creative genius in the modern world. It is far from developing in most Nigerians the
capacities to develop a social order that can respond to the subtle dimensions of qualitative life.
From the above, one could surmise that the main problem with music education in Nigeria is that
it has failed to modernize. But modernized it must be. To modernize it is to commit it to the
transformations demanded by Nigerian society. Music education in Nigeria is not a luxury, it is not a
diversion, and it is not an “optional extra”. It is a commitment to fundamental social needs, and as such
systematically organized, participatory public music performances should be given a good measure of
opportunity and autonomy by Nigerian government. Educational policies that support music making as a
counterweight to the uniformity brought about by transnational culture industries should be set. Sustained
exposure to the socio-creative interaction of practical music making should be made integral to the
Nigerian school and family systems. This is one of the ways we can make music education sensitive to the
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legitimate needs of the great masses of Nigeria, grounding it on their experiences and aspirations and
making it reflect Nigerian hopes, wishes, dilemmas and predicaments.
This demands placing high priority on music and music education as key to individual and
national development. It involves planning a conscious education of the masses in the fundamentals of
African musical appreciation and creativity. It entails making curricula more relevant to the musical and
technical context of the majority of Nigerians. It requires expanding our music education system, adapting
its contents and methods to meet our changing circumstances and new challenges, and experimenting with
new technologies. It requires having music educators who can interact with the ‘community at large, as
well as become proactive in contributing to national activities and programmes to enhance national interest’
(Hood, 1998: 671). Music educators in Nigeria must be encouraged to help students critically appreciate the
role of music in the society.
As such, music education has before it the challenge of generating an indigenous cum indigenized
knowledge that makes it possible to open new paths for Nigerian society to travel. It should not limit itself
to a “forensic” role of heady talking of crotchets and quavers, sonata and rondo forms, diatonic and
chromatic harmony. It should not be just a matter of content and methods. Rather, it should develop in
modern Nigerian favourable attitudes to and wide understanding of how music fits into the cultural and
historical fabric of our society on the basis of its insight. It should accrue benefits to the generality of
mankind, advance the state of socio-musical knowledge of the Nigerian masses, and reciprocally re-
empower them creatively and otherwise, for positive societal action.
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COMPETENCIES REQUIRED FOR ENHANCING THE ECONOMIC STATUS OF RETIREES IN CASSAVA FLOUR PRODUCTION ENTERPRISE
E.C. OSINEM & A.U. ONUKA
DEPARTMENT OF VOCATOINAL (AGRIC.) EDUCATION
UNIVERISTY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA
Abstract
The Federal Government of Nigeria is currently promoting large scale production of cassava products,
including flour, for the industry and export. This situation provides opportunities for retirees to embark on
flour production enterprise to argument their retirement benefits. Unfortunately, the retirees lack the
competencies required for success in the enterprise. The study therefore, sought to identify those
competencies required for success in the venture. To guide the study, four research questions were posed,
while four hypotheses were formulated and tested at probability level of 0.05 level of significance. A
questionnaire consisting of 38 items was structured. The questionnaire was face – validated by experts and
tested for reliability using Cronbach alpha technique. The alpha coefficient was 0.82. Copies of the
questionnaire were administered on 164 respondents, consisting of 48 entrepreneurs and 116 agricultural
extension agents. Mean was used to answer the research questions, while t-test statistic was used to test the
null hypotheses. The study revealed that planning, production, marketing and record – keeping
competencies were required by retirees for running their enterprises for profit. Hypotheses tested revealed
that there was no significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of respondents on
competencies required by retirees for success in their cassava flour production enterprises. It was
recommended that identified competencies be made available to skill acquisition centres for training
retirees, universities and colleges of agriculture for their subjects for competence in flour production
enterprises.
Introduction
Cassava is one of the major staple crops grown by farmers in Nigeria. The cassava plant,
according to Umanah (2005), is a shrub which has tuberous roots and finger like leaves. Cassava can be
broadly classified into sweet and bitter varieties, depending on their level of cyanide content. Cassava
varieties with low levels of cyanide is sweet variety, while the other with high cyanide level is bitter
cassava (Camara, 2000). Both cassava varieties can be used in the production of cassava flour.
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Flour is an important product processed from cassava root (tuber), either in dried or paste form
(International Institute of Tropical Agriculture IITA, 1990). The product is granular and whitish in colour.
Flour production involves the transformation of cassava roots to flour using human and material resources
Production, as relates to this study is processing, which is a post – harvest operation involving the
conversion of cassava roots to flour with a view to improving their form and increasing their shelf life
(IITA, 2005). Flour can be produced in an unfermented, but well processed form technically referred to as
high quality cassava flour (HQCF). The concern of this study is the production of HQCF. High quality
cassava flour is used as confectionery and bakery ingredients.
In addition, HQCF is used in the production of ice cream, livestock feed and noodles (Denton,
Azogu, Ukoli, Adewoye, Olomo and Achem, 2005). The demand for the product is high because of its
various uses and the Presidential Initiatives On Cassava, a federal government initiative which seeks to
promote increased domestic and export market for cassava products, (The National Committee on Cassava
Production and Export (NCCPE) Report, 2003). Besides, flour production competencies could be acquired
on short course basis (IITA, 2005). This is good for the retirees who may not like long period of training
because of their age. Flour production, therefore, could be an important source of income for retirees
wishing to embark on the business.
A retiree is someone who has retired, that is, stopped working usually because he has completed
the expected number of age or length of service as required by the law. Thus, he is no longer with the
nation’s work force. In Nigeria, one is expected to retire after 35 years of service from the date of first
appointment or after sixty years of age.
Retirees have often been subjected to undue life stresses. For instance, their retirement benefits –
pension and gratuity are sometimes delayed. To many of them, the retirement benefit is meager, and hardly
solve most of their financial problems. Agulanna and Agulanna (2005) affirmed that they have low
economic status, that is, low financial rating in the society. They maintained that many workers falsify their
records in order to remain in service more than their expected retirement period. In the light of the above
experiences, the retirees could embark on flour production enterprises to improve their economic status.
Enterprise is any type of business, trade or career which individuals undertake to earn a living. To
Ehiametalor (1999), enterprise is a venture, or business activity, especially one calling for determination,
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energy and initiative. The venture could be commercial or industrial undertaking. Anyone who engages in
business activity such as production, marketing etc under his own name is the entrepreneur of the business
(Dabson and Malkin, 2003). The entrepreneur, in the context of cassava flour production are processors
who are responsible for conceiving the business idea, planning the business, provides resources for
business take off and keeps records of transactions. For successful production of cassava flour, certain
competencies are required and applied.
Olaitan and Ali (1997) explained competency as the knowledge, skills, attitudes and judgement
which one requires in order to perform successfully at a specified proficiency in any given work. One,
therefore is competent in flour production if he possess the skills, knowledge and attitude required to
engage in flour production enterprise effectively. Such as person, according to Ehiametalor (1999) is
expected to poses planning, production, marketing and record – keeping competencies. He explained
planning as a deliberate effort made by the entrepreneur to arrange his production activities in order, and
markets as the performance of business activities that directs the flow of goods and services from the
production to end users. Record – keeping on the other hand is the compilation of business transaction,
facilities and events in an enterprise (IITA, 2006). The acquisition of these competencies, it is hoped, could
help the entrepreneur to avoid bad management practices that may show up later as heavy financial loss
(Etuk, 1993). It is expected that the acquisition of the relevant competencies, by retirees could enhance, that
is, improve the economic status of those of them in cassava flour production business.
At present, many people in the Nigeria are not in flour production enterprises because they lack
the competencies to produce and market flour for profit (NCCPE, 2003). To reverse the trend, it becomes
necessary to identify those competencies for use by agriculture extension agents to equip the entrepreneurs
with competencies.
Purpose of the Study
This study was undertaken to identify the competencies required by the retirees to run their
cassava flour production enterprise effectively. Specifically, the study sought to identify competencies
required by retirees to:
(1) plan cassava flour enterprise,
(2) process cassava roots to HQCF,
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(3) market high quality cassava flour, and
(4) keep record in flour production enterprise.
To guide the study, the following research questions were posed;
(1) What competencies are required by retirees for planning cassava flour production enterprise?
(2) What competencies are required by retiree’s for processing cassava to HQCF?
(3) What competencies are required by retirees for marketing of HQCF?
(4) What competencies are required by retirees for keeping records in cassava flour production
enterprises?
Also, the following hypotheses were tested by the study at 0.05 level of significance.
(1) There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of Entrepreneurs and Agricultural
Extension Agents on competencies required by retirees for planning cassava flour enterprise.
(2) There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of Entrepreneurs and Agricultural
Extension Agents on competencies required by retirees for processing cassava roots to HQCF
(3) Entrepreneurs in flour production and Agricultural Extension Agents do not differ
significantly in their opinion on competencies required by retirees for marketing HQCF.
(4) Entrepreneurs in flour production and Agricultural Extension Agents do not differ
significantly in their opinion on competencies required by retirees for keeping records in flour
production enterprise.
Methodology
The study was carried out in Enugu and Anambra States of Nigeria. The study adopted a survey
research design. The population of the study was 164, which consisted 48 entrepreneurs in cassava flour
enterprises and 116 agricultural extension agents. Both group of respondents were identified through the
agricultural development programme (ADP) of the two states. The respondents were used in the study to
identified the competencies required for success in flour production enterprises because they are familiar
with these competencies. The population was small; therefore, sampling was not necessary. Since, the
competencies in flour production enterprise are universally technical; the findings of the study therefore,
could be generalized.
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The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire developed from literature review
and information sought from flour production industries. The questionnaire was made up of parts one and
two. Part one was used to obtained information on the personal characteristics of the respondents, while
part two, which addressed the study consisted of items. Part two is also divided into four sections namely:
planning, production, marketing and record – keeping. The questionnaire was a – 4 point response scale of
Highly Required (HR), Required (R), Required Little (RL) and Not Required (NR). Numerical values 4, 3,
2, and 1 were assigned to the items in that order.
Three experts, are one each from the Agricultural Education Unit of Department of Vocational
Teacher Education, Agricultural Economics and Food Science and Technology, all from the University of
Nigeria validated the instrument. The reliability of the instrument was determined using cronbach alpha
method to obtain a coefficient of 0.84. Copies of the questionnaire were administered on the respondents by
five agricultural extension agents, who also assisted the respondents to complete the questionnaire. The
questionnaire were retrieved on completion and analyzed using mean, standard deviation to answer the
research questions and t-test statistic to test the hypotheses. To draw conclusion on the respondents’ degree
of agreement or disagreement to the items in the questionnaire, real limit of numbers was adopted as shown
below:
Nominal value Real limits of numbers Scaling statement
4 3.50 – 4.00 Highly required
3 2.50 – 3.49 Required moderately
2 1.50 – 2.49 Required little
1 0.50 – 1.49 Not required
Items with mean value of 2.50 and above were required while those with mean ratings less than
2.50 were considered not required.
The standard deviation was used to validate the values of the mean that is, to support the reliability
of the mean values. Accordingly, any item with a standard deviation value below 2.02 showed that the
respondents were close to the mean and one another in their responses. The null hypotheses of no
significant difference were upheld for any item whose t-calculated value is less than t-table value and
rejected if otherwise.
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Results
Table 1:
Mean and t-test result of entrepreneurs of cassava flour enterprise and agricultural extension
agents on competencies required by retirees in planning for cassava flour enterprise (N 1 = 116, N2 = 48; N1
= Entrepreneurs, N2 = Agricultural extension agents)S/No Competencies Sd1 Sd2 t-cal Remark
1 Set goals for cassava flour production occupation. 3.17 0.57 3.23 0.60 -0.19 R/**
2 Identify major activities (unit operation) to be carried out to
meet the flour production objective.
2.83 0.57 2.73 0.48 0.319 R/**
3 Identify customers for cassava flour to be produced 3.67 0.67 3.50 0.26 0.73 R/**
4 Decide how to get money for flour production 3.50 0.30 3.46 0.39 0.12 R/**
5 Determine the scale of production 3.00 0.40 3.37 0.24 -1.59 R/**
6 Locate suitable site for the building of flour processing. 3.83 0.67 3.80 0.17 0.83 R/**
7 Identify competent personnel(s) to work in cassava flour
production enterprise.
3.33 0.27 2.93 0.41 1.44 R/**
8 Select NAFDAC approved machines, tools and materials for
the production, storage and marketing of high quality cassava
flour.
2.83 0.57 2.80 0.44 0.11 R/**
9 Arrange for regular supply of sweet cassava varieties for
processing into high quality flour.
3.00 0.40 2.96 0.65 0.10 R/**
10 Decide quality control activities to adopt in the production of
HQCF.
