Influence of Socio-economic Status and School Location on Secondary School Students’ Performance in Accounting
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the Study
The general objective of this work is to assess the influence of socio-economic status of parents and school location on students‘ academic performance in financial accounts in secondary schools in Kwara States, Nigeria.
The specific objectives are to:
- assess the influence of parental level of education on secondary school students‘ academic performance in Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Kwara States, Nigeria.
- determine the influence of parental level of occupation on secondary school students‘ academic performance in Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Kwara States, Nigeria.
- assess the influence of parental social status on secondary school students‘ academic performance in Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Kwara States, Nigeria.
- determine the influence of school location on secondary students‘ academic performance in Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Kwara States, Nigeria.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
A number of studies have been carried out to identify and analyse the numerous factors that affect academic performance in various levels of educational attainment. Their findings identified change of school, family break up, teacher absence, parent illness and death of a family member, student’s illness, learning disability caused by visual or hearing impairment and student’s attitude towards learning as causes of poor academic performance (Browny & Sunniya, 2002). Others include shortage of well-trained teachers, inadequacy of teaching facilities, lack of funds to purchase necessary equipment, poor quality textbooks, large classes, poorly motivated teachers, lack of laboratories and libraries, poorly coordinated supervisory activities, interference of the school system by the civil service, incessant transfers of teachers and principals and automatic promotion of pupils (Vundla, 2012). Mbugua, Kibet, Muthaa and Nkonke (2012) listed factors as under staffing, inadequate teaching/learning materials, lack of motivation and poor attitude by both teachers and students as factors influencing academic performance of students.
Igwe and Ikatule (2011) attributed poor academic performance of students to deficiency in teaching method(s) used by teachers. According to Tshabalala and Ncube (2013) lack of materials, bad teacher behavior, poor grounding in the subject area at lower levels, poor teaching methods as well as fear of the subject are factors affecting academic performance of students. Enu, Agyman and Nkum (2015) listed the causes of academic performance to include inadequate teaching and learning materials, method of instruction, teachers and students’ self-motivation. Specifically, in accounting, academic performances of students are influenced by related factors such as negative attitude of students towards accounting as a difficult subject, students’ academic aptitude, previous and recent academic performances, insufficient effort and poor motivation (Atieh, 2013). Also teachers’ qualification and experience affect academic performance of students in accounting (Omotayo, 2014). According to Okon (2002) poor application of teaching methods, lack of fund, inadequate teaching experience, lack of teaching aids, lack of qualified teachers and wrong methods of teaching could influence students’ interest in accounting. Igberi (1999) mentioned unavailability of current text-books in accounting as one of the causes of poor academic performance of students in accounting. Corroborating, Ezeagba (2014) listed inadequate instructional materials and ineffective/poor teaching method as causes of poor students’ academic performance in accounting. Ward, Wilson and Ward (1994) attributed causes of students’ poor academic performance in accounting to lack of study, inability to apply the material covered, the speed of coverage of the material, the method used by the instructor, among others. However most of these studies were conducted in different environment rather than the environment of the present study. Hence the need to identify the factors influencing students’ academic performance in accounting in secondary schools in Anambra State.
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 the influence of socio economic status and school location on secondary school students performance in accounting
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
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 on influence of socio economic status and school location on secondary school students performance in accounting. 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 influence of socio economic status and school location on secondary school students performance in accounting
Summary
This study was on influence of socio economic status and school location on secondary school students performance in accounting. Four objectives were raised which included: assess the influence of parental level of education on secondary school students‘ academic performance in Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Kwara States, Nigeria, determine the influence of parental level of occupation on secondary school students‘ academic performance in Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Kwara States, Nigeria, assess the influence of parental social status on secondary school students‘ academic performance in Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Kwara States, Nigeria and determine the influence of school location on secondary students‘ academic performance in Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Kwara States, Nigeria. 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 school in Kwara 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 principals administration, senior staff and junior staff was used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
The location of secondary schools depend on the availability of the open land for various school socio-economic activities. Therefore it is equally important that secondary schools in Kwara state be given enough land to allow schools to establish on their free will various structures and activities in their given land. To make this possible, educational stakeholders (parents, Educational supervisors and politicians) should work cooperatively and wisely to make the school environment attractive for both students and teachers. It can be reasonably inferred that socio–economic and education background of parents in this research setting is not significant factors in students’ academic performance. However, educational qualification of parents and health status of students are significant factors that affect the academic performance of students
Recommendation
Social and economic policies should be put in place to enable children from parents of low economic status to have equal opportunity of advancing the cause of education of their children.
The other strategy was the establishment of schools close to the social services like transport facilities and electricity in secondary schools which have difficulty living conditions to motivate teachers to reside around school premises. Hence solve the problem of late coming to school to both teachers and students
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