EFFECTS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE SKILLS TRAINING ON ACADEMIC SELF EFFICACY AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN TARABA STATE, NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

Education, no doubt, remains the most outstanding development priority area in the world today. The core purpose of education, unquestionably, is human development. Other things being equal, an educated person who is well or relevantly positioned in the socio-economic, cultural and political milieu is expected to be a valuable asset to the society than another individual who is illiterate and perhaps ignorant. This simple fact explains why researchers and scholars, all over the world, continue to do research into ways of improving human knowledge and development. Debates on education and human development more generally can hardly be a boring exercise. The socio-political, economic and technological developments, which bring about a high frequency of innovations and reforms, have all combined to make discussions or debates on education and human development trendy, exciting and unending (Ogundokun & Adeyemo, 2010). This may partly influences learning and achievement in schools.

However, achievement can be said to be the outcome of instruction. Ogundokun and Adeyemo (2010) also stated that achievement is the end product of a learning experience. Attaining a high level of academic Achievement is what every parent or guardian as well as teacher wishes for their children, wards and students. Schools and teachers are generally graded qualitatively by achievement based on the performance of their students. In Nigeria, education is considered the most important instrument for change and national development. However, of all the problems facing Nigeria‟s education system, none is more agonizing and persistent as the poor academic performance of students, especially of secondary schools, at the external examinations conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and

National Examination Council (NECO). And this has resulted in frustration, high drop-out rates and inability of students to gain admission into tertiary institutions. In spite of numerous efforts made by researchers, educators and policy makers to tackle this problem, academic performance of students is still a task that needs tobe improved, but students may also take emotional intelligence training to excel in school.

EFFECTS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE SKILLS TRAINING ON ACADEMIC SELF EFFICACY AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN TARABA STATE, NIGERIA