1 S CHOOL - BASED F ACTORS AND P HYSICS S TUDENTS ' E NROLMENT AND A CHIEVEMENT IN N IGERIA By Telima Adolphus Department of Education University of York, United Kingdom

2 T HE P ROBLEM Despite the place of physics in science, technology and national development, its teaching and learning has been characterized with challenges which prevent many students from performing well in external examinations (FGN 2009:ii).

3 T HE P ROBLEM ( DATA ) Year Total SSCE Enrolment BiologyChemistryPhysics % Enrolment % Credit Pass % Enrolment % Credit Pass % Enrolment % Credit Pass 2004105124699.428.732.436.531.847.8 2005109176399.435.033.149.832.640.8 2006118422399.348.333.344.018.756.9 2007127533099.432.834.145.133.342.9 2008136914299.433.334.243.333.947.1 2009137300999.327.734.842.534.646.2 2010135155799.348.535.849.535.650.2 2011154025099.437.537.348.037.162.6 2012169587899.434.737.842.237.667.2 2013168918899.450.838.571.238.346.0 Students SSCE Science Enrolment/Achievement in Nigeria Source: West African Examinations Council, Lagos, Nigeria

4 R ESEARCH Q UESTION One principal research question was formulated to guide the study: What school-based factors influence physics students’ enrolment and achievement in the Senior School Certificate Examinations? Workineh (2002) reported the result of a study conducted in 22 developing countries and reported to The World Bank that school based factors were highly recognized as influencing factors in determining students’ academic achievement in developing countries while socio- economic factors were stated as influencing factors in determining students’ academic achievement in developed countries.

5 R ESEARCH M ETHODS /S AMPLING Mixed methods were utilized. Particularly, the researcher used: Questionnaires Interviews Observations and Tests Sample size 248 physics students 116 non-physics students and 14 physics teachers

6 R ESULTS Teachers’ response on the availability of teaching resources in core topic areas in physics

7 R ESULTS CONT ’ D PAT scores Teacher Qualification Teaching Experience Resource Availability index Resource Utilizatio n index PAT scores Pearson Correlation 1.587 **.096.591 **.324 ** Sig. (2- tailed).000.213.000 N 171 Pearson Correlation of Students’ Achievement with Teacher and Resource Factors

8 R ESULTS CONT ’ D % of students in SS3 enrolled for physics Teacher Qualification Number of years of teaching experience Resource availability index Resource utilization index % of students in SS3 enrolled for physics Pearson Correlation 1.562.122.532.215 Sig. (2- tailed).147.773.175.610 N 88888 Pearson Correlation of Students’ Enrolment with Teacher and Resource Factors

9 R ESULTS FROM INTERVIEW DATA C ONT ’ D “From our SS I classes, we did not have a physics teacher then we had a Corper … he didn’t know what he was doing, so that made so many students in SS I to enrol away from physics” (A2PS/2, 241-245). ( Note: A Corper is a fresh university graduate undergoing the mandatory National service in Nigeria ) “I choose to be a physics student because of the teachers we have in this school and due to the facilities” (B1PS/2, 20-21).

10 S UMMARY / CONCLUSION / RECOMMENDATION Achievement Teacher Qualification Resource Utilization Resource Availability Teaching Experience Enrolment Teacher Qualification Resource Availability Teaching Experience Resource Utilization  schools in the area are poorly financed,  with lack of adequate teaching resources,  Lack of teacher professional development,  Unavailability of computers with internet access and  Lack of adequately qualified physics teachers.  recommended that government and stake holders in the education industry do something urgent to recruit qualified physics teachers, train and retrain teachers in service and provide laboratories and other teaching and learning.

11 R EFERENCES Adeyemi, T. O. (2008). Science laboratories and the quality of output from secondary schools in Ondo State, Nigeria. Asian Journal of Information Management, 2,23-30. Bello, T. O. (2011). Effect of Group Instructional Strategy on Students’ Performance in Selected Physics Concepts. The African Symposium. 11(1), 71-79. Angell, C., Guttersrud, O., Henriksen, E.K. & Isnes, A. (2004). Physics: Frightful, But Fun Pupils’ and Teachers’ Views of Physics and Physics Teaching. Science education, 88(5), 683-706. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2011). Research Methods in Education :7th Edition. London: Routledge. Creswell, J.W (2012). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. 4th Boston: Pearson Education, Inc. Federal Ministry of Education (2009). National physics curriculum for senior secondary schools: Abuja: Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council. Heyneman, S. & Loxley, W. (1983). The effect of primary school quality on academic achievement across twenty-nine high- and low-income countries. American Journal of Sociology, 88, 1162 -1194. Jaiyeoba, A.O. & Atanda, A.I. (2011). School quality factors and secondary school students’achievement in mathematics in south-western and north-central Nigeria. The African Symposium, 11(1), 91-100. Nwankwo, O.C. (2010). Practical Guide to Research Writing. Port Harcourt, Golden publishers Limited. Workineh, G. (2002). School based factors contributing to differences in students' achievement at high and low passing rate scorers of Government Secondary Schools of Addis Ababa at National Examination. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Rumsey, D.J. (2011). Statistics For Dummies, 2nd Edition, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

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