CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
One
of the most topical issues in the current debate all over the world has been
that of gender differences and academic achievement among students in schools.
Over the years, there has been a growing awareness of the role of women at
home, in schools, and community in general. However worries have equally been
expressed about the role of women in the political, social, cultural,
psychological, economic, spiritual, scientific and technological development of
the nations. A major area of concern has been the effects of gender differences
on academic achievement and retention of students in secondary schools.
However, the major focus of this research is to examine the differences between
the achievement mean scores of male and female students and the difference
between the retention mean scores of male and female students. Also, the paper
will find out whether or not there is a significant relationship between gender
and academic achievement of students in school.
Fisho-Oridedi
(2001) in her book The Girl Child noted that “the Nigerian population in
1991 was 88,514,501. The population of men (male) is 44,544,053 which is 50.32%
while that of women (female) is 43,969.970 which is 49.7% of the total
population”. The above data indicate that women constitute almost half of
Nigerian population and their potentialities in contributing to the national
development cannot be over-emphasised. Ibraheem (2001) confirmed the above
statement that “women constitute about 50% of Nigerian population and their
potentiality in contributing to the national development cannot be ignored”. In
African culture, girls are not familiar with toys that promote interest in
science and technology. Their major duty is home management and child-bearing.
They are expected to cook and clean while the boys engage in activities such as
playing football, making bows and arrows, playing with catapults, flying kites
and so on. Bozimo (1991) noted that these activities promote scientific
knowledge and thus give them an edge over girls. Babalola and Adedeji (1997)
also confirmed that women, throughout the ages and everywhere in the world,
have always been considered inferior to men. Scottish local authorities did not
introduce gender policies until the early 1990s (Ridwell 2000). Jekayinoluwa
(2005) lamented that schools and the nation at large are making profound
contributions to the creation of positive learning environment that could
motivate learning achievement more in boys than girls. In their own study,
Jegede and Inyang (1990) worked on gender differences and academic achievement
in integrated science in Junior Secondary Schools. They confirmed that males
performed better than females. They affirmed that males demonstrated
significantly more positive attitudes towards science than females. Schibbeci
(1984) also noted that females exhibit more positive attitudes towards Biology and
males towards Physics. Owuamanam and Babatunde (2007) noted that the girls tend
to go for courses that do not require more energy and brain tasking such as
home making while boys looked for jobs in management, engineering, banking and
other brain-tasking professions. In her own research carried out in London,
Osler (2002) confirmed that girls excluded or self-excluded from formal
education were rampant among African girls than White girls. In another
research carried out in London, Claire (2005) highlighted the high number of
black girls being excluded from school and also looked at the way language is
used in education. Both ethnicity and social class are factors which combined
with, and interacting with gender, are seen as having a direct bearing on achievement
(Plummer 2000 and Arnot 2003). Archer (2003) noted that gender inequalities are
interwoven with social class, ethnicity, sexuality and disability. Another
factor identified as influencing attainment is ethnicity (Arnot 2003).
The gender of the student
may also be a factor in determining student achievement. Childhood training and
experience, gender differences in attitudes, parental and teacher expectations
and behaviors, differential course taking and biological differences between
the sexes may all be instrumental in giving rise to gender differences in
achievement (Feingold, 2001). The rather high gender disparity in various
spheres of public life and the patriarchal social structure in Nigeria may also
lead to poorer academic achievement among female students.
In terms of
educational attainment women lag behind men in Nigeria. The 2006 Population
Census records the illiteracy rate among men at 6.1%, while that of women at
19.4% (SIS, 2003). Among the literate population, men’s average level of schooling
far
exceeds that of women though there does seem
to be a faster improvement among the latter (Dayıo_lu
and Tunalı, 2002). Gender disparity in schooling is also observed among the
younger population, where female school enrollment in basic and secondary
education falls behind male children (Tansel, 2002). Despite the numerous
studies that analyze the disadvantaged position of women as adults and
children, there is almost no work on the educational experiences of women as
young adults. The paucity of such work has been one of the motivations for this
study. The other motivation has been the observation that in the undergraduate
classes, female students often outperform their male counterparts. This casual
observation contradicts with the general experiences of the female population
as children and adults. Hence, this study grew out of our curiosity to find out
how far our personal observations hold for the general student population in
government secondary schools.
1.2 Statement of the problem
Academic achievement is an important parameter in
measuring success in students. Observations and reports have shown that success
or high academic achievement has become a Herculean task to accomplish by
students in recent times. The decline in the academic performance of students
in Nigerian universities had been highlighted by Soyinka (1999), when he
observed that university system in Nigeria needed restructuring. He went
further to say that academic standard had fallen drastically and the quality of
graduates being produced by the nations universities is questionable and
subject to re-examination. Poor academic achievement of students has been of
great concern to educationists, government and the public in general.
Students' poor performance in Essien Udim Local
Government and Akwa Ibom River State in general has continued to pose a serious
concern to government agencies, parents and the students themselves (Essien
2004, Akpan 2006 and Usoro 2007). Most previous studies had tended to attribute
this problem to factors that are extraneous to the learner, such as poor
physical facilities, school environment etc. (Maynard, 1971 and Onyejiaku,
1991). Various strategies adopted by different governments and agencies tend
not to address the problem substantially. There is therefore further need to
research into other possible factors or variables underlying students'
achievement, since behaviour is a product of environmental and psychosocial
variables. The researcher had therefore been motivated to carry out this study
that is aimed at examining if there is gender difference in academic
achievement. This research became necessary because all the previous studies on
this were carried out either at the primary or secondary school levels. Thus
the attempt to find answers to these questions constitute the problem that this
study sought to address.
1.3 Purpose of the study
The main purpose of this study was to examine gender
difference on students academic achievement in government secondary school in
Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Specifically the study was aimed at determining whether:
i.
Gender influence academic achievement of
secondary school student.
ii.
There is any difference in academic
achievement between male and female students?
iii.
There is any difference in academic
achievement between students from boys schools and their counterpart in girls
schools.
1.4 Research questions
This study attempted to provide answers to the
following research questions:
i.
How does gender influence academic
achievement of secondary school student?
ii.
Is there any difference in academic
achievement between male and female students?
iii.
Is there any difference in academic
achievement between students from boys schools and their counterpart in girls
schools?
1.5 Statement of hypotheses
To
answer the research questions posed, the following hypotheses were formulated
to direct the study:
i.
There is no significant relationship
between gender and academic achievement of secondary school students'.
ii.
There is no significant difference in academic
achievement between male and female students
iii.
There is no significant difference in
academic achievement between students from boys schools and their counterpart
in girls schools
1.6 Significance of the study
The
result of this study may be of great benefit to teachers, students, parents,
and the government. The findings of the study may be of great importance to the
teacher as this will enable them device a means of increasing students’/pupils’
interest in learning as a means of encouraging them to improve upon their
academic achievement. This study may also make students to understand that
their academic achievement both in school and public examinations to some
extent lies in their hands. Therefore they should be committed to their
studies.
Parents
and the society at large would understand that the academic achievement of
students embodies so many variables including them so all the blames should not
be on the teachers alone if their children do not achieve academically up to
their expectation. For the students to achieve very well in school both the
parents and the society should provide an enabling environment for the
students’.
This
study would contribute to existing literature on psychosocial variables and
students’ academic achievement with the aim of improving the quality of
academic achievement. Finally, the recommendations based on the results if
implemented would help to bring about innovations in institutions and
improvement in students’ academic achievement.
1.7 Scope of the study
i.
While the researcher acknowledges the fact
that there are other variables that can affect academic achievement, this study
is limited to psychosocial variables which are of interest to the researcher.
ii.
Apart from the psychosocial variables
mentioned in the study, other variables like age, intelligence, perception and
many others may affect achievement. These variables are not within the scope of
this study and are not controlled for.
iii.
The study is limited to government
secondary school in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Awka Ibom State.
1.8 Limitations of the Study
One
unavoidable limitation surrounding the study is that the questionnaire will
depend seriously on the honest reactions of the respondents. There is the
possibility that responses given by respondents may not be fully reflective of
the actual state of affairs. The emotional state of the respondents can hardly
be adequately ascertained.
This
study has not also considered the effect of extraneous variables like the
students’ intelligence which principally determines achievement.
1.9 Definition
of terms
Gender: the state of being
male or female
Academic
achievement: this is defined in this study as the
assigned grades attained by students in a test of students achievement in
school.
Difference: the dissimilarity off students
perform in academic.
Male: state
of being a male
Female: state of being a female
TO GET THE COMPLETE MATERIAL (CHAPTER 1 TO 5, REFERENCES AND
QUESTIONNAIRE), SIMPLY DEPOSIT N3500 WITH ECOBANK
ACCNT NAME: UMOH UMOH ASUQUO
- NO.: 3351064296
For more information: 08038828403, e-mail: eduresearchhome@gmail.com:
