ABSTRACT
This study
examined teachers’ perceptions of students’ problems which bordered on academic
work, study habits and skills, and adjustment to school situation in secondary
grammar schools located in Oredo Local Government area of Edo State.
The main
purpose of the study was to find out whether teachers in the secondary schools
perceived the problems bothering their students the way the students themselves
perceived their problems and to determine if the variables of sex, teaching
experience and school location had any significant influence on the perception
of the teachers.
Questionnaire
was administered to five hundred (500) students in classes four and five and
eighty (80) teachers who were teaching the students sampled.
The
response obtained from the two groups of subjects were tabulated and
compared. Two statistics were used for
the analyses. At the end, conclusion was
drawn and necessary recommendations were made.
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
PAGES
Title
Page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Table
of Contents vi
Abstract ix
Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Background
to the Study 1
1.2 Statement
of the Problem 9
1.3 Purpose
of the Study 11
1.4. Questions of the Study 13
1.5 Significance
of the Study 15
1.6 Scope
of the Study 20
1.7 Limitation
of the Study 22
Chapter Two: Review of Related
Literature
2.1 The Basis of the Problems
encountered by Secondary
School
Students 24
2.2 Various problems which
secondary school
students
may encounter 28
2.3
Ranking the Problems 33
2.4
Students’ problems in relation to sex 34
2.5
Students’ problem in relation to their school Location 37
2.6
Causes and Origin of Students’ problems 38
2.7
Consequences of the Problem 40
2.8 Preparedness of Students to
disclose their
problems
and discuss them with someone 43
2.9 Comparison of Students own
perception with
Teacher Perception of students concern,
problems and needs 45
3.10 The use of students own
reports of their problems
as the criterion for guiding the accuracy of
teachers
reports of students problems. 48
CHAPTER THREE: Research
Methodology
3.1 Method
of the Study 51
3.2 Sampling procedures, study population
and samples 54
3.3
Research Instrument 57
3.4
Reliability of the SPI 59
3.5
Validity of SPI 61
3.6
Administration of the Instrument 62
3.7
Scoring Techniques 64
3.8
Analysis of Data 66
Chapter Four:
Presentation and Analysis of Data 67
Chapter Five: Summary,
Conclusion and
Recommendations
5.1
Summary 79
5.2
Findings 83
5.3
Conclusion 85
5.4
Recommendations 86
Bibliography 88
Appendix 91
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background
to the Study
Each stage or period of human life and development is associated
with a number of problems. Adolescence,
a typical and distinct period in human growth and development, is not an
exception and has sometimes been described as a specially problematic period. Bakare writes that: The modern technological
world has been aptly characterized by age of anxiety. But perhaps there is no stage of development
at which those stresses and conflicts are more acute than at adolescence since
at this stage physiological changes combine with psychological and societal
factors to make the period a particularly critical one for the individual.
The need for concern about others group of individual has
been emphasized. Dada remarked that: The
adolescent comes for special treatment, because they have special physical and
psychological needs; they vary widely in their physical, moral, intellectual,
social and behavioural development. They
therefore need special treatment.
The problems of adolescent in secondary school students
considered in this study were those which related to academic work, study
skills and habits, and the adjustment the students have to make due to certain
features of the school such as its teachers, physical facilities and
curriculum.
A number of studies like those of Bakare, Adams and Akinloye
to mention a few had revealed that adolescent secondary schools actually have
these problems. Some of the problems
that have been specifically identified are; not knowing when and how to
study. Fear of academic failure, lack of
space in the school to study, some subjects being very difficult to
understand. Fear to some teachers and
principals and teachers having no regard for students’ needs and feelings.
There seems to be a close relationship between an
individual’s needs and problems. People
perceive that they have problems when their needs are not satisfied.
According to Mouly, in as much as everyone has at all times
multiple needs to satisfy, everyone is perpetually faced with adjustment
problems and therefore, is potentially capable of being adjusted or maladjusted
depending on the adequacy of his need – satisfying behaviour. Also, Blair et al remarked that “delinquent
acts would not be committed if the adolescent did not anticipate that they
would satisfy some of his needs”.
In the school setting some of the students needs are teachers
understanding, love and affection, books in the library to read, getting high
marks, passing tests or examinations and securing a suitable place in the
school to read. When these needs are not
satisfied, students become worried.
The problems that result from non-satisfaction of needs have
serious consequence on both the individual students and the society for
example, juvenile delinquency which has been “recognized as a perrasive social
problem” and school dropout regarded as a “social dynamite” which constitute “…
a serious threat to our free society”, may result.
Makinde in his study, stated that “academic problems may lead
to truancy, cheating and lying… The
feelings of being unwanted may lead to truancy or latencies to classes”. Circumstances within the school which student
seems not to like such as lessons being too dull or too difficult, teachers
being inconsiderable of students’ feelings, school being too strict, teachers
been unfriendly or too hard to understand by students, often constitute
problems which may lead to students withdrawal and consequent dropout from
school. The mass failure of secondary
school finalists in the West African School Certificate Examination might be an
indication or the aftermath of a large number of such problems which are
related to academic work, study habits and school situation and which bothered
students but remained unresolved while they were yet in the school.
The secondary school students, particularly as adolescent,
need some assistance and guidance in finding lasting and appropriate solutions
to these academic and social adjustment problems. A student deserves some help, especially from
understanding adults, including their teachers, in dealing or coping with at
least some, not necessarity all, of his problems. Peak and Mitchell had indicated that there is
a strong need for this assistance with emphasis on the consequence of its lack.
No person has an unlimited amount of energy available and the
anxious child invests so much of his energy in his problems that there in
little left over to conduct his ordinary affair of life.
In Nigeria,
secondary schools, including those in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State,
where Guidance and Counsellors are scarcely found, the assistance received by
students in their efforts to adjust to their personal problems seem to come
mainly from their teachers. It is in
support of their view that Lindgren states that “most of the day-to-day work
with the emotional problems of school children is the `responsibility of the
classroom teacher”. After a review of
students’ problems and comparison of the closeness of the teachers and
counselors, interpersonal relationship with students, this author concluded
that “for better or worse the teacher is in the position of being the students’
counsellor much of the time”.
In spite of teachers’ efforts, however, the type and severity
of student’s problems and their consequence, tend to be on the increase as if
nothing positive is being done towards minimizing or eliminating them. This might be because of the sort of
assistance provided by the teachers are inappropriate in the sense that they do
not satisfy the needs with which the students’ problems are tied.
Appropriate solutions are eluding the teachers probably because
they do not accurately perceive the students and teachers – would be in a
better position to help students only if they perceive their own problems. This implies that neither the trained
counselor nor the trained teacher can provide appropriate answers to questions
or problems they do not understand. This
argument has been supported by Blair et al.
According to these authors, teacher who understand adolescent
and problems that encounter, can do much to help make a successful transition
to adult status. Too often, however, it
seems that schools and teachers, because of lack of understanding, actually
frustrate adolescent and contribute to their general maladjustment.
Consequently, if appropriate and lasting solutions are to be
found for the academic, study and school adjustment problems of students, there
should be an understanding of not merely the students but also their needs and
problems by their teachers. In other
words, the appropriateness of teachers guidance in reducing the problems of
adolescent students would depend largely on the extent and accuracy of teachers
understanding of the students’ problems.
The criterion for accuracy in this respect would be the teachers of the
students’ personal concern. It seem
that, in the Nigerian secondary schools teachers’ inability to perceive their
problems might be one of the reasons related to why teachers have not been able
to find appropriate and enduring solutions to the problems of students in their
care. It is against the background that
the present study was formulated.
1.2
Statement
of the Problem
These have been physical attacks on teachers, planned
destruction of school property, various forms of adolescent student
delinquency, riots and demonstrations, mass academic failures and school
dropout in recent years. These are not
but a few of the consequences of student’s problems which are related to study,
academic work and adjustment to school.
In spite of the various efforts being made by parents,
teachers, schools and other organizations to find lasting solutions or
preventive measures, students’ problems and their consequences tend to mount
and persist. Why is this so, one of the
reasons for this may be lack of awareness of the students’ needs and problems
by those who are directly concerned – teachers-within the school and the
classroom.
The main focus of this study, therefore, is to provide
answers to the questions. Do teachers
perceive the problems of their students which borders in school adjustment,
academic work and study habits the same way the affected students.
The students themselves also perceive the following problems:
1. Has the sex
of the teachers any effect on the teachers’ perception of students’ problems.?
2. Has the
number of years of teaching any effect on the teachers’ perception of students’
problems?
3. Has school
location any effect on the teachers’ perception of student’s problems?
1.3 Purpose
of the Study
The purpose of this study was to find out whether teachers in
the secondary schools perceived the problems bothering their students which are
related to school adjustment, academic work, and study accurately that is the
way the students themselves perceived their problems and to determine whether
the variables of sex, teaching experience and school location (rural and urban)
had any significant influence on the accuracy of teachers’ perception of
student’s problems.
Assumption
For the purpose of this study,
it was assumed:
1.
That adolescent students are aware of their
problems and will give honest and accurate reports or disclosures of them. This view was supported by Jersild et
al. This students’ perceptions of their
own problems was used to judge the correctness of teacher’s perceptions of the
students problem.
2.
That the close interpersonal object contact
between teachers and student within the schools and classrooms will offer the
teachers a good chance to become aware of school adjustment academic and study
problems as they affect their students.
That is, teachers are likely to perceive the said students problems correctly
since their interest with the students vary closely particularly within both
the school and the classroom.
1.4 Questions
of the Study
In order to solve the problem of this study, the following
operational hypotheses and questions were formulated:
1.
There will be a significant difference between
students and their teachers’ perception of student problems.
2.
There will be no significant difference between
experienced and inexperienced teachers perceptions of students problems.
3.
There will be no significant difference between
male and female.
4.
There will be no significant difference between
rural and urban teachers’ perception of students problems.
5.
Still based on the purpose of this study,
answers were sought to the following five questions.
a.
Do both male and female teachers perceive
students problems the way the students themselves perceive their problems.?
b.
Do both male and female teachers perceive male
students problems the way the male students themselves perceive their problems?
c.
Do both male and female teachers perceive female
students problems the way the female students themselves perceive their
problem?
d.
Do both experienced and inexperience teachers
perceived students’ problems the way the students themselves perceive their
problems?
e.
Do rural and urban teachers perceive the
problems of rural and urban students respectively the way the students
themselves.
1.5
Significance
of the Study
There is need to minimize educational wastage in terms of
school dropout. It is necessary to
improve on the academic attainment of secondary school students both at
internal and external examinations as well as the quality of the students
emotional life. This much desired
improvement can only be achieved if the emotional stresses associated with
students’ academic motivation, study habits and skills, teacher-student
interpersonal relationships and the overall school situation are correctly
identified and successfully tackled. The
acute shortage in scarcely of guidance and counsellors also indicated the
urgent need to involve classroom teachers in guidance and counseling duties in
our present secondary schools.
Unfortunately, these teachers have often been accused of not
paying adequate attention to and therefore, by implication, of not clearly
perceiving the needs and problems of their adolescent students. For instance, it has been stated that:
Despite the fact that much has appeared in both professional
and lay literature about this age group, there are numerous indications that
adolescent are not well understood by those who are dedicated to helping them;
parents, teachers and counsellors. In
everyday interpersonal relationship with teenagers, many adults seem to lack
awareness of their psychological and physical needs as well as a general appreciation
of the changes and adjustments that adolescent undergo.
Yet, it has been recognized that it is the adult who is aware
of an adolescent emotional problems who is in a position to be of inestimable
help. The need to carry out the present
study, therefore, becomes clear.
One major significance of this study is that it would receive
the degree of accuracy with which teachers perceive of needs and problems of
their students. A knowledge of the level
of teachers study skills and habits and the adjustments students undergo in the
schools would enable policy makers and school administration to formulate
policies to improve teachers perceptions of students problems, reduce related
emotional stresses in students in this might consequently raise the presently
falling level or standard of academic performance of students as evidence by
mass failures in examinations at the secondary school level.
This study would indicate whether or not both male and female
teachers are accurate in their perceptions of students problems. That is to say that the present study would
show whether or not one sex of the teachers perceive students problems more
accurately than the other sex. The study
is therefore significant because its findings would have some implications for
guidance and counseling practices with regard to whether or not it is
appropriate to assign counsellor to students in our school by sex.
The study would reveal whether accuracy of teachers
perceptions of their students problems is related to teachers job
experience. That is whether inexperienced
teachers perceptions of their students problem are less accurate than those of
experienced teachers. In this respect,
this study would be significant in that its findings would have further
implications for educations in general and for guidance and counseling in
particular as they (the findings of the study) might indicate the importance
and necessity or otherwise of teaching experience as a prerequisite for the
admission or as a factor that may have some influence on teachers competence
and success in managing students problem.
More and more secondary schools are being recently opened in
rural areas. A review of the literature
seem to indicate that the amount of teacher-students interaction or
interpersonal contact and therefore teachers understanding of the students
problems are likely to be greater in rural schools than in the urban
schools. This study would reveal whether
teachers perceptions of students personal concerns are influenced by school
location. The present study is,
therefore, significant since its finding will have implication for student
teachers interpersonal relationship in the secondary schools. The need or otherwise in the part of
educational administration, planners and other policy makers as school heads,
teachers and guidance counsellors to pay meaningful attention to the nature,
patterns and extent of interpersonal relationship and understanding between
teachers and their students in both rural and urban school would be indicated.
On the whole, the recommendations of this study would guide
educationalists, government and counseling experts when formulating policies
geared towards the management of students’ problems as they relate to
indiscipline, academic work, study habits and adjustment to school situation.
1.6
Scope of
the Study
The study was restricted to Oredo Local Government Area, Edo State. Limited time and financial constraint did not
permit a larger geographical coverage.
All the secondary grammar schools in this local government area were
considered for the study.
Only classes four and five students in the secondary grammar
schools and their teachers were involved in the study. Students in classes one, two and three were
excluded because most of them were considered by the researcher as not mature
enough to realistically perceive the accurately express or report their
problems like the students in classes four and five.
The students problems investigated were those listed in and
categorized as sections J and K, and respectively called Academic and Study
problems and school adjustment problems, in the students’ problems inventory
(SPI) designed by Bakare of the Department of Guidance and Counselling,
University of Ibadan. All other students
problems outside these two categories were excluded. School adjustment (sectional k) and academic
and study (section J) problems has been selected for the study because their
problems seems to be the problems of students which school teachers can more
validly perceived and give an account of.
They are problems which students encounter within the school and the
classroom.
1.7
Limitation
of the Study
One limitation of the study was the difficulty in securing
accurate and honest responses from students and their teachers. Some students might not have disclosed all
their problems while some might negate the use of students perception. On the other hand, the teachers themselves
might have ticked items which they felt were likely to, but which did not
really bother their students.
Another limitation of this study is that the result and
finding may not be generaliable to the whole of Edo
State, let alone Nigeria, and for all students
problems, especially as itemized and categorized on the other sections of the
students’ problem inventory (SPI) as well as for all classes or ages of
students in the secondary school.
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