HEAD TEACHERS' AND PUPILS' PERCEPTIONS OF CHILD-FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS AS PREDICTORS OF PUPILS' ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated head teachers' and pupils' perceptions of child-friendly environmental status as it predicts pupils' academic achievement in Oyo state, Nigeria. Three research questions and four hypotheses guided the research. The study adopted correlational research design and multistage sampling procedure was used to select 300 pupils and 30 head teachers from six local government areas of the state. Four validated research Instruments-Head Teacher's Opinion on the Realization of Child's Right by the Teacher (HTORCRT), Child's Opinion on Teacher-Child Relationship (COTCR), Observation Tool on Child-Friendly Environmental Status (OTCES) and Pupils Academic Achievement Format (PAAF) were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using simple frequency counts and percentages, Pearson Product Moment Correlation, Regression analysis and t-test. The result revealed that there is a significant relationship between pupils' academic achievement and child friendly environment (r=.74; p<.05). Head-teachers' and pupils' perceptions of child-friendly environment have significant joint contribution to pupils' academic achievement (R=.272, R2=.074, F(3,326)=7.882) while head-teachers' perception (B=.254, t = 4 . 5 1 2 , p < . 0 5 ) a n d c h i l d - f r i e n d l y environmental status (B=.123, t=2.18, p<.05) have significant relative contribution to pupils' academic achievement, the pupils' perception did not (B=.042, t=.746, p>.05). It was equally discovered that a good number of schools studied lack some good components of child friendliness like library, good toilet and good water supply. It is therefore recommended that government should provide more adequate toilet, library and conducive environment to make public schools friendly in Oyo State