3.33 0.67 3.03 0.65 0.87 R/**
11 Arrange for the registration of cassava production enterprise
with NAFDAC and/or other relevant regulatory bodies.
2.67 0.27 3.80 0.16 -6.00 R/**
12 Decide how to dispose off cassava by-products and wastes 3.50 0.70 3.30 0.22 0.83 R/**
13 Budge for the identified activities of the cassava flour
enterprise.
2.83 0.17 3.70 0.22 -4.23 R/**
Key: R = Required, ** = Not significant, t-tab = 2.02.
The data presented in Table 1 showed that all the items were required for planning flour
production enterprise. The table further revealed that all the items had their t-calculated value less than t-
table value of 2.02 (two tailed test). Therefore, there was no significant difference in the mean ratings of the
responses of the two groups of respondents on competencies for planning cassava flour enterprise.
Therefore, the null hypotheses of no significant difference is upheld for the competencies for planning.
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Table 2:
Mean and t-test result of entrepreneurs of cassava flour enterprise and agricultural extension
agents on competencies required by retirees for processing cassava roots to HQCF
(N = 116, N2 = 48; N1 = Entrepreneurs, N2 = Agricultural Extension Agents)
S/No Competencies Sd1 Sd2 t-cal Remark
1 Check whether facilities and process used in the production
of HQCF are in line with NAFDAC specifications.
3.17 0.57 3.40 0.25 -0.96 R/**
2 Measure known quantities of cassava roots for processing
into HQCF.
2.67 0.67 3.50 0.26 -3.30 R/*
3 Peel cassava roots with stainless steel knives or peelers 2.83 0.57 2.57 0.54 1.09 R/**
4 Wash cassava roots in rust-free containers with clean water
to remove pieces of peel, sand dirts.
3.00 0.40 3.33 0.22 1.48 R/**
5 Grate cassava root to a mash using rust-free mechanical
grater.
3.67 0.27 3.36 0.24 1.36 R/**
6 Pack cassava mash or paste into polypropylenes bags (sacks)
and dewater out moisture
3.33 0.67 3.30 0.28 0.13 R/**
7 Break cassava cake formed into small pieces 2.67 0.27 3.57 0.25 3.98 R/*
8 Dry cassava materials artificially using rotary or flash dryer. 2.50 0.30 2.63 0.31 -0.537 R/**
9 Grind (mill) the dried cassava mash into flour using pin mill. 3.67 0.27 3.33 0.44 1.16 R/**
10 Sieve cassava flour using mechanical or manual sieve 3.00 0.40 2.87 0.40 0.4 R/**
11 Test the moisture content of cassava flour using moisture
meter.
3.83 0.17 3.67 0.23 0.79 R/**
12 Run off flour from the sieve into polypropylene bags. 3.83 0.17 3.57 0.25 1.21 R/**
13 Package HQCF of known weights in polypropylene bags in
line with NAFDAC specifications.
3.33 0.27 3.27 0.20 0.32 R/**
14 Store cassava flour in cool dry place 3.67 0.27 3.37 0.24 1.35 R/**
Key: R = Required, ** = Not significant, * = Significant, t-tab = 2.02.
Table 2 revealed that the 14 competencies for processing cassava to HQCF were above the cut off
point of 2.50. This implies that all the items were required by retirees for producing high quality cassava
flour. The result also revealed that all the items except item 7, had their t-calculated value less than the t-
table value of 2.02 (two tailed test). Therefore, there was no significant difference in the mean ratings of the
responses of the two groups of respondents on competencies required for producing HQCF. Therefore, the
hypotheses of no significant difference were upheld for these items. Item 7, showed a significant difference
in the mean ratings of the two groups of respondents. Therefore, the hypothesis of no significant difference
of the respondents is rejected for item 7.
Table 3:
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Mean and t-test result of entrepreneurs of cassava flour enterprise and agricultural
extension agents on competencies required by retirees for market HQCF.
S/No Competencies Sd1 Sd2 t-cal Remark
1 Package HQCF in polythene bags for sale and ensure they
are in line with NAFDAC guidelines
3.17 0.57 2.97 0.59 0.59 R/**
2 Record the tonnage or number of bags of HQCF produced
and ready for sale.
3.33 0.67 3.00 0.34 1.19 R/**
3 Fix prices of flour based on approved standardized weights
and measures.
2.83 0.57 2.53 0.33 1.12 R/**
4 Promote the sale of HQCF by using correct advertisement
messages, personal contact, and the media.
3.83 0.16 3.23 0.32 2.45 R/*
5 Sale HQCF in individuals/industries and export market. 3.17 0.56 3.33 0.22 -0.58 R/**
6 Determine when to sell HQCF for maximum profit. 3.83 0.17 2.87 0.67 2.80 R/*
Key: R = Required, * = significant, ** = not significant, t-tab = 2.02.
Data presented in Table 3 revealed that all the items had means values of 2.50, implying that all
the items were required for marketing cassava flour. The result also indicated that the competency items 1,
2, 3 and 5 had their t-calculated value less than t-table value of 2.02 (two tail test). Therefore, the
hypotheses of no significant difference between the ratings of the two groups of respondents is upheld for
these items. However, item 4 and 6 had a t-calculated value of 3.45 and 2.80 respectively which are greater
than the table value of 2.02. This shows that there is significant difference in the mean ratings of the two
groups of respondents. Therefore, the hypothesis of no significant difference in the mean ratings of
entrepreneurs and agricultural extension agents is rejected for the item 4 and 6.
Table 4:
Mean and t-test result of entrepreneurs of cassava flour enterprise and agricultural
extension agents on competencies required by retirees for keeping records in flour
production enterprise.
S/No Competencies Sd1 Sd2 t-cal Remark
1 Occasionally check whether raw materials, facilities and
flour produced still conform to NAFDAC specifications.
3.00 0.80 2.87 0.67 0.36 R/**
2 Carry out routine quality control tests to maintain the
moisture content and colour of flour produced.
2.67 0.27 3.03 0.52 -0.18 R/**
3 Keep daily activity records to know quality of flour
produced, sold or kept (in store) at any time.
2.67 0.67 2.96 0.59 -0.87 R/**
4 Keep statement of income and expenditure of the cassava
flour enterprise to determine whether the enterprise is
making a profit or loss.
3.60 0.27 3.47 0.39 0.73 R/**
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5 Prepare profit and loss accounts of the cassava flour
enterprise to determine the performance of the enterprise.
2.67 0.27 2.97 0.31 1.22 R/**
R = Required, ** = Not significant, t-tab = 2.02.
Data presented in Table 4 showed that all the items had mean values of above the cut off point of
2.50, indicating that they were all required for record keeping in flour production enterprise. The result also
indicated that all the t-calculated values were less than t-table value of 2.02 (two tail test). Therefore, the
hypothesis of no significant difference between the mean ratings of the two groups of respondents were
upheld.
Discussions
The result of the data on Table 1 showed 13 competencies which the retirees require for success in
flour production enterprise. They include setting goals for the production of HQCF, identification of major
activities of flour production and identification of customers for cassava flour etc. This is consistent with
the submission of Olaitan and Mama (2001) who outlined activities that should be carried out when
planning agricultural projects. Location of suitable site for the building of flour production enterprise (item
5) also had high mean score. This could be explained by various factors. According to Dabson and Malkin
(2003), in addition to the provision of human and material resources, good business site promotes increased
sales.
The result of the data on Table 2 revealed that ability to peel, wash and great cassava roots to
specifications as well as drying and milling are some of the competencies entrepreneurs require for the
production of HQCF. This confirmed a study carried out by O’Brien and Jones (1994) which found out that
the production steps for HQCF consisted of peeling, washing, chipping, drying milling, screening and
packaging.
The findings on the marketing of HQCF in Table 3 validated an opinion expressed by IITA (2006)
and Kotler (2003). According to them, entrepreneurs should stimulate the demand of their product through
aggressive advertisement, proper packaging of products and correct pricing. It is also a good marketing
strategy to find out the period when HQCF is highly demanded in order to produce more (Ukpore, 2006).
The result of the data in Table 4 also revealed that the ability to keep daily activity record, prepare
profit and loss account among others are the competencies the processor should poses in order to
effectively run cassava production enterprise. This is in agreement with the submission of IITA (2006) that
proper record keeping of transaction in agricultural enterprises promote good business habit and helps in
the evaluation of the business venture.
It was also found out that significant difference does not exist in the mean ratings of the responses
of the respondents, between agricultural extension agents and practicing entrepreneurs in cassava flour
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industries implying that the null hypotheses were upheld. In other words, the respondents hold the same
opinion on the competencies required for success in flour production. Therefore, the findings are hereby
sustained by the information obtained from literature as very basic to success in cassava flour production
enterprise.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The study established that certain competencies were required for enhancing the participation of
retirees in cassava flour production enterprises. They are in the area of planning, production, marketing and
record – keeping competencies. Therefore, retirees should acquire these competencies to enable them
operate cassava flour production enterprises effectively. The study had therefore made the contributions to
knowledge in the cassava industry. It is therefore recommended that the findings of the study be made
available to skill – acquisition centres for training retirees, entrepreneurs, agricultural extension programme
planners and agricultural science teachers to train their subjects for competences in flour production and
entrepreneurship.
References Agulanna, E.C. and Agulanna, G.G. (2003). Management of retirement and ageing. Owerri: Joe Mankpa
Publishers.
Camara, Y. (2000). Profitability of cassava production systems in West Africa: A comparative analysis (Cod’voire, Ghana and Nigeria). Ph.D Dissertation. Michigan: Michigan State University.
Dabson, B. and Malkin, S. (2003). Mapping rural entrepreneurship. Missouri Columbia: Kellog Foundations and Corporation for Enterprise Development.
Denton, F.T; Azogu, M.K; Ukoli, M.K; Adewoye, M.O; Olomon, V.O. and Achem, B.A. (2005). Cassava based recipes for household utilization and income generation. Abuja: FMARD.
Ehiametalor, E.I. ed. (1999). The business enterprise in Nigeria. Ikeja: Longman Nigeria Plc.
Etuk, E.J. (1993). Foundations of modern business management. Calabar: University Press.
IITA, (2005). High quality cassava flour flyer. Ibadan, Nigeria: IITA.
IITA, (2006). Marketing of cassava products flyer. Ibadan, Nigeria: IITA – ICP.
IITA, (2006). Record – keeping in cassava enterprises flyer. Ibadan, Nigeria: IITA.
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) (1990). Cassava in tropical Africa: A reference manual. Ibadan, Nigeria: IITA.
Kotler, P. (2001). Marketing management, 10th ed. New Jersey: Prentice – Hall Inc.
National Committee on Cassava Production and Export (2003). An implementation plan submitted to the honourable minister of agriculture and rural development. Abuja: FMARD.
O’Brien, G.M. and Jones, D.M. (1994). Processing Approaches to Optimizing Raw materials and end product Quality in the Production of Cassava flours. In: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Cassava Safety of the International Society for Horticultural Science, held in Ibadan, Nigeria, March 1 – 4, 100 – 183.
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Olaitan, S.O. and Ali, A. (1997). The making of curriculum. Theory, process, products and evaluation. Onitsha: Cape Publishers Ltd.
Olaitan, S.O. and Mama, R.O. (2001). Principles and practice of school farm management. Owerri: Cape Publishers Int. Ltd.
Ukpore, B. (2006). Fundamentals of consumer education. Ibadan: Spectrum books.
Umanah, E. (2005). Cassava production, utilization and trade. Uyo: University Press.
125
MOTIVATIONAL INITIATIVES REQUIRED FOR RETAINING AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ON THE JOB IN POST PRIMARY SCHOOL IN ENUGU STATE
BY
Dr (Mrs) J. A. UKONZEDEPARTMENT OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKAEmail: [email protected]
Phone: 08037425283
AbstractThe study was carried out to identify motivational initiatives required for retaining Agricultural Science Teacher on the job in post primary schools in Enugu State. Two research questions were posed and answered while two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at p≤ = 0.05 at relevant degree of freedom. Survey research design was adopted for the study. A 52 item structured questionnaire was developed from the literature reviewed for the study and used for obtaining data. The target population for the study was 179, made up of 105 Agricultural Science Teachers, 20 Inspectors from the Ministry of Education, and 54 school Administrators (Principals). The structured questionnaire was face validated by three experts. The Cronbach alpha method was used to determine the internal consistency of the questionnaire items and a coefficient of 0.90 was obtained. The questionnaire was administered on 179 respondents. They were retrieved and analyzed. The weighted mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, t-test statistics was used to test hypotheses 1 while Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test hypotheses 2. The findings of the study revealed 17 causes why teachers abandon their jobs, and 25 motivational initiatives. It was therefore recommended that government of Enugu State should give high motivation, incentives to Agric Teachers to encourage them in putting in their best to produce useful students who are our future hopes since Agricultural science is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy.
Introduction
Agriculture has traditionally been characterized as the mainstay of the Nigerian economy
with many assigned roles to perform in the course of the country’s economic development.
Among the roles conventially ascribed to the agricultural sector in a growing economy are those
of
1. supplying adequate raw materials to a growing industrial economy
2. providing adequate food for an increasing population
3. constituting major source of foreign exchange earnings
4. providing a market for the products of the industrial sector
5. Constituting the major sector of the employment.
The evaluation of the performance of the Nigerian agricultural sector should therefore be
based on the extent to which the above named notes have been significantly performed.
Education in agricultural science is needed to push the production function to higher frontier;
hence, the role of education in the growth and development of any nation cannot be over
emphasized (Lema 2004).
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Olu in Ukonze (2005), stated that agricultural education is designed to develop
knowledge and skills associated with various farming patterns such as ecology of soil, use of
fertilizer, insecticides, herbicides, cultural practices, harvesting and processing of farm products
and marketing. Our Agricultural science teachers need to be educated to utilize these facilities to
the maximum. As a matter of fact one lasting solution to our food problem as posited by Okorie
(2000) is the inevitable involvement of the young ones who will be the farmers of tomorrow. The
author went further to assert that the need to produce more food in the country demands that
every effort should be made to encourage the study of agriculture in schools. This had lead to the
inclusion of agricultural science as a pre-vocational subject for junior secondary school and a
vocational subject for senior secondary school as enshrined in the new National Policy on
Education (2004).
A practical oriented education in schools should serve as a surest way of
revamping our presently battered economy. Essentially, the basic ingredient for such a study,
which in turn makes for a functional education as envisaged in the New National curriculum in
Ifeanyeze and Ukonze (2008) stated the objectives of senior secondary school agricultural
education as to:
i. stimulate and sustain students interest in Agriculture
ii. enable student acquire basic knowledge and practical skill in agriculture
iii. prepare students for further studies in agriculture.
iv. To prepare and expose students to occupations and opportunities in the field of
agriculture.
Vocational Agriculture, therefore prepare students for useful living in the society as well. It
is the duty of the agricultural science teachers to make students realize the above mission
Agricultural science teachers in the post primary schools play vital roles in the
implementation of the agricultural science curriculum. They therefore need some kind of
encouragement to face the challenges. Some of this encouragement can be in the form of
motivation and initiating good ideas and programmes to keep them on their teaching jobs.
Honby (2001) defined initiative as a new plan for dealing with a particular purpose.
Rundell (2003) also defined initiative as an important new plan or process that has been stated in
order to achieve a particular motive or solve a particular problem. Motivation has been viewed by
Olaitan (2003) as the desire, needs, interest that can arouse one towards achieving an objective.
It is a driving factor that can cause somebody to act positively or negatively towards a situation. In
Agricultural Education, motivation could mean pleasant incentives to help teachers achieve their
objectives. In the context of this study, the problem is how to retain agricultural science teachers
on the job in post primary school in Enugu State of Nigeria. Ideas and activities generated and
utilized to retain agricultural science teachers on the job will go a long way motivating them to
retain their job. Motivational initiatives therefore are those actions put in place by school
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administration, government, communities and companies to help agricultural science teachers in
post primary schools to stay on the job. The absence of motivational initiative could influence
Agricultural science teachers not to stay on the job.
However, experience and observation by the researcher show that despite the availability
of facilities in schools, most of the qualified agricultural science teachers are abandoning teaching
profession for some reasons not yet known. The result of this is that even though students are
willing to learn, there are inadequate qualified agricultural sciences teachers to teach them, hence
the few qualified teachers that are on the job could not do much to equip the students with work
skills to enable them find jobs after graduation. It has been observed that the remaining
agricultural science teachers on the job in Enugu Post Primary Schools are still looking for better
opportunities for their comfort which may likely complicate the situation in teaching of Agriculture
in the schools. If the situation goes on without any remedy there will be the possibility of increase
in unemployment, delinquency and crime among secondary school graduate and there peers in
the society.
To arrest this situation, it is therefore necessary to identify motivational initiatives that
could be utilized for retaining Agricultural Science Teachers on the job in post primary schools in
Enugu State.
Specifically the study sought to:
1. Find out reasons why agricultural science teachers abandon their teaching job for other
occupational area.
2. Identify motivational initiatives that could be used to retain agricultural science teachers
on their job in post primary schools in Enugu State.
Methodology
Two research questions were asked and answered while two null hypotheses were
formulated and tested at p ≤=.05 level of significant at relevant degree of freedom. Survey
research design was adopted for the study. The population for the study was 179 made up of 105
Agricultural Science Teachers in post primary schools, 20 inspectors from the ministry of
Education, and 54 School Administration (principals) in Enugu State. The population was small
and therefore no sampling was involved in the study.
A structured questionnaire made up of 69 items was developed from literature and used
for eliciting information from the respondent. Each questionnaire item was assigned a four point
scale of highly required/strongly agree, required/agree, slightly required/disagree and not
required/strongly disagree with the corresponding value of 4, 3, 2, and 1 respectively. Three
experts, one from state ministry of Education and two from school principals’ face validated the
questionnaire items. Cronbach alpha reliability. Method was used to determine the internal
consistency of the questionnaire items and the coefficient of 0.09 was obtained. The
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questionnaire was administered to 179 respondents by the researcher with the help of three
research assistants. 176 questionnaires were retrieved from the respondent representing 99%
return.
The weight mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, t-
test statistics was used to test hypotheses 1 while Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to
test hypotheses 2. A cutoff point (arithmetic mean) of 2.50 and above was used to determine the
items that are regarded as motivational initiates required for retraining Agricultural teachers on
the job, while any item with mean rating below 2.50 was regarded as not required for motivating
Agric teachers on the job. The standard deviation was used to determine the closeness or
otherwise of the opinion of the respondents from the mean. Any item with a standard deviation of
1.96 and below showed that the respondents were close to the mean while any item with a
standard deviation above 1.96 showed that the respondents were not close to the mean and
therefore the item is less reliable. The null hypothesis of no significant difference was accepted
for any item whose t or f-calculated value was less than the t or f- table value and rejected if
otherwise. The critical ratio (E2) was used to determine the variables that were explained. A high
E2 showed that many variables were explained but a low E2 indicated that a few variables were
not explained relevant to the problem being investigated. A negative E2 showed that the variables
explained were at variance with the problem being investigated and rendered the finding on the
item unreliable.
Results
The results of the study were obtained from the research questions answered and the
hypotheses tested. They were presented in tables 1 and 2 below.
Research question 1
What are the reasons why agricultural science teachers abandon their teaching job
to other occupational areas in Enugu State?
Hypothesis 1
There is no significant difference between the mean response of Agricultural Science
teachers and school administrator on the causes of agricultural science teachers leaving their
jobs in post primary schools in Enugu State.
Table 1: Mean ratings, Standard deviation and t-test analysis of the responses of
Agricultural Science teachers and school administrators on reasons why Agricultural
Science teachers abandon their teaching job.
N-159
Item
No.
Item Statement X SD t-cal t-tab HO
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1 Frequent transfers. 2.98* 0.97 .980 1.96 NS
2 Inadequate opportunities for further studies 2.96* .777 1.45 1.96 NS
3 Irregularly payment of salary 3.06* .865 1.32 ” ”
4 Denial of some allowances 3.10* .647 1.78 ” ”
5 Unstable government policies on agriculture 3.56* .471 1.89 ” ”
6 National hazard/environment degrading 3.44* .993 1.92 ” ”
7 Inadequate provision of basic social amenities 3.21* .939 1.72 ” ”
8 Poor financial status of Agric teachers 3.67* .951 1.68 ” ”
9 Inadequate teaching facilities 2.77* .977 .765 ” ”
10 Inadequate number of agricultural teachers in
some schools
3.33* 1.50 .999 ” ”
11 Late promotion prospects 3.87* .496 1.43 ” ”
12 Marriages and disengage from teaching 2.85* .647 1.21 ” ”
13 Lack of well equipped land laboratories,
laboratories/workshop for effective teaching
2.56* .815 1.04 ” ”
14 Harsh school administrator 3.80* .272 1.32 ” ”
15 Threats on teacher job such as retrenchment 2.76* .368 .819 ” ”
16 Better offer of opportunities for a job in
industries
2.66* .707 1.01 ” ”
17 Non-provision for car and housing loans 3.68* .487 1.67 ” ”
* = Agree, SD = Standard Deviation, NS = Not Significant
Table 1 revealed that the mean ratings of Agricultural Science Teachers and School
Administration ranged from 2.56 – 3.87 respectively. This showed that the means were above
the cut-off point of 2.50, indicating that the respondents agreed to all the items as reasons why
Agric teachers abandon their teaching job. The standard deviation of each item from the mean
ranged from .272 – 1.50, indicating that the respondent were not too far from the mean and from
one another in their responses. This adds further validity to the mean.
Table 1 further revealed that all the 17 items had their t-cal values less than t-tab values
at .05 levels of significant and 157 degree of freedom. This indicated that there was no significant
difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the respondent on reasons why Agric teacher
abandon their teaching job in Enugu state, therefore the null hypothesis of no significant
difference is upheld.
Research Question 2
What are the motivational initiatives that could be used to retain agric science teachers
on their job in post primary school in Enugu State?
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Hypothesis2
Agricultural Science Teachers, School Administrators, Directors of the Ministry of
Education, do not differ significantly in their opinion on the motivational initiatives that could be
used to retain agric science teachers on their job in post primary school in Enugu
Table 2: Mean ratings Standard deviation and analysis of variance on the responses of the
Agric Teachers, school administrators and Directors of the Ministry of Education on the
Motivational initiatives that could be used to retain agric science teachers on their job.
N-174
Item No.
Item statement X SD Resid TSS f-cal f-tab E2 RK
1 Agric Science teachers should be allotted jobs based on their area of specialization
2.10 0.87 181.42 228.18 1.03 4.46 0.21 **NS
2 Agric science teachers should be elevated at the correct time.
3.12 0.96 152.42 152.10 0.75 “ 0.18 *NS
3 Agric science teachers and their families should be provided with health care facilities
3.46 0.78 146.75 204.92 1.78 “ 0.29 *NS
4 Insurance courage should be provided to agric teachers against accident and other hazards
3.28 0.69 98.67 131.08 1.64 “ 0.25 *NS
5 Agric teachers should be involved in taking decision on issues concerning them and their school.
3.19 0.99 108.00 147.21 2.00 “ 0.27 *NS
6 Facilities for leisure should be provided in school for teachers of agric to enjoy.
3.47 1.08 98.67 131 1.64 “ 0.25 *NS
7 School administrators should sympathize with agric teachers by assisting them in time of economic difficulty.
2.34 1.21 117.13 187.00 0.23 “ 0.05 **NS
8 Motivation, incentives and remuneration should be given to Agric science teachers to enable them perform better.
2.90 1.06 227.42 295.56 0.20 “ 0.06 *NS
9 Agric science teachers should be assured of job security and post service benefit. It will enable them to open up and work harder.
2.87 1.07 105.47 126.92 0.92 “ 0.06 *NS
10 Agric science teachers should be allowed a fair share from the sales of the farm produce by students
3.44 1.24 68.80 99.08 2.20 “ 0.31 *NS
11 Motor cycle, car loans and regular maintenance allowance should be given to agric teachers
2.60 1.08 125.42 152.10 0.75 “ 0.8 *NS
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12 Agric science teachers should be sponsored to workshops, seminars, conferences in their area of specialization for them to update their knowledge
3.30 0.76 153.13 162.10 0.26 “ 0.6 *NS
13 Agric science teachers should be assigned responsibilities and given authority to carry out such responsibilities
2.08 1.05 148.08 180.10 0.76 “ 0.18 **NS
14 In case of delayed salary, allowances, increment or promotion. Government should open up friendly communication and discuss with teachers of agric
3.35 0.91 216.80 247.08 0.70 “ 0.02 *NS
15 Administrators should minimize antagonism, dictatorship and witch-hunting of Agric-science teachers
2.37 0.94 70.00 109.21 3.08 “ 0.34 **NS
16 Conducive working environment such as good laboratory, adequate teaching facilities should be made available for agric teachers by the school administrator.
