Background to the Study
Education is an important tool for human and National development. The education given to citizens of a country especially at the secondary school level must be of good quality to inculcate in them the necessary skills for self development and survival. Quality education is a necessity in order to build responsible citizens who can drive the economy of the nation and compete favourably in the knowledge based world of today. Quality in education bothers on effectiveness and efficiency of the school administration, teaching and learning (Ukwungwu, 2008). To achieve this quality, teachers application of classroom Management skills are very fundamental.
The quality of education given in schools should be of great concern to all stakeholders with the declining performance of students in both the West African School Certificate and Nationals Examination Council Examinations, coupled with continued decline in the number of credit passes especially in core subjects like English language and mathematics which seem to constantly point to the issue of quality of education reviewed. There is the need for quality assurance in the secondary education.
The continuous decline in the performance of the outputs raises issues of quality among stakeholders in education and members of the public. The most essential activity in a typical school environment is the ability to organize classroom activities and manage the behaviour of students. Teachers have the responsibility of organizing classroom activities and managing student’s behaviours in school, This means that teachers are major implementers of school curriculum (Eze, 2009). As individuals or group of individuals, teachers hold a very important position in educational sector (Modebelu, 2008). They need certain classroom management control to enable them manage students behaviour and ensure the maintenance of high standard in schools, since effective teaching and learning cannot be achieved in a mismanaged classroom.
The classroom is the environment where teaching and learning takes place. Classroom is the power-house in which the success or failure of the teaching-learning process is sustained (Wigwe, 2013). It is a learning environment where all the factors conducive for learning are put in place such as physical- sensory elements, that is lighting, colour, sound, space, furniture, among others. It does not necessarily mean an empty room; it includes laboratories, workshops, among others (Kanu, 2012). The anticipation and objectives of formal education are normally accomplished in the classroom using a well planned curriculum through effective classroom management.
Management is an important aspect of every organization. Ogbonnaya (2014) defined management as the co-ordination of the resources of an organization through the process of planning, organizing, directing and controlling all energies aimed at achieving the organizational goals. Management in the classroom refers to issues of supervision, the act of handling or controlling the classroom activities successfully. Male and female teachers take actions to create an environment that support and facilitate both academic and non-academic learning. The ability of the classroom teacher to exercise a reasonable degree of control over student’s behaviours in the classrooms depends on the male and female teachers’ knowledge and level of classroom management skills.
Classroom management is well-informed actions taken by teachers to utilize any available resources in schools to facilitate teaching and learning. Classroom management is the action teachers take to create an environment that supports and facilitates both academic and social emotional learning (Everton and Weinstein, 2006). Male and female teacher’s involvement and cooperation in classroom activities help to foster and establish a productive class environment. It is based on this that Oboegbulem (2011) defined classroom management as the arrangement of students and grouping of activities into units to make for effective teaching and learning. According to Alberto and Troutman (2009) classroom management can be defined as the teacher’s ability to cooperatively manage time, space, resources, student’s roles and behaviours to provide a climate that encourages learning. Duke (2009) viewed classroom management as the provisions and procedures necessary to establish and maintain an environment in which instruction and learning can occur. For effective management of the classroom, certain skills are required. These are known as classroom management control. These include discipline, motivation, time management and communication skills.
Classroom management controls are the most special skills needed by a teacher for effective teaching and classroom organization. It takes a great deal of effort and ability to handle classroom that is full of students. The teacher has to be thorough and knowledgeable in the subject he/she is handling, needs to know how to control a class and maintain discipline and order in the classroom.
Browers and Tower (2010), submitted that teachers who have problems with classroom discipline are frequently ineffective in the classroom and often report of high levels of stress and symptoms of burnout. According to Donovan and Cross (2012) the inability of teachers to effectively manage classroom behaviours often contribute to students’ low academic achievement. The rationale behind this assertion is that teachers’ inability to effectively manage classroom behaviours makes it impossible for quality to be assured in teacher’s classroom management skills. This is because the quality of learning, among others depends on the skills exhibited by the teachers in the classroom. The application of these skills ensures quality in teaching and learning in schools.
Quality in teaching and learning in schools, otherwise known as quality assurance is the process of ensuring that good standard is upheld. Mbaji, Ebirim and Akwali (2012), opined that quality assurance is the establishment of standard in various processes and activities that lead to the attainment of quality result. Quality assurance is an organized way of encouraging the achievement of good and high standard. Quality assurance is the practice to ensure that teachers maintain good standard in the classrooms to achieve the educational goals. Nwite (2012) maintained that quality assurance in teacher’s classroom management involves a systematic management, monitoring, and evaluation of procedures adopted to measure the performance of students to ensure that best practices in institutional input and output are maintained in schools.
Quality assurance involves processes of monitoring, assessing and evaluating according to agreed standard, and communicating judgment obtained to all concerned in order to ensure quality with integrity, public accountability and consistent improvement. There are several dimensions of educational standards such as infrastructural standard, curriculum or content standards, teaching and learning standards, quality including management and leadership standards, care, guidance support standards and professional standards Nwite (2012). All these dimensions of standards are the concern of quality assurance. And these should be maintained at all levels of the education system especially the secondary level.
