CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

It is  true  that  many  students in Business studies today do  not  have  secondary  school  background  in Business studies unlike Mathematics, Economics, “English, Government and the likes, and therefore they tend to have a negative attitude at the very beginning of the course at the  secondary school and assume  that  business studies  is  a  very  difficult  course.  Atieh  (1997)  shows  that  the  Saudi  Arabian students  have  a  negative  attitude  toward  business studies,  considering  it  a  difficult  subject.  This  is usually  manifested  by  their  poor  performance  and  high  rate  of  failure  in  Principles  of business studies.  Supporting  the  above,  Osoghe  (2010)  reported  that  non-business studies  students  of Business  Administration  in  Al-Labal  Secondary school  wrote  to  the  secondary school  administration  to exclude business studies courses from their curriculum. They asked a question “why is engineering and medicine not a foundation and compulsory course for all engineering and medical science student in the secondary school”? This further demonstrates high level of hatred the students have for business studies.

Since  Business studies  has  come  to  stay  for  a  variety  of  majors  in  Nigerian secondary schools, determining the factors that affect students’ performance in the course becomes a necessity. This is because students’ achievement in higher institutions  is a concern for  employers,  who seek  for  quality  manpower  among  the  secondary school  graduates,  and  therefore  higher institutions   that produce  better  employees  for  the  labour  market  are  highly  respected  and  they  draw  public patronage. It must be understood that the academic achievement of students in any discipline of that matter is a function of many factors. According to Weinstein (1999), some of these factors are students’-related, some are teacher-related, and some are institutional-related.

Previous  research  work  on  students’  success  factors  in  business studies,  such  as  Tailab  (2013), Uyor and Gungornus (2011) and Adeleke, Binyuomote and Adoyinka (2013), examined the two extreme  factors  (students-related  and  teachers-related) with  little  or  no consideration  given  to the factor that brings the symbolism between teachers and students (institutional factors). More so, although the high rate of students’ failure in Business studies in Nigerian higher institutions  is clearly observable, to the best of our knowledge, there are scanty empirical studies in Nigerian that  have  examined  factors  responsible  for  this  poor  students’  achievement.  In  order  to  close these existing gaps, this study is therefore aimed at investigating the institutional factors and the effect on academic performance of students in Business studies in Nigerian higher institutions of learning.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Business studies has been considered by many students as a difficult course to study. To this end, what are the responsible factors that led to this trend or assumption? The research work  will carry out a survey on these possible factors.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The main objective of this research work is to carry out a survey of the possible factors responsible for poor performance of business studies students in junior secondary school in Federal College of Education (Technical), Asaba and provide solutions to those factors. The specific objectives are:

i. Ascertain environmental factors as causes of poor academic performance of students in Junior secondary schools in Business studies.

ii. Examine teachers factors as causes of poor academic performance of students in Junior secondary schools in Business studies.

iii. Determine the attitudes of students as causes of poor academic performance of students in Junior secondary schools in Business studies.

iv. Find out attitudes of parent as causes of students poor academic performance in Junior secondary schools in Business studies.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The solutions proffered by the researcher will enable students who are already studying business studies to improve their academic performance and as well enable the teacher to be effective and productive in teaching the students.

1.5 Research Questions

The following questions will guide this research work:

i. Is the poor performance of students in Junior secondary schools in Business studies caused by environmental factors?

ii. Is the poor performance of students in Junior secondary school Business studies caused by teacher’s factors?

iii. Is the poor performance of students in Junior secondary school Business studies caused by teacher’s factors?

iv. Is the poor performance of students in Junior secondary school Business studies caused by the attitudes of parents?   

1.6 Limitation of the Study

This research work will be limited to business studies students in junior secondary school in Federal College of Education (Technical), Asaba.

1.7 Definition of Important terms

1. Business studies: Business studies  is  a  systematic  process  of  communicating  business  transactions  and  events  to interested  parties

2. Academic: The achievement of student as a result the teaching and learning process in the classroom situation.

3. Performance: the act of carrying out a task or action. A task or action that has been accomplished or done by somebody.  

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