ABSTRACT

The main purpose of this study was to determine the school facilities on the students’ attitude and the students’ performance among the Primary schools in minna town a case study of Public primary schools in minna town. School facilities refer to facilities and provisions within the school surrounding that facilitate the teaching and learning process. The study was set out to investigate attitude of students enhanced by the school facilities affecting the performance. The objective of the study is: To establish the relationship between the school facilities and students’ performance, to examine the mediating effects of the students attitude on the relationship between the school facilities and performance and to establish the joint effects of the school facilities and the students attitude on students’ performance. The study adopted descriptive survey design. Questionnaires was  to be used to gather information from teachers, head teacher and students .The findings of the study revealed that schools with adequate physical facilities, and instructional materials influence the students attitude positively and hence the students’ performance is greatly improved. Public primary schools has adequate facilities like all classes equipped with projectors, internet and goggle classroom used to facilitate learning via technology. This has resulted to students enjoying learning and always on the internet to research and find new answers as a results they perform very well in their exams. Students performance however for some students is affected by other factors that facilitate negative students attitude and poor students performance thereof. The study concluded that adequate facilities, qualified teachers, use of new teaching technology has greatly improved the students’ performance and this is as a result of a positive student’s attitude. School factor at Public primary schools has been found to influence teaching-learning process greatly. Family issues and background factors have affected the students’ attitude and their challenges have greatly contributed to some students’ poor performance.  The researcher recommended that there should be more studies done to seal the gaps and weakness revealed at the Selected public primary schools in Minna, in order to improve overall performance geared towards learning and teaching. The researcher recommended the improvements of school equipment and school facilities that greatly enhances students’ attitude. Parents, guardians and teachers should improve their relationships with the students to promote a peaceful and conducive environment at international schools which otherwise would affect the students mental status creating a negative effect on the students hence affecting performance.

 

CHAPTER ONE:   INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

 

Financial resources is the key resources in education provision, Anghelache (2012) records that educational specialists are interested in issues related to the learning process. Studies done by both the psychologists and the teachers  try to identify factors determining the learning process and possibility of relationships between elements related to quality of education , methodology of teaching in the classroom and the students’ academic performance. The psychologists and the teachers attempted to demonstrate factors determining factors for students’ academic performance. The learning achievements of the students is greatly influenced by the fact that they are not only cognitive individual but also social people with beliefs and emotions. According to Ajayi (2001), the school facilities are issues that influence the learning process which includes peers, classrooms, laboratories’, technical rooms, teachers’ qualifications, methodology of teaching and variables that can affect the process of teaching and learning. Education creates opportunity for people, eradicating poverty and hence promotes development resulting into a stronger voice to society. Egunyomi (2006) asserts that education is the key to sustainable development and enhances human welfare and this is recognised universally.

 

According to UNESCO (2005), trained personnel who include teaching staff, support staff, adequate facilities such as a well-equipped library, laboratories, physical and financial resources are very significant in providing for a good education in a school. This are school facilities influencing students’ attitude and hence facilitate the overall students’ performance academically. Jaap Schreens, Roel Bosker (1997), concluded that there are eight characteristics of effective ways that schools influence the students’ performance. They included assessing the students’ progress in class, students’ achievement awards, parent/teachers involvement in the students’ academic work, school creating a conducive and safe environment to study, head teachers leadership to ensure the curriculum is followed, co-working together as a community and time management at the school are significant in ensuring students’ performance. The above factors are interrelated influencing school–based factors, the student’s attitude and overall students’ performance. School based factors may also affect performance and this includes lack of instructional resources, reference books , poor communication and technological infrastructure, unskilled teachers , lack of motivating the teachers resulting to high turnover and this greatly affect  students’ general academic performance. Teachers make about classroom practices that greatly facilitate student learning. This is  according to Wenglinsky (2001),teachers when overwhelmed by too much workload and many classes to teach , are unable to mark the assignments and this facilitates the student’s attitude towards the subjects and hence  the performance. Schools with poor or inadequate resources do not measure up in their academic performance and due to this, without school facilities, performance is compromised. People of high social economic background earn a higher income and value education more than those of low socio-economic background, this is according to (Ezewu, 2005) .

1.2 Statement of the Problem

 

There are key conceptual issues that are very significant in the attitude and hence the overall performance of the students. The study by Kerr (2005) found that young peoples’ academic achievements are greatly affected by different interrelated factors such as families, peers, school environment, community, teachers, parents and the entire education process. The students are also affected by socio-cultural and economic factors. There are 5 factors that affects school performance according to study done in Australia by Lamb (2004).They include attainment of students previous performance, students intake, size of the school, number of student per class and in the school, location of the school, and the type of school. {Catholic, public, private or international}.The study determined the contributions of the interrelated factors to the overall students’ performance. To identify reliable measures to be implemented in order to improve the school facilities, the students’ attitude are considered and this enhance an overall performance at Selected public primary schools. In the contextual aspect, the study was to determine whether an integrated perspective of the school facilities, students’ behaviour, attitude, and cognition as well as their socialcontextual environment have to work in relation to enhancing student performance.

 

The school facilities affecting students’ performance have been researched on by Sereka (2006) where his research is based on a school in Marsabit and not an international school.The concepts are different from those of internatioanl school and hence can not be used to evaluate international schools.Joshua odhiambo did the same research based on Homabay where he was investigating the school based factors that influence the performance of the students in KCSE. He wanted to find out the role of the head teachers , teacher qualifications and facilities within the school which influence the students performance.He recommended that TSC deploy trained teachers to those areas.Malupi (2011) also researched on the performance in relation to mathematics in western province.Students attitude on academic performance has also been studies but in regards to specific subjects like mathematics.Mulala (2015)  recommended colleges to come up with programs to sensitize the students and to come up with mentorship programs for the students to motivate them to perform well in the subjects.

 

Performance has also been researched on by Ntitika (2014) whose report recommended that there is need for the parents to be involved when  the students has improved performance in primary schools in Nigeria and also examining academic performnce influenced by socio economic factors of students in Kajiado county. Motanya (2011) researched on students performance in Mandera, a marginalized area where they have inadequate resources .International school research on both school facilities and performance or student attitude on performance has not been studied. Ling Tan and Yan Bibby (2011) researched  on a comparative study between an  International Baccalaureate students and Non International Baccalaureate students and not Internatational schools.The researcher in this study identified a gap where there has been no study done on international schools in Nigeria based on school facilities , students attitude and students performance.

 

1.2.1 Students Factors

 

Students’ factor is defined according to Katherine Bertolini, (2012) as the numerous factors which include their personal issues, their interaction with the community at and around the school, parents, school administration and their peers. Learning is in itself multidimensional, with different related factors that are beyond the academic knowledge. This contributes to both short and long term educational success that translates to academic performance. According to Kraft (2017), emotional and personality, as indicated by psychologists, influences the quality of the students thinking and how much they learn. Educators, trainers, and researchers have long been interested in exploring variables contributing effectively for quality of performance of learners, according to M.S Farooq (2011). These variables are both internal and external around the school which contribute to the students’ quality of academic performance. They are factors related to the students, families, school and peers. These include factors include sense of belonging, age, gender, ethnic background, socioeconomic status, parents’ level of education, their profession, income by parents and religion.

 

1.4 Specific Objective

 

The main objective of this research is to examine the impact of school facilities that have contributed students attitude toward studies in primary schools in Minna town.

1. To establish and examine the relationship between the school facilities and the students’ Performance.
2. To examine the mediating effects of the students attitude on the relationship between the school facilities and the performance.

• To establish the joint effects of the school facilities and the students attitude on students’ performance.

1.5 Research Question

 

1. Is there a significant relationship between school facilities and students attitude at Public primary schools.
2. What is the mediating factor between the school facilities and students’ performance at Public primary schools?

• Is there a significant relationship existing between school facilities and students attitude influencing students’ performance at the Public primary schools.

 

1.6 Significance of the Study

 

The study will be conducted in the context of an international school in a developing country

Nigeria, hence it can be used to study the school facilities, students’ attitude and students’ performance in the developing countries as a reference source. Very few studies have been undertaken in developing countries on school facilities, students’ attitude and student performance in particular. Therefore, the main contribution of this research was to addresses the schools factors affecting performance at Selected public primary schools this area of research lacks theoretical and empirical studies. The research proposes a conceptual framework that integrates school facilities and students’ performance variables.

 

The study would contribute positively in the management policies where the school policies can be implemented to improve the school and the students’ attitude and eventually improve on the students overall performance. The study would be used to further investigate the impact of school on the student attitude dimension, the impact of the students attitude on performance dimension and the how to improve the relationship between the school the students and the performance dimension. The study would give a clear picture of factors that would be addresses to achieve an effective teaching and learning community at Public primary schools and International school in developing countries at large.

1.7 Limitation of the Study

 

The researcher was to ensure that the respondents were as objective as possible. It might be difficult to ensure that the response was honest .It was very difficult to explore and measure attitude of the students because most students would want to create an image of a positive attitude hence overrating themselves. The respondent were not willing to fill in the questionnaires claiming it was cumbersome but the researcher had to use persuasive language to encourage them .The researcher preferred to use the interview method later due to the time factor.

 

There are very few studies that have been done targeting international schools in Nigeria therefore the researcher would have to do the study without any reference to build on or compare. The researcher in this study may have to verify the questionnaires from other senior management team to ensure that the answers are not exaggerated or conduct a face to face interview with the respondents.

1.8 Delimitation of the Study

 

The study was delimited on the school facilities, the students’ attitude and the school performance among Primary schools in minna town. Within Public primary schools a number of variables influence the students’ attitude and performance and there are also other external factors that may have a direct impact on the students’ performance, such as the family and socio-economic factors that were significant in the research. The study involved international schools in Nigeria and Public primary schools, as the case study, provided the sample for the study.

1.9 Basic Assumption of the Study.

 

The assumption of this study was that the respondent would give the most accurate answers in the questionnaire and that all of the questionnaire would be answered and returned on time. It was also assumed that the school factor greatly influenced both the performance and the students’ attitude at international schools. School with poor facilities would consequently affect the students’ attitude and hence the performance would be equally poor. There was an assumption that all Primary schools in minna town may have related issues as those found at Public primary schools.