CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Early
childhood care and education/intervention programs that is been done in schools
have been shown to significantly enhance children’s prospects for academic
success by reducing the probability of referral to special education, grade
retention, and leaving school prior to high school graduation, which in turns
facilitates the growth and performance of schools (Smith, 2002).
Factors that
affect the growth and performance of schools and childcare providers include
poverty, developmental and learning disabilities, belonging to an ethnic
minority, and speaking English as a second language, among other things
(McLoyd, 19980. In addition, early childhood care demonstrate significant
return on investment over children’s lifetimes according to cost-benefit
analyses.
Perhaps one
of the most important functions of childcare provider programs is providing a
strong foundation for literacy development, bearing in mind that poor academic
skills are strongly associated with dropping out of school and delinquency
(McLoyd, 1998).
However, there is an important caveat with regard to these
research findings, only early childhood care and education programs of high
quality are associated with positive outcomes which also bring the school to
lime light in terms of growth and performance. According to Jencks &
Phillips (1998), poor quality programs appear to be associated with negative
child outcomes and, unfortunately, the very children most likely to benefit from
early childhood care are the least likely to be enrolled in high-quality schools.
New research is revealing how high-quality schools may be supporting children’s
language and literacy development and that the impact of specific preschool
language and literacy activities may depend on children’s language and emergent
literacy skills.
Perhaps the
most robust predictors of school success are child related factors which are
their early oral language skills, including vocabulary, use of complex
sentences, and metalinguistic awareness (of which phonological awareness is one
element).
Emergent literacy skills, including letter knowledge, knowledge about
letter–sound correspondence and understanding the purposes of reading and
writing, are also associated with later school success (Bowman et al, 2001).
Overall,
there is good evidence that parents and teachers, as well as home and school
environments, can influence the development of these school child skills and
thereafter raises the performance and growth of the school being attended.
Thus, early childhood programs organized by school management that focus on
strengthening children’s language, literacy, and self-regulation across
multiple contexts typically prove to be most effective in promoting school
success.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
As educators
and policy makers consider whether and how to implement high-quality education
system and child care and education programs, there are important issues to
keep in mind. In order to understand the potential impact of child care and
quality education programs, an understanding of the multiple factors that
affect children’s academic success and school completion is needed. Based on an
understanding of these multiple factors, determining which elements of child education
and intervention are associated with long-term positive effects on growth and
performance of schools is important. However, the researcher is examining the
factors that affect the growth and performance of schools and childcare
providers in Enugu State.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following are the objectives of this study:
1. To
examine the factors that affects the
growth and performance of schools and childcare providers in Enugu State.
2. To
examine the relationship between child’s academic success and the growth and
performance of a school in Enugu State.
3. To
determine the factors militating against the growth and performance of schools
and childcare providers in Enugu State.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What
are the factors that affects the growth and performance of
schools and childcare providers in Enugu State?
2. What
is the relationship between child’s academic success and the growth and
performance of a school in Enugu State?
3. What
are the factors militating against the growth and performance of schools and
childcare providers in Enugu State?
1.5 HