CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Learning is a lifetime process. Continues learning equips one as a student with a larger mastery of knowledge, a broader understanding of facts, a larger repository of wisdom, and a better insight on life that will make better individual responsible and upright human beings. On process of learning, students or learner is the center of education. Studying their different aspects of a student and their ways on attaining such goals will be of great impotance. As such, the extent of student’s learning in academics may be determined by the grades a student earns for a period of learning. It is believed that a grade is a primary indicator of such learning. If a learner earns high grades it is concluded that they may also have learned a lot while low grades indicate lesser learning. However, many experiences and studies found out that there are also several factors that would account for the grades. No single factor can be definitely pointed out as predicting grades. It has been interplay of so many factors – gender, daily allowance, social status, time and interest. (Ijaduola, 2007).

The economic value of education started to generate greater analytical attention, When it becomes clear that a substantial part of economic progress made especially in the early 19th century by the industrialized nations and very recently by the Asian tigers could be attributed to the development of their educational system. (Akande, 2012).

The value of teachers in preparing human 'being for a useful living is very high and as contained  in the national policy on education (1977) reviewed in 1981 that teachers help to equip" students to live effectively in a modem age of science and technology. This has made the growing complexity (in terms of enrolment explosion, resource mobilization and organization) of educational institution, and the increased societal demands for more result oriented schools have made the duties of the staff in the schools to be more critical in organizational behaviour.(Akinlaye, 2009)

Instructional facilities are facilities which assist teachers to make their lessons explicit to learners. They are also used to transmit information, ideas and notes to learners (Ijaduola 2007). Instructional materials include both visuals and audiovisuals such as pictures, flashcards, posters, charts, tape recorder, radio, video, television, computers among others. These materials serve as supplement to the normal processes of instruction.

Economics is an important subject that must be credited by students before gaining admission into any tertiary institution especially the university to study relevant courses like Accountancy, Business Administration, Insurance, etc. The importance and technicality of this subject makes it necessary that relevant instructional materials should be used to teach it to the learners. This fact is supported by Macaulay (2009) who asserts that visual aids make lesson come alive and help students to learn better. He further states that an ample provision of visual and general teaching materials is an evidence of teachers’ preparedness for the lesson. Ehizojie (2009) also summarises the importance of instructional materials as one of the ways of relaxing in the classroom atmosphere, motivating the students and teaching a subject creatively and interactively.

Obviously, teachers attitudes have been shown to have important influence on student's academic achievement and they also play a crucial role in educational attainment because  teachers are ultimately responsible for translating policies into actions and principle based on the practice during interaction with the students (AFE 2001).

The word attitude, which is a manner form of approach, or outlook which must be satisfied. All attitude are directed towards goals and the needs and desire affect or change our behaviour which is goal oriented. Effective job performance results from the interplay of three types of resource, namely physical, financial and human.

Teachers attitudes determines what he "can" do and his motives what he "will" do. The ability can be measured and depends upon background, skills and training. Many factors have contributed to the falling standard of education; some of these factors are shortage of funds into the educational sector, lack of qualified teachers, inadequate educational facilities such as adequate highly ventilated classrooms, well equipped library, and adequate laboratory materials just to mention a few. (Mutebi, and Matovv, 2004)

All these factors have contributed to non-challant attitude 'towards this study attempts to examine the extent to which the utilization of instructional facilitiescould advance teacher's attitudes on students’ learning rate and performance in Lagos state schools.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 

The act of teaching is fundamentally concerned with passing ideas, skills and attitude from the teacher to the learner. In Lagos state, for example experience has shown that spoken words alone in the communication of ideas are grossly ineffective and inefficient in producing desired learning outcomes. Every year, when the results of public examination are released, there has always been mass failure in Economics. The reason for this could be ascribed to the fact that there are topics in Economics that pose serious problem of comprehension to students. These topics cannot be taught effectively without the use of relevant instructional facilities to make the learning practical. On the foregoing, scholars like Brunner, 2011 have emphasized the effect of instructional facilities utilisation on teacher’s attitude and learning. According to them, we learn and remember 10% of what we hear, 40% of what we discuss with others and as high as 80% of what we experience directly or practice. However, the questions here are: does the use of instructional facilitiesreally influence students’ academic performance? Is teacher’s attitude toward teaching effectiveness enhanced by the use of instructional facilities?

Could students’ learning be advanced by the use of instructional facilities? Finding answers to these questions and more summarizes the entire problem of this study.

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study includes:

i.             To examine the influence of instructional facilities and teacher’s attitude on the teaching in Lagos state Schools

ii.           To ascertain the extent to which Secondary School student’s learning can be influenced by the use of instructional facilities

iii.          To determine whether there will be any difference in the academic performance of students due to the use of instructional facilities.

1.4   RESEARCH QUESTIONS

In order to achieve the objectives of this study, the following research questions were raised to guide the investigation:

i.             Will the use of instructional facilities influence the teacher’s attitude onteaching in Lagos Stage schools?

ii.           To what extent can secondary school students’ learning be influenced by the use of instructional facilities?

iii.          Will there be any difference in the academic performance of students due to the use of instructional facilities?

1.5   RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

The following null hypotheses were stated for the study.

i.             The use of instructional facilities will not have significant influence on theteacher’s attitudes on teaching in Lagos state schools.

ii.           The use of instructional facilities will not have significant influence on secondary school students’ learning.

iii.          There will be no significant difference in the performance of students due to the use of instructional facilities.

1.6   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The use of instructional facilities gives the teacher and learner opportunity to touch, smell or taste objects in the teaching and learning process. Consequently, knowledge passed unto the students at different levels of educational instructions should be well planned and properly allied with relevant instructional facilities for clarity and comprehensibility. Hence the significance of this study to the Teacher’s attitude, students, curriculum planners, educational system and the society at large.

To the students, the effective use of instructional facilities would enable them to effectively learn and retain what they have learnt and thereby advancing their performance in the subject in question. This is because according to Nwadinigwe (2002), learning is a process through which knowledge, skills, habits, facts, ideas and principles are acquired, retained and utilized; and the only means of achieving this is through the use of instructional materials.

The study would help enhance teachers’ teaching effectiveness and productivity. This is in line with assertion of Ekwueme and Igwe (2001) who noted that it is only the teachers who will guarantee effective and adequate usage of instructional materials and thereby facilitate success. Consequently a teacher who makes use of appropriate instructional materials to supplement his teaching will help enhance students’ innovative and creative thinking as well as help them become plausibly spontaneous and enthusiastic. Oremeji (2002) supportively asserts that any teacher who takes advantage of these resources and learns to use them correctly will find that they make almost an incalculable contribution to instruction. He further says that instructional materials are of high value in importing information, clarifying difficult and abstract concepts, stimulating thought, sharpening observation, creating interest and satisfying individual difference.

The study is also significant to the educational system and society at large. This is because when teachers solidify their teaching with instructional materials and the learners learn effectively, the knowledge acquired will reflect in the society positively. Students will be able to understand the functioning of the economy, interpret government’s economic policies and activity and perform economically better in the choice of life and work.

1.7  LIMITATION OF THE STUDY      

This research work shall be dependent on the pieces of information supplied by the teachers within the chosen samples of the target population. Also, there shall be limitations on the part of instruments used for data collection, all the sampled schools are located in Ifako-Ijaiye Education District, the result of the study is not expected to differ from studies that may be conducted in other parts of Lagos State.

1.8   SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study is limited to Ifako-Ijaiye schools management committee area of Lagos State, it is however suggested that further researches could be extended to other schools management committees in Lagos.

This study is focused on the impact analysis of instructional facilities and teacher’s attitude on students’ learning rate and performance in Lagos State Schools. Due to time and financial constraints, the study is limited to Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos. This is because the researcher resides in this local government area and as such had the opportunity of having a comprehensive knowledge of the area and its environs.

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERM

ATTITUDE: Wikipedia free encyclopedia provides that “An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual’s degree of like or dislike for an item”.

ATTITUDE FORMATION: Unlike ‘personality’, attitudes are expected to change as a function of experience.

EMOTION: Emotion is a common component in persuasion, social influence and attitude change.

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: it is defined as the display of knowledge attained or skills developed in school subjects designated by test and examination scores or marks assigned by the subject teachers.

INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING: it is the process by which teachers decide how best to select and organize a learning experience to maximize both teacher and student achievement and satisfaction.

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS: these are kind of tools or equipment which can help effectively the instructor in theory teaching, classroom or in practical assessment

METHODOLOGY/METHODS:

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