2.55 1.05 147.09 179.09 0.76 “ 0.19 *NS
17 Government should ensure regular review of teachers wages and benefit to meet economic realities
3.35 0.80 104.46 125.91 0.90 “ 0.17 *NS
18 Government should assist agric teachers in the sponsorship of exhibitions shows to show case product produced by students in school
3.20 0.93 150.12 160.10 0.25 “ 0.08 *NS
19 Accommodation should be provided to Agric teachers in the sponsorship of exhibitions shows case product produced by students in school when due
3.38 1.08 97.66 130.07 1.62 “ 0.24 *NS
20 Some part of the community land could be given to school for agricultural purposes where the school do not have enough farm land, fair share of such land should be given to agric teacher
2.98 0.75 116.12 186.01 0.25 “ 0.06 *NS
21 Some privileges should be given to agric science teachers to facilitate teaching
2.77 1.11 93.76 129.07 1.64 “ 0.25 *NS
22 Books and other educational materials should be donated to agric science teachers to facilitate teaching
2.89 1.12 222.40 294.52 0.23 “ 0.07 *NS
23 Pay allowance to agric science teachers who are on in- service
3.33 0.99 72.05 150.45 2.19 “ 0.53 *NS
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programmes24 Cash awards should be given
to agric science teachers who have distinguished themselves in their profession
3.47 0.86 133.40 142.91 0.71 “ 0.15 *NS
25 Sponsor the raining of youths who are interested in teaching agric within their environment after graduation.
2.29 0.56 60.43 107.17 2.05 “ 0.42 **NS
**= Not Required, *= Required, SD=Standard Deviation, NS= Not Significant
Table 2 showed that 21 out of 25 items has their mean values ranged from 2.55 – 3.60. This
signified that the means were above the cut off point of 2.50, indicating that the respondents
agreed with 21 out of 25 items as motivational initiatives that could be used to retain agric science
teachers on their job. Table 2 also indicated that standard deviation of 25 items were less (0.56 –
1.24) than 1.96. This showed that the respondents were not too far from the mean and from the
opinion of one another in their responses on motivational initiatives that could be used to retain
agric science teachers on their job, meaning that the items were valid. The table also revealed
that respondents reacted very low to items 1, 13, 15, and 25 which is below the cut off point of
2.50.
Furthermore, all the items had their f-calculated values less than their table values. This
indicated that there was no significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the three
groups of the respondent on motivational initiatives that could be used to retain agric science
teachers on their job. The E2 ranged from (0.02 – 0.52) which were positive but low, indicating
that only few characteristics of the respondents were explained and used for judgment. That is,
the job characteristics of the respondents did not significantly influence their opinions on
motivational initiatives.
Discussion of Results
The findings of the study revealed 15 reasons why agricultural science teachers abandon
their teaching job to other occupational areas (see table 1). The findings agree with the opinion of
Agabi (1992) who explained that the massive movement of technical and vocational teachers to
private and public sector jobs is because of poor salary and allowances, irregular promotion and
social status of teachers which is also associated with low respect for teachers on their job. The
findings were also in agreement with Abbas (1993) who emphasized that technical and vocational
teachers leave teaching for other jobs due to poor salary, unsatisfactory fringe benefits and
inadequate staff development programme. Supporting the findings Aleyideino (2000) remarked
that the factors responsible for teachers leaving their job include low wages, low status, and
unsatisfactory allowances like leave grant, rent subsidy, transport allowances and other fringe
benefits such as car and housing allowance, salary and so on are not paid. The author further
133
stated that some schools teach agric science without laboratories and vocational subjects without
workshops and school farm and this could be frustrating to the teachers.
The findings of the study as revealed in (table 2) indicated that twenty-one motivational
initiatives for retaining Agricultural Science teachers on the job were identified. The findings of the
study were also in agreement with the view of Olaitan (1996) who explained that vocational
teachers should undergo regular retaining through workshops, in service training programmes
and conferences as these will help teachers to stay on the job. The findings of the study were
also in line with Abbas (1991), Olaitan (1996) and Aleyideino (2000) who emphasized the wages
of teachers should be made attractive through high pay and other incentives in order to retain
them on the job. The findings are also in agreement with Nwafor (2000) who stipulated that
vocational and technical teachers need books and educational facilities to function effectively in
teaching. The author further stated that school administrators should be flexible and mild in
reprimanding Agricultural Science teachers that use school facilities to achieve some private
objectivities of their own. Nwaokolo (1996) in his view recommended that teachers should be
made comfortable in their environment. For example, teachers should not be allowed to be many
in a small office and share tables and chairs like students.
Conclusion / recommendation
Education and how it is delivered lies at the very core of any society’s effort to improve
itself. It opens the door to national prosperity and fulfillment and to the individual happiness which
they seek for themselves and their families. It is indisputable that a well-educated nation has
better prospects for success than ill-educated one (Aina 2006). Agricultural science teachers are
the culprits that help in building our students that are the future hopes of tomorrow that will help to
build this nation in the area of food production. In that direction for us to have quality Agric
education in schools required that Agric Science teachers should be appropriately motivated so
that they will have the mind of putting in their best. Teaching facilities should be provided as well
as sponsoring teachers of agric on workshop, conferences so as to update their knowledge.
Reference:
Abbas, A. G. (1993). Mechanism in Retraining Technical Teachers in Vocational and Technical Institutions in Bauchi state unpublished M.Ed Thesis Department ofVocational Teacher Education University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Agabi, O. G. (1992). Arresting Problems of Teaching Manpower Shortage in Vocational/Technical Education in Niger Nigerian Vocational Journal 2(1), 68 – 72.
Aina, O. (2006). Challenges of Technical Development in Nigeria. The house Journal of Education
trust fund (ETF) 2(2) , 19 – 24.
134
Alayindeino, S. C. (2000). Teacher Production, Utilization and Turn Over Patterns in the Educational System in Nigeria in Isyaku K, Amkweze C. M. Maiyanga A. A. and Olokun G. (Eds). Teacher Production, Utilization and turnover patterns in Nig Kaduna NCE.
Federal Government of Nigeria (2004). National Policy on Education. Lagos: NERDC.
Hornby, (2001) Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (6th edition ) Oxford UniversityPress.
Ifeanyieze, F. O.. and Ukonze, J. A. (2008) Education Sector Reform in Nigeria What? Why? How? And Sustainability “The State of Implementation of Secondary School Agricultural Science Programme that Calls FOR Reform “ A Publication of the Institute of Education, University of Nigeria Nsukka
Nwaokolo, P. O. (1996) Technical Teachers, A group more Difficult to Recent yetmore Prone to the Depature Syndrom from the Secondary School Classroom in
Teacher Education. An imperative for national develop Kaduna NCCE
Okorie, J. U. (2000). Developing Nigerian Workforce. Macnky Environs PublishersCalabar, Nigeria.
Olaitan, S. O. (1996). Vocational Education in Nigeria Issues and Analysis Onitsha.Nobel Graphic Press
Olaitan, S.O. (2003). Understanding Curriculum. Nsukka: Ndudim Printing and Publishing Company.
Rundell, M. (2003). Macmillian School Dictionary, Malaysia: Bloomsburg Publishing
Ukonze, J.A. (2005). Non-Governmental Organization Intervention Capacity Building and Construction in Farmer Education Programme in South Eastern Nigeria. A Ph.D thesis presented to the department of vocational teacher education University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Unpublished
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EFFECT OF SIMULATION – GAME ONTEACHING AND LEARNING OF SIMPLE GEOMETRY
IN ENUGU STATE JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLSBY
DR. OMEMGBOJI EZEAMENYIDEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND COMPUTER EDUCATION
ESUT – ENUGU08085810820
Abstract This paper examines the Effect of Simulation – Game (SG) on the teaching and learning of simple geometry in Enugu State Junior Secondary Schools. Two research questions were formulated and answered using the mean. Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) developed by the researchers was used to collect the relevant data for this study. The two hypotheses raised were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at P < 0.05 level of significance. The results indicated that the researchers’ developed simulation – game cards (SGC) improved students’ achievement in simple geometry. Equally, female students benefited more than male students under the SGC. The researcher’s recommended among others that SG should be adopted as one of the teaching method in mathematics for effective simple geometry instructions in Junior Secondary Schools.
Introduction
The two broad aims of secondary education programme are:
* Preparation for useful living within the society and
* Preparation for higher education (Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN), 2004).
Mathematics played an important role in achieving these aims because it helps to develop the potentiality
of logical reasoning in students which will in turn help them in pursuance of their higher education.
Equally, mathematics helps to equip students with potentiality of qualification and application which will
then help them in their daily life activities for useful living within the society. However, despite the
compulsory nature accorded mathematics as this level, it is unfortunate that most secondary schools’
students still fear mathematics and achieve poorly in it. West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) (2006)
in its annual report expressed the view that ‘very poor achievement of students in mathematics in school
examinations is a good pointer to poor interest in mathematics. If this ugly trend is not discouraged in our
schools system by providing qualify adept mathematics teachers skilful in expressing mathematical
concepts using various strategies, mathematics at the secondary schools’ level will be under-achiever in this
21st century in Nigeria. The strategies mathematics teachers used in teaching mathematical concepts have
been blamed for this resultant effect (poor interest). The common strategy in use is the expository.
Expository method/strategy consist of the presentation of mathematical facts and principles by the teacher,
while, the students are mainly asked to listen and take notes. These facts and principles are drawn from
136
textbooks based on the stipulated contents and cognitive levels within the unit of instruction. The act of not
asking too much questions and answering them in expository method has resulted to poor achievement in
secondary schools mathematics examinations. Students need a change in teaching method to enhance good
achievement in mathematics examinations. To enhance good achievement among secondary schools
students in mathematics, the chief examiner of WAEC in 2002 advocated the use of effective and
motivating method in teaching and learning of mathematical concepts; but this must be in tune with the
modern scientific and technological dispensation as remedies to students’ poor academic achievement in
mathematics in both junior and senior secondary schools’ examinations. The needs for innovative methods
become necessary. These innovative methods are: target task, delay formalization, and simulation – game.
The researchers’ interest is on simulation – game method.
Ogbu (2006) defined Simulation – Game (SG) as a working representation of central features of
reality where competition is guaranteed with participants (students) acting some role bounds. Simulation –
Game represents reality but game is reality in itself. Simulation – Game Card (SGC) according to Ogbu
(2006) is a deck of square cards sorted out into 48 problem cards and 48 value cards. The use of simulation
– game cards is one of such interesting means of repeating the learning of mathematics associated with
stimulus. Simulation – game cards provides fascinating challenges to learners (students) and add interest,
activity and novel to the lesson (Anikweze, 1992). Simulation – game cards are important spurs to increase
motivation in the classroom instructions (Ogbu, 2006). Thus, simulation – game cards when played
recreate and refresh the mind of players, and by so doing making learning novel and non-monotonous.
Mogbo (1995) brought into sharp focus a simulative American experience where a lesson in astronomy was
so ingeniously arranged that the entire galaxy was vivified in authentic kaleidoscopic and spatial
dimensions. This is role – simulation and involves a real life situation where a learning experience is
simulated by means of a model. The researchers’ then want to find out whether the simulation – game
method is better than the expository method in enhancing mathematics students’ academic achievement at
the junior secondary school level. Gender disparity has been observed in mathematics students’ academic
achievement, but then, which of the gender – males and females would benefit more in the simulation –
game method?
137
Purpose of the Study
The aims of this study are:
1. to determine the effect of simulation – game method on students’ academic achievement in the
selected topics of Junior Secondary School (JSS) 2 mathematics.
2. to determine the effect of simulation – game on male and female students’ academic achievement
in mathematics.
Significance of the Study
The mathematics teachers, students and ministry of education will benefit from this study. The
students will benefit from the study because if the students understand better through the use of simulation
– game, they will achieve highly in internal and external examinations. The mathematics teachers will
benefit from the study because it will simplify their jobs of talking too much before students understand
their teaching. The ministry of education will benefit from the study because the programme of
mathematics education they oversee is yielding the desired result.
Research Questions of the Study
The study adopted the following research questions:
1. what are the mean achievement scores of JSS 2 mathematics students taught using simulation –
game and expository methods?
2. what are the mean achievement scores of the male and female JSS 2 mathematics students taught
using simulation – game cards?
Hypothesis of the Study
Two hypotheses (Ho1 and Ho2) were tested at P < 0.05 (level of significance). They are:
Ho1: there is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of JSS 2 mathematics students
taught with simulation – games and expository methods.
Ho2: there is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of male and female JSS 2
mathematics students taught using simulation – games.
