EFFECT
OF CLASS SIZE ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF INTEGRATED SCIENCE IN JUNIOR
SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EKITI STATE
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Title page i
Certification ii
Approval page iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgements v
Table of contents vii
Abstract xi
CHAPTER
ONE:INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study 1
Statement of the Problem 7
Purpose
of the Study 8
Research Question 8
Research Hypothesis 9
Delimitation of the study 9
Significances of the study 10
Definition of terms 10
CHAPTER
TWO:
LITRATURE REVIEW
Introduction 12
Theoretical framework 12
Conceptual framework 17
Concept of class size 18
Relationship between class size and
teachers productivity 27
Summary of Literature Review 30
CHAPTER
THREE: METHODOLOGY
Research Design 32
Area of the study 32
Population of the Study 33
Sample and Sampling Techniques 33
Instrument for Data Collection 33
Validation of Instrument 34
Reliability of the Instrument 35
Procedure for data collection 36
Method of Data Analysis 35
CHAPTER
FOUR: RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Analysis of Research Question 36
Test of Hypotheses 42
Discussion of Finding 45
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY,
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIION
Summary 47
Conclusion 47
Recommendation 48
References 49
Appendix 54
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the effect
of class size on the teaching and learning of integrated science with special
reference to Selected junior secondary schools in Ikere Ekiti. The study was a
descriptive survey research design. The sample of the study comprise of forty
(40) select students in Ikere Ekiti. The frequency count and percentages method
were used to analyzed the research questions, while chi-square test was used to
test the research hypotheses. From the study, It was discovered that large
class have effect on students academic performance, also findings from the
study revealed that overcrowded class room and over population of schools have
effect on students academic performance.
Findings from the study are of great significance for educational
planners, policy makers and both federal and state governments. The study
recommended that the school should take steps to appoint more teachers to
minimize the use of large class, also government should provide more classrooms
to ensure quality of service delivering, finally the schools principal should
ensure that standard classroom management is strictly follow.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
As school population
increases, class sizes also increase, the performances of students become an
issue.According to Dror (2005), class size has become a phenomenon often
mentioned in the educational literature asan influence on pupil’s feelings and
achievement, on administration, quality and school budgets. In his words
henoted, that class size is almost an administrative decision over which
teachers have little or no control. Mostresearchers start from the assumption
that size of the class would prove a significant determinant of the degree
ofsuccess of students. In fact, with the exception of a few, many studies have
reported that under ideal situation,class size in itself appears to be an
important factor.
Class
size refers to an educational tool that can be used to describe the average
number of students per class in a school (Adeyemi, 2008). This varies from
country to country.Kedney(2009) saw it as a toolthat can be used to measure the
performance of theeducation system. In relation to size, Stepaniuk(2000)
reported that the rational utilization of classroom spacedepends upon
class-size. This in turn would depend uponthe area of the classroom. He argued
that there areapproved norms of class-size, 40 pupils per class forgrades 1 to
8 and 35 pupils per class for the seniorclasses; while the standard allocation
of class space perpupil is 1:25 square metres. In this regard, Dean (2004)compared
class-size in some countries and found thatTurkey, Norway and Netherlands had
class-sizes of 20more; the UK, USA, Japan, Canada and Ireland hadclass-sizes of
between 15 and 20 while France, Sweden,Denmark, Austria, Italy, Luxembourg and
Belgium hadsizes of below 15.
In
Nigeria, however, Okoro (2005) reported that theclass-size in secondary schools
ranges between 35 or40 students. He argued that few pupils per class
areuneconomical, as they do not make full use of space,teachers and teaching
materials.Adeyemi (2008) too,reported that average class-size influences the
cost ofeducation while capital cost could be reduced byincreasing the average
class-size in schools whileNwadiani (2000)argued that the higher the
class-size, thelower the cost of education. He contended however,that most
classrooms are over-crowded spreadingresources thinly and thereby affecting the
quality ofeducation. Ajayi(2000) supported the viewpoints andargued that in
order to control rising capital cost ofeducation, the average class-size could
be increased.These points were also supported byTothand Montagna (2002) who
reported that the increase in enrollmentin many institutions which has become
major concernsof students could definitely lead to an increase in classsize.