Secondary school is one of the levels of Nigerian education system. Secondary education is the education children receive after primary education and before the tertiary stage, (Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) 2013). The underlying principle here is that secondary schools should prepare the individuals for useful living within the society and for higher education. The expectations and objectives of secondary education are normally accomplished in the classroom using a well planned curriculum through effective classroom management skills. In order to maintain appropriate standards in secondary school there is need to effectively manage classrooms by using appropriate classroom management skills.
This being the case, one may ask whether the expectations and objectives of secondary education in Nigeria are guided by unskilled teachers and mismanaged classrooms. These therefore aroused the interest of the researcher to investigate the problems of classroom management and control in secondary schools in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Statement of the Problem
Classroom management and control is the heart of any educational system. No curriculum planning is complete without implementation of which is mainly carried out in the classroom. Teachers are the ultimate decider of the classroom atmosphere as expected by all sundries. Their role is crucial in influencing the behaviors of students. Teachers who plan practically are able to overcome many classroom problems such as disruptions, deviant behavior or misbehaviors of students. In this regard the nature of teacher plays a vital role, for example, different teachers have different ways of instinctively managing the classroom environment and patterns of setting up classroom that best fits their purpose (Aly, 2009). Managing a classroom is the ultimate responsibility of a teacher. The way a teacher manages the classroom will change the thinking of the students towards learning.
These classroom management perspectives for effective teaching and learning is concerned with the behavioral management, instructional management and the leadership style employed by the teachers and the school management for effective teaching and learning to take place.
Behavioral management is the coordination of all the stakeholders in the education to imbibe the expected culture, norms and value set by the educational authorities for which encourages the effective teaching and learning.
Instructional management is the teaching aids necessary for each classroom for effective teaching and learning. But it seemly not so in our post primary school bedevil with ineffective teaching-learning process and inadequate motivation breed up poor classroom management .
Secondary school level is a bridge between the primary and tertiary levels of education. The broad tasks of secondary education is geared towards providing all primary school leavers with the opportunity for education of a higher level irrespective of sex, social status, religious or ethnic background and offer diversified curriculum to cater for the differences in talents, opportunities and future roles among others. The realization of these objectives hinges in many variables such as good classroom management skills, adequate teachers, availability and adequate utilization of teaching and learning materials, infrastructural physical facility and school inspection and supervision. All these factors constitute quality bench marks, which if strictly applied will ensure quality secondary education.
To achieve quality education teacher’s play a fundamental roles as the prime interpreters of the governments educational policies and progammes, through effective application of classroom management skills. Despite the effort to provide quality education, the secondary school system continues to face challenges that could compromise the quality of education provided. No wonder Ajayi (2012) lamented that secondary education in Nigeria is riddled with crises of various dimensions and magnitude such as overcrowding and indiscipline among students in the classrooms all of which combined to suggest that the system is at crossroad. The quality of education given in secondary schools students should be of great concern to all stakeholders. This becomes more worrisome with the declining performance of students in both the West African School Certificate and Nationals Examination Council Examinations. The continued decline in number of credit passes especially in core subjects seem to constantly point to the issue of quality of secondary education received. This being the case, one may ask whether the expectations and objectives of secondary education in Nigeria are guided by unskilled teachers and mismanaged classrooms. These therefore aroused the interest of the researcher to determine the problems of classroom management and control in secondary schools in Orumba North local government Area of Anambra state.
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study is to examine the problems of classroom management and control in secondary schools in Orumba North local government Area of Anambra state.
Specifically, the study will determine:
Significance of the Study
The findings of the study would be of great benefit to school administrators (Principals), teachers, students and ministry of education and the general public.
This study will benefit the school administrators. The findings of this study will help school administrators in Anambra state and beyond to gain clearer insight into the classroom management and control especially classroom management skills and measures for improving classroom management for quality assurance in schools. This will be achieved, if the ministry of education through the educational managers organize workshops and seminars for school administrators for training programmes.
Teachers will also benefit from the findings of the study because it will help them to understand better classroom management skills that promote quality assurance in schools. This will be achieved through workshops and seminars organized for teachers by the school administrators to upgrade teachers perception of classroom management and control.
The result of this study will benefit secondary school students because when teachers apply the various classroom management skills needed for ensuring quality teaching and learning in schools, they will utilize these skills to enhance teaching and learning thereby assisting students to learning more and their aspirations realized.
The findings of the study are also expected to enlighten Ministry of Education officials on some of those classroom management skills that can be employed by teachers in order to enhance teaching and learning in our education system.
Scope of the Study
The scope of the study is delimited to public secondary schools in Orumba North local government area involving the teachers of the 16 secondary schools in the area. The scope of this study focuses on the problems of classroom management and control in secondary schools in Orumba North and to find out the extent to which teachers use effective communication, motivation, discipline, and time management as skills of classroom management and control in secondary schools in Orumba North.
Research Questions
The following research questions guided the study;