ABSTRACT
The purpose of the study was to investigate the Influence of Psychosocial Environment on Student’s Academic Achievements in Basic Electricity in Government Technical Colleges in Niger State. Six research questions guided the study while six null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Population of the study comprised all the teachers and students of Basic Electricity in Government Technical Colleges in Niger State. The sample of the study consisted of 295 made up of 29 teachers and 266 students. The researcher selected the respondents through simple random sampling technique. The study adopted ex-post facto research design. The instrument used for data collection was structured questionnaire. Three experts validated the instrument. Internal consistency of the questionnaire was determined using Cronbach alpha reliability method and reliability coefficient values of 0.92, 0.93, 0.93, 0.95, 0.94 and 0.89 were obtained for section A, B, C, D, E, and F respectively, while overall reliability coefficient 0.98 was obtained for all sections. Pearson’s Correlation were used to analyze the data for answering research questions while correlation Analysis was used to test the hypotheses of no significance difference at 0.05 level of significance. The study found that, there is direct positive teacher – students’ relationship , high positive students’-students’ , direct negative teacher- students’ involvement, high positive Teacher- student Basic Electricity Task orientation, direct negative students’- students’ competition, direct negative Teacher- students classroom management as an influence on academic achievement in Basic Electricity. It was recommended that more task orienting exercises should equally be organized for Basic Electricity students to keep them more socially related as well as up competing. This could be achieved organizing quizzes, group work, individual and group presentations.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
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Effective teaching and learning is the only means through which technical college students can acquire knowledge and develop skills for employment. There are many factors which contribute to effectiveness of learning. Such factors, Abe (2005) mentioned as physical environment, psychological environment, sociological environment and psychosocial environment. Among these factors the author stated that psychosocial environment is considered the most important factor. Psychosocial environment is used to emphasize the close connectivity between psychological aspect of human experience and the wider social experience (Pekka, Mel, and Ecro, 2009). According to Haertel and Walbeg (2007) psychosocial environment is a type of environment that has to do with interaction in the classroom. These interaction involves teacher and student interaction, student and student interaction, teacher student and instructional material interaction. In the opinion of Anderson (2007) psychosocial environment is the interpersonal relationship among students, between students and their teacher, between students and subject matters studied and method of learning in the classroom. Therefore, psychosocial environment is a type of environment that promotes desirable patterns of social interaction and communication as well as psychological comfort and stability among technical college students, their relationship with the environment and their teachers. Abe (2005) noted that it is possible to perceive the totality of human as being guided by psychosocial environment. Apart from supporting human functioning, the psychosocial environment must also accommodate the equipment, tools and materials for effectiveness of teaching and learning in technical colleges.
Technical colleges also known as trade schools are educational institutions that prepare students for career in a specific fields. Alade, Ayodele and Ayodele (2010) described technical college as institution where students are trained to acquire relevant knowledge and skills in different occupations for employment in the world of work. Technical colleges are institutions that provide students through training relevant and adequate knowledge, skills and attitude for employment, (National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), 2003). In other words, Technical College is one of the post primary educations where learners are prepared with appropriate skills, knowledge and attitude. Technical colleges in Nigeria are established to produce craftsmen and master craftsmen at the advanced craft level. The courses offered at the technical colleges lead to the award of National Technical Certificate (NTC) and Advanced National Technical Certificate (ANTC). In contemporary Nigeria, greater emphasis is placed on industrial and technological development. As such, one subject that cuts across the entire engineering and related technical subjects is Basic electricity.
Basic Electricity in technical colleges is a subject that prepares students with entry level knowledge to enable them to do better for all subject offers in the field of electricity/electronics. According to Shepherd, Morton and Spence (2000) Basic Electricity is a physical science course which deals with the study of charged elementary particles and the energy associated with them. Similarly, Ogbu (2010) described Basic Electricity as a process that deals with all the fundamental issues of current electricity static-electricity and electronics, studied in the school and colleges. Therefore, Basic Electricity is the fundamental subject of study in the field of electricity and electronics that is taught in technical Colleges. Omosewe (2008) ascertained that in science and technical education programmes, students need to be encouraged to learn not only through their ears, but should be able to use their eyes and hands to manipulate equipment, devices to acquire skillful knowledge through the use of classroom and laboratory. Classroom is an important place in the operation of a school. It holds students together and offers them the opportunities of achieving the purpose of education. Talton and Simpson (2004) described classroom environment as a miniature community in which member’s interest influences the behavior of others. The Author further stated that classroom environment is a types of environment created as a result of subsequent interactions that occur in the classroom during the teaching and learning process. Willen (2007) asserted that a greater part of education activities of any school occurs in the classroom. This shows that classroom environment teacher/student relationship is very important. According to Dewey (2006) the poor students/teacher relationship may lead to poor achievement while good teacher/ students relationship leads to better educational achievement.