Commeyras(2000) however, disagreed with thesearguments and reported that
effective teaching seemsimpracticable for teacher educators having large
classsizes of 50, 75, 100 or more.In terms of outcomes, Schultz (2003)
classified theoutcomes of education into two categories from theeconomic point
of view. These are consumption andinvestment. Cohn (2005) referred to the
consumptionaspect as that related to benefits derived by students.He regarded
the investment component as including avariety of outputs related to the
enhancement of anindividual’s or society’s productive skills. Thus, Blaug(2003)
argued that the extension of education tends to raise the earnings of those who
benefited from it. In thisregard, Simkins(2001) reported that output
“represents theimmediate results of the system’s activities.” Accordingto him,
“the main outputs in education are expressed interms of learning, that is,
changes in the knowledge,skills and attitudes of individuals as a result of
theirexperiences within the educational system.” He arguedthat the educational
system is a productive system inthe very sense that it produces outputs
especiallyvarious forms of learning. He expressed that thecomponents of the
system could be represented in amodel viz:
InputProcess
Output. Explaining themodel, he alleged that the various inputs are processedin
the production of outputs.Examinations in Nigerian schools dated back to
theadvent of formal education. Since then examinations haveoccupied a central
place in the Nigerian educationalsystem .According to him, examination has been
“thesole criterion of quality” in Nigeria and “once a higherpercentage of the
pupils pass their external examinations,the school is considered to be of a high
quality.” Theimportance of examinations in Nigeria even extendedbeyond this
point. This importance as entrenched inthe Federal Government of Nigeria
National Policy ofEducation was in the fact that all secondary schoolsshould
gear their programmes to meet the requirements ofmodel, he alleged that the
various inputs are processed examinations being conducted for the School
Certificate.Toward this end, Fafunwa(2014) argued that “it is an educational
truism that examinations control the curriculum and whoever controls a
country’s examination system controls its education.”
The WAEC/JSSCE Ordinance emphasized
theimportance of standards in its examinations. Accordingto the Ordinance,
standards must be such that thecertificates awarded on the basis of performance
in theexaminations shall not represent a lower standard ofattainment when
compared with equivalent certificatesof other examining authorities. These
examiningauthorities were the Cambridge and London UniversitiesExaminations
Boards for the WASC and GCEexaminations respectively. Although the SSC
examinationhas replaced the WASC and GCE examinations in Nigeriait still uses
the GCE ‘O’ & ‘A’ level standards as its normssince it was pitched between
the ‘O’ & ‘A’ levelstandards. The pattern of grading candidates’ scorein
the examinations was such that the distinctionsgrade was represented by A1 to
B3. The credit grade wasrepresented by C4 to C6. The ordinary pass grade
wasrepresented by D7 and E8 while the failure grade wasrepresented by F9. It
needs to be mentioned however,that the distinction and credit grades are the
onlyrequisite qualifications for admissions into universitiesin Nigeria and
candidates must have at least five creditsin five subjects including English
Language in order toqualify for admission .The foregoing review hasshown that
class-size is a controversial educationaltool that has varied from one country
to another. Thus,this study was embarked upon to determine the effect of
class-size on the quality of output of integrated Science students from junior
secondaryschools in Ikere Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Nigeria.
Statement
of the Problem
It has been observed
that junior secondary schools in Ekiti State appear to be densely populated
while classroomsseem to be over-congested. It has shown the views of previous
researchers on class-sizein various countries. In view of the divergent
opinions, the problem of this study was to determine what effect class-size had
on the teaching and learning of Integrated Science in junior secondary schools
in Ikere Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
This situation seems to be impairing effective teaching and learning
process in the junior secondary schools in the state and hence the reason for
embarking on this project.
Purpose of the Study
The broad objective of the research project is to examine
the relationship that exists between class size and academic achievement of
Integrated Science students in junior secondary schools in Ekiti State.
The specific
objectives are;
1. To examine the effect of class size on the
academic performance of Integrated Science students in junior secondary schools
in Ekiti.
2 To examine how negative effects of class
size on academic performance of Integrated Science students in junior secondary
schools in Ekiti could be brought to minimal.
3 To examine how quality class size helps in
improving the efficiency and Effectiveness of teaching and learning of
Integrated Science in junior secondary schools in Ekiti.
Research Questions
The research seeks to answer the following questions that
affect the effective teaching and learning of Integrated Science in Ekiti State
to guide the study.
(1) “Is
there any significant difference in the achievement in Integrated Science for
junior secondary school students in small and large sized classes?
(2) Is
there any interaction effect between location of school and class size in the
achievement in Integrated Science for junior secondary school students in small
and large sized classes? ”
(3) Is
there any significant difference between the quality of output of students in
schools having an average small class-sizes and the quality of output of
students in schools having an average large class-sizes in the JSSCE
examinations in the State?
