Effects of home factors and students classroom participation on the academic performance of senior secondary schools students in Lagos Nigeria

Abstract

Home factors entails the objects, materials, parents, siblings, peers and social life that exists in the home in which the students find himself/herself. All the variables in the home that affect a child’s existence, behaviour and performance constitute the home environmental factors, while student achievement refers to the extent to which a learner has attained their short or long-term educational goals. Individual differences in academic performance are strongly correlated with differences in personality and intelligence. The study examined the effects of home factors and students’ classroom participation on the academic performance of senior secondary schools in Lagos, Nigeria. Consequently, four research questions and three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study, the study was limited to Education District I, of Lagos, Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design, using a self-constructed questionnaire to collect data from secondary school teachers and students. The validity of the instrument was done by experts in sociology of education and measurement and evaluation, while the researchers administered the instrument to 30 students not involved in the main sample for pilot testing. The reliability correlation coefficient index obtained was 0.78. The data collected were analysed using simple percentage, t-test, Chi-square and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient method of statistical analysis. These statistics were used to demonstrate whether the variables are correlated or related. The findings of the study revealed that students’ home factors affect their academic performance; teachers and the students have different perceptions of the relevance of home factors; and that a significant relationship exists between home factors and students’ classroom participation. The study therefore concluded and recommended that education should be mounted for parents in our formal and non-formal education programmes in order to educate parents on their roles as parents in the education of their wards.