Child Neglect as Predictor of Academic Performance Among Senior Secondary School Students in Edo State
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain the relationship between child neglect and academic performance among senior secondary school student in Edo state
- To ascertain the level of child neglect among secondary school student in Edo state
- To ascertain whether Educational and social neglect predict students’ academic performance in senior secondary schools in Edo State
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
NEGLECT
Neglect has no universally accepted definition (Rosenman & Rodgers, 2004). The identification of neglect is not a black and white issue—however the lack of a standardised definition can make identification difficult and measurement of community incidence and prevalence even more difficult (Shook-Slack, Holl, Altenbernd, McDaniel, & Bush-Stevens, 2003). From a practice perspective, this is important because a lack of a common definition may result in some children who are not being neglected becoming the subject of unnecessary investigation or intervention. Conversely, a lack of definition of what constitutes neglect could also result in children who are neglected, and in need of intervention, being misclassified and not receiving the services they require (Gaudin, Polansky, Kilpatrick, & Shilton, 1996). Neglect is often considered to be a failure, on the part of a caretaker, to provide adequate supervision, emotional nurturance, appropriate medical care, food, clothing, and shelter for a child. This definition also aligns with a definition of poverty, where poverty is considered to be inadequate food, shelter, and clothing. Not all children who are neglected are from impoverished families and not all children from impoverished families are neglected. For example, families may be perceived as being neglectful where in fact their cultural context or economic situation may be more important considerations. Rather than a statutory child protection response, the family may be better served by providing support to educate them or provide access to other resources, like financial assistance. There are a number of considerations that arise when trying to define neglect, which are outlined below: „ Neglect centres on social understanding and evolving knowledge of child development and wellbeing. As scientific knowledge related to healthy outcomes for children evolves, community values and expectations change—and therefore minimal standards of care for children also change (Straus & Savage, 2005). For example, in the 1960s children in cars were not restrained by child car seats. However, a failure to restrain a child in an approved car seat would now be considered neglectful in most developed nations. Also, the minimal standard of expected care is influenced by the developmental stage of a child.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to child neglect as predictor of academic performance among senior secondary school students in Edo state.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain child neglect as predictor of academic performance among senior secondary school students in Edo state. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of child neglect as predictor of academic performance among senior secondary school students in Edo state
Summary
This study was on child neglect as predictor of academic performance among senior secondary school students in Edo state. Three objectives were raised which included: To ascertain the relationship between child neglect and academic performance among senior secondary school student in Edo state, to ascertain the level of child neglect among secondary school student in Edo state and to ascertain whether Educational and social neglect predict students’ academic performance in senior secondary schools in Edo State. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of selected secondary schools in Edo state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made principals, vice principal administration, senior staff and junior staffs were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
The study concluded that child abuse does not exist. The most affected categories of abuse in order of prevalence are orphans, handicapped, children from poor backgrounds and children from wealth background. Child abuse has adverse effect on cognitive learning.
The specialty trained teachers are able to rehabilitate the abused learners by filling the gap through identifying, guiding and counseling and reporting the cases further to concerned authorities.
Recommendation
Government should ensure that the minority of teachers who are serving without training on special need education be inserviced on the same. Government should ensure a hundred percent teaching force with special needs education training
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