ABSTRACT
The study was designed to examine the effect of time management on academic adjustment of deviant in-school adolescents in eastern senatorial zone of Kogi State. Five objectives with corresponding research questions were generated and five null hypotheses formulated to guide the study. The non-equivalent control group pretest and posttest quasi-experimental design involving treatment and control groups was used for the study. The population of the study was one hundred and twelve (112) deviant in-school adolescents in eight secondary schools and sampling was not done as all 112 deviant in-school adolescents were used for the study. The instrument used was Academic Adjustment Rating Scale (AARS) and Time Management Training Programme (TMTP) was used for intervention strategy. The instrument was used for the pre-treatment and post-treatment assessments. The data obtained from the administration of the instrument were organized and analyzed using mean scores, standard deviation, t-test and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The major findings of the study were: Intervention using time management training technique significantly enhance the academic adjustment of deviant in-school adolescents. Gender is not a significant factor in the academic adjustment of deviant in-school adolescents. Location is a significant factor in the academic adjustment of deviant in-school adolescents. The interaction effect of gender and time management training on academic adjustment of deviant in-school adolescents is not significant. And the interaction effect of location and time management on academic adjustment of deviant in-school adolescents is significant. Based on the conclusions drawn, the educational implementations of the results were discussed, recommendations made, limitations identified, suggestions for further research pointed out, summary and conclusions were put up.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The differential scholastic achievement of students in Nigeria has been and still a source of concern and research interest to educators, government and parents. This is so because of the great importance that education has on national development of the country. All over the country, there is a consensus of opinion about the falling standard of education in Nigeria (Adebule, 2004). Parents and government are in total agreement that their huge investment on education is not yielding the desired dividend. For instance, it has been reported that 236,613 cases of examination malpractices were recorded May/June 2009 senior secondary school certificate examination (Orintunsin, 2010). It was disheartening that the menace has not abated. It w
as disclosed that Kogi State for the second year running, ranked highest in examination malpractice, recording 27.63 percent. The other top four in inglorious act, according to Orintunsin (2010) are Bauchi, 23.00 Percent; Ondo, 25.06 percent; Cross River 23.04 percent and Enugu 23.04 percent. These examination malpractices and mass failure among in-school adolescents have been linked to poor academic adjustments.
Academic adjustment in the school is reflected in the degree to which the child develops positive versus negative perceptions toward academic activities (Ladd, 1999). That is a child feels comfortable or distressed when performing some activities in the school, as well as becomes involved or avoided school activities. It consists of two processes that is fitting oneself into a given academic activity and changing academic activity to fit one’s needs. The student who achieves what is expected is considered
adjusted but a student who does not learn and fails to achieve what he is expected to achieve is considered to be maladjusted.
The term academic adjustment has been operationally defined as a dynamic process in which a child attempts to adapt to the demands of school environment. It is the degree to which a child becomes interested, engaged, comfortable and successful in his/her school activities. The results of the May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examinations of candidates who obtained credit passes in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics over a period of five years is on the downward trend is shameful. For the year 2005, we had 27.53 per cent, 15.56 per cent for 2006, 25.54 per cent for 2007, 13.76 per cent for 2008 and 25.99 per cent for year 2009 (Sandan, 2011).
Wada J. who is the principal of community secondary school Ugwolawo attributed poor academic adjustment to deviant behaviours among in-school adolescents. He complained about the prevalent rate of deviant behaviours such as coming to school late, leaving the school before the closing time, truancy, absenteeism and examination malpractice among in-school adolescents in eastern senatorial zone of Kogi State (Personal communication, October, 2011). He further explained that some of these students go to school 9.00 am and return from school 11.00 am instead of being in the school at 7.30 am and return by 2.00 pm. People in these areas popularly labeled these students as “911”. It is very unfortunate that some in-school adolescents engage in deviant behaviours and waste their time in doing irrelevant activities which are detrimental to their academic success in the school. That is if the students do not participate in some academic activities in the school, this may affect them psychologically during tests and examinations because you cannot give what you don’t have.
Santrock (2007) defines deviance as an anti-social behavior of a disruptive nature. They are those disruptive behaviors that impede the overall development and well-being of individuals. Santrock pointed out examples of deviance as unaccepted behaviours such as absenteeism, truancy, lateness, making noise, fighting, bullying and other aggressive acts among individuals. Deviant in-school adolescents in this study are those adolescents who exhibit those behaviors which are socially prohibited and fall short of school norms, values, beliefs and expectations. They are those adolescents who display inappropriate behaviors which interfere with their time management or which prohibit the ability of other students to learn and staff member to teach or carry out their duties.
According to the information gotten by the researcher from all the public secondary schools in eastern senatorial zone of Kogi State, only eight schools keep comprehensive record of deviant adolescents (Punishment book, September, 2011). Those students that their names appear in the punishment book five times and above are labeled as deviant in-school adolescents. The principals and teachers have used several disciplinary measures such as taking away school privileges; give them suspension and corporal punishment. But despite all these efforts the prevalent rate of deviant behaviors is on the increase in these areas. These deviant behaviours are link with poor time management. For example, students who always exhibit absenteeism, truancy, and lateness, mismanage crucial time they supposed to use in doing the academic activities in the school. And such students always have adjustment problem in performing academic activities as they do not always attend the lessons. Likewise, those students who frequently engage in aggressive behaviours such as fighting and bullying always use their precious time in serving punishment instead of doing academic work in the class.
In-school adolescents are therefore, always engage in disruptive mission which invariably lead to poor time management. Effective time management, according to Crawford (1999) reduces poor academic performance and other psychological consequences among deviant in-school adolescents. As many irrelevant activities like watching pornography, playing ludo, attending night party, engaging in unnecessary argument, spending much time on surfing the internet and talking on phone preoccupied the mind of deviant in-school adolescents, it would be always difficult for them to plan, organize and control time for their academic activities in the school.
Anyakoha and Eluwa (1991) define time management as the process of planning, organizing, implementing and evaluating the use of time in order to accomplish or perform certain tasks. Time management has been a very important tool in the present world to solve human problem in order to achieve success or to have the maximum benefits after putting in minimum input. Time is one of the fastest things that is known to man; it does not stop nor pause; it is always moving away and once it is past no one can go back and claim it (Etoh, 2009). According to Etoh, poor time management is common among deviant in-school adolescents and seriously affects their academic adjustment. They engage in deviant behaviours to the detriment of their academic work. To assist them cope with the academic activities, there is need for psychological intervention which will improve their time management.
Studies conducted in both Britain and United State of America indicate that time management training is an effective intervention for a wide variety of psychological problems like poor academic adjustment (Beck, 2005; Wright, Basco & Thase, 2006). Also, a study conducted by Eke (2006) also revealed that time management training is an effective strategy for improving academic adjustment among visually impaired pupils. The acquisition of time management skills helps individuals to develop high interest and positive attitude toward academic activities in the school. Principles of time management training is that the students are required to identify those activities that are more important and those that are less important and put more concentration on those activities that are more important to their success.
It has been observed that both urban and rural in-school adolescents exhibit deviant behaviours. However, it has been disclosed by Eke (2004) that students in the urban areas are better in their time management than those in rural areas. There is more supervision of educational programme in the urban areas than in the rural areas and this helps urban students to have better time management skills than their counterparts in the rural areas. In contrary to the above, Okorodudu (2010) revealed that location is not a significant factor in the time management of students. The students’ deviance and poor time management do not depend whether they are from rural or urban areas. It has also been reported that male students exhibit deviant behaviours and poor time management more than their female counterparts. In the eastern senatorial zone of kogi state, male children have more freedom of movement and less parental monitoring than their female counterparts. In other word, the females have structured time for domestic works, academic works, leisure and extra-curricular activities (Achi, 2010). The question that would need an answer is: does this poor time management differentially affect the academic adjustment of urban and rural deviant in-school adolescents? And also if poor time management differentially affect the academic adjustment of male and female deviant in-school adolescents.
Though intervention using time management training has been found to be effective in dealing with individuals that experience poor academic adjustment, but it has not been specifically applied to deviant in-school adolescents in eastern senatorial zone of Kogi state who are experiencing academic adjustment disorder. This study sought to determine the effectiveness of time management training on academic adjustment of deviant in-school adolescents.
Statement of the Problem
Adolescents’ education is closely linked to their life chances, income, and wellbeing. It is important to have a clear understanding of what benefits or hinders one’s educational attainment. Therefore, the experiences of deviant in-school adolescents in particular are most excruciating as some of them often display disruptive behaviors that are detrimental to their academic adjustment. In eastern senatorial zone of Kogi State, principals and teachers of secondary school expressed dismay over the prevalent rate of deviant behaviors among adolescents despite several measures devised to prevent such an ugly situation.
Obviously, some studies indicated in the background of this study that time management training is effective in improving academic adjustment among students and also equipping individuals with skills for coping with situations that seem difficult. However, intervention using time management training has not been specifically applied to deviant in-school adolescents in eastern senatorial zone of Kogi State who are experiencing poor academic adjustment. In view of this gap of knowledge, the problem of this study put in the question form is: to what extent would time management affect academic adjustment of deviant in-school adolescents in the eastern senatorial zone of Kogi State?
Purpose of the Study
The general purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of time management on academic adjustment of deviant in-school adolescents in eastern senatorial zone of Kogi State.