Teacher-Student relationship is a form of relationship that occur between the teacher and student which can be expressed as friendship, affection, co operation and open communication. According to Hughes and Chen (2011) Teacher-student relationship forms the basis of the social context in which learning take place. In the same vein Liberante (2012) stated thatTeacher-student relationship is not only efficacious but it forms the basis of social context in which learning occur. Literature is replete with evidence that strong and supportive relationship between teachers and students are fundamental to the healthy development of all students in school (Hamre and Pianta 2004). Therefore, teacher student-relationship contributes to both academic and socio-emotional development. As such, teacher student- relationship provides a unique entry point for educator and others working to improve the social and learning environments of schools and classrooms. Teacher-student relationship provides the foundation for successful adaptation to the social and academic environment (Mucherah 2008).The author further explained that, from the first day of school, students must rely on teachers to provide them with the understanding and support that will enable them to perform very well in basic electricity. Students who form close relationship with teachers enjoy school more and get along better with peers (Ryan 2009). Positive relationships with teachers can also serve as a secure base for student. Hence, the teachers-student relationships help maintain students interest’s in academic and social pursuits, which in turn lead to better grades and more positive student-student relationship.
Students relationship refers to the influence exerted by a peer group, it encourages a person to change his/her attitudes, values in order to conform to group norms. According to Sher (2009) Student-student relationship is a relationship that deals with exchange of information and ideas that occurs among students. Similarly, Mgboro and Omebe (2010) stated that student-student relationship is a form of relationship that involves the peer group. Sher (2009) explained further that peer group is a group of individuals who are of approximately equal size, age and status with whom the student find him in the same class. According to Kirk (2009) peer group is small group of similarly age, fairly close friends, sharing the same activities. The peer group is the first social group outside the home in which the child attempts to gain acceptance and recognition. According to Onyehalu (2004) a child relies on peers for social acceptances support and solidarity. Therefore, it can be inferred from the definition that student-student relationship can be experienced through group discussion, group assignments and collaborative knowledge where students become more analytic in conversation particularly when teachers involve students in learning.
Student involvement in the basic electricity is the act of sharing in activities of lessons in the classroom. The more teachers involve students in a lesson the higher the expectation of learning outcome (Teoh and Mille, 2013) Students involvement in basic electricity is a key component of educationally relevant activities for the attainment of learning outcomes. In these vain Kuh (2008) stated that student involvement in educationally purposeful activities is positively related to the academic outcomes. According to Krause, Bochner and Duchesne (2006), when teachers are able to involve the students, then learning becomes enjoyable experience taking place in balanced atmosphere. In line with this assertion, Chikering and Gamson (2014) stressed the importance of student involvement for good practice in technical education. Teachers who involve their students are more likely to have higher levels of career success, occupational competency; task oriented and better educational outcomes.
Teacher task orientation is a key behavior that refers to how much classroom time the teacher devotes to the task of teaching. Task orientation is a process that focuses on the particular lesson that involves goals and activities that are prepared to enhance student comprehension of identified concept, skill or value (Thomas and Dynneson 2009). They further stated that the more uninterrupted minute spent concentrating on a learning task, the higher the possibility of learning success. In these vain Hammer; Grigsby and Woods (2010) stated that task orientation focus on the particular task as a measure of success. This means that task orientation is an important aspect of effective teaching because it relates to how much time the teachers actually spend on a designated instructional task. To Thomas (2011), task orientation is not a simple matter and it relies on some factors. The first factor the Thomas stated is to capture the attention of students. Another factor in task orientation mentioned is to keep student attention and to heighten their interest and competition in the classroom.
Student competitions are a type of competition that provides a forum to stimulate the students ‘natural curiosity about leaning new things. Student competition can teach students how to succeed and also how to fail, that is, how to face their failure, learn from their failure and subsequently, grow as a person and improve in performance. According to Davis and Rim (2004) Student competition can promote high level of achievement and productivity. The author further stated that some students need to compete with one another in order to push themselves to produce at high level. Therefore, Bishop and Walters (2007) stated that students competition increase their abilities to be leader in the classroom. This means that student competition can provide motivation for students to study and learn new information or strengthen previously learned material so that they will be ready to compete with their peers in their classroom and outside the classroom. Bishop and Walters (2008) stated that student’s competition teach the students how to study, how to communicate, and how to effectively manage classroom challenges.
