QUALITY FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE STUDENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Education is seen as the initial step in all human endeavor in this era of globalization and technological development. It is connected to an individual's well-being and possibilities for improved living and plays an important part in the development of human capital (Lewis, 2002). It guarantees that people gain the information and skills they need to become more productive and enhance their quality of life. This improvement in productivity also leads to new sources of income, boosting a country's economic growth (Saxton, 2000). Educators continue to place a premium on the quality of students' work. It's designed to make an impact on a local, regional, national, and global scale. Educators, trainers, and researchers have long been interested in determining what factors contribute to the quality of a learner's performance. These factors, both within and outside of school, have a quality on pupils' academic achievement. Student factors, family factors, school factors, and peer factors are examples of these factors (Elder, 2004). The first serious examination of the role of these demographic variables was conducted in the seventeenth century (Mann, 1985). Age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, socioeconomic position (SES), parents' education level, parental occupation, language, income, and religious affiliations are all examples of these characteristics. Typically, these are considered under the heading of demographics (Ballatine, 1993). Demography is a wide term that refers to the study of the nature and consequences of demographic factors in biological and social contexts. Unfortunately, defining and assessing educational quality is not an easy task, and the process is made more difficult by the shifting values of quality features linked with diverse stakeholders' perspectives. (2006, Parri) Quality is at the top of almost every sector's or organization's agenda. Finding ways to improve the quality of education is a critical endeavor for any educational institution. Quality education has a huge influence on workforce development and makes essential contributions. Students have the right to a high-quality education, which necessitates inspectors receiving quality-control training so that they may collaborate with schools to attain the desired level (Okunuga, 2012). Inspectors, on the other hand, work with the school in the areas of performance and standard, learners' welfare and participation, personal development, quality of teaching and learning, quality of curriculum and other activities, care/guidance and support, learning environment, leadership and management, overall effectiveness of the school, what the school does well and what the school should do to improve its performance (Oyetola, 2012). As a result, education should be monitored and reviewed before to, during, and after delivery to ensure that standards are met. As a result, school inspection is an important tool for the government to ensure that secondary schools are performing well. As a result, it's critical that the School Inspectorate performs its obligations in a timely and effective manner (CAG, 2008). In the administrative world, the adoption of a Quality Assurance management system has grown in popularity. Industry quality control is no longer practiced; quality assurance has taken its place. Any educational system's worth in the education sector is determined by its capacity to create high-quality product (students) that can contribute to society's progress. It is thus the responsibility of education managers to identify and resolve issues that may obstruct the delivery of high-quality education (John, 2014). There is a widespread perception, according to Adelabu (2012), that the state of a school's learning environment, including infrastructure, has a significant impact on instructors' efficacy and students' academic achievement. Classrooms, offices, libraries, labs, amenities, and other structures, as well as furniture and athletic equipment, are all needed to allow successful teaching and learning in an educational institution. The academic standard, which is an indication of quality aspects in the school, is strongly influenced by the infrastructure and learning environment.

1.2     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The education ministry has established concepts and quality criteria to achieve any country's educational goals. As a result, secondary schools require sufficient teachers, classrooms, teaching and learning materials, and other resources (Crosnoe, 2005). Apart from this, there are bodies that audit schools to ensure that they satisfy the quality standards set out in the contract or the goals for which the schools were established. Secondary school circumstances such as a dearth of teachers, a paucity of teaching and learning resources, a lack of laboratories and libraries, and other quality problems make high academic achievement difficult. A lot of public schools lack libraries, and textbooks are in limited supply to the point that one book can be divided among twenty pupils (Adelabu, 2012). As a result, the instructor is the only one who can provide information. As a result, students with restricted educational abilities may be produced. Furthermore, school inspectors do not intervene in schools where teachers, teaching and learning materials, and other facilities are in insufficient supply. Because school inspection has not been as effective as expected due to a lack of qualified personnel, quality, offices and office equipment, housing, and the inspectors' ability to take appropriate and immediate corrective measures where necessary, there is always an issue of poor academic performance among secondary school students, which is a result of not providing adequate resources or meeting the required standards (Johnson, 2007). Given the preceding scenario, there is no reason to mistrust the quality-control procedures in place in those schools that do well. To determine which specific quality factors influence learners' academic performance in those schools, research must be conducted to determine which factors and how they influence academic performance in secondary schools, as well as recommendations for how quality practices can be improved in those schools (Okunuga, 2012). Knowing these criteria can aid policymakers and administrators in improving school quality factors for higher-quality secondary education. As a result, the quality of this study was to look at the aspects that influence students' academic achievement.

1.3     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The primary goal of this study is to determine the quality elements that influence secondary school students' academic performance. More specifically, the study aims to:

i. Determine the quality elements that influence students' academic achievement.

ii. Examine the impact of quality factors on secondary school students' academic achievement.

iii. To define quality factors techniques that schools must implement in order to attain good student academic achievement.

iv. To investigate the obstacles to quality education in Nigeria.

1.4      RESEARCH QUESTIONS

i.What are the quality elements that influence students' academic achievement?

ii. What are the impacts of quality factors on secondary school students' academic achievement?

iii. What are  quality factors techniques that schools must implement in order to attain good student academic achievement?

iv. What are the obstacles to quality education in Nigeria?

1.5     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

With the advent of junior secondary school in Nigeria, it is now mandatory for all applicants to attend JSS. Their placement in JSS, on the other hand, is not automatic and is based on their exam achievement as well as ongoing evaluation. As a result, pupils' JSS achievement should be scrutinized. The current study attempted to solve this problem by evaluating quality factors that influence JSS students' academic achievement. The conclusions of this study will aid students in judging the amount of preparation for their final test. Teachers and principals would be able to detect their own and their pupils' weaknesses and prepare effectively. Parents will be aware of their children's strengths and weaknesses, as well as the part they must play in ensuring that their children receive high marks. Other stakeholders, such as the Ministry of Education (MoE), will be notified as well. The study's findings will once again serve as the foundation for future research.

1.6     SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The research was carried out in Kaduna State, Nigeria. There are now around 20 basic schools in Kaduna State, which acts as the research's case study. As previously said, elementary school consists of Kindergarten, primary school, and junior high school. Only Danbo International School was employed in this study, which focused on the JSS level. The focus was on the children' present academic achievement as well as the school, student, home, and teacher factors that influence their academic achievement.

1.7     DELIMINATION OF THE STUDY

According to John (2014), the researcher has power over delimitations. It outlines the researcher's decisions, as well as the study's boundaries and scope. The research looked at the academic achievement of pupils in grades one through three at Junior High School. The case study was Danbo International School, and the target groups were instructors, JSS students, and the Headmaster.