CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Sport is the umbrella that embraces all games
ranging from teasing cots to high organize club athletics. Sport activities
refer to game, dance and gymnastic unit taught in the curriculum, while fitness
indicates an emphasis on the development of fitness concept. Also sport is a
very high term and is very interesting and challenging.
By
conforming with the basic principles of contemporary education, it is possible
to raise individuals as healthy people in all senses by educating them
physically alongside their intellectual education. This can be realized in line
with the aims of general education with the contribution of physical education
and sport (Kangalgil, Hunuk and Demirhan, 2006).
In
recent times, the concept of Female participation in sport has been an emerging
area of research as efforts have been and are being made in getting more
females to participate in sports. However, a lot more effort is still required
to generate greater female participation in the world of sport. (LeUnes&
Nation, 2002). Female participation in sports has been a controversial issue
all over the world and Nigeria is not an exception. Involvement in sports has
taken a new turn in which those who engage in sports have various reasons for
participation. In the olden days, the reasons for participation in sports was
for the sole purpose of survival but in the world today, those who engage in
sports have various intrinsic and extrinsic motivation such as financial,
satisfaction, social, psychological, and fulfillment. Participation in sports makes athletes and
others fit for such activities that they might engage in. Fem-ales who
participate in sports, recreation and physical activities are generally
healthier, more confident and feel better than those who do not (New South
Wales info Sheet, 2006, Orunaboka& Nathan, 2007). The emergence of women in
sports is largely a twentieth century phenomenon. Women were not allowed as
spectators in the first Olympics in 776 B.C. in Ancient particular time.
Descriptive survey method enables the researcher to obtain the opinion of a
representative sample of the target population so as to be able to infer the
perception on the entire population. Greece and when the Olympics was revived,
women were not allowed to participate
When
considering sport not only as a way of developing an individual’s physical and
motor skills but also as a game, as recreation and as a free-time activity, it
is also beneficial for social relationships. Sport is effective for
adaptability to the environment especially for university students starting a
new life. Thanks to sport, it is possible to enter different environments and
form new friendships. This will be possible only with a positive attitude
towards sport.
In
the rapidly developing age of technology, societies, in order to maintain their
existence in a healthy environment and to preserve community peace and welfare,
benefit from sporting activities. It is known that taking part in activities
like these is important for individuals’ healthy development, for protecting them
from harmful habits in the environmental conditions and for increasing the
quality of their lives (Senturk, 2012; Sahin, 2015; Guner, 2015). To achieve
this, first of all guidance is needed towards participation in activities like
these. This is only possible by developing a positive attitude towards sport in
individuals. As is known, attitudes have a powerful effect on an individual’s
behaviors (Tavsancil; 2014). The factor that determines whether an individual’s
behavioural responses are positive or negative is that individual’s attitudes
(Ho, 2008; Morgan, 2010).
Attitude
has been the subject of many research studies from several viewpoints, such as
how it forms, how it changes, and how it affects the individual and society
(Tekkursun, Demir, Ilhan and Arslan, 2017). In some of the studies made,
attitude is evaluated as a multifaceted concept, especially in education
(Sullivan, 2005; Ozmentes, 2006). The concept of attitude has been defined by
many researchers. According to Franzoi (2003), attitude is “a positive or
negative evaluation of an object”. Cuceloglu (2005), however, defines attitude
as “the state of an individual’s belief and emotions formed towards people,
subjects or events”. According to Hogg and Vaughan (2006), attitude is a
structure that directs our behaviours, although it is not directly observable.
Attitudes
may show a number of changes during the course of our lives. While an
individual’s immediate surroundings are effective in forming his or her
attitudes, especially in the first years of life, these attitudes may undergo a
series of changes according to the individual’s level of knowledge,
socialisation processes and life experiences (Inceoglu, 2010). It is known that
attitudes are formed especially during adolescence (12-21 years) and that they
take their final form and become permanent during adulthood (21-30 years)
(Kagıtcıbası, 2005). It is also known that during individuals’ university period, which generally
coincides with their period of adolescence, their attitudes may undergo a
number of changes dependent on their experiences (Ozyurek, 2010). Therefore,
the importance of organising university experiences in the direction of gaining
positive attitudes in students should not be ignored by system executives.
The role of educational organizations
in forming and developing attitudes towards sport is great (Balyan, Balyan and
Kiremitci, 2012). With the aim of increasing university students’ participation
in sport, giving individuals enough opportunities and facilities, and directing
and motivating them towards sport will have a positive effect on their
attitudes towards sport. Offering sporting services, particularly in branches
that were unavailable to students prior to university education, is very
important regarding both development of positive attitudes and social
development. Lack of these facilities and orientations will have a negative
effect on university students’ desire to do sport (Bushman, Battista, Swan,
Ransdell and Thompson, 2014).
