The Influence of Class Size on the Academic Achievement of Early Childhood Education School Pupils
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain the impact of large class size on students’ academic achievement of early childhood education school pupil
- To ascertain the impact of small class size on students’ academic achievement of early childhood education school pupil
- To ascertain the strategies that could be adopted in addressing the problem of class size
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
Overcrowded or large classes are now common places in most educational institutions, especially those in the developing world of which Ghana is no exception. There are many challenges that university teachers face when teaching large class size particularly in developing countries. According to Benbow, Mizrachi, Oliver, and Said-Moshiro (2007), the growth of large classes in the developing world is as a result of global initiatives for universal education and rapid population growth. Naturally, in order to mitigate the effects of rapid population growth, there is the need to expand access of higher education through increasing funding. Ogbondah (2010, p. 318) noted that, “One of the major critical issues facing public universities in Nigeria is underfunding”. He opined that, “Adequate funding of public universities is sine qua non for sustainable development as such the much needed development will be fast-tracked and sustained”. It must be stressed that even though “money cannot correct all ills of public universities”, the lack of “adequate funding leads to inadequate school buildings, inadequate educational facilities, poorly qualified and poorly remunerated teachers, inadequate learning conditions and lack of instructional materials” (Ogbondah, 2010, p. 321). A study carried out in Ghana by Amua-Sekyi (2010, p. 144) observed that “lack of funding was perceived to impinge well beyond the classroom to the workplace and ultimately to the state of the economy” as expressed by some respondents. Her respondents indicated that, “If we have teaching and learning resources such as slides, flow chart of life cycle on screen, students can make contributions, even as the topic is discussed”. She further found that the lack of large classroom space was another problem that her respondents complained about. This is borne out of the fact that lecturers observed that, “At level 100 and 200 where class sizes are usually large, students are not really involved in teaching and learning”. She argued that, “Even at level 300 and 400 when the class size gets smaller as they choose areas of specialization, students’ contributions seem to improve”. She, however, observed that, “Even then one can see they have a lot of defects since they have not developed the attitudes to contribute at lectures and do independent critical thinking”. She opined that, “Even though we try to mould them, I do not think we are actually able to impact their lives through the training as expected”. Amua-Sekyi (2010, p. 144) in her discussion further observed that, Those who are good developed with the little guidance/exposure and pick up and develop their talents and express themselves do independent work come to see me and ask how to relate what they have found on the Internet with what have been taught. The question one may ask is that how many of them are able to do this? The greater majority is unable to explore on their own, so that when they are unable to benefit from a large class they tend to suffer and become average students and those who are “extremely weak” may suffer several referrals and may drop out or go home without degrees or certificates.
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 the influence of class size on the academic achievement of early childhood education school pupils”
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
Primary source and Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
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 the influence of class size on the academic achievement of early childhood education school pupils”. 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 class size on the academic achievement of early childhood education school pupils”
Summary
This study was on The influence of class size on the academic achievement of early childhood education school pupils. Three objectives were raised which included: To ascertain the impact of large class size on students’ academic achievement of early childhood education school pupil, to ascertain the impact of small class size on students’ academic achievement of early childhood education school pupil, to ascertain the strategies that could be adopted in addressing the problem of class size. 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 primary schools in Ikpoba okha local government of 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 headmasters, headmistresses, senior staff and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
The findings of this study show that large class size has a negative impact on the quality of interaction between teacher and students, teachers’ teaching method, teachers’ assessment of the students and students’ learning. Teachers in perceive that large class sizes are less preferable to small class size for primary secondary school students for better academic achievement.
Recommendation
Government should build more classrooms and provide adequate learning facilities so that student and teacher have enabling teaching-learning environment.
The study on student’s attitude, class size and gender should be applied to other discipline
References
- Agboarewo, B.I. (1980) Fallen Standard in Secondary Schools in Nigeria. Unpublished. M.Ed Thesis University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Ashford and Co(2nd ed) (2001),Human Behaviour in the Social environment, a Multidimensional Perspective, United States, Brooks/Cole.
- Azikiwe, U.(1998) Language Teaching and Learning. Onitsha: Africana-Feb. Publishers Ltd Balancing Process and Products‟, New York, Macmillan.
- Baldeh, Fodeh (1990) Better English Learning and Teaching Nsukka. Fulladu Pub. Company.
- Biddle, Bruce J., and David C.Berliner, (2002) What Research says about Small Classes and Their Effects, West Ed. Perspective, San Francisco.
- BBC English dictionary (1992) London. Harpercollins publishers. C.D. Howe Institute Commentary (2005) School Class Size: smaller isn’t Better www.
- Cdhowe. Org. Corson, David (1993) “Language Minority Education and Gender: Linking Social Justice and Power. Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
- Chauhan, S.S. (1987). Advanced Educational Psychology New Delhi: VIKAS Pub: House Put Ltd.