Classroom management is the process by which teachers and schools create and maintain appropriate behavior of student in a classroom setting. The purpose of classroom management is to enhance prosocial behavior and increase student academic engagement (Emmer and Saborine, 2015). According to Duchesne (2003) classroom management refers to all those decisions that teachers take to facilitate the learning process and to provide the students with maximum opportunity for learning. Similarly, Hinson and SardoBrown (2003) stated that classroom management refers to all those essential activities which are highly necessary not only to create but also to maintain a supportive and orderly atmosphere. It includes planning and preparation of teaching and learning materials, organization of materials, decoration of the classroom, creation of expectation, establishment and enforcement of rules and routines in the classroom. However, Froyen and Iverson (2007) stated that classroom management will increase teacher efficacy, improved students’ behavior and contribute to enhanced academic achievements of students.
Student achievement has become a hot topic in educational circle, especially with increased accountability for classroom teachers. Hornby (2010) stated that achievement is the ability of somebody to gain or reach a set goal through effort, skill or courage. It implies the art or process of finishing something successfully. Success then, in the area of academics is what is referred to as academic achievement, usually assessed with achievement tests. Schnitzer (2005) defined achievement test as test designed to assess current performance in academic area. In other words achievement test is designed to measure a person’s level of skill, accomplishment or knowledge in a specific area. Therefore, student achievement in basic electricity is systematic and purposeful qualification of students’ cognitive learning outcomes. This systematic qualification of acquired knowledge and skills is based on taught curriculum content either for the end of each term, each year or for the end of the three-year programme. At the end of the three- year programme, a systematic and purposeful skill and cognitive knowledge is acquired or achieved that is, final achievement test or examination is always conducted by the National Business and Technical examination Board (NABTEB).The examination for basic electricity and other electrical trade subjects is specifically called National Technical Certificate (NTC) Examination by NABTEB.
Unfortunately students’ academic achievement in the certificate examination at the Niger State Technical Colleges has been consistently poor since the year 2005 in basic electricity and other electrical/electronic subjects (NABTEB, 2006). Aina (2006) confirmed that this failure rate had persisted for the past ten years. Stakeholders such as Parent Teacher Association (P T A), old student association have advanced reasons for this negative development in education in the state among which, improper classroom interaction among teacher and student, teacher aggressiveness, bullying on the part of the student and basic electricity task orientation have been examined to be the major factor responsible for persistent failure in basic electricity (Babasale 2009).
Although many factors could be responsible for students’ poor academic performance in any subject, it is a known fact that the instructional system headed by a teacher is the chief factor which can encourage or hinder learning and the attendant academic achievement. Teacher being the head of instructional system is the focal point of the teaching – learning scene and his/her role is capable of improving or retarding students learning and academic achievement. Formerly teacher experienced used to count as factor in enhancing students’ achievement. Unfortunately the blame for poor students’ achievement has not exempted the highly experience teachers. Being that there had been loud cry against commonly observed improper classroom interaction between teachers and students in technical colleges (Oyelami, 2008);, there is need to investigate the influence of psychosocial environment on student achievement in basic electricity.
Effective teaching using psychosocial environmental patterns is a disposition whereby the teacher consciously and skillfully plans and executes every one of his lesson so that interaction patterns are plausibly and effectively applied in each lesson delivery. By this disposition, the teacher ensures that only the advantages of each classroom interaction pattern is fully tapped skillfully skipping their disadvantages. The question is; can psychosocial classroom environment influence student academic achievement in basic electricity?
Statement of the Problem
Basic electricity ensures solid foundation of students’ understanding not only in Basic Electricity as a subject but also for all the subjects offered in the field of electricity and electronics (E/E) technology/engineering. The fact is that teachers play a role in influencing student motivation. The importance of building teacher-student relationship is to make the student learn easily and freely without fear or anxiety. In addition, teachers need to reduce negative emotions among the students such as anger, sadness, dissatisfaction, boredom, fear, and always encouraging, positive emotions such as confidence, joy, appreciation and safety. This disposition will lead to increased student confidence, student enrolment and higher student academic achievement.