Research Method
The study employed quasi-experimental design. Randomization was not possible since school
administrators could not allow alteration of the intact classes. This study was conducted in four single sex
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secondary schools in Enugu Education Zone of Enugu State. In each of the sampled schools, purposive
simple random sampling was used to pick two intact classes of JSS2. The JSS2 classes were randomly
assigned to experimental and control groups respectively. All together there were 147 students in the
experimental group and 145 students in the control group. The two groups of students were made to
respond to items on the Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) before and after being taught by
instructional methods mapped out for use in each case. The data collected were analyzed using mean to
answer the two research questions and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) to test the two hypotheses, at P
< 0.05 level of significance. The instruments used for collection of data were face validated by three
experts (two from mathematics education and one from measurement and evaluation). The content validity
was established using table of specification. Equally, the reliability estimate for stability of the instrument
was determined using test-retest method. The correlation of scores from first and second administration of
the test was calculated using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r). The correlation
coefficient (r) of the test was 0.83.
Results
Research question 1: What are the mean achievement scores of students taught using simulation – game
and expository methods?
Table 1: Mean achievement of JSS2 mathematics students taught using simulation –
games and expository methods.
Methods Groups Pre-Test Mean Post-Test Mean
Simulation – games Experimental (147) 22.86 53.07
Expository Control (145) 22.06 47.17
In table 1 above, the mean achievement in the post-test was 53.07 for the experimental group. The mean
achievement for the control group was 47.17. The results in table 1 above apparently show that the
experimental group achieved higher than the control group with mean difference of 5.90. It implies that
JSS2 students exposed to simulation – games instruction achieved better than the control group with
expository method.
Hypothesis (Ho1): There is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of JSS2 mathematics
students taught with simulation – games and expository method.
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Table 2: ANCOVA for JSS2 students mean achievement taught using simulation – games
and expository methods.
Source of Variation
Type III sum of square
Degree of freedom
Mean square
F Significant off Decision
Method 2698.077 1 2698.077 40.536 0.000 Significant
Interaction 11.464 1 11.464 0.172 0.678 Not significant
Resident 10126.312 4 2531.578 38.034
Table 2 above indicates that null hypothesis one was not accepted since [F (40.536) = 0.000; P < 0.05]. So,
the difference in the mean achievement of students taught with simulation – games and expository methods
was statistically significant. The means that method of teaching mathematical concepts has effect on JSS2
students in the mathematics achievement. Simulation – game method of teaching has effect on mathematics
students’ academic achievement better than the expository method.
Research Question 2: What are the mean achievement scores of male and female JSS2 mathematics
students taught using simulation – games.
Table 3: What are the mean achievement scores of male and female JSS2 mathematics
students taught using simulation – games.
Groups Per-Test Mean Post – Test Mean
Male 24.31 52.64
Female 21.63 53.69
The table 3 above, the mean achievement scores in the post-test for the male and female mathematics
students was 52.64 and 53.69 respectively. This apparently shows that female students benefited more than
their male counterparts under the simulation – game with 1.05 mean differences.
Hypothesis (H02): There is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of male and female
JSS2 mathematics students taught using simulation – games.
Table 4: ANCOVA for JSS2 students mean achievement according to gender taught using
simulation – games.
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Source of Variation
Type III sum of square
Degree of freedom
Mean square
F Significant off Decision
Gender 29.815 1 29.815 0.448 0.504 Not Significant
Interaction 11.464 1 11.464 0.172 0.678 Not significant
Resident 10126.312 4 2531.578 38.034
From table 4 above, the null hypothesis which states that there is no significant difference in the mean
achievement scores of gender (male and female) JSS2 mathematics students in Enugu State taught using
simulation-game was accepted since [F (0.448) = 0.504; P < 0.05]. Hence, the difference in the mean
achievement of male and female JSS2 mathematics students taught with simulation – games was not
statistically significant. Simulation – game reduces abstraction in classroom mathematics lessons and
boredom among students and mathematics teachers. Their energies are conserved. Nneji (2000) in her
findings detected that videotaped and other games instructions have the potentials of enhancing qualities of
good teaching and learning in science (mathematics).
Discussion of Findings
In table 1, the mean achievement of the mathematics students in experimental group in post-test is
apparently higher than those in the control group. This shows that the method applied produce positive
differential effects on mathematics students’ achievement in simple interest, profit and loss. From table 2,
the ANCOVA statistics showed that hypothesis one was not accepted since significant of F < 0.05. Hence,
the difference in the mean achievement of experimental group and control group of both methods
(simulation-game and expository) was statistically significant at P < 0.05. The result is in line with the
findings of Okeke (1999) and Onyegaegbu (1999), that instructional materials such as (videotaped, cards
game, etc) in teaching any mathematical concept is more effective than other methods of instruction
including the traditional (expository) method. Dale in Gbodi and Laleye (2006) findings asserted that
videotaped or other games instructions offer realities of experiences that simulates self-activities on the
mathematics students and develop their continuity of thought in mathematical concept quick understanding.
Table 3 and 4, revealed that the mean achievement of female students in mathematics in the post-
test is higher than that of male students in Enugu State. This finding agrees with Ozofor (2001) and Onoh
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(2005) who found that females achieved higher than males in mathematics academic achievement.
Apparently, females gained more in the use of the researchers’ self-made simulation – game cards. The
ANCOVA statistics showed that hypothesis two was accepted since significant of F > 0.05. Hence, the
difference in the mean achievement of male and female students in mathematics was not statistically
significant at P < 0.05. These findings are also in consonance with Gbodi and Laleye (2006) finding that no
significant main effect of sex (gender) on students’ achievement when teaching any concept irrespective of
the discipline. Alonge and Ojerinde in Gbodi and Laleye (2006) in their studies found that there was
significant difference in the achievement of male and female students, with the male students performing
better. However, this contradict this research finding that female students achieve better than their male
counterparts using the simulation – game in the teaching and learning of mathematical concepts.
Conclusion
From the findings of this study, simulation – games contribute a lot in mathematics students’
academic achievement in Enugu State Junior Secondary Schools. Hence, this study concluded and
advocated the use of simulation-games method in the teaching and learning of mathematical concepts in
Junior Secondary Schools. The implication of the findings is that simulation-games used by mathematics
students will make real participation and active observers in the teaching and learning process.
Mathematics teachers will also be satisfied in classroom instructions as simulation-games are novel and
enjoyable.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made:* students should be encouraged by mathematics teachers and school administrators to improve
simulation-game cards.* the serving mathematics teachers in secondary schools should adopt the use of well structured
simulation – games strategy in teaching mathematics lesson.* ministry of education in conjunction with Mathematics Association of Nigeria (MAN) should
organize workshops and seminars for mathematics teachers to enhance the need to teach mathematics using method that are characterized by simulation.
References
Anikweze, C. M. (1992). Improving the study of geography in models, games and simulations. Journal of teacher education. 1(2), 105 – 110.
Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) (2004). National Policy on Education (4th Edition). Lagos: NERDC Press.
142
Gbodi, E. & Laleye, A. M. (2006). Effect of Videotaped Instruction on Learning of integrated science. Journal of research in curriculum and teaching. 1(1), 10 – 19.
Mogbo, J. O. (1995). Assessing the Effectiveness of Improvisation as a Learning model in chemistry. Paper presented at the department of science and technical education, Faculty of Education Conference held at Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu.
Nneji, L. (2000). Video-Film as a science Teaching Tool. Journal of Science Teachers Association of Nigeria. 1(1), 143 – 145.
Ogbu, S. (2006). Effect of Simulation – Game on Students’ Achievement and Interest in Mathematics. Unpublished MSc Dissertation. Enugu: Enugu State University of Science and Technology.
Okeke, R. (1999). Improving Adult-Literacy Programme through Effective Media Utilization. Paper presented at NEERA conference in River State University of Science and Technology, Port – Harcourt.
Onoh, D. O. (2005). Effect of advance organization on students’ achievement, interest and retention in algebra. Unpublished PhD thesis. Enugu: Enugu State University of Science and Technology.
Onyegaegbu, N. (1999). Effects of video and audio rolling graph among students in achievement and retention in the understanding of schistosomiasis. Unpublished PhD thesis. Nsukka: University of Nigeria.
Ozofor, N. M. (2001). Effects of two modes of computer instruction on students’ achievement and interest in statistical and probability. Unpublished PhD thesis. Nsukka. University of Nigeria.
West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) (2002). Chief Examiner’s report, 35.
West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) (2006). Chief Examiner’s report, 42.
143
SCHOOL- BASED ASSESSMENT IN NIGERIAN SCHOOLS: THE NEED FOR TRAINING AND
RE-TRAINING OF TEACHERS.
BY
DR. (MRS) A. L. OGUNSOLA
NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONALPLANNING & ADMINISTRATION, (NIEPA),
P. M. B. 562, ONDO. ONDO STATE+234-(0) 805650908
E-mail: [email protected]
AbstractThe study examined school-based assessment in elementary science in primary schools in Edo
State. The population was the 1,256 primary schools. 130 primary schools, 520 teachers and 80 head teachers were sampled through cluster, stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Two research questions were raised and one hypothesis was postulated for the study. Two questionnaires were utilized to generate data. The study revealed that about 70% of the teachers kept school based assessment record and less than 10% actually assessed the three domains of learning. The study also found that a significant difference existed between the public and private primary school teachers’ effectiveness in keeping school based assessment record. It was recommended that training and re-training of teachers on importance of school based assessment be done regularly.
Introduction
To assess in education is to determine the extent of the performance of a student in a unit of
instruction or the overall progress of a student in school up to a particular point in time. Assessment and
schooling go hand in hand. The assessment of learners and learning is a regular practice in education and
are used to determine how far learner or mastered an education task or knowledge or how well an
educational process has addressed its objectives (Onjewu, 2007). According to Anikweze (2005:2)
assessment is the process of investigating the status or standard of learners’ attainment, with reference to
expected outcomes that must have been specified as objectives” when it concerns learners’ output. The
assessment of learners is often on-going in any school set –up.
School based assessment (SBA) is mostly used for the upgrading of students between levels and
final certification at the completion of study. Griffith (2005:2) wrote that the school based assessment is
“the process where students, as candidates undertake special assignment during the course of the school
year under the guidance of the teacher…… as part of a subject examination”. School based assessment
brings assessment and teaching together for the benefit of students and provide the teacher with the
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opportunity to participate in a unique way in the assessment process that leads to the final grade obtained
by his students.
An important principle of school based assessment is that the assessment is progressive or
continuous. One of the aims of school based assessment is to alleviate the peak pressure of a single final
examination. The one-shot test on which everything depends. This requires not only that assessment is
tailored to the way in which each subject syllabus is implemented by the school but also that assessment
occur progressively over the whole course of study. Maxwell (2004) wrote that progressive assessment
blurs the boundary between formative and summative assessment. All progressive assessment necessarily
involves feedback to the student about the quality of their performance. This can be expressed in term of
the student progress towards desired learning outcomes and suggested steps for further development and
improvement. For this reason, Njabili, Abedi, Magesse and Kalole (2005:2) added that the fundamental
role of assessment is to provide authentic and meaniful feedback for improving student learning,
instructional practice and educational options” which means that assessment is not and so should not be
seen as an end in itself but a means to a justifiable end of learning.
There are two main reasons for introducing school based assessment into the public examination
system according to Hong Kong Education Commission (2000). The first is to improve the validity of
assessments. Some important outcomes cannot be assessed within the context of a written examination,
particularly where they involve practical work, require special equipment and facilities ( e.g. laboratories,
studios, theatres and workshops) or involve extended amounts of time (e.g. to complete a research project,
create a portfolio of work or compose /design/make something).however, many of these assessments can
readily be assessed through school based assessment. The second main reason for introducing school based
assessment is to improve the reliability of assessments. Because they are typically based on multiple
observations of student over an extended period of time, school assessments, once they have been
moderated, provide a highly reliable assessment and in some cases are indeed a more reliable indication of
the true abilities of the students than their result on a ‘one-shot’ examination.
School based assessment consists of continuous assessment which requires teachers to keep
records of student performance on take-home assignment, tests, project, term papers, mock examinations
and other measurement procedures for the assessment of learners. Continuous assessment is crucial to
school based assessment. It usually forms a substantial component of school based assessment policy as its
forms about 30% of the final score. The continuous assessment policy according to Njabili et al (2005:4)
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“is entirely a school based assessment”. The continuous assessment is expected to assess the three domains
of learning namely congruities, affective and psychomotor domains.
The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which school based assessment in
elementary science is being carried out in primary schools in Edo State. To direct the study, two research
questions were raised and one hypothesis was formulated.
Research Questions
1. What percentage of the primary school teachers in Edo State kept school based assessment record
in elementary science?
2. What percentage of the primary school teachers examined the pupils on the 3- domains of
learning?
