ABSTRACT
This study assessed the climate of eight secondary schools in Education district V, Lagos, specifically the influence between school climate and students’ academic achievement. The study employed quantitative approach within ex post facto research design using three climate questionnaires for secondary schools. A random sample of 160 teachers was drawn, however, only 74 teachers responded to the research tools. The study revealed that the climates of all secondary schools were non-conducive or negative.
In testing whether the school climate predicts school performance, the study indicated that some of the variance in division categories can be explained by school climate. Surprisingly, all school climates did not significantly correlate with division categories. However, on using the beta weighting, there were noticeable effects (weak to strong) of independent variables on dependent variables. This study showed that, students’ academic achievement is related and influenced by the school climate. Therefore, school climates need to be conducive or positive as necessary for the survival and well-being of such schools.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
It is widely accepted that education is one of the leading tools for promoting economic development as it covers some processes individuals go through to help them develop and use their potentials. Furthermore, through education, individuals acquire knowledge, skills and attitude that are necessary for effective living. This is the reason why in all modern nations, investment in education of the youth is considered most vital (Adeyemi and Adu, 2010; Okeke, 2007).
If the school is deemed the agent of change towards producing quality human capital for the nation, then, school climate is one very important factor that influences the change. Every school has its own unique school climate which differs from one school to another. Halpin and Croft (1963), a pioneer in conducting a study in school climate viewed school climate as having an individual’s characteristics. They also claimed that school climate portrays the personality of an individual and how that individual works towards achieving school success.
The school as an organization has certain objectives which it has to achieve (National Policy of Education, 1998). In order to achieve the objectives, the organizational climate of the school is important. This organizational climate refers to the working condition among superordinates (headteachers) and subordinates (teachers) in a bid to achieve the objectives of the school (Adeyemi, 2008).
According to Hoy and Hoy (2006), school climate refers to school achievement. Najeemah (2012) claimed that a happy school is very motivated, with productive accomplishment which made it different from other schools. School climate also means a school’s social environment and culture which influence the behavior of its community. This means that school climate plays an important role in influencing the behavior and achievement of the community in the school particularly the performance of teachers.
A healthy school climate is a school that focuses on academic and the leader is able to influence the teachers and develop their belief that they have an impact on learning and teaching. Najeemah (2012) and Riechl & Sipple (1966) claimed that the characteristics of a school may affect teachers’ commitment and overall performance. Smith (2009) stated that teachers who obtain support from their leaders are more inclined to be committed to the vision and the mission of the school including the school values.
Teachers whether in private or public schools are saddled with the responsibility of performing their basic roles under a conducive and harmonious organizational climate. Suffice it to say that, this is why the National Policy on Education provided a watershed upon which the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education are rooted (Amagionyeodiwe and Osinubi, 2006).
The climate of work plays major role in the life of every individual whether a student, teacher, employer or employee. Though, some people are yet to believe that climate brings about better performance. The school climate, which includes the classrooms, libraries, technical workshops, laboratories, teachers’ quality, school management, teaching methods, school size and policies, etc are variables that affect teacher’s performance (Orlu, 2020). Hence, the school climate remains an important area that should be studied and well managed to enhance teachers’ performance as well as students’ academic performance. Therefore, this study examines the relationship between school climate and students’ academic performance in Lagos State public senior secondary schools in Education District V, Lagos state.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The issue of poor students’ academic performance in Lagos State public secondary schools in Nigeria has been of much concern to the government, parents, teachers and even students. The quality of education does not only depend on students’ related factors, but also on the effective coordination of the school climate.
Moreover, when it comes to poor academic performance of the students, people are being too quick to blame parents and the students. But the fundamental problems facing education in Nigeria since independence are largely organizational or issuing bothering on school climate ranging from inadequate school structures, poorly equipped classrooms, high rate of school enrolment, inadequate instructional materials, high drop-out unto inadequate facilities; all these culminating to mass failure in public examination and poor quality of school leavers in Lagos State. It is against this backdrop that this study seeks to investigate the impact of school climate on students’ academic performance in Lagos State public senior secondary schools in Education District V.
1.3 Research Objectives
- To determine the type of school climate existing in secondary schools in Education district V as perceived by staff
- To determine the relationship between secondary school climate and school performance.
- To determine how the secondary school climate influence school
1.4 Research Hypotheses
H2: There is significant relationship between secondary school climate and School performance.
H3: The secondary school climate determines school performance.
1.5 Significance of the Study
From the year 2010 to date, students’ performance in Education district V has been deteriorating, hitting a historical low in 2012 where only 5.9 % of candidates who took the exam passed. After the standardizations, the percentage increased to 34.5 %. This situation has been a cause for alarm that prompts for educational stakeholders to call for immediate government intervention to revise the learning environments (school climate) in public secondary schools.
Since school are often judged by the average level of student’s achievements, success or failure and whether positive or conducive school climate is highly related to the success in academics of the students, then the results of this study will be available to the ministry of education, educational administrator, head of schools, teachers and educational stakeholders to work hard toward improving school climate in order to enhance the likelihood of high performance of schools in Nigeria. In addition to that, the findings of this study will help to encourage policy makers and the community in general to strive to improve the school climate.
1.6 Limitation of the Study
Limitations of the study are those factors or conditions beyond the control of the researcher, which hinder one from obtaining the required data and may place restrictions on the conclusions of the study (Kombo and Tromp, 2006). The study has some limitations that must be taken into consideration. One is the fact that the number of participants in schools was relatively small. The other limitation is that the study mainly analyses how school climate influences performance, but it can well be that performance influences also school climate.
1.7 Organization of the Study
The study consists of five chapters. Chapter one, is the introduction of the study which describes statement of the problem being investigated, objectives and hypothesis of the study, significance of the study, delimitations and basic assumption of the study, limitations of the study, definition of major terms and the organization of the study.
The review of different research reports, books, journals, articles, papers and models dealing and related to organizational climate (school climate) and school performance (students’ academic achievements) are discussed in chapter two.
The description of the study area, research design and procedures of the study are discussed in chapter three. The chapter also describes the instrumentation, population, sampling design methodology and techniques for statistical analysis. The descriptive and inferential statistical data along-with their possible interpretations are presented in that chapter. Chapter five represents the summary of the study, summary of the key findings of the study, conclusion and recommendation based on statistical analyses.
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