Although there are no laws, which
stated that women should not engage in sporting activities but there are
societal expectations, which hinder them from doing so. These societal beliefs
are strong to prevent women from venturing into areas believed to be for men
only. Oworu (2003), Okonkwor (2011) and Ojeme, (2007) stated that what has
conditioned the women folks to be what they are, is deeply rooted in the
prejudicial social patterns of different cultures. Women, through the ages,
have always been viewed to be made of sugar and spices. Consequently and in
keeping with this metaphor, a feminine picture of woman was conjoined up which
seems to militate against females doing anything too physical.
Babatunde,
(2001) and Okonkwor, (2007), found that culture and tradition, age, gender,
ordinal position, parents, as significant socio-cultural factors which
influence female participation in sports. However, studies have not shown
whether these could be found in tertiary institution in Ekiti State. Thus, the
need to find out attitude of female secondary school student toward sport
participation in Ikere Local Government Area Ekiti State in Nigeria.Rikard and
Banville (2006) state that attitudes are born from beliefs that one has about
him or herself and thing. Attitude shape ones behaviors in many ways and
determine ones involvement in our daily activities.
Statement of the problem
Schools
are used as a source of future generation for a given country. Moreover, the
issue of gender, particularly, in the education sector has become a major concern.
Physical education is one of the main areas that needs due attention of equal
participation of both male and female students. The participation of female
students is under several problems that resulted unequal participation between
them in Nigeria in general and the study area in particular. Among other
problems, lack of family guidance, lack
of sports field material, socio-cultural problem and the existence of
little researcher in the area as well as the failure to conduct schools
competition at all levels; it was taken place; section to section, school to
school, between Local government at State government level and at country level. The last problem
i.e. absence of schools competitions has hindered, particularly the females, to
show their talent, not to be recruited by clubs and so on.
The
existing studies undertaken at Ikere will be limited in their area of interest.
A research conducted by Fekadu (2005), with the main objective to assess female
students’ participation and specifically tried to explore the challenges,
socio-cultural and school factors. On the other hand, Andualem (2012) studied
with an emphasis on female participation in athletics session. Even though the
above studies have been conducted on their area of interest; they did not
assess female students’ participation in the physical education both at
classroom /theoretical/ and practical class activities. The researchers have
observed that in Ikere local government, women cannot expose certain parts of
their body and thus, women in this case cannot engage in sports because they
have to put on dresses that would make them free to participate such as bikini
for swimming, pants for athletics, shorts and vests for games. Therefore, this study will try to fill the
gap on the above stated issues and strives to assess the trends of females’
student participation in the physical education both at theoretical and
practical session in comprehensive manner by taking secondary schools in Ikere
local government area of Ekiti State.
Purpose the Study
Specifically
the research tried to address the following specific objectives.
1. If
academic performance of female secondary school students will influence their
attitude towards sport participation.
2. To
investigate if religion can influence female secondary school student toward
sport participation
3. If
family background will influence the attitude of female secondary school
student toward sport participation.
4. To
examine if the interest of female influence their attitude towards sport
participation
Significance of the Study
This study will used as a reference for further researches in the
area of female participation in physical education class. The finding of the
study will also inform the stakeholders about female participation in high
school and preparatory school.
The findings of the study will further enlightens the strengths
and weaknesses of female participation, which have enormous significance for
the stake holders to take a peculiar interventions in the area and take into
account in devising and implementation case specific intervention plan.
The study will be useful to school principal, physical and health
education teacher, and other sport teachers in encouraging female secondary
school students to participate in sport. The study will be useful to Ekiti
State sport council and other sport agency, to promote female secondary school
students in the area of sports. The study will be of importance and help to the
female secondary school students, to have positive attitude towards sport
participation. The out-come of this study will be of help to the researcher to
acquire more wisdom and knowledge, about the attitude of female secondary
schools students toward sport participation.
Scope
of the study
The
study will be delimited to the attitude of female secondary school student
toward sport participation. The students of secondary school will be used as
respondents. The survey design of the descriptive type of research will be used
for this study. The research instrument will be self-structured questionnaire.
The analysis of data will be done using descriptive statistics involving
frequency counts and percentage to answer the research questions.
Research
Questions
1
Will academic performance of female secondary school student influence their
attitude toward sport participation?
2. Can
religion influence female secondary school student towards sport participation?
3. Does
family background influence the attitude of female secondary school
studentstoward sport participation?
4. Does
the interest of female secondary school student influence their attitude towards sport
participation?
Research
hypothesis
1. There
is no significance difference on the academic performance of female secondary
school student and their attitude toward
sport participation?
2. There
is no significant difference on religion influence female secondary school
student towards sport participation?
3. family
background does not have significant influence
on the attitude of female secondary school students toward sport participation?
4.
There
is no significance difference on the female students interest towards sport participation