Hypothesis
Ho.1: There was no significant difference between the public and private primary
schools teachers’ effectiveness in keeping school based assessment record.
Research Methodology
The design of the study was descriptive survey which employed the ex post facto method
Population
All the one thousand two hundred and fifty six (1,256) primary schools in Edo State (970 public
and 286 private) as at 2006 School Census formed the population of the study.
Sample and Sampling Technique
A total of 130 primary schools (100 public and 30 private) and 520 classroom teachers (400 from
public and 120 from private) were sampled through cluster, stratified and simple random sampling
techniques. In addition, 80 head teachers (60 from public and 20 from private) were also sampled to
generate data on teachers’ effectiveness in keeping school based assessment records.
Instrumentation
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Two questionnaires were designed by the researcher to generate data for the study. The first
instrument comprised of two sections. Section 1 sought information about the school ownership, location,
etc. Section 2 required information on school based assessment records kept by the teachers, how the pupils
were assessed and which of the three domains of learning were actually assessed. The second instrument
was used to gather information on the effectiveness of the teachers in keeping school based assessment
records.
Validity and Reliability of Instruments
The face and content validity of the instruments were ensured using experts in measurement and
evaluation. The reliability of the questionnaires was determined by the use of split-half technique. A
correlation coefficient of 0.84 was obtained which was high enough to make the instruments to be largely
reliable.
Administration of the Instrument
The instruments were personally distributed to the subjects by the researcher and two research
assistants. The face to face interaction between the respondents and the researcher/ research assistants
yielded a high rate of return of all the questionnaires (600). This represented a 100 percent return rate.
Method of Data Analysis
The statistical tools employed in analyzing the research questions include frequency table,
average, and percentage. The hypothesis was tested using the t-test of difference.
Results
The findings of the study are presented and discussed below.
Research Question One.
What percentage of the primary school teachers in Edo State kept school based assessment record
in elementary science?
The result of the analysis is presented in table 1
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Table 1: Percentage of Primary School Teachers with School Based Assessment record in
Elementary Science.
School Type Total Sampled Total with SBA records Total without SBA records.
Public
Private
400 (76.9)
120 (23.1)
263 (65.8)
93 (77.5)
137 (34.3)
27 (22.5)
Total 520 (100.0) 356 (68.5) 164 (31.5)
Figures in parentheses represent %.
Source: Author’s Field Work
The data in table 1 revealed that out of the 400 teachers sampled in the public primary schools,
65.8% (263) kept school based assessment records in elementary science. In the private schools, 77.5% (93
out of 120) of the teachers had school based assessment records in elementary science. The data showed
that over 60% (68.5% precisely) of the sampled teachers kept school based assessment records in
elementary science while 31.5% representing 164 teachers of the 520 sampled teachers had no school based
assessment records.
Research Question Two
What percentage of the primary school teachers assessed the pupils on the 3- domains of
learning?
148
To answer question two, the result of the analysis is shown in table 2.
Table 2: Percentage of Teachers who Assessed the 3 domains of Learning.
School Type Total with Records No. who assessed the 3
domains
No. who assessed 2
domains
No. who assessed only
cognitive.
Public
Private
263
93
13 (4.9)
15 (16.1)
18 (6.9)
18 (19.4)
232 (88.2)
60 (64.5)
Total 356 28 (7.9) 36 (10.1) 292 (24.6)
Figures in parentheses represent %
Source: Author’s Field Work
The result in table 2 showed that the percentage of teachers who assessed the 3 domains of
learning in the public primary schools was 4.9 (13 teachers out of 263) while it was 16.1 (15 teachers out of
93) in the private schools. These amounted to 7.9% (28 of the 356 teachers with school based assessment
records). It was discovered from the analysis in table 2 that 6.9% (18 of 263) and 19.4% (18 of 93) of the
public and private primary schools teachers respectively assessed two of the 3 domains of learning mostly
cognitive and affective domains. The data in table 2 further revealed that most of the teachers assessed only
the cognitive domain. For instance, 88.2% (232) of the 263 teachers with SBA records in public primary
schools assessed their pupils only on the cognitive domain especially through class test while 64.5% (60) of
the 93 teachers that kept the SBA records in private schools also assessed only the cognitive domain.
Testing of Hypothesis.
This section presents the result of the hypothesis formulated and tested for the study at .05 level of
significance.
Ho. 1: There was no significant difference between the public and private primary
schools teachers’ effectiveness in keeping school based assessment record.
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The result obtained from the analysis in testing Ho.1 is shown in table 3.
Table 3: t-test of Public and Private Schools Teachers’ Effectiveness in Keeping
SBA Records.
Items No. of cases Mean Standard Deviation T-cal. T-crit. Decision
Public Teachers.
Private Teachers
60
20
3.0
3.9
.87
.79
2.31 1.96 Reject
Ho. 1
df = 78; P <. 05
Source: Author’s Field Work
The data in table 3 showed that the calculated t-value of 2.31 was more than the critical t-value of
1.96. This implied that the probability of difference being due to error is less than 5 out of 100 cases at .05
level of significance (that is, P< .05). Therefore, the null hypothesis of no significant difference between
the public and private primary schools teachers’ effectiveness in keeping school based assessment record is
rejected.
Discussion of Results
The analysis of data revealed that a large proportion of the teachers in the public and private
primary schools kept school based assessment records. 68.5% of the teachers kept school based assessment
records. This finding supports the finding of Onjewu (2007), Griffith (2005) and Ogonor (2007). The
implication of the finding is that less than 70% of the teachers are acting professionally to keep records of
students’ academic achievement which ought to be readily available in schools. The availability of
assessment records readily will provide the education stakeholders with the knowledge of the academic
progress or otherwise made by the students. It was also revealed that less than 10 % of the teachers actually
assessed the pupils on the 3 domains of learning with a significant proportion of the public primary schools
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not conforming to assessing the 3 domains of learning. The implication of this finding is that the
fundamental role of assessment to provide authentic and meaningful feedback for improving student
learning and instructional practice may not be realized. It therefore becomes necessary for teachers to be
skilled in conducting assessment programmes and judging the quality of students’ performance.
Another finding of the study showed that there was a significant difference between the public
and private primary schools teachers’ effectiveness in keeping school based assessment records. This
showed that private primary school teachers are more effective in keeping school based assessment records.
Some reasons could be adduced for the ineffectiveness of the public primary school teachers in keeping
school based assessment records. These include poor and irregular salaries and allowances, low morale,
lack of internal and external quality control.
The conditions of service are repulsive to currently serving teachers due to irregular salaries which
could result in low morale making the teachers not to perform optimally. Internal quality control by the
head teachers has reduced drastically in most schools as some of the teachers are regarded as ‘sacred cows’
because of their high connection to the people that are in authority. Also, external quality controls by
Inspectors from the Ministry of Education has reduced to either once in a term or once in a year and in
some cases, the inspectors that were expected to check all the school records could be ‘settled’ in the head
teachers office without checking any record.
Conclusion
The findings of this study suggest that not all the teachers in the primary schools kept school based
assessment records and less than 10% of the teachers that kept SBA records actually assessed the 3
domains of learning. Also, public and private primary school teachers differ significantly in their
effectiveness in keeping the records.
Recommendations
In view of the above findings, the following are recommended:
Frequent organization of in-service training workshops and seminars (INSET) for teachers that are
already in service to improve on construction of various instruments of evaluation.
Test and measurement should be made a major / compulsory course for the pre-service teachers in
their training institutions (PRESET i.e. pre-service training in test and measurement).
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School-based and government incentives should be provided for the hardworking teachers to
encourage them and to challenge others to discharge their duties contentiously.
References
Anikweze, C.M. (2005) Assessment and the future of Schooling and learning,A paper presented at the 31st Annual Conference of the International
Association for Educational Assessment. Abuja, Nigeria, 4th –9th September
Griffith, S.A. (2005). Assuring fairness in school based assessment: Mapping the boundaries of teachers involvement. A paper presented at the 31st Annual Conference of the International Association for Educational Assessment. Abuja, Nigeria, 4th –9th September
Hong Kong Education Commission (2002). School based assessment, in
Learning for life Learning, Hong Kong: Government Press, P. 70
Maxwell, G.S. (2004). Progressive assessment for learning and certification:Some lessons from school based assessment in Queesland. A paper presented at the 3rd
Conference of the Association of Commonwealth Examination and Assessment Boards, Nadi, Fiji.
Njabili, A. F., Abedi, S., Magesse, N.W. and Kolale, A.M. (2005) Equity and school based assessment: The case of Tanzania. A paper presented at the 31st Annual Conference of the International Association for Educational Assessment Abuja, Nigeria, 4th –9th September.
Ogonor, B.O. (2007). Evaluation of the instructional supervisory role of secondaryschool principals and inspectors in Nigeria. Studies in Educational Planning & Administraion (3), 56-64
Onjewu, M.A (2007). Assuring fairness in the continuous assessment component of school based assessment practice in Nigeria. A paper presented at the 33rd
Annual Conference of the International Association for Educational Assessment, Baku, Azerbaijan.
152
MEAL SERVICES AS A STRATEGY FOR PROMOTING ENROLMENT IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS AS A REFORM IN UNIVERSAL BASIC EDUCATION
BY
DR. (MRS.) T. O. OFORKA, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA
Abstract
The study investigated meal services as a strategy for promoting enrolment in primary schools as a reform
in Universal Basic Education. The study used two research questions. Survey research design was adopted
and the instrument was questionnaire. One thousand one hundred and fifty head teachers were used for the
study. Mean statistics was used for data analysis. The findings of the study indicate that provision of meal
services in primary schools attracts children’s attention to school, controls withdrawal from classes before
the school dismisses and promotes gender equality in school attendance. The implications of the study were
highlighted based on the findings and recommendation made.
Introduction and Problem of Study
Education is of paramount importance to any society. It is a vital element in the process of social
development, political stability, technological change as well as economic growth. The National Policy
on Education of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004) describes education as “an expensive social
service which requires adequate financial provision from all tiers of government for a successful
implementation of the educational programme and national development”. Any nation that genuinely
wishes to attain a greater height in national development cannot compromise the education of her
citizenry.
In his own remarks on the importance of education, Okafor (2000: 236) asserted that:
When education is negated, the national soul is negated.
When education is boosted, the national spirit is boosted.
No developing nation will develop fast enough without placing its ultimate
priority on education. Even developed nations will begin to develop backwards
as soon as educational priority is swept under the rug.
Highlighting the above point, Nwagwu (2000) remarked that Nigeria as a nation realized the gains
in education and introduced free education for her citizenry to eradicate illiteracy. Inspite of the provision
of free education, according to Obi (2004), many children are still unable to acquire basic education due to
certain factors. These include; poverty, school phobia and gender stereotype. Obi observed that these
factors are the major causes of low enrolment recorded in many primary schools especially in the rural
areas. In our society, poverty has done a lot of harm in the life of people to the extent that many parents
cannot attend to the basic needs of their children. Many parents, out of abject poverty could not send their
153
children to school and even when they do so, no provision will be made for their schooling. The worst is
that some of these children go to school without eating any food.
Research work carried out by UNICEF (2005) in different parts of the country indicated that
children especially in the rural areas come to school with little or no food and even the one that is eaten is
not good enough for the child’s development. This often leads to malnutrition in children. Many of them
leave the school before dismissal because the little food taken in the morning could not sustain them. This
problem leads to truancy, loitering, absenteeism and eventually culminates to drop-out. It is this problem of
drop-out that the Universal Basic Education (UBE) is trying to address.
The major objectives of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) include the increase in enrolment
level, reducing drastically the incidence of drop-out and eradication of illiteracy among our people. The
achievement of these objectives could be attained through the provision of meal services in primary
schools. Emphasizing on the importance of providing meal services for the achievement of the objectives
of the Universal Basic Education, Onyike (2004:2) declares:
Meal services attract children’s attention to school. Better nutrition is provided
for the pupils. Regular attendance to school has been recognized as a result of
experience in providing meal services. Good health is also ensured with school
meal because of vitamin and iodine substances added to it. Meal services must
never be thought of as alternative measures.
Supporting the above point, Mgbo (2004) declares that, it is common in our society for parents to
delay the education of the girl-child to enable her take care of her younger ones while the boy-child is
allowed to go to school. The provision of meal services in primary schools has led to enrolment explosion
in the seventy schools located in nine of the seventeen local government areas in Enugu State within five
months of the introduction of the programme. The pupils enrolment figure in the Early Child Care and
Primary one classes rose from 1,480 to 4,022 in the first 20 selected schools within three months and then
to 15,340 pupils in 70 primary schools at the take-off of the 2nd phase of the pilot programme. Thus, the
major objectives of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) which include increase in the enrolment level
and reduction in the illiteracy level among our people are being achieved. With the introduction of school
meal programme in the Early Child Care (ECC) and primary one, Mgbo explained, the reverse has become
the case. The girl-child now goes to school with her sibling. The sibling is kept in the Early Child Care
Class while the girl goes into her class. The school meal services also promote gender equality in school
attendance.
The school meal will attract children to school especially in the rural areas and more over sustain their
interest in school activities particularly when the foods are different and richer than the ones they eat at
home. Odo (2005) posited that the provision of meal services in all the schools and in all the classes is
imperative otherwise many children will end up not receiving any formal education. Buttressing the
need for the provision of meal services in schools, Orji (2005) asserted that school meal minimizes
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truancy, lateness, school phobia and loitering exhibited by little children. Their energy is sustained
especially those ones who eat nothing before coming to school and those who trek long distance from
their homes to the school. Orji added that meal services are designed to improve the nutrient
deficiencies in school children, aged 2-6 years, stressing that any society that toys with the fate of its
children toys with its future.
At the primary school age, children are vulnerable to diseases and malnutrition. Tagbo (2005) posited
that provision of one balanced meal per child per day will address the problem of under nourishment
and under weight in our school children. Many children drop-out due to diseases caused by
malnutrition. Educational progress of every child depends on good health, Tagbo stressed. Neither
teaching nor learning can go on in the absence of good heath.
In view of the situation pointed above, it is pertinent to ascertain the extent meal services promote
enrolment in primary schools in Enugu State.
Research Questions
1. To what extent are meal services provided in primary schools in Enugu State?
2. To what extent do meal services promote enrolment in primary schools in Enugu State.
Research Design
The study adopted a survey research design.
Area of Study
The study was carried out in Enugu State.
Population and Sample
The population of the study was 1150 head teachers in all the primary schools in Enugu State
(Planning Research and Statistics Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board). The sample was fifty
percent (50%) of the primary schools which was 575 and fifty percent (50%) of the head teachers which
was 575. The sampling technique was simple random sampling technique with replacement.
Instrument for Data Collection
The instrument used for the study was questionnaire. It was a four point scale response mode of
strongly agree, agree, disagree and strongly disagree. The face validity of the instrument was determined
by giving the draft to experts in the field of Measurement and Evaluation. The reliability of the instrument
was determined using cronbach Alpha. The instrument was trial tested on 60 head teachers from schools
that were not part of the study. The computation was done and it yielded 0.75. Mean score statistics was
used for data analysis.
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Results
Table 1: Provision of Meal Services in Schools
S/N Item Description Mean (X)
1. Meal services are provided for all the classes. 3.0
2. The school has a feeding time table for all the classes. 3.0
3. There are varieties of meals provided on daily basis to the ECC and
primary one classes.
3.5
4. Each meal is balanced and adequate in quantity. 3.5
Cluster mean (X) 3.25
The above table shows the mean scores of respondents ranging from 3.0 to 3.5. The cluster mean of
3.25 was an indication that meal services are not provided in all the classes. It equally shows that the
meals provided are adequate in quality and in quantity.
Table 2: The Extent Meal Services Promote Enrolment
S/NItem Description Mean (X)
1. The pupils are regular and punctual to school. 3.14
2. The case of withdrawal from classes before dismissal is controlled. 3.83
3. The pupils indicate interest in school activities. 3.72
4. All the children are eager to go to school to partake in the meal 3.82
5. Girls enroll in schools as much as boys. 3.60
Cluster mean (X) 3.53
From the mean scores of respondents as was illustrated in table 2 above, it appears that the increase in
enrolment will be achieved through the provision of meal services in schools. The cluster mean of 3.53
which is greater than 2.5 was a clear indication.
Discussion
The results of the analysis on the meal services as a strategy for promoting enrolment in primary
schools as a reform in UBE show that problems in regularity and punctuality to school, withdrawal
from classes, interest in school activities and girls enrolment in schools can be solved with the
provision of meal services in primary schools. These items have a mean score of 3.14 and above which
is an indication that a high percentage of the respondents perceive that meal services are very effective
strategy for promoting enrolment in primary schools to achieve Universal Basic Education.
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Ukeje (2000) declares that lack of social needs in the primary schools such as meal services,
recreational services, text and exercise books has contributed to poor enrolment in schools especially rural
schools. Salau (2001) highlighted the remarkable lack of vital services in schools that will promote
enrolment. Adamaechi (2001) asserted that for the objectives of the Universal Basic Education to be
achieved, government at all levels should become more committed, sensitive and responsive to the
yearnings and needs of the pupils. The educational planners, he emphasized, did not make adequate plan
that will take care of the programme before its introduction.
Conclusion and Recommendation
In conclusion, meal services are sure strategies for promoting enrolment in the primary schools to
achieve Universal Basic Education (UBE). The results of the findings show that pupils are regular and
punctual to school because of school meal, the problem of withdrawal from classes is controlled, pupils
show interest in the school activities, they are very eager to go to school, girls enroll in schools as much as
boys. Meal services must be introduced in all the schools in the country to achieve the Universal Basic
Education.
It is therefore recommended that the findings should be implemented in order to reach the
attainment of the objectives of the Universal Basic Education (UBE).
REFERENCES
Adamaechi, B. C. (2001) Issues, Problems and Prospects of UBE: Nigerian Educational Publishers Ltd.
Federal Republic of Nigerian (2004) National Policy on Education, Lagos: Federal Government Press.
Mgbo, A. (2004) Service News for Civil Servants. Enugu: Snaap Press.
Nwagwu, S. N. (2000) Major Management Challenges of the UBE, Owerri: N.E. Publishers Ltd.
Obi, S. U. (2004) Career Development in Elementary School, Calabar: Paico Pub. Nigeria.
Odo, J. N. (2005) Problems of UBE, Onitsha: Brown Publishers Ltd.
Okafor, S. O. (2000) Know your Millennium Development Goals, Lagos: Williams C. Publ. Ltd.
Onyike, I. G. (2004) UBE and Its Challenges, Enugu: Government Press.
Orji, T. B. (2005) School Administration: Problems and Prospects, Lagos: Federal Government Press.
Salau, C. (2001) Administrative Problems in Schools, New Delhi: Prentice Hall.
Tagbo, F. O. (2005) Health Problems of School Children, Enugu: Snaap Press.
Ukeje, B. O. (2000) Implementation of UBE: A Way Forward. Address Presented at the National Conference of Heads of Schools. Kaduna.
UNICEF (2005) School Meal Services in Primary Schools, Lagos: Fed. Government Press.
157
Parenting Styles as Predictor of Adolescents’ Socio-Psychological Adjustment in Schools
Dr. Uche N. EzeInstitute of Education
University of Nigeria, NsukkaAnd
Benjamin N. OnyemuzeFederal Polytechnic, Auchi
Edo StateAbstractThis study examined the extent to which parenting styles would predict the socio-psychological adjustment of adolescents in secondary schools. The study was guided by one hypothesis. The design adopted for the study is the ex-post facto. The population consists of all the senior secondary class two students in the senior secondary schools in Benin City and from the population a sample size of 478 students was drawn. Two researchers developed instruments- Parental Styles Questionnaire (PQS) and Adolescence Socio-Psychological Adjustment (ASAS) - were developed, validated and the internal consistency reliability estimate established. The step wise multiple regression analysis method was adopted in analyzing the data obtained for the study. The findings indicate that authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles significantly predict schooling adolescents’ socio-psychological adjustment. The findings also show that both permissive and neglectful parenting styles did not significantly predict the students’ socio-psychological adjustment. These imply that in considering the socio-psychological adjustment problems of the schooling adolescents, school counselors or psychologists need to do a thorough examination of the home background experience of the adolescents for a proper insight if their problems are to be solved. Introduction
The expectation of every society is that adolescents will grow up well adjusted and be able to
contribute meaningfully to its overall growth and development. Psychologists apply the term adjustment to
varying conditions of social or interpersonal relations in the society (Mangal, 2002). Birch and Ladd (1996)
view adjustment as the individual’s struggle to get along or fit into his or her social environment. For Haars
(2000), adjustment is a state in which the individual struggles to reconcile his/her personal needs with the
needs or demands of the society. Haars observed that when the needs of the individual and the demand on
him/her by the environment fail to be fully reconciled, the consequence will be maladjustment. The
society’s expectations of individuals are usually complex likewise the needs of the adolescents. Proper
psychosocial adjustment will require that the adolescent within the limitations imposed on him/her acquire
the skills and competences necessary to respond to the environment in a mature, responsible and self-
fulfilling manner. Thus, a socio-psychologically adjusted adolescent is able to resolve mental conflicts,
frustrations and life challenges without exhibiting symptoms of debilitating behaviour problems.
Socio-psychologically well adjusted in-school adolescents perform well in school, are self-reliant,
friendly and cooperative. They also display high sense of self-esteem and possess positive social skills.
However, in Nigeria experiences of the past two decades indicate that the Nigerian society and in particular
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the Nigerian secondary schools are bedeviled by high rates of behaviour problems exhibited by adolescents.
Most crimes such as armed robbery, hired assassinations, cultism, examination malpractices, document
forgeries, acts of hooliganism, arson, advance free fraud, rape, and such other social vices as alcoholism,
prostitution are associated with adolescents in our society (Eze and Umaru, 2007). Though these behaviour
problems seem to be nationwide in scope, a high prevalence rate has been observed in Edo state of Nigeria
(National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other Related Matters, 2008, Edo State High
Court secretariats -Juvenile and Allied Matters Division, 2006). Evidence from these sources indicates that
prostitution, rape, armed robbery, cultism, arson, violent demonstration and destruction of public properties
are common problems associated with adolescents most of who are in school.
These behaviour problems are sources of concern for government, parents and social
psychological researchers who have concentrated their research efforts in trying to find solutions that will
help to minimize these adolescents related behaviour problems. These efforts seem to have focused on the
adolescents themselves as the causal agents of the behaviour problems they manifest. Aquilino (2001) has
emphasized the need for investigating the influence of parenting on the developmental success and
wellbeing of adolescents. Emerging findings from studies in the socialization processes in the family seem
to suggest that certain parental behaviour could result in positive or negative outcomes in the behaviour of
children ( Marsiglia, Walczyk, Buboltz, & Griffit-Ross, 2007). Studies have suggested that parenting
styles are associated with different behavioural traits manifested by children and adolescents (Newcorn &
Strain, 1992). Adolescents’ development and socio-psychological adjustment have been viewed to be
directed and influenced by their patterns of interactions with their parents (Brodzinsky & Pinderhughes,
2002). This suggests that the nature of love, warmth, commitment, and responsiveness to adolescents’
needs by parents influence their adjustment in life. In other words, the nature of parenting style adopted
might positively or negatively influence the adjustment of the adolescents ( Holmbeck & Wandrei, 1993).
Parenting styles have been described as the broad patterns of child rearing practices, value
orientations and behaviour moulding (Weiten &Lloyd, 2003) adopted by parents. Parenting style is a
particular pattern of interaction or relationship between parents and children which gradually moulds the
behaviour of their children. Based on a number of studies conducted by Baumrind (1967, 1971, and 1978),
three distinct Parenting styles were identified. They are authoritarian, permissive, authoritative parenting
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styles and neglectful parenting style was later added. Parents who adopt authoritarian parenting style are
highly directive but not responsive to the needs of their adolescents. Parents in this group are status
oriented and expect unquestioned obedience and total compliance to orders or instructions. Children of
such parents are believed to be fearful, apprehensive, unfriendly, and vulnerable to stress, aimless, easily
annoyed and passively hostile. Permissive parenting style applies to parents who allow their children’s
preferences to take priority over the ideals and they rarely require them to conform to expected standards.
Such parents are lax at enforcing rules and fail to direct behaviour. Children from such parents are believed
to be rebellious, low in self-reliance and self control, impulsive, aggressive, domineering, aimless and low
in achievement. Authoritative parenting style applies to such parents who are both demanding of obedience
and at the same time responsive to the needs of their children. Authoritative parents are assertive but not
punitive. Children of authoritative parents are also believed to be self-reliant, self-controlled, cheerful and
friendly, cooperative, purposive and cope well with stress ( Baumrind, 1991). Neglectful parenting style is
adopted by parents who are not particularly supportive of their children. Such parents display ambivalent
attitude in the life of their children and may be emotionally detached from them. Children of neglectful
parents have been observed to have low self-esteem, impulsive and aggressive (Maceoby & Martin, 1983;
& Weiten &Lloyd, 2003).
