LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AS A PREDICTOR OF PUPILS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN ADO-ODO OTTA OGUN STATE

Background of the study

Education is a universal phenomenon which allows all human societies to develop the prerequisite knowledge experience and skills for their preservation and growth. It is a tool for imparting knowledge, a process by which an individual acquires the physical,social,intellectual and moral capabilities required to function effectively and become a useful member of his or her society.

It is an instrument par excellence for effecting national development(FRN,2004), as well as for individual socio-economic empowerment and  poverty reduction.for education to be useful in proper manpower development. It has to be functional.

  Education may be described as a process of teaching or instruction received, a process of training and improving one’s test and life standard.Education has been described as the bedrock of every society and a tools for nation building Oknkoko and Udeze (2012), Ablumanuyu (2004) stressed that education contribute to the individual personal development,increases his/her productivity and income at work and facilitate participation in economic and social life.in recent times,quality education was brought to focus owing to the neglect and mass production of educated people without regards to set standard ,procedure and process in education.

     Pre-primary education as  referred in this document as education given in an educational institution to children prior to their entering the primary school.it includes the crèche, the nursery and the kindergarten.

      National policy on education(2004) stated the purpose of pre-primary education as follows:

(a) Effect a smooth transition from the home to the school.

(b) Prepare the child for the primary level of education.

(c) Provide adequate care and supervision for the children while their parents are at work(on the farms,in the market,offices,e.t.c)

(d) Inculcate in social norms.

(e) Inculcate in the child the spirit of enquiry and creating through the exploration of nature,the environment,art,music,and playing with toys,e.t.c.

(f) develop a sence of co-operation and team-spirit.

(g) learn good habits, especially good health habits,

(h) teach the rudiments of numbers, letters, colours, shapsforms, e.t.c through play.

     Primary education as referred to in this document is the education given in institutions for the children between the aged 6 to 11 years plus.Since the rest of the education system is build  upon it, the primary level is the key to the success or failure of the whole system. The durationshall be six years.

       National policy on education(2004) stated the purpose of primary education as follows; (a) inculcate permanent literacy and numeracy and ability to communicate effectively.

(b) lay a sound basic for scientific and reflective thinking.

(c) Give citizenship education as a basis for effective participation in and contribution to the life of the society.

(d) Mould the character and develop sound attitude and morals in the child;

(e) develop in the child the ability to adapt to the changing environment;

(f) Give the child opportunities for developing manipulative skills that will enable the child function effectively in the society within the limits of the child capability;

(g) provides the child with basic tools for further education advancement, including preparation for trades and crafts of the locality.

     The core business of schools is to provide pupil’s with a rich learning environment that is open, respectful, caring and safe. learning environment optimizes well being. It reflects a positive school ethos that makes the school an exciting, stimulating and welcoming place. Teacher and pupil’s are essential in teaching learning process. the extent to which pupils learning could be enhance depends on their location within the school compound, the structure of the classroom, availability of in structuralfacilities and accessories.It is behaved that structural  awell-planned school will gear up expected out-comes of education that will facilitate good social, political and economic effective teaching and learning process and academic performance of pupil’s Ajao (2008).

More also,relating this study to international occurrence are the assertion of Williams,persuade, and Turner (2008) which reported that safe an orderly classroom environment(aspect of instructional space) learning facilities were significantly related to pupils academic performance in schools.The three researcher also quoted Glassman (2010), asserting that a comfortable and carrying environment among other treatments helped to contribute to pupils academic performance.

     The physical characteristics of the school have a variety of effectives teachers, pupils and learning process poor highly, noise,high level or carbon dioxide in the classrooms, and inconsistent temperature make teaching and learning difficult. poor maintenance and ineffective ventilation system lead to poor health among pupils as well as teachers which lead to poor academic performance and higher absentee rate Frazier (2010) Nylon (2011) and Osetentort (2008). These factors can adversely affect pupils behavior and lead to higher levels of frustration among teachers,poor learning attitude among the pupils.

 However,the direct effect of those poor facilities have on pupils ability to learn the combination of poor facilities,which Create an uncomfortable and un inventing work place for teachers combined with frustration behavior by pupils including poor concentration and highly activity, lethargy or apathy,creates a stressful set of working condition are common pre-cursors to lowered teacher enthusiasm. It is possible that the aforementioned characteristics of school facilities have an effect upon the academic performance of pupils in Ado odootaOgun state.

Statement of  theproblem

This research is an exploration study that seeks to examine the learning environment  as a predictor of pupils academic performance in Ado odoota local Government Area of Ogun state which learning and make them to be vibrant in knowledge.

Education is the bedrock and key to any national development .it helps in producing the needed manpower for both economic and technological development; learning environment to pupils academic performance is an essential aspect of educational planning.

    However, problems with pupils, teachers ratio, school population, class ventilation, poor lighting in the class-room, noise, high level or carbon dioxide in the classrooms and in consistent temperature in the classroom with the pupils health problems.The above are studied before.To complement these studies the present research effort will examine the learning Environment, learning performance in the pupil’s private and public primary schools in Ado odoota local Government Area of Ogun state.