FACTORS INFLUENCING JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SOCIAL STUDIES. MAINLAND AS A CASE STUDY

FACTORS INFLUENCING JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SOCIAL STUDIES. MAINLAND AS A CASE STUDY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Social studies is one of the subject taught in primary and secondary schools today because of its usefulness to everyday life. Also  social studies is the study of man and his totality (the study covers) where he lives, his activities in the past and present his culture, frame of mind and how he relates to others in the society.  Furthermore, social studies are those common learning of man’s interaction with his social and physical environment, a way of life of how man influences his environment and in turn how environment influences man.   

The introduction of social studies as one of the core subject in Junior Secondary School has continued to win the admiration and support of most Nigerian scholars and students. Adewuya et at (1982) contend that social studies education enables students to examine those norms and cultures of their core and immediate communities within the Nigerian milieu in order to strengthen their socializing and humanizing responsibilities.

Integrated social studies informs the child and helps him know about the physical, social and educational environment in which he lives and function. Social studies helps the child to realize that all the aspect of his environment are revolving or changing. According to Akpabio et at (2014) “Social studies, as a subject, is concerned with man’s way of life. It examines the way man lives and interacts with his social and physical environment”. The use of the available knowledge, skills, tools and technology may aid his interaction. It is important to note that man lives in the society of other human beings. As a rational being, man according to Akpabio et al needs the company, affection, protection, approval and attention of other human being for his comfort. At the same time, society demands the loyalty, cooperation and knowledge of its members in order to ensure development and continued survival of the society. Again, man lives in a physical environment or territory. He interacts with the resources of the physical environment to meet his need for water, food, clothing, shelter, exercise, sleep and rest. In order to interact successfully for the purpose of meeting his social and physical needs. Man as a general rule uses the knowledge, the ideas, the material objects that his society possesses.
Social Studies is not only a way of life, it studies how man influenced by his physical, social, political, economic, psychological and cultural environment. Uzoagulu (2011) observes that social studies is one of the social sciences disciplines which studies man ass he interacts with his fellow men and with his environment . the content of social studies, therefore, is man and his actions. Social studies is the one area of study which integrates, that is, which relates to various social sciences and it also aims at analyzing the view of man and his world. Uzoagulu further stresses that social studies is not history plus geography plus anthropology and so on. All the social sciences are important in their own right but social studies has some relationship with them. The materials from the social sciences and humanities form the basis of the contents of social studies. these materials help to constitute integrated social studies. Social studies is an attempt to reconcile conflicting and distracting statements about man. In other words, it is problem solving. According to Uzoagulu (2011) “In practical terms, social studies is the subject which considers man’s aspirations, hopes, dreams, resentment, hurts and frustrations in order to understand and interpret his behaviours at any particular time”.

For Ezewu (2015) social studies is the area of study made up of selections from other subject having to do with the art of living together peacefully and harmoniously in our family, community and society. For Obiadi (2010) Social studies is not the study of history, geography and civics. As a separate discipline social studies asks questions, raise issues, face problems, present needs and identifies realities. The concept of social studies has been drawn from the disciplines of social science and humanities namely: Sociology, Anthropology, Ethics, History, Geography, and Religion. From the above argument, it can be seen that the definition of social studies is embedded in its philosophy. Social studies cannot be simply defined in a few words, it can be analyzed because it is a powerful discipline. Social Studies is not just an integrated subject but it is also a way of life. But whether all the objectives of social studies can be achieved or realized, it is a core subject for Junior Secondary Schools in Nigeria.

Many individuals including the teachers, students, civil servants and the entire community expect the teaching of integrated social studies to yield positive results. This is not an easy task because of certain problems such as lack of specialist teachers and instructional materials, inappropriate method of teaching, problem arising from the subject itself based on students evaluation and assessment, lack of resources centers, organized seminars, workshops and conferences to up-date teachers knowledge in integrated social studies.

          The development of any nation or community largely depends upon the quality of education available to its citizens. It is generally believed that the basis for any true development must commence with the development of human resources. Hence, formal education remains the vehicle for social-economic development and social mobilization in any society. Primary and secondary education is the foundation on which further education is built. Education has two main purposes. The first purpose is to produce a literate and numerate population that can jointly deal with problems both at home and at work. It also serves as a foundation on which further education is built.