The family is the basic social unit for human development and parents play the key role in the
early socialization of children. Sigmund Freud in developing his psycho-sexual theory of human
development emphasized the importance of the influence of early childhood experiences in later
development (Ngwoke and Eze, 2004). Parents play prominent roles in providing these early childhood
experiences which may shape the behaviour of adolescents. This implies that the pattern of parental
interaction with their children do influence the adjustment of such children as adolescents. However, the
African traditional child rearing style is in the process of transformation and with the continual influence of
western civilization on the parental styles of interaction with their children especially their adolescent
children in a multi-cultural environment, it is not clear how most Nigeria parents go about their parenting
style. More importantly, how such identified styles would predict schooling adolescents socio-
psychological adjustment is still an unresolved issue. It is against this background that the study sought to
investigate how the identified parenting styles would predict the socio-psychological adjustment of
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adolescents in secondary schools in Benin City, Edo State. Benin City has been described as a melting
point of different cultures being the state capital of a culturally heterogeneous state in Nigeria. The findings
of the study will provide relevant additional data necessary for a better understanding of the extent to which
parenting styles predict socio-psychological adjustment of the adolescent in secondary schools.
This study is guided by one hypothesis tested at 0.05 levels of significance.
Hypothesis:
H0 Parenting styles adopted by parents will not significantly predict the socio-psychological adjustment of
their adolescent children in secondary schools.
Method
Design: The design adopted for this study is an ex-post facto. This study adopted this design as it sought to
determine the extent parenting styles predict the socio-psychological adjustments of adolescents in schools.
Area of Study:
The study was carried out in Benin City of Edo State, Nigeria. There are three education zones in Benin
City. They are Oredo, Ikpohaha and Igho education zones. Benin City was chosen because of the high
prevalence of deviant behaviours such as school dropout, prostitution, armed robbery and cultism among
adolescents in schools.
Population of the study: The population consists of all the senior secondary class two students in public
secondary schools in Benin City. The estimated number of this category of students was 8,552 (Planning,
Research and statistics, Edo state secondary schools management Board, 2007).
Sample and Sampling technique: The sample for this study consists of 478 senior secondary class two
students from Benin City. To compose this sample, the researchers randomly sampled two education zones
in Benin City through balloting. From each education zone, five senior secondary schools with senior
secondary class two were randomly composed. In each of the sampled school, 10% of students in senior
secondary class two were randomly composed through balloting. Through this process a total of 478
students were composed and used for the study.
Instrument for data collection: Two researchers developed instrument were used for the study. They are:
i. Parental style Questionnaire (PSQ)
ii. Adolescence Socio- psychological scale (ASAS)
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i. Parental Style Questionnaire (PSQ): This is a researcher developed questionnaire designed
to obtain information on parental style of interaction with their adolescent children. It required
information on adolescents’ perception of how their parents or guardians relate with them. It
is a four point rating scale with the following response options: Always true of my parents (4),
Sometimes true of my parents (3), Rarely true of my parents (2) and Never true of my parents
(1). The instrument was organized into four clusters. Clusters A, B, C, and D contain items
addressing authoritarian, permissive, authoritative and neglectful parenting styles. The
instrument was face validated by two experts in educational psychology and one in
measurement and evaluation. The face validation was to ensure the appropriateness of the
items of the instrument in eliciting required information. After the face validation, the
instrument was trial tested on a sample of 20 senior secondary class two students in a
secondary school in Nsukka local government area. The data obtained were used in
determining the internal consistency reliability estimate of the instrument. Cronbach alpha
statistics was used in testing the for internal consistency reliability estimate. The internal
consistency reliability estimate of 0.79, 0.76, 0.83 and 0.74 were obtained for clusters A, B, C
and D respectively.
ii. Adolescent Socio-psychological Adjustment Scale: ASAS is a self rating scale designed to
obtain information on how adolescents in secondary schools adjust to personal social and
emotional problems facing them. It is a four point rating scale with the response options of
Always true of me (4), Sometimes true of me (3), Rarely true of me (2) and Never true of me
(1). The instrument was organized in two clusters. Cluster A sought for information on social
adjustment while cluster B relates to information on emotional adjustment. The instrument
was also subjected to face validation. It was given to the same experts that validated PSQ. The
validated instrument was trial tested and the data obtained used to determine the reliability
estimate. The internal consistency reliability estimate obtained using Cronbach alpha method
were 0.86 and 0.84 for clusters A and B respectively. The overall reliability estimate for the
two was 0.88.
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Method of Data Collection: The instruments for data collection were administered to the respondents
through three trained research assistants. The research assistants were trained to adopt a direct delivery
approach that enabled them to collect back the instrument the same day it was administered. This method
helped in collecting back the entire copies of the questionnaire distributed.
Method of data analysis: The data generated through the instruments for the data collection was analysed
using the step wise multiple regression analysis in order to test the hypothesis. The parenting styles:
authoritarian, permissive, authoritative, and neglectful styles data were entered as predictor variables
whereas scores from the psychological adjustment scale were entered as dependent variables. In rating,
negatively cued item statements were reverse scored.
Results
The results of data analysis are presented in the Tables below
Hypothesis: Parenting styles adopted by parents will not significantly predict the psycho-social adjustment
of their adolescent children in secondary schools.
Table 1: Multiple Regression Analysis of Parenting Styles on Students’ Socio-psychological Adjustment—Adjusted R squareModel R R Square AdjustedR square Std error of the
estimate
1 .789 .623 .619 .32320
Data presented on Table 1 show the calculated R, R Square and the adjusted R Square as standing
at .789, .623, .619 respectively. The adjusted R Square which is .619 implies that about 62% of the
variance in the socio-psychological adjustment of adolescents in secondary schools in Benin City can be
explained by the contributions of the various parenting styles. To further determine the extent parenting
styles jointly predict adolescence socio-psychological adjustment, F-test analysis is presented as shown in
Table 2 below:
Table 2: Multiple Regression Analysis of parenting styles on adolescent socio-psychological adjustment: F-test analysis
1. Model Sum of Df Mean square F Sig
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squares
Regression 81.512 4 20.378 195.086 .0000
Residual 49.408 473 .104
Total 130.919 477
The result of f-test presented in Table 2 shows the extent parenting styles jointly predict the socio-
psychological adjustment of adolescents in secondary schools. The result shows that the f- value of 195.086
is significant at 0.000 and also significant 0.05 level of probability (F= 195.086, P < 0.000). This suggests
that the predictor variables—authoritarian, permissive, authoritative and neglectful parenting styles
predicted the variation observed on the socio-psychological adjustment of the adolescent students.
However, since these factors are acting in combination, the effect of one particular variable may be obscure
or exaggerated by the effects of others. Hence the data presented on Table 3 below explains the
contribution of each predictor variable on the variation observed on the dependent measure—socio
psychological adjustment of adolescents in secondary schools.
Table 3: Multiple Analysis of parenting styles on adolescents’ socio-psychological adjustment: Unstandardized and standardized coefficients, t-test analysis
Unstandardized
coefficients
Standardized
coefficient
Model B Std Error Beta t Sig
1 constant .400 .164 2.442 .015
Authoritarian -.199 .026 -.133 -4.579 .000
Permissive -.312 .325 -.306 .660 .338
Authoritative .852 .035 .729 24.659 .000
Neglectful .384 .324 .379 1.185 .237
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Data presented in Table 3 indicate the B values which are measures of the slope of the regression line or the
amount of change in the y (outcome) variable for every unit change in the x (predictor) variable. Thus for
every increase in the authoritarian, permissive, authoritative and neglectful parenting style scale of 1, there
is a corresponding change on the socio-psychological adjustment of adolescents by -.119,-.312, .852
and .384 respectively. The data on the beta column shows the standardized coefficient of the data on the B
column which compares directly the effects of the different predictor variables with each other. The
calculated beta values are -.133, -.306, .729 and .379 for authoritarian, permissive, authoritative and
neglectful parenting styles respectively. This suggests that the predictor variable mostly responsible for the
change in the socio-psychological adjustment of adolescent in secondary schools is the authoritative
parenting style. The values with positive signs indicate that as the predictor variables increase so does the
dependent variable and vice versa.
Data on Table 3 also indicate the calculated t values and their associated probabilities. The t-value
indicates whether a given predictor variable significantly predicts variance in the dependent measure with
all other variables controlled for. Data on the t column show that only authoritative parenting style with the
calculated t of 24.659 and significant at .000 level of probability (t = 24.629, p< 0.000) and authoritarian
parenting style with the calculated t of -4.59 and significant at .000 level of probability (t= -4.579, P<0.000)
made a significant difference. Thus, in explaining the socio-psychological adjustment of adolescence in
school, authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles are the dominant variables that predict adolescents’
adjustments.
Discussion
The results of this study show that the authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles are factors
that significantly predict socio-psychological adjustment of adolescents in school. The result further
showed that permissive and neglectful parenting styles do not significantly influence adolescents’ socio-
psychological adjustments in schools.
The results of this study agree with similar observations by Baumrind, (1991), Shaffer, (1989),
Weiten and Lloyd, (2003). They observed that parent adolescent relationships that are characterized by
love, warmth, support, sympathy, acceptance, responsiveness lead to positive socio-psychological
adjustment. In other words, parenting style that encourages cooperation, dialogue and communication with
165
adolescents enhances effective adjustment of schooling adolescents. Such relationships produce adolescents
who are self-reliant, self controlled, cooperative, curious, and purposive; achievement oriented and copes
well with stress. They also exhibit positive self-esteem, confidence and a sense of well being. Evidence
shows that parenting style that is authoritarian affect the socio-psychological adjustment of schooling
adolescents. Parents who demand total obedience, exercise too much control and inflict too much
punishment for disobedience produce adolescent who are fearful, apprehensive, moody, vulnerable to stress
and usually unhappy. Such adolescent tends to lack initiative and are usually over dependent on others for
guidance (Marsiglia et al, 2007). Because they usually comply with instruction from authority figures, they
ordinarily appear to be adjusted. Exposing adolescents to parenting style that is rigid, strict, harsh and
emotionally hostile is potentially dangerous to their psychological adjustment. However, in traditional
Africa homes children including adolescents are expected to be totally obedient to their parents including
the elderly members of their community. The adolescents grow up to see such authoritarian style of
parenting as normal and necessary for moral and emotional maturity that is necessary for productive adult
life.
The findings of this study further showed that permissive parenting style and neglectful parenting
style do not significantly predict schooling adolescents’ socio-psychological adjustment. This negates the
findings of the study by Maccoby and Martin (1983) and the observation by Weiten and Lloyd, (2003) that
permissive and neglectful parenting significantly predicts schooling adolescents psychological wellbeing.
They observed that permissive parents often have adolescents who are undisciplined, impulsive and easily
frustrated while parents who are neglectful have adolescents who manifest low self-esteem, are moody,
impulsive and aggressive. However, the findings of this study showing that permissive and neglectful
parenting styles do not significantly predict socio-psychological adjustment of adolescent may suggest the
major influence of other factors. Literature evidence tend to show that the disciplinary tone of the school,
the nature of peer and sibling relationships and the influence of models are the factors that shape school
adjustment of adolescents. Depending on the extent these other factors influence the adjustment of
schooling adolescents, to that extent would the permissive and neglectful parenting styles predict the
socio-psychological adjustment of adolescents in secondary school in Benin city. Also, observations of
responses to parenting style rating scale show that many parents seem to oscillate between different styles.
166
This suggests that a permissive parent may at times be authoritative or a neglectful parent at times being
authoritarian.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The results of this study indicate that authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles significantly predict
the socio-psychological adjustment of adolescents in secondary schools. The results also show that
permissive and neglectful parenting styles did not significantly predict socio-psychological adjustment of
the adolescent students in schools. These imply that in considering the socio-psychological adjustment of
the schooling adolescent, school counselors or psychologists need to do a thorough examination of the
home background experience of the adolescents especially the parents and adolescent interaction patterns if
a proper insight into their problems is to be achieved.
It is recommended that aspects of the secondary school curriculum relating to the socialization
process, human growth and development and family interaction patterns should be enriched to enable
future parents in school appreciate more the parent-adolescent interaction patterns that promote healthy
socio-psychological development. Today’s children are the parents of tomorrow, if they are exposed while
they are in schools to beneficial parenting behaviour that ensures better socio-psychological adjustment,
they may likely grow up to become parents who understands the needs of their adolescent children.
Seminars and workshops should be organized for parents through the parent-teachers association
forum to enlighten them on the necessary authoritative parenting skills for a creative, self confident and
independent and self-propelled adolescent. This is necessary because well adjusted adolescents will not
only contribute to overall wellbeing of the adolescents themselves and the material growth of the society
but to the psychological health of parents and significant others.
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