EFFECT OF AVAILABILITY OF EQUIPMENT ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN FOODS AND NUTRITION

EFFECT OF AVAILABILITY OF EQUIPMENT ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN FOODS AND NUTRITION

ABSTRACT

The primary goal of this study was to determine the impact of equipment availability on students’ performance in Foods and Nutrition. The study’s findings are critical because they will assist the government and other key stakeholders in education in providing support for the implementation of Foods and Nutrition curriculum focused on the identified critical challenges.

The study used a descriptive survey research design with eight schools chosen using a purposive sampling technique. The population for this study consisted of students from all of the secondary schools in Lagos State that offer Foods and Nutrition as an ordinary level subject. A simple random sampling was used to select eight secondary schools in Surulere Local Government, each with 120 students.

of 8 Foods and Nutrition teachers. As data collection instruments, a structured questionnaire, interviews, and observations were used.

The findings reveal the following challenges as militating against the effective implementation of the Foods and Nutrition curriculum in Lagos State: a negative attitude among parents and students toward the subject; a lack of professional and qualified teachers for the teaching of Foods and Nutrition; insufficient infrastructure and equipment in schools, and where equipment is available, it is underutilized due to a lack of expertise and inconsistent electrical power supply; and insufficient infrastructure and equipment in schools.

The study’s four key recommendations are that quarterly awareness campaigns be carried out in society to educate the public about the importance of Foods and Nutrition, as well as technical and vocational subjects, should be included in the curriculum; regular training programs in the form of seminars, conferences, workshops, and in-services should be organized to provide teachers with the necessary skills for teaching Foods and Nutrition; schools should form partnerships with industries and corporate bodies to fund the implementation of Foods and Nutrition curriculum and vocational subjects in secondary schools.

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

1.1Background to the Study    

Nutrition is critical to developing a sense of well-being as well as meeting the growth, development, and activity requirements of healthy, confident children and adolescents. Readiness to learn is enhanced when the learners are well nourished. There is a substantial body of evidence linking children’s nutrition and educational outcomes. Children’s learning is likely to suffer if they are malnourished, have nutritional deficiencies, or are obese.

According to Adesina (2009), education at all levels is a delicate issue that serves as a way forward for every society, particularly in a developing country like Nigeria. Education, which is thought to stimulate economic and technological development, has helped advanced countries improve their standard of living; thus, education can be viewed as an investment that pays dividends in terms of economic and technological development.  overall progress of a country (Adesina, 2009). Formal education in Nigeria began during the colonial period. It progressed from the early forms of reading, writing, and arithmetic (i.e. the three ‘r’s) to the point where the London General Certificate of Education, Ordinary Level Syllabus (the so-called O-Level) was used to guide secondary school instruction (Fafunwa, 1974). Because these secondary ‘grammar schools’ were designed in such a way that they did not accommodate vocational technical subjects, trade centers and colleges were established. einsteineruploading up to get together with. The Federal Craft Certificate or the Ministry of Labour Trade Test Certificate also

Successful candidates received awards. The Federal Craft and Trade Test Programs were established by the Federal Government of Nigeria to improve artisans’ and technicians’ understanding and competencies.

Given that the majority of our youths attend secondary grammar schools (trade colleges are few in number), there was a realization following Nigeria’s political independence that the type of education our colonial masters left us with required a critical reexamination of the worth: of content, objectives, relevance, methods, administration, evaluation, and so on. According to Ezeobata (2010), during this period in Nigeria education, every subject had to “prove its usefulness” in order to remain on the school curriculum.

This was most likely what prompted the then-National Educational Research Council (NERC) to convene a historic curriculum conference in Lagos in 1969, which Okeke (1981, p. 10) described as “the culmination of people’s dissatisfaction with uncertainty about the goals of education.” This conference recommended a new set of goals and directions for major curriculum revision, which served as the foundation for the 1977 National Policy on Education and the revised policy in 1981.

A new educational system known as the 6-3-3-4′ system of education emerged against the backdrop of national aspirations. Among other things, the system included pre-vocational and vocational curricular offerings at the junior and senior secondary levels. For the first time in Nigerian education history, vocational and technical education

As a matter of national policy, technical education subjects were to be offered alongside, and hopefully on par with, the’more academic’ courses previously run by secondary grammar schools under the old colonial-based educational system.

To that end, the national curriculum in Nigerian secondary schools includes Agriculture, Introductory Technology, Home Economics, Business Studies (Junior Secondary School Level), Agricultural Science, Clothing and Textile, Home Management, Food and Nutrition, Typewriting & Shorthand, Principles of Accounts, Commerce, Woodwork, Technical Drawing, Basic Electronics, and Auto-Mechanics. Schoolwork was now based on these curricula in both private and public secondary schools beginning in 1982, as one of the innovations that should distinguish the products of the new system from the old.

the government’s directive that post-primary schools be more comprehensive, as proposed in the National Policy on Education in 1981.

There is no doubt that these programs are useful in secondary schools if errors or specific weaknesses of the ‘process’ (if any) are identified and corrective measures are implemented. There is concern that most research reports on the implemented curriculum favor public school patronage with little or no regard for private secondary schools.