          The academic performance of students social studies  at most secondary school in the world today has recently come under scrutiny for a number of reasons. For example, a number of studies have been carried out to identify causal factors of poor academic performance in a number of institutions worldwide. Most of these studies focus on the three elements that intervene, that is, parents (family causal factors), school/teachers (academic causal factors), and students (personal causal factors) (Diaz, 2003). In light of the above, this study purports to investigate the factors  influence students performance in Mainland local government area of Lagos state

Besides other factors, socioeconomic status is one of the most researched and debated factor among educational professionals that contribute towards the academic performance of students. The most prevalent argument is that the socioeconomic status of learners affects the quality of their academic performance. Most of the experts argue that the low socioeconomic status has negative effect on the academic performance of students in social studies because the basic needs of students remain unfulfilled and hence they do not perform better academically (Adams, 2015). The low socioeconomic status causes environmental deficiencies which results in low self esteem of students. More specifically, this study aims to identify and analyze factors that affect the quality of students’ academic performance.

However, students’ performance is considered a vital indicator of good schooling, so the poor performance of students at the basic level of education has not only led to public outcry, but also educationists have been increasingly occupied in their attempt to identify factors that influence students’ performance especially in junior secondary School Certificate Examination in Nigeria. For example, Diaz (2003), an educationist attributed the phenomenon to lack of effective supervision and monitoring at school, lack of motivation for teachers and inadequate number of qualified teachers to fill empty classrooms. Also, Etsey (2005) attributed the cause of poor academic performance in Nigeria are the  combination of factors relating to the school environment, teachers, students and parents. In the same vein, Diaz (2003) found factors such as intellectual ability, poor study habit, achievement motivation, lack of vocational goals, low self-concept, low socio-economic status of the family, poor family structure and anxiety as contributing to educational performance.

It goes without saying that poor academic achievement in school may be the result of interplay of several factors. It is therefore important not only to carry out an empirical study on the causes of low academic performance of students, but also to look for opportunities and propose measures to assist on-going efforts at improving pupil academic achievement in general.

Statement of the Problem

Social studies is one of the subject that teaches man his environment, it enables him to know his norms, cultures, beliefs, and rules in the society. therefore the importance of social studies to man cannot be overemphasized. It is therefore very necessary that man learns about this subject. A lot of difficulties is been faced by man in learning this subject.

          However, the researcher through discussion with some of the  social studies teachers in secondary schools and through interaction with some of the students at secondary school level realized that social stuudies has not recorded a remarkable success. Many of the students that offered the subject in JSCE have failed woefully as a result of some factors, such as school environment, teachers attitude, teachers qualification, teachers method of teaching are the major factors influence students performace in social studies.

  It is as a result of this problem that the researcher intends to investigate on the  factors influencing students academic performance in social studies

Purpose of the Study

          The aim and objective of the study is to investigate the factors influence junior secondary schools students academic performance in social studies  in mainland local government area  of lagos state

Specifically the study aims at finding out.

1.     the factors influencing  teaching and learning of social studies in Mainland Local Government area 

2.     to determine if teachers’ attitude towards the teaching  and learning of Social studies affect students performance

3.     to find out if teacher qualification affect  the teaching and learning of Social Studies

4.     To determine if the use of instructional materials affect students academic performance in Social Studies

 Research Questions

The following research questions were formulated for the study

1                   What are the  factors influence the  teaching and learning of  social studies in Mainland Local government area of Lagos state

2                   does teachers’ attitude towards the teaching  and learning of Social studies affect students performance

3                   To what extent does teacher qualification affect  the teaching and learning of Social studies?

4                   Does the use of instructional materials affect students academic performance in social studies?

Research Hypothesis

The following null hypothesis would be tested at 0.05 level of significance

1.     Factor influencing teaching and learning of social studies does have significant different in teaching social studies

2.     Teachers attitude does not have significant  different in teaching and learning social studies

3.     Teachers qualification does not have significant effect on the teaching and learning of  social studies

Significance of the Study

          The study mighty help to find solution to certain factor affecting effective teaching and learning of social studies among secondary school students in Ikere Local Government Area.

The study mighty also helps to teach pupils how to think critically about the life of their community and the nature of society.

The study mighty helps the parents to balance the education for their children so that they should provide them with all the needed materials that could help them in their studies.

The study mighty also helps the government and the society in checking the problem whenever the need arises.

Scope of the study

The study is aimed at investigating the factors influencing junior secoll students academic performance in social studies. Simple random sampling was used to select five secondary school in mainland local government area of Lagos state, 120 respondents were sample for the selected schools.

Definition of Terms

Citizenship Education: If you have citizenship of a country, you are legally accepted as belonging to it.  While education is a process by which a person is taught better ways of doing something or a better way of living.

Curriculum:        In a school, college or university of the curriculum consist of all the different course of study that taught there.

Discipline: Is the practice of making people obey rules and punishing them when they do not.  Is also the quality of always behaving or working in a controlled way.

Environment: Environment is the natural world of land, sea, plants and animal.

Factor: A factor is one of the things that affects an event.

Learning: Learning is knowledge that has been gained through studying.

Social Studies: Is the study of man and his environment.

Teaching: Teaching is the work that a teacher does.