(4) What
is the impact of class size on Integrated Science teachers' productivity in
junior secondary schools in Ekiti State?
Research
Hypotheses
The following null hypothetical statements are made
with respect to the objectives of the study.
i.
“There is no significant difference
between the achievement of students in Integrated Science in small and large
sized classes of junior secondary schools.
ii.
There is no interaction effect of School
location and class size in students’ achievement in junior secondary school
Integrated Science.
iii.
There is no significant difference between
the quality of output of students in schools having anaverage class-size of 35
students and below and the quality of output of students in schools having an
average class-size of above 35 students in JSSCE examinations in Ekiti State,
Nigeria.
iv.
There is no significant relationship
between class size and teachers’ productivity.
Delimitation
of the Study
The study is specifically talking about the correlation
between the class size and the teaching and learning efficiency of Integrated
Science Students in Ekiti State. The study will concentrate on the effects of
class size on the teaching and learning of Integrated Science in (5) Senior
Secondary Schools in Ikere Local Government area of Ekiti State.
Significance of the Study
The Nigerian
education system is progressively becoming more and more complex. But the catalogue of sources shows that
Nigerian secondary school class is over congested and thereby leads to a
decline in the teaching and learning of Integrated Science. Experience has shown that class size is a
major contributing factor to the assumed teachers’ Ineffectiveness in many
junior secondary schools in the State. For instance, in the recent years,
Nigeria has witnessed rapid educational expansion especially at the junior
secondary school level without corresponding increase in the provision of
essential facilities and this has resulted into large school size and
eventually large class size; with its attendant problems of lack of facilities
for teachers and also lack of good classroom management by the teachers. For
instance, it has been observed that students may be too difficult to control by
teachers in many of the large classes due to over congestion of students in
these classes. Experience has also shown that teachers tend to lose the ability
to attain or establish effective teaching in the overcrowded class than small
class and this problem of large class size in secondary schools has been
attributed to several factors, such as the introduction of too many subjects on
junior secondary school time-table, which invariably has given birth to
accommodation of all the subjects on the school time-table couple with the
shortage of qualified teaching personnel to teach these subjects.
Based on this, the research work
contains the researcher’s contributions that would be of help and useful to
education policy planners, Educationist, Ministry of Education authorities,
Stakeholders, school administrations and management in junior schools towards
helping students to improve the quality
of facilities in the education system.
Apart from the above, the research will provide
valuable information on the influence of different interacting factors on the
effects of class size on the teaching and learning of Integrated Science among junior
secondary school students. The content of the study will also serve as resource
materials for others who want to carry out further research.
Definition of Terms
The definitions used in the historical
class size debate vary according to the researcher. The following definitions
are ones that will be used in this research.
Class
size:
Class size is typically defined as the number of students for whom a teacher is
primarily responsible during a school year. The teacher may teach in a
self-contained classroom or provide instruction in one subject (Lewitt&
Baker, 1999, p. 2). Achilles (2003) gives the following example of class size:
“Average class-size is the sum of all students regularly in each teacher's
class divided by the actual number of regular teachers in those specific
classes. Regardless of the definition one uses, class size has been difficult
to measure due to the dynamic nature of classrooms (adults and students move in
and out of classrooms), a variety of classroom models (pull outs, resource
rooms, aides, specialists), and a lack of precise measurements of what occurs
in schools and classrooms (pupil-teacher ratios, pupil-professional ratios,
class size based on the number of students assigned to a given teacher)
(Reichardt, 2000). The lack of a common agreement as to what constitutes a
small class or even an ideal class has made it difficult to compare research
studies.
Operational
definition of class size:
For the purpose of this study class size was defined as the number of students
for whom a teacher is primarily responsible during a school year. A small class
was defined as a class having 11 of fewer students. A large class contained 20
or more pupils.
Pupil-teacher
ratio (also known as teacher-student ratio):Achilles
(2003) defined pupil-teacher ratio as the number of student in a school or
district compared to the number of teaching professionals. All educators may be
part of the computation, including counselors and administrators. According to
Hanushek (1999), the only data that are consistently available over time
reflect pupil-teacher ratios.
Class
size reduction: Class size
reduction is the processes to achieve class sizes smaller than the ones
currently in place (Achilles, 2003).
JSSCE:
The
Junior Secondary School Certificate Examination (JSSCE) refers to student
academic assessments final year exam at junior secondary school level.
