Benue State University, Makurdi

CONDUCIVE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT: A NECESSARY FACTOR FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN GWAGWALADA AREA COUNCIL OF ABUJA

Elizabeth O. Ihekoronye
Department of Educational Management, University of Abuja, Abuja

Abstract

The school environment in which teaching and learning take place is an important factor that cannot be ignored if the aims and objectives of the school system are to be optimally achieved. Hence, a conducive, healthy and safe school environment is very paramount to effective teaching and learning. This study therefore, examined classroom setting and school noise as components of school environment and how they affect public secondary school students’ performance in Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja. The research design used for the study was a descriptive survey. The population of this study constituted of 700 public secondary school students in 6 secondary schools in Gwagwalada Area Council. The sample of the study comprised 402public secondary school students selected through simple random sampling technique in order to give each element (student) equal chance of being selected. The instrument used for data gathering was closed-ended questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed using 4points scale of Strongly Agreed, Agreed, Disagreed and Strongly Disagreed. A total of 402 questionnaires were administered but 394 was validly filled and returned for analysis. Data collected via questionnaire were analyzed with mean statistical technique. The choice of mean as a statistical tool was informed by the fact that the study is descriptive in nature and as such, has no hypothesis to be tested. The decision rule or benchmark for the acceptance of an item was 2.5 and above. major findings of the study indicated that conducive classroom setting has positive effect on public secondary school students’ performance. It was also revealed that school noise affects students’ performance negatively.However, result further showed that air conditioned classroom and decoration of classrooms do not enhance students’ understanding, retention and sense of comfort. Based on the findings, major recommendations were that since conducive classroom setting has positive effect on students’ performance, teachers should ensure that their classes are well-lit in order to help students’ vision and ability to copy notes. They should also make the classroom very conducive so that the students can feel relaxed, comfortable and participate more actively the teaching-learning process. Second, teachers should help in minimizing students’ noise while in school. School management should ensure that schools are sited in areas devoid of noise.

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