A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN CHEMISTRY BETWEEN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
The importance of secondary education cannot be over emphasized. However, secondary education is the second institution in our education system as the name implies that prepares students or learners for a higher level of education. A very sound and solid secondary education is highly needed, it is likened to a house built on a rock which nothing can shake or move it.
Secondary education should be designed for children between the ages of twelve and eighteen as to inculcate permanent literacy and innumeracy, develop the needed abilities to communicate effectively and to lay a sound basic for scientific thinking.
There are some observable school characteristics that may be common to both private and public schools. Some of them include: large class-size, inadequate teaching resources, physical appearance, small classroom space, location of school, co-curricular activities, shortage of teachers, frequent changes of teachers and teachers‟ attitude to work, sub-standard teachers and poor instructional strategies (ESSPIN,2011). The extent to which these factors are present or absent in public and private schools determines the quality of instruction their students receive, characteristics of these students and hence their academic performance. This research work seeks to investigate students‟ characteristics (learning styles preferences) in the two school types and how these students‟ characteristics affect their academic performance.
In the teaching-learning environment there have been questions as to why some students learn better than other students under the same conditions. Educators are concerned about using different teaching methods and instructional materials to improve achievement of their students. Students on the other hand, have a role to play in improving their performance after a given period of instruction. If the teacher does all that is in his power to do to ensure good performance and the students do not play their part; then success may not be achieved. Berg (2005), identified attitude, motivation and genuine interest as the most important student characteristics associated with successful learning. There would be no meaningful success if the students do not exhibit these characteristics in the learning environment.
Yeung, Read and Schmid (2005), posit that several factors influence student learning. Examples of such factors include but are not limited to students learning style preferences, interest in the materials being studied and the learning environment. They went on to say that an individual‟s learning style preference deals with the way the person responds to stimuli in the learning context and the characteristic way he acquires and uses information. Since students learn in different ways, there is need for the students‟ learning style preferences to align with the instructors teaching style for good performance. The most effective teacher is one who caters for a range of learning styles. There is obvious need to incorporate the students‟ learning style into the instructional and assessment procedures. This study sets out to investigate and compare the learning style preferences of students in public and private schools in Lagos Metropolis. The relationship between students‟ learning styles and their academic performance will also be reported.
Learning style was defined by Dunn and Dunn (2012), as the way each learner begins to concentrate on, process and remember new and difficult information. When an individual‟s multidimensional characteristics are examined the person‟s learning style can be identified. An individual‟s learning style is the way the person begins to process, internalize and concentrate on a new material (Gremli, 2016).
Learning according to Sara 2010, can be defined as the summation of a person‟s life experiences which have survival value for him and which is relatively permanent. Learning can equally be classified as conscious or unconscious. Conscious learning occurs when a person learns deliberately while the unconscious learning is when learning is without deliberate effort.
Individuals exhibit different approaches to solving a problem. Some are systematic, others are haphazard. The approach of an immature person gradually transforms into a pattern of behaviour called learning style. Sara 2010, made a distinction between style and strategy. Learning Style is the characteristic way a person thinks or approaches a problem while learning strategy is a particular approach used to solve a narrower range of problems. Learning style of a person is stable over the years but learning strategy varies with the situation under consideration.
The standard for teachers in public schools is that they have a certificate in education, but this isn’t necessarily the case in private schools if not now because private schools do not always pay good salaries, offer poor job security, and no benefits. But after the crisis in the 80s, there is still fear of non-payment of salary in public schools and this is visited by frequent strikes and demand for pay rise of all sorts. Primary education is no doubt the foundation stage of the career in the education industry although some children go through the nursery. The experience gathered from the primary level will always influence the student’s academic performance in the secondary schools especially at the early stage of the secondary school life (Afolabi, 2005).
However, the decay or decadence of academic performance in primary, secondary and tertiary schools in Nigeria is alarming mainly in Science subjects. This study seeks to determine the performance of students in science subjects especially in Chemistry. Some children from primary school or at the end of their primary education may be academically good but in their West African Examination Council (WAEC) or National Examination Council (NECO) their performance may be poor or average. On the other hand others may be poor from the onset of their secondary education but their WAEC or NECO results may be poor or average.
The importance of secondary education cannot be over emphasized. However, secondary education is the second institution in our education system as the name implies that prepares pupils or learners for a higher level of education. A very sound and solid secondary education is highly needed, it is likened to a house built on a rock which nothing can shake or move it.
Secondary education should be designed for children between the ages of twelve and eighteen as to inculcate permanent literacy and innumeracy, develop the needed abilities to communicate effectively and to lay a sound basic for scientific thinking.
The curriculum of education stated that secondary education is catering for children of twelve and above. This is in line with the national policy on education which stated that secondary school are to produce students for tertiary schools or vocational studies which in turn prepare children for life and reflect what their future will be. In view of this the standard of chemistry education inculcated the learners either in private secondary school or public school will determine their performance in chemistry at the end of their programmes.
Although, people generally believe that, private secondary school students performed better than their counterparts in public secondary schools Hebay, 2002 without considering some particulars which make those achievements possible and feasible. All the same, there are some public secondary schools which performed better when compare with private secondary schools. But, this project is capable of satisfying our faith and answer to most of the question that can surface under this theme.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The fact here is that, students are suppose to spent most of their reading time in solving chemistry and developed interest in the study of chemistry knowing fully well that the subject is the bed rock of any endeavour in pure science.
The researcher interest on this topic “A comparative analysis of student’s performance in chemistry in private and public secondary schools in Ikere Local Government Area of Ekiti state” was to know whether private secondary schools do perform better than public secondary schools in Ikere-Ekiti. And if they do, then what factors lead to their differences.
PURPOSE OF STUDY
RESEARCH QUESTION
The following questions were encounter in this study;
- What really ascertain the difference in academic performance of private and public secondary schools in chemistry
- To what extent do teaching perception of teachers affect students performances in chemistry?
- To what extent do parental factors affect students’ performance in chemistry?
- What problem of teaching and learning environment really affect students performance in chemistry’
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
The null hypotheses (Ho) are then stated thus:
- private secondary schools do not significantly perform better than public secondary schools in chemistry.
- Teaching perception of teachers do not significantly affect students performance in chemistry
- There is no significant difference in parent socio-economic performance in chemistry.
- There is no significant difference in teaching and learning environment.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
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