ABSTRACT: The study was designed to examine Class Size and Teachers’ Effectiveness in Teaching of Chemistry in Nsit Ubium local government area. The total population comprises all the chemistry teachers in all the twelve (12) public secondary schools in the study area. A simple balloting was used to sampled out ten (10) public secondary schools. Simple random sampling technique was used to select twenty (20) teachers from the ten (10) schools used in the study. Each school contributed two (2) teachers. The instrument used for the collection of Data was research questionnaire title. Class size and teachers’ effectiveness (CSTEQ). Pearson product moment correlation (PPMC) was used to analyzed the collected data. The result of findings showed that class size have a significant relationship with teachers’ effectiveness in the teaching of chemistry. From the findings, it is recommended that: classroom should be made comfortable for students and teachers to promote effective teaching and learning also government should employ more teachers to help reduce work load due to over populated class size.
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Education is a tool for nation development, the skills, knowledge and values seen in any society is made possible by the teachers who impacted them upon the students.
Researches over the years have however proven that educational environment can affect the effectiveness of students knowledge and skill development which could eventually mark the development of a given society. Class room is the place in the school where the students spent most of their time. when the classroom is not conducive enough, it create problems to the learners and the teachers, this is why Nina (2007) maintain that in smaller class size, teachers interact with individual students more frequently and use a greater variety of instructional strategies. Furthermore, small class size can create more opportunities for higher – order co – construction of meaning by students. They may also spend out – of – classroom work time on more creative planning and less on routine making, and they may interact more frequently with other teachers and adult in support of classroom teaching. Edge (2005) in his study identify the following as problems associated with classroom congestion: The provision of an opportunity for discussion or for any kind of oral input to the written work is difficult, the amount of involvement in teaching process can dissuade even the non enthusiastic teachers if the classes are very large. over enrolment in schools result to the problem of classroom congestion; this is exampled in Akwa Ibom State, where education is made free and compulsory to its citizens and the effort of the government to provide schools with the necessary human and other educational facilities are insufficient, this therefore resulted in overcrowding in schools and over population in class room as against the prescription of National policy on Education (2004) which prescribed that the number of students in a class should not exceed thirty, but in many schools in Akwa Ibom State, the average number of class size exceeds hundred. Hence, this affects the teacher effectiveness and has negative effect in the academic performance of students in many subjects including chemistry. it is very important especially in the nation like ours that is struggling to meet up in technological development to ensure that all defect in the educational system including classroom congestion is remedied. The classroom size does not only affect students’ behaviour but tends to support teachers belief that they can teach more competently and effectively in smaller classes. In smaller classes, students learn more effectively and associate meaningfully, they are more engaged and less disruptive. In support of assertion, Bassett and Brown (2011) opened that smaller class size leads to better academic outcomes behaviour and interaction. By comparing the effect class size has no class engagement between students and teachers, a study conducted by Fabunmi and Okore (2000) point out the relationship between average class size and academic performance. The researcher used both Pearson product moment correlation and spear man rank correlation to test the only hypothesis which was formulated. The analysis which was done with Pearson moment correlation, revealed on negative and low relationship but that of spearman rank correlation revealed significant and positive relationship between average class size and students academic performance.
The conclusion rendered the factor of class size as hiring any significant effect on students’ academic performance in conclusive. Hence, the researcher dim it necessary to investigate on the variable class size and academic performance of students in chemistry in Nist Ubium Local Government Area.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Academic performance of students in the measurement of educational attainment of students in a particular subject that is designated by fest, assignment or examination. If teachers are not effective, it will manifest in students poor academic performance. It is noticed that academic performance of students in science subjects including chemistry is very poor in external examination such as WAEC and NECO, the ministry of education (2001). many factors have been accused, such as school variable, teachers’ effectiveness and others, despite the effort of educational researcher in their contribution, in identifying these problems and offer necessary recommendations, academic performance of student is still drg – feated resulting from ineffectiveness of teachers hence, the researcher decided to find the study of class size that could be responsible for the teachers’ effectiveness in chemistry in Nist Ubium Local Government Area.
1.3 Purpose of the study
The main purpose of this study is find out the influence od class size, and effectiveness in teaching of chemistry in Nist Ubium Local Government Area.
Specifically, the objective of the study is to:
1. Find out the influence of small class size on teachers effectiveness in teaching of chemistry in Nist Ubium Local Government Area.
2. Examine the effect of large class size on teachers’ effectiveness in teaching of chemistry in Nist Ubium Local Government Area.
3. Find out teachers’ perspective on class size and students’ academic achievement in chemistry in Nist Ubium Local Government Area.
1.4 Significance of the Study
The study of this kind is very important as such some of the areas to which the study would be significant are:
The government would find the study significant as the recommendations in the study will puffed solutions to class room size as sufficient fund will be provided by the government to raise the standard of the school.
The teachers would benefit from this study as the recommendation would suggest the way to manage congested class size.
Students would understand the need of adjusting to situations that might not be very comfortable so as to improve their academic achievement.
College libraries would be enriched with resource materials as part of this work shall be left in her book shelf.
1.5 Research Questions
The researcher formulated three research questions to quide the study:
1. To what extent does small class size influence teachers effectiveness in teaching of chemistry?
2. How does large class size affect teachers effectiveness in teaching of chemistry?
3. What are the teachers’ perspective on class size and students’ academic achievement in chemistry?
1.6 Limitation of the study
The researcher was faced with problems which contributed to the limitation of this study; such problem include:
1. Time constraint: The time allow for the completion of this work was very limited.
2. Financial: The researcher was faced with financial difficulty which contributed to the unitarily completion of this work.
3. Respondent: The respondent were biased in answering the research questions; this result to de – validation and generalization of the result of findings.
1.7 Delimitation of the study
The study covers only class size and teachers effectiveness in teaching of chemistry in Nist Ubium Local Government Area. The study concentrated with only the chemistry teachers in the study area.
1.8 Definition of terms
The terms used in the study are defined as follows:
1. Class size: Contextually is refers to the teachers’ students ratio.
2. Teachers effectiveness: It is refers to how effective teachers are in managing classroom size (small or large).
3. Large class: This refers to class size that is more than the average.
4. Small class: This refers to class size that is less than the average.
5. Teachers perspective: This refers to teachers’ views towards class size on students performance in chemistry.
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