Unfortunately students’ academic achievement in the certificate examination in Niger State Technical Colleges has been consistently poor since the year 2005, in Basic Electricity and other electrical/electronic subjects. Various stakeholders have advanced reason for this negative development in education in the state, among which are improper classroom interaction between teachers and students, teacher aggressiveness, and basic electricity task orientation have been found out to be major factors responsible for persistent failure in Basic Electricity
This unsatisfactory situation could lead to breakdown in the economic, industrial, technological and educational growth of a nation since the main goal of technical education is geared towards skill acquisition that leads to self sufficiency and employment. It is sad to note that technical education graduates no longer possess the required knowledge and skills expected of them. This makes it difficult for the graduates to secure employment on completion in industries or set up a workshop. There by contributing to an increased unemployment rate of the society. There is need to investigate the influence of classroom psychosocial environment in basic electricity. The question that arose for the problem of this study therefore is how psychosocial environment influences cognitive student academic achievement in basic electricity.
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of the study was investigate the influence of psychosocial environment on students’ achievement in Basic electricity in government technical college in Niger State. Specifically, the study to determine the influence of:
- Teacher – Student relationship on student academic achievement
- Student – Student relationship on student academic achievement
- Teacher – Student involvement on student academic achievement
- Basic electricity Task orientation on student academic achievement
- Student – Student competition on student academic achievement
- Teacher classroom management on student academic achievement
Significance of the study
The findings of the study would benefit the state science and technical education board, National Board for Technical for Technical Education (NBTE), National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB), Federal and state ministries of education, parents, industries and society, Teachers, Students and researchers. Findings from the study are expected to be of benefit to science and technical education board by serving as a reference material to the board during the inspection and supervision by insuring and insisting that those disposition seriously followed for effectiveness of teaching and learning basic electricity. By so doing, the students will be equipped with the necessary skill and knowledge after graduation.
Meanwhile, The National Board for Technical Education (N B T E) as a quality control body could use the findings from this study to incorporate suitable programmes that can improve teacher attributes and competency in delivering teaching in basic electricity.
Findings of the study would be of importance to NABTEB as an examining body to suggest to NBTE to in cooperate in the curriculum especially those aspects of attribute that would be used for teaching and learning in Technical College.
The finding from the study could readily be used by the federal ministry of education and Niger state ministry of education, as a guide on the type of instruction required to be given to skill acquisition centre’s in electrical/electronic. The finding could be useful to the ministry of education as a reference material during refresher courses for teachers of electrical/electronic by official of the ministry. The findings of the study would be of importance to parents and society because it will serve as a reference materials to parents on how to guide and encourage their wards towards attainment of those disposition, and the society as they stand to benefit from the competent service rendered by the technical college electrical/electronic graduates.
The finding of the study would be of importance to industries, on how to guide and encourage industrial attachment student and co-workers for social interaction and communication as well as psychological comfort and stability for manipulation of goods and services. The findings of the study would be of immense benefit to teachers and students of electrical/electronics, it will serve as a reference material to the teachers and technical college graduates on the disposition they would require for teaching basic electricity. Lastly, the findings could also serve as a source of reference to researchers by filling the gap the study could not fill.
Research Questions
The following research questions guided the study:-
- What is teacher- student relationship on student academic achievement?
- What is student- student relationship on student academic achievement?
- What is the teacher- student involvement on student academic achievement?
- What is the Basic Electricity Task orientation on student academic achievement?
- What is the Student –student competition on student academic achievement?
- What is the teacher-student classroom management on student academic achievement?
Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study and will be tested at 0.05 level of significance.
Ho1: There is no significant relationship between the opinions of teachers and students relation on student academic achievement
Ho2: There is no significant relationship between the opinion of TC11 students and TCIII student’s relation on Student academic achievement
Ho3: There is no significant Relationship between the opinion of Teachers and student involvement in basic electricity on student academic achievement
Ho4: There is no significant relationship between the opinion of teacher task orientations and student in basic electricity on student academic achievement
Ho5: There is no significant relationship between the opinion of TC11 students and TC111 student’s competitions on student academic achievement
Ho6: There is no significant relationship between the opinions of teachers and students classroom management on student academic achievement
Delimitation of the Study
This research work focused on government technical colleges and other constituent units of the colleges considered vital for this study. The technical college is located in Niger state, of the north central zone of Nigeria, the study seek to find out ways by which psychosocial environment can influence student academic achievement in government technical colleges of Niger state