Furthermore, in previous studies such as Relevance of Education, A Myth or Reality? According to Taylor (2011), as a result of curriculum integration in the Nigerian New System of Education (NPE, 2004, Revised), Nigerian students and teachers were polled to determine their attitudes toward vocational education.

and technical subjects in a typical Nigerian Technical School as it affects their teaching and learning. Taylor (1961), in a broader sense, reported on students’ expectations of their teachers in various types of school settings. Teachers, according to the report, appear to operate within a framework of expectations. Some of these expectations may be met, while others may be rejected. Kay (1971) argued that if curriculum integration of teachings and learning is to become a reality, the teacher’s role must be expanded to include parental functions.

According to Kay (1971), the general outlay over the depreciating/falling standard of education in Nigeria, as well as the persistent poor performance of students in schools, necessitate a proper and ongoing study of the educational system.

We should try out a variety of possible solutions to the problems that have resulted from this malaise in order to identify the constraints to the effective implementation of vocational education programs. Curriculm integration advocates, such as Adesina (1982), find elements in the current situation in Nigerian schools that vindicate these problems, which revolve around the uncertainties of curriculum implementation.

According to Ajakaiye (1991), vocational/technical school training for industrial occupations is a relatively new phenomenon. Until the 19th Century. Apprenticeships and informal training developed skills for most manual occupations, primarily through long-term association with a master. In recent years, technological advances, as well as analytical and communication abilities, have been required in vocational education and training.

as well as more theoretical knowledge. According to Uyanya (1989), the 1981 National Policy on Education, which emphasizes the acquisition of vocational skills and self-reliance, is the most important thing that has ever happened to Nigeria.

This trend has made teachers, students, and the general public more aware of the need to develop skills in order to operate our various industries. According to Maduewesi (1985), the New Policy (6-3-3-4 educational system) allows individual students to spend six years in primary school, three years in junior secondary school, three years in senior secondary school, and four years in tertiary institution. According to Sower (1971), vocational/technical education is a means for Nigeria to industrialize. According to Olaitan (2006), vocational/ technical education is that aspect of education.

which is a skill-acquisition-oriented type of training based on the application of mathematics and scientific knowledge in a specific field for self-actualization and development. Sower (1971) continues by stating that vocational/ technical education is a social process concerned primarily with people and their role in doing work that society requires alone with preparing people for work and improving the labor force’s work potential. Now, the world is shifting toward science and technology to fit into society in the near future, necessitating vocation education knowledge.

1.2Problem formulation

The government, parents, teachers, and stakeholders are all concerned about the apparent astronomical decline in students’ academic performance in Nigerian secondary schools.

The quality of education not only depends on teachers as reflected in the performance of their duties, but also in the effective utilization and deployment of instructional materials and equipment, which are pivotal to achieving greater performance.

The extent to which leaving could be improved is largely determined by the availability and effective use of equipment, particularly in vocational subjects such as Foods, Nutrition, Home Economics, and Basic Technology, among others (Chukwuka 2013).

The problem of the present study is to investigate the effect of using improvised equipment in the teaching of Food and Nutrition in secondary schools and its implication academic performance. As a result, the researcher’s first priority is to determine whether a lack of equipment was the source of the problem affecting academic performance in Foods and Nutrition.

1.3Research concerns

1 What effect does the use of equipment have on students’ academic performance in Foods and Nutrition classes in Nigerian secondary schools?

2 Does exposing students to the use of these tools facilitate comprehensive learning and thus stimulate their interest in the subject?

3 How frequently does student academic performance correlate with the use of or availability of equipment for external examinations, such as WAEC or NECO?

4 Does academic performance of students have no bearing on the use or availability of Foods and Nutrition equipment?

5 Does the teacher’s experience, apart from the use of equipment in the teaching of Foods and Nutrition, have any significant impact on the academic performance of students in Foods and Nutrition?

6 Will a

What effect will it have on students’ academic performance if teachers do not use equipment when teaching Foods and Nutrition?

1.4 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The study sought to determine the impact of equipment availability in the teaching of Foods and Nutrition on students’ academic performance.

The specific goal of this research is to;

1. Determine the extent to which instructional materials and equipment influence student performance.

2.Identify barriers to effective implementation of the Foods and Nutrition curriculum in some secondary schools in Surulere Local Government that offer the subject.

3.Determine the strategies that can be used to address these issues.

1.5 Proposal

The first hypothesis

There is no correlation between equipment availability and student academic performance.

Hypothesis two

There is no correlation between student academic performance and teachers’ ability to teach Foods and Nutrition.

1.6 Importance of the research

This study makes the following significant contributions to knowledge and education in an attempt to improve the teaching of Foods and Nutrition as well as vocational subjects in Lagos state secondary schools and make learning of Foods and Nutrition as well as vocational subjects more appealing to students. Firstly, [this study provides Food and Nutrition educators, curriculum planners and government with detailed information about the actual picture of Food and Nutrition teaching and learning, and educational practices in Lagos State schools and ways of improving the situation. This, in turn, can aid in the planning and formulation of future Food and Agriculture policies.

In Lagos State, nutrition education is being promoted. Second, the study opens the door to additional research in the area based on the knowledge gaps discovered by other scholars.

1.7 Disadvantages

The study’s participants are a sample of Food and Nutrition teachers from one education district in Zimbabwe, and thus are not representative of all Food and Nutrition teachers in the country. A larger sample representative of all education districts, schools, and teachers in the country who offer Food and Nutrition would be preferred.