ABSTRACT
The topic of this study is ‘Factors contributing to the poor academic
performance of students in social studies in junior secondary school in junior
secondary school in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State. The
purpose of the study was to find the factors responsible for the poor academics
performance in social studies in junior secondary school with reference to
Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State. The design for the this study
was descriptive survey design. This descriptive research was focused on the use
of interviews and questionnaires as the main instrument for data collection.
The population of the study comprised of teachers and students of five (5)
selected government secondary school in Nkanu-East. Four hundred (400)
questionnaire were distributed and out of this figure, three hundred and
forty-one (341) were returned and completed. They were selected by simple
random sampling to represent equal distribution. The researcher used mean as
the statistical tool for analysis. In the course of this study, the findings made
were, that students pay less attention to class lesson of the subject, Also,
that they fail to copy their notes and the required textbook for social
studies. Moreover, they join bad companies as friends in school. Furthermore,
the researcher also found out that the teacher fail to explain the subject
properly and with the absence of instructional materials, and that they fail to
spend time to prepare their lesson plan and lesson note. On the other hand, it is recommended that
students should try to as much as possible not to exempt social studies classes
for any reason, teachers should spend time to prepare their lesson plan and
lesson note carefully. On the other hand, it is recommended that with the
provision of more teaching aids and writing material on the subject, the
problems of teaching and learning of social studies in the area would be
solved, the parents should also adopt strong measures to prevent influence of
peer groups and also to control their children. The researcher also recommend:
that government should motivate scholars/writers to produce more books on
social studies. There should be organized seminars, workshops and conferences
for social studies teachers to upgrade their knowledge in teaching and learning
of the subject; that there should be more resource materials and teachings aids
to be provided for the teaching and learning of the subject.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the study
Education is the
acquisition of knowledge and skills or attitude. It can be defined as the
process which individual acquired skills, attitude and competence; education is
a right of every child. Whether traditional or modern it has always been a
major concern of man. Every human being needs basic necessities such as food,
water, clothing/ shelter, education and health care for his or her daily life.
Many authors have written on the causes of student’s poor academic performance
in teaching social studies in junior secondary school, a case study of in Amagunze Nkanu East local government area
of Enugu state. These authors thought social studies as catalyst for
engineering desire social change. However there has been an enormous gap which
continues to exist between intended changes and actual classroom practice in
social studies education in Nigeria adaptation of the subject teaching to
integrate from teacher centered to child centered pedagogy; form expository to
inquiry teaching, yet researches shows that there is little or no change in the
classroom.
According to Charles
(2009) in his definitions also called attention to the sources of social
studies content and made reference to needed outcomes. According to him social
studies embraces materials rated to human relationships drawn from history,
geography, science and the arts. They include content and activities that may
be used to develop insight into human relationships in such a way that children
build competence in basic social processes and skills essential in democratic
living.
The special emphasis in Charles
definition on the use of relevant social science to create competence on basic
social processes and skills needed in democratic living is not worthy.
Winners (2008), Social
studies is a study of man in his totality where he lives, his activities in the
past and present, his culture, his frame of mind and how he relates to others,
it focuses on developing the right values, attitudes and abilities which will
help the child to get on well with others as he grows up to become a
responsible citizens.
Branner Etal (2009),
who wrote a year earlier had placed an equal stress on knowledge, skill,
attitudes and actions in his definitions. According to him social studies is a
programme of study which a society uses to instill in students the knowledge,
skills, attitudes and actions considers important concerning the relationships
human beings have with each other, their world and themselves.
Social studies is the
study of how man lives in the society, Nulls (2007) expressed this definition
in a more academic form, noted that social studies is an inter disciplinary
field in which man learns about problems and survival in his environment. He
added that it is a study of how man influences and he is in turn influenced by
his physical, social, political, religious, economic, psychological, cultural,
scientific and technological environments.
