INFLUENCE OF TEACHER’S CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT ON STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN BASIC SCIENCE

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the study
In the school students are arranged into groups for study purposes. These groupings are called classes. The class specified the number of students and has certain standards as specified in the FGN, National Policy of Education, 2014. Each class is headed by one or more teachers called class teachers. The teachers are expected to run the class to a minimum standard. The management of the class by a teacher covers practices such as student enrolment, sitting arrangement, orderliness in the class, record keeping among other practices.
Classroom management has been highlighted as a major variable that affect students’ academic performance (Marzono, 2008). The most obvious reason for this assertion,according to the study,is that effective classroom management can sets the stage for teaching and learning. It can set a tone in the classroom that captures students’ attention as a necessity for effective teaching and learning. This statement is obvious since a classroom which is chaotic and disorganized as a result of poor classroom management is highly unlikely to enhance expansive learning and students’ academic performance and might indeed, inhibit it. In chaotic classroom, according to Idopise (2004), very little academic learning can take place. According to Walter (2006), classroom management differs from one teacher to another because of the teachers’ personality, teaching style, preparedness, and number of students in the classroom.
According to Umoren (2010), the concept of classroom management is broader than the notion of students control and discipline, it includes all the things teachers do in the classroom to foster students’ academic involvement and cooperation in classroom activities to create conducive learning environment. Morse (2012), relates that classroom management involves curtailing learners disruptive behaviors such as fighting and noise making, close observation, arrangement of classroom learning materials, and response to students who suffer from poor sight (vision), poor heart bring, poor reading, poor writing, poor spelling, shame dullness, hyperactivity and poor study habits. When classroom management is viewed in a more wider and holistic sense, incorporating every element of the classroom from lesson delivery to classroom environment becomes important (Nicholas, 2007). According to Bassey (2012), the wider view of classroom management shows increased engagement, reduction in inappropriate and behavior, promotion of student responsibility to academic work, and improved academic performance of students.
In effect, discipline control and the consequences become authoritative or punitive approaches to classroom management. These have become much smaller part of the term classroom management. Thus, classroom management denotes much more than any of these words (Charlie, 2006). Williams (2008) states that classroom management involves how the teacher works, how the class works, how the teacher and students work together and how teaching and learning takes place. An analyses of the past 50 years of classroom management research identified classroom management as the most important factor, even above students’ aptitude, affecting students learning academic performance (Wang, et al., 2009). Contrary to popular belief held by Pandey (2006), classroom management is not a gift bestowed upon some teachers. While it is true that some teachers adapt to classroom management easily, making it felt by their colleagues as if they possess some innate talents. Classroom management is a skill that can be acquired like any other profession. It is a skill that must be practiced to achieve proficiency.
Classroom management requires specific skills such as planning, organizing, as we as an aptitude for team work. It requires a great deal of commitment, initiatives, teacher’s willingness to adjust, creative thinking and action (Abel, 2011). Poorly managed classrooms are usually characterized by disruptive behaviors such as sleeping, late coming, noise making, miscopying of notes, eating, calling of nicknames, verbal or physical threat to fellow students or the teacher (Ekere, 2006). These disruptive behaviors disorganizing learning processes and hampers academic performance of students. Effiong, (2007) suggests that teachers can deal with these disruptive behaviors in the classroom and reduce them to the minimum through effective classroom management so that effective learning can take place. Once teachers are able to effectively reduce or eliminate disruptive behaviors in the classroom, there would be increased academic attentiveness and engagement which would pave way for better academic performance by students.
The use of verbal instruction is one of the techniques for effective classroom management that can be adopted by teachers. Good (2004) in a study gives clear instruction on what should be done to give the students concrete direction to compliance. In this study teachershould be consistent in enforcing verbal instruction so that it produces the desired results. Corporal punishments were used widely as effective classroom management techniques to curb disruptive behaviors in the classroom.
Classroom management techniques are aimed at producing conducive learning environment where students can learn with eased and perform better academically. All these techniques can be adopted in the classroom depending on the nature of the problem at hand. Based on the above statements, the researcher deemed it necessary to investigate the influence of classroom management on the academic performance of Junior Secondary two students in Abak Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Basic Science are reorganized all over as indispensable tools for national development. The vision of every modern society for social change looks up to science. In other words any country that desire to bring about a new social order uses science as instruments for such a change. To effect a desired change such a country must undertake modification of its curriculum as a first step followed by classroom instructions which is derived from the affected curriculum and implemented by the teacher in the classroom.
Classroom management according to Dooloard (2004) is the action a teacher takes to create an environment that supports and facilitates instruction as, academic, social and emotional learning. It is the process of creating favourable conditions to facilitate instructions as well as that of regulating social behavior of students. Teachers in the classroom are by the nature of their profession, mangers of classroom activities. The class teachers’ job unlike that of other professionals is concerned with maintaining order, allocating resources, regulating the sequence of events and directing their attention towards achieving educational goals.
Classroom management plays an important role in the teaching and learning process. It is veritable tool in the process of passing instructions from the teachers to the students; the success of any educational system is a function of the effectiveness of classroom management. Classroom teachers are managers and so ought to be in control from the beginning of the lesson to the end so as to ensure that the students benefit from the interactive business that transpires in the classroom situation. This to a greater extent would enhance smooth coordination and responses on the part of both the teacher and the learner. Today, classroom management according to Akpakwu (2003), is the most neglected area in our secondary schools, and the success or failure of any teaching and learning process depends to a large extent on the way classroom are managed. Failure to effectively manage the classroom can have an overall negative influence on the entire school, most especially in terms of sound academic performance of the school.
Secondary school students academic achievement according to Fadipe (2000), takes into cognizance both quality and quantity of the internal and external results achieved. It implies that it is not just the number of graduates of the system that matters but how relevant and competent the graduates are in meeting the societal needs and aspirations. It is on the basis of the above that the researchers are worried and decided to carry out this study to find out the influence of classroom management on students’ academic achievement in science and technology.
Classroom management concept according to Everston and Weinstein, (2006) refers to the method or technique which a teacher adopts to ensure that every learner utilizes available resources with the aim of achieving the goal of the school system towards learning. Adeyemi, (2006) described management in education as the process of providing leadership within an educational system by coordinating activities and making decisions that would lead to the attainment of school objectives which are effective teaching and learning. Hence, the school teacher who is directly linked with the classroom must co-ordinate and administers the activities. Basic science as an encompassing subject in the school curriculum is designed to produce well informed citizens who appreciate the culture of the people and the ethos of governance within the society. Basic science education is hoped to be of immense value to the students because of the totality of their education. The subject helps to train the students to think deeply and critically and asses both economic and social issues in the society as they arise (Dada, 2016). Because of the multi-disciplinary nature of Basic science, it enables the students to formulate sound judgment, draw reasonable conclusions and make the right decisions on their day to day activities.