IMPACT OF MOTIVATION ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS IN BUSINESS EDUCATION

CHAPTER ONE

6INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The issue of academic performance in business education in our secondary schools has become the concern of parents, government and every citizen in our society. It is evident by the level of failure in the junior secondary certificates examination and other examination results taken in Business Studies in Nigeria.

According to the National policy on Education (2004), Business education known as business studies at the secondary school level is splited into the following components or subject areas: shorthand, office practice, book-keeping and typewriting at the Junior Secondary School level while at the Senior Secondary School level we have Shorthand, Typewriting, Economics, Commerce and Accounts.

In the National policy on education of (2004), it was stated that the preparation of the individual to fit into his society and train his mind to understand the world around him is one of the goals of education. Based on this, the students must be motivated to learn and become part of the learning process in the school. By being motivated in various ways such as the use of appropriate teaching aids for example typewriter to teach typewriting lesson, the use of good teaching methods, good classroom management. (Alaba Olaleken 2002), with all these, the students will put in more efforts as their interest is stimulated.

The present system of education makes provision for business studies at the Junior Secondary level. Consequently, a large number of the students enrol for these subjects in both the junior secondary school examinations.

Business studies subjects should be taught by well qualified and knowledgeable teachers in the area of the subject matter. Parents and students need to be well informed about relevance of each subject being taught in the secondary schools. This will encourage or motivate students to study harder especially those who have interest in such career.

Having identified some of the factors that could motivate students at the secondary schools level, the next question that comes to the mind is who is largely responsible for the task of motivating students to take up each subject being taught in their various schools? It is of course the teacher.

Here the governments together with the parents and the general public on several occasions have attributed the poor students performance in business studies to teacher’s nonchalant attitude to work (Ali, 2003).

The concise Oxford Dictionary (2000), defined a teacher as “one who gives lessons especially at school” therefore the teacher is expected to achieve the National objective of education by directing the learning of students and at the same time motivating them to take up subjects that will be of use to them in future.

Therefore, the classroom management by the teacher should be done effectively to achieve the stated objectives.

It could be seen that motivation is one of the essential tools for behavioral modification or social control in the instructional procedure of informing and explaining the question. Therefore, business studies teachers need to demonstrate high sense of dedication and commitment to the teaching of the subject to reflect the high performance place on it as a core subject by the Federal government.

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The performance of students in Junior Secondary Certificate Examination (JSCE) in business studies is appalling. Various factors have been adduced for poor performance of students in the subject area.