Statements of Problem
The problem of this
study is the causes of student’s poor academic performance in teaching of
socials studies in junior secondary school certificate examination a case study
of Nkanu East local government area of Enugu state. It also includes factors
which might hinder the effective discrimination of social studies knowledge
such as irregular workshop and conference in service training inadequate
instructional material in teaching lack incentive apathy among educational
leaders and policy makers as well as the learning’s attitude towards learning
and finally the learning environment. The role of in a developing nation like
Nigeria cannot be over emphasized. Suffice it to say that a good knowledge and
application of principles of by the citizens of this country will be a great
benefit to the nation as a whole. It is a known fact that have not been given a
due recognition as a core subject in the past but only now. As a result of
recent inclusion in the curriculum as a core subject, there is bound to be
factors associated with the teaching and learning. This investigator wants to
look into, such problems militating against the effective teaching and learning
of the subject is the acute shortage of the professionally qualified teachers.
The number of unqualified teachers our schools is alarming and there is no
denying fact that effort effective teaching of any subject is predicated on the
caliber of people charged with the responsibility of teaching the subject.
Apart from the fact that these set of teachers are not professionally
qualified, they care less about teaching personal business at the expense of the
children in Nkanu East Local government Area. Teacher in secondary schools is a
factor responsible for student’s poor performance.
According to Daily
Times opinion, the survey carried out by the National Teacher Institute in
November, 2010 showed that out of 300, 000 teachers in the country, 200, 000 a
clear two third were unqualified. A student trained by quack teacher under
bamboo tree or a shade without the barest facilities, we believe is likely to
be denied the self-fulfillment and confidence that an adequate education give.
In schools where there are enough qualified teachers to handle the various
subjects, the performance of the student’s differs from those schools with less
qualified teachers.
According to Akor
(2010), he said that the important of well-qualified and experienced teachers
cannot be overemphasized. They are the essential ingredients needed by students
to learn effectively.
Dr. Titus Olikhens, one
time Bendel state commissioner for education, in his article stated that
‘shortage of qualified teachers, insufficient provision of instructional
materials and teaching methods and lack of incentives for the study were
problems militating against the achievement of the objectives of social
studies. Norman, A. pebble argued that one of the things affecting the
effective teaching of teachers to provide better explanation which is traceable
to their lack of adequate concept and research method’. M. B. Oguniyi et al
write that ‘many teachers of are not trained. The few trained and qualified
ones hardly stay as classroom teachers as they find other forms of employment
or to higher institution of learning. Combei and Keeves reported qualification
and previous experience, perception of professional role; responsibility goal
and interest affect the teaching of social studies. In this context, schools
with N.C.E. graduates teachers tend to have better primary six certificate and
junior secondary school results than schools with grade II teachers.
Purpose the Study
The general objective
of this study is to find out the factors responsible for the poor performance
of students in Social studies in Junior Secondary school in Nkanu East Local
Government Area.
The specific objectives of this study include;
1. to
find out the student related factors contributing to poor performance of
student in Social studies.
2. to
examine teachers related factors contributing to the poor performance of
students in social studies.
3. to
find out parents related factors contributing to the poor performance of
students in social studies.
Significance of the Study
This study will help to
make our educational administrators see the need to have qualified social
studies teachers and also available to handle the subject effectively for the
benefits of the students and society at large. It will also help to sensitize
the educational administrators to appreciate the need to make available the
necessary materials, examples chalkboard, graph, audio-visual materials, etc.
that will enhance effective learning of social studies. This will be useful for
learners to identify the factors affecting the teaching method and learning of
social studies. It will help to identify the factors affecting the teaching and
learning of social studies. It will help to produce sound social studies
students that will function well in the society. This work will serve as a
source of encouragement to students and teachers that will come across it. It
is hope that the findings of this study would also from the basis for further
research work by future researchers on this issues. This work adds great
knowledge to already existing literature in social studies education and
education in large.
Scope of the Study
This study aimed at
finding out the factors that cause poor academic performance among students in
Social studies in Junior Secondary Schools. It examined various factors which
include; student related factors, teachers related factors, and parents related
factors that affect student poor performance in Social studies. This study is limited to government owned
secondary school in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu.
Research questions
To ensure meaningful research work the
following research question include;
1) What
are the student related factors contributing to poor academic performance of
students in social studies?
2) What
are the teacher related factors contributing to the poor academic performance of student in
social studies?
3) What
are the parent related factors contributing to the poor academic performance of
student’s in social studies?
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