Abstract

This study examine the “Effect of learning environment on the performance of secondary School students in Buea Municipality”. The objectives that were used for the study were; the extent to which school location affects students academic performance, the extent to which physical environment affects students academic performance, the extent to which school facilities affect students academic performance. The sample size was 60 students selected from three secondary schools in Buea Municipality.

The research design used was the descriptive survey research design. The target population of the study constituted students of Government Bilingual High school Molyko, Government Technical High School Molyko and Salvation Comprehensive High School Molyko. A questionnaire was used for data collection and the instrument was validated by the supervisor. The data collection was analysed using the table of frequencies and percentage. The findings implied that of school environment should be improve in other to increase students academic performance.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

School environment is a group of things found around the school such as playground, libraries, laboratories, buildings, teachers, students, location, class size that help in the facilitation of teaching and learning process in the school curriculum. Variety of skills and techniques that teachers use to keep students organizes, orderly, focused, attentive on a task and academically productive during a class. When classroom management strategies are executed effectively, teachers minimize the behaviors that impede learning for both individual, students and group of students in a conducive environment, while maximizing the behaviors and the class size, the environment itself that facilitates or enhance learning. Generally speaking, one law of the Cameroon educational constitution state that students has the right to go to school but now depend on the school environment in which they find themselves effective teachers tend to display strong classroom management skills, while the hallmark of the inexperienced or less effective teachers in a disorderly classroom filled with students who are working are paying attention because of the environment or nature of the class size. There are two main backgrounds historical and contextual.

Historically, the construct school environment can be traced back 100years (Perry,1908). The scientific study of school environment was not undertaken until 1950s with the birth of organizational school environment research. March and Simon (1958) and Argyris (1958) began to analyze business and organization in an attempt to correlate the influence of an organizational environment to such outcome as morale, productivity and turnover. Research continued throughout the 1960s and 1970s, examining socio-economic and race differences to explain achievement with mixed success.

By the late 1970s researchers were attempting to associate school environment with students outcomes in schools. Brook over and colleagues (1978) examined the environment of schools, defined as the set of norms and expectations that were defined and perceived by individuals within the school, and determined that school environment was positively linked to the difference in mean outcomes between schools, even when adjusted for race, and other demographics. In this study, the greatest indicator of achievement is the way students feel within themselves about the social environment the school.

In the early and mid-1990s, studies focused on individual classes or teachers. Griffith (1995) argued that the relationship between the level of study depended on the level at which the students identified themselves in their school environment. Thus in an educational environment were classes are held in different classrooms with different teachers, it naturally follows that the unit of school environment measure is the school as a whole, whereas the individual classroom would be the appropriate measurement unit where students spend all or most of their time with a single teacher. Since the end of the 1990s and counting today, researchers have attempted to link school environment to different outcomes including school environment.

Contextually, it is believed that a well-planned school will gear up expected outcomes of education that will facilitate good social, political and economic emancipation, effective teaching and learning process and academic performance of the students. According to Dawn (2011), as the number of students in a classroom grows, so the negative effects to both the teacher and the students. That is the teacher can only devote much attention to one student when he or she has to divide their attention among twenty or more students in a class. As a result, when the number of students in a classroom rises from twenty to twenty five or thirty five, it is impossible to give all students the attention that they need. This is due to limited teaching, learning resources. A school in Buea Sub-division which is the context in which the researcher is focused on is a very good example.

Relating this study to international occurrences are the assertion of William, persuade , and Turner (2008) quoting Marden (2005) who reported the safe and orderly classroom environment ( aspect of instructional spaces, school facilities accessories) were significantly related to students academic performance in schools. The three researchers also quoted Glassman(1994) asserting that a comfortable and caring environment among other treatments help to contribute to students academic performance. The physical characteristics of a school have a variety of effective teachers, students and the learning process. Poor lighting, noise in classrooms and inconsistent ventilation system lead to poor health among students as well as teachers, which lead to poor and high absentee rates.

Beyond the direct effects that poor facilities have on student’s abilities to learn, the combination of poor facilities which create an uncomfortable and uninvited workplace for teachers, combined the frustrating behavior by student including poor concentration and hyperactivity, lethargy, create a stressful set of working conditions for teachers. Because stress and dissatisfaction are common pre-cursors to lower teacher enthusiasm, it is possible that the aforementioned characteristics of school facilities have an effect upon the academic performance on students.

Previous studies have investigated the relationship of poor environment including problems of student-teacher ratio, school location, school population, classroom ventilation, poor lighting in classrooms and inconsistent temperatures in the classroom with student’s health problems students behaviour and students achievement.

Statement of the Problem

The school environment has a key role play In the academic performance of students when the teaching resources are meant (financial and human resources) good teaching method, good classroom condition, good teachers relationship, school accessibility, peer influence, teaching and learning materials will play a major role in the academic performance of the students. Polices put in place to enhance a good school environment have often lead to futility. This is because some negative aspects such as overcrowded classrooms, poor teachers relationship, the absence of libraries in some schools, poor lighting conditions in some classroom, poor classroom management by some teachers. Students are also influenced by school location.

The problem here is the fact that academic performance is being affected by the school environment due to inefficiency of some school facilities, school climate, school location and peer relationships as a result of the school environment not enabling. As a result of this, this study is out of investigate the influence of the school environment on the academic performance of secondary School students in the Buea Municipality.

Objectives of the Study

General Objectives

The general Objective of this study is to investigate the impact of the school environment on students’ academic performance in the Buea Municipality.

Specific Objectives

The study was guided by the following research objectives:

1. To assess the impact of peer pressure on the academic performance of secondary School students.
2. To determine the effect of socioeconomic status on the academic performance of secondary School students.
3. To determine the extent to which the school environment affects students’ academic performance.

Read More: CST Project Topics with Materials