THE EFFECT OF CLASSROOM SIZE ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIA
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION 1. STUDY BACKGROUND
Quality education remains the pivot for global development and liberty. As a result, all hands must be on deck globally to develop policies that will improve qualitative education from elementary school to tertiary institution, and continuous, effective monitoring must be well established to check all factors that may stymie this global pursuit. As a result, most societies require children to attend school for a set number of years or until a certain age. Many of the advantages of education stem from students gaining new knowledge or skills that improve their ability to communicate, solve problems, and make decisions.
Academic achievement of students, particularly at the secondary school level, is not only a barometer of school effectiveness, but also a major predictor of the future of youths in particular and the nation in general. Learning is the means by which individuals and nations can achieve their educational objectives.
Learning outcomes have become a phenomenon of universal interest, which explains why scholars have been working hard to identify factors that impede good academic performance (Aremu & Sokan, 2002). In the literature, this phenomenon has been variously referred to as academic achievement or scholastic functioning. Learners’ academic achievement has piqued the interest of academics, parents, policymakers, and planners.
Many factors have been implicated as being responsible for falling standards of education where it is perceived and established in an attempt to put sound education on the ground worldwide. Among these are concerns about “class size.” Class size, according to Adeyemi (2008), is an educational tool that can be described as the average number of students per class in a school, whereas Hoffman (1980) defined it as the number of students per teacher in a class.
According to Kedney (1989), it is a tool for measuring educational system performance. There has been much debate about the impact of class size on performance, with some blaming overcrowding as the primary cause of falling educational standards in Nigeria, particularly at the elementary and secondary levels, while others dismiss this as a mere coincidence, blaming other factors.
Class size has a significant impact on students’ academic performance. Researchers and educational scholars agree that as class size increases, student achievement decreases. For many years, the effect of class size on cognitive achievement has been debated and researched, but the results have been inconclusive.
Class size refers to educational tools that can be used to describe the average number of students in a school’s classes. ALL Nigerian Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) recommended a maximum of forty students per class for efficient and effective teaching, emphasizing the importance of class size to the learning teaching process.
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
Higher levels of education, for example, are associated with higher earnings and economic mobility, better health, lower mortality rates, and greater participation in the leadership process in one’s immediate and global community. Many factors have been implicated as being responsible for falling standards of education where it is perceived and established in an attempt to put sound education on the ground worldwide.
One of these factors is the size of the classroom. Classroom congestion and low utilization rates of classrooms are common features of secondary schools in Nigeria, according to Fabunmi,BraiAbu, and Adeniyi (2007). They have a negative impact on secondary school teacher productivity as well as student learning input and, as a result, secondary school student academic performance.
Poor academic achievement, in particular, can have an impact on a school’s reputation because academic success is linked to school quality. Our secondary schools’ alarming rate of failure is highly embarrassing.
Given the foregoing, the study focuses on classroom size as it correlates with academic performance of Nigerian secondary school students.
1.3 THE STUDY’S OBJECTIVES
The primary goal of the research is to determine the impact of classroom size on academic performance of secondary school students in Nigeria. The following are the study’s specific objectives:
To look into the impact of classroom size on secondary school students’ academic performance.
To ascertain the extent to which group size influences the way teaching and learning are mediated in secondary schools.
To determine whether there is a mechanism that can help determine what determines a large, small, or even optimum class size that strikes a balance between size and achievement.
1.4 QUESTIONS FOR RESEARCH
The following research questions have been developed for the purposes of this study:
1. What is the relationship between class size and secondary school output quality in Nigeria?
2. Is there a significant difference in the quality of output of students in schools with average small class sizes and students in schools with average class sizes in Nigeria?
3. What are the general attitudes and preferences of secondary school students toward class size?
4. Is there substantial scientific evidence to prove and persuade legislators, school educators, parents, and other major stakeholders in the educational fraternity that class size affects student academic performance?
1.5 THEORIES OF RESEARCH
To guide this study, the following hypotheses will be tested:
There will be no correlation between classroom size and academic performance in secondary school.
In Nigeria, there is no significant relationship between classroom size and academic performance of secondary school students.
1.6 THE STUDY’S SIGNIFICANCE
This study will be extremely useful to the government at all levels, parents, educational planners, decision and policy makers, and other education stakeholders. However, this study will assist public and private schools in understanding and determining the impact of class size on students’ academic achievement, allowing stakeholders to develop appropriate strategies for addressing classroom overcrowding in schools while also improving students’ academic performance.
The study will provide an understanding for public and private schools about the effect of classroom size on students’ academic achievement, allowing school stakeholders to develop appropriate measures to improve the school environment for students.
Students and teachers will be able to learn about the impact of class size on academic achievement as a result of this research.
The relationship between class size and student academic achievement will allow the government and the general public to be aware of the effects of these factors and work to improve them.
It is important to note that the findings of this study will be used as a reference by other researchers who may want to conduct the same or similar study in other subjects or parts of the country.
1.8 STUDY LIMITATIONS
Financial constraint- Inadequate funding tends to impede the researcher’s efficiency in locating relevant materials, literature, or information, as well as in the data collection process (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint- The researcher will conduct this study alongside other academic work. As a result, the amount of time spent on research will be reduced.
1.9 TERM DEFINITION
Achievement
According to Black and William (1998:219), achievement is focused on the past. It is founded on a specific body of knowledge and identifies areas of weakness, which can lead to corrective action. Success can also reveal competence, and such outcomes can be used to forecast future performance.
Academic Achievement
This refers to the student’s achievement, class scores, and position in relation to all others who took the same test.
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THE EFFECT OF CLASSROOM SIZE ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIA