AN EVALUATION OF THE IMPACT OF FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT ON THE COMPREHENSIVE LEARNING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN

AN EVALUATION OF THE IMPACT OF FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT ON THE COMPREHENSIVE LEARNING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

All children, regardless of size, physical, academic, socioeconomic, mental, or linguistic characteristics, are accepted, nurtured, and educated in an LFE. It’s important to be “child-friendly,” but not enough. Teachers should also be a part of the process. When both parties learn together as a learning community, a “learning-friendly” environment is also “child-friendly” and “teacher-friendly.”

The UNICEF studies initiated and attempted to implement the concept of a “child-friendly school” (CFS), which includes all of the aforementioned variables and more. Educators have been looking for ways to implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child ever since it was adopted in many countries. The child-friendly school action, which takes an education approach based on rights, is one of the best attempts. The idea of human rights-based education has been bolstered and expanded by four key principles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (2012):

(1) preventing discrimination; (2) acting in the child’s best interest; (3) ensuring that the child lives and thrives to the fullest; and (4) permitting children to express themselves in any circumstance that affects them. The accessibility, which provides an opportunity for learning, is the focus here; the quality which upholds mental and emotional turn of events; and the respect that values the individual’s culture, religion, language, and point of view. Rights-based education is built on these foundations, and the most important principles are those listed above. In the 1990s, they laid the groundwork for the search for schools that ensure the child’s complete development and the development of a child-friendly approach (The Convention of Children’s Rights, 1989). This study intends to evaluate the impact of a welcoming environment on the comprehensive learning of schoolchildren based on this premise.

1.2 EXPOSITION OF THE PROBLEM Over the past ten years, a lot of schools have worked to become “child-friendly,” emphasizing the rights of children to learn to the fullest extent possible in a welcoming and secure setting. To be learning-friendly, one must place the child at the center of the process. It also entails acknowledging the fact that a child’s entire learning environment includes educators, administrators, parents, and community leaders who direct a child’s education and are themselves learners. Children benefit not only from learning by themselves but also from learning from others whose needs are also taken into consideration in a learning-friendly environment. A learning-friendly environment, for instance, allows children to participate in their education. In addition, it is a setting where parents and members of the community are actively encouraged to participate in assisting their children’s learning and the operation of their schools, as well as a setting where teachers are supported and given the authority to learn, where they use and adapt new teaching methods.

However, despite the fact that all other factors that contribute to effective learning, such as the school environment, home environment, and physical facilities, there are still gaps in the dire need to step up to a point where the teachers not only establish relationships with the student but also make the learning environment friendly and not hostile, the absence of discrimination in spite of the child’s physical and mental abilities, gender differences, religion, or ethnicity. In Nigeria’s school setting, the concept of making the learning environment friendly for the child has not received attention This study decides to conduct an evaluation of the impact of a friendly environment on the comprehensive learning of schoolchildren based on the premise that it is pertinent to the effective teaching and learning process as well as the mental health status of the student.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY This study’s primary objective is to evaluate the impact of a welcoming environment on schoolchildren’s comprehensive learning. In particular, it is set 1. to determine the characteristics of a welcoming learning environment To determine whether a welcoming environment influences schoolchildren’s learning. It will determine the degree to which private and public schools incorporate a welcoming learning environment.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This study is important for school administrators and owners to know about the importance of creating a welcoming learning environment in their schools. The study will educate teachers on the importance of developing a cordial relationship with their students in order to create a tense-free and friendly learning environment. Additionally, teachers should possibly make themselves available and approachable in the event that students have any additional questions after the subject period, which will improve academic performance. In addition, this study serves as a useful reference for future research on the impact of a welcoming learning environment on secondary school students’ academic performance. In addition, this work would add to the body of knowledge and serve as a starting point for other researchers looking for better solutions to the issue of students’ academic performance in secondary schools and hostile learning environments.

1.5 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY The objective of this study is to assess the impact of a welcoming environment on the comprehensive education of schoolchildren. The study includes three public and three private primary schools in Nigeria’s Delta State.

1.6 HYPOTHESIS OF THE RESEARCH H0: H0: Only a small percentage of primary schools have incorporated a welcoming learning environment. 1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY During the course of the study, the challenges that were encountered were primarily, but not limited to, the following numerous. A welcoming learning environment has no significant impact on school children’s comprehensive learning. Financial constraints include: The researcher’s efficiency in locating relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire, and interview) is typically hindered by a lack of funds. l Time constraint: Another obstacle is the need to complete this research at the same time as other academic projects, which makes it impossible to perform a more comprehensive and representative study.

1.8 Conceptual Definitions Education: The process of acquiring new knowledge, skills, behaviors, values, attitudes, and preferences is called learning.

Environment: the environment in which an individual, animal, or plant lives or works.

Setting for Learning: An educational approach, cultural context, or physical setting in which teaching and learning take place are all examples of learning environments.

CFS: Child-Friendly School: Child Friendly School (CFS) is a democratic environment based on the rights of children in which all students are accepted, teaching and learning are organized according to children’s interests and needs, health, safety, and protections are taken for children, and there is no gender-based discrimination.