THE IMPACT OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES ON TEACHING AND LEARNING IN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    Background to the Study

School building design features and components have been proven to have a measurable influence upon teaching and learning in schools. Among the influential features and components are those impacting temperature, lighting, acoustics and age. Researchers have found a negative impact upon students’ performance in schools where deficiencies in any of the above features exist. Besides, available resources have been found by Amusi (1991) to have influence upon students’ performance, especially for public school students. The overall impact school resources have on students according to Amusi could be either positive or negative, depending upon the condition of the available resources in school. For example, the academic achievement of students who attend school in substandard school buildings and classrooms would definitely be affected negatively.

Correlation studies have shown a strong positive relationship between overall school resources conditions and students’ academic achievement. Researchers have as well found repeatedly 5-17 percentile point difference between achievement of students exposed to poor school resources and those exposed to standard ones (Earthman et al, 2002). 

Ethnographic and perception studies also indicate that poor school facilities negatively impact teachers’ effectiveness and performance, and therefore have a negative impact on students’ performance (Anderson, 1999).  

Also, many other studies apart from the ones revealed above have demonstrated a positive relationship between teaching and learning and various factors or components of the school resources. The strength of the relationship varies according to the particular study completed; nevertheless, the weight of evidence supports the premise that resources available in a school have a measurable influence on teachers’ effectiveness and students’ academic achievement (Cash, 1993).

During this past decade, there have been a number of studies in Nigeria that have articulated profusely the deplorable condition of resources available to the public schools throughout the country. Records on school resources at Local Education District (LED) IV, Lagos reveal that the resources available in most public secondary schools in Lagos State are highly of substandard condition when compared with what obtains in most private secondary schools in the state. Also in other areas in Nigeria studies have revealed that in both urban and high-poverty areas, students attend school in buildings that threaten their health, safety, and learning opportunities (Amusi, 1999). It is on this critical background that this study tends to examine the extent to which teaching and learning in both private and public secondary schools in Lagos State could be affected by the quality and condition of the resources available in the schools.

1.2   Statement of the Problem

The quality and condition of resources available in any school have been revealed in literature to have important impact on teachers’ effectiveness and students’ performance. Many secondary schools in Nigeria especially the public secondary schools have been revealed by studies to be highly handicapped of adequate resources (Amusi, 1999). Besides, the personnel at the primary and secondary levels of our education system has been noted to be suffering from attrition and lack of accordance of appropriate motivational incentives (Ejiogu, 1990). The critical apparent implication of the above situation is that the poor condition of teaching and learning in the public secondary schools as well as the low quality of the graduates of these schools are all consequent upon the poor quality and condition of available resources in these schools. But the question here is, to what extent is teachers’ effectiveness and students’ performance being influenced by the resources available in a school? This study therefore strives to find the right answer to the above question by investigating the impact of available resources on the teaching and learning of Economics in selected private and public secondary schools in Shomolu L.G.A of Lagos State.

1.3        Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study among others is to:

(i)          Ascertain whether there will be any difference between the performance of private and public secondary school students in economics due to quantity and quality of resources available in the respective schools.

(ii)         Determine the relationship between available resources in the school and students’ learning.

(iii)        Examine the relationship between available resources in the school and teachers’ effectiveness. 

1.4        Research Questions

In order to achieve the above objectives the research questions below were adduced to guide this study.

(i)          Will there be any difference between the performance of private and public secondary school students in economics due to quantity and quality of resources available in the respective schools?

(ii)         Is there any relationship between available resources in the school and students’ learning?

(iii)        Is there any relationship between available resources in the school and the teaching of economics?

1.5        Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses below were stated and tested during the process of the study.

(i)      There is no significant difference between the performance of private and public secondary school students in economics due to quantity and quality of resources available in the respective schools.

(ii)     There is no significant relationship between available resources in the school and students’ learning.

(iii)    There is no significant relationship between available resources in the school and teachers’ effectiveness.

1.6        Significance of the Study

This study is significant for the following:

It will enable the researcher to comparatively examine the impact of available resources on the teaching and learning of economics in private and public secondary schools.

It will provide information on the implication of making teaching and learning in our secondary schools sensitive to adequate and appropriate quantity and quality of resources utilisation.

It will be a good scholastic sensitizer to primary and secondary school teachers, administrators, and proprietors of the importance of appropriate maintenance and utilisation of resources available in school to positively influence teaching and learning.

Ultimately, the study will also provide useful information to governments on the implication of making appropriate provision and maintenance of resources at our primary and secondary schools policy sensitive.

1.7        Delimitation of the Study

This study was able to examine only the impact of available resources on teaching and learning in private and public secondary schools. It was limited to four secondary schools (two private and two public secondary schools) in Shomolu L.G.A of Lagos State; and involved only a hundred (100) students and fifty (50) teachers in the process. The questions contained in the research instrument were limited to what the researcher believed were the resources supposed to be available in the secondary schools as well as the way they could impact teaching and learning. It was also one subject (economics) that was involved in the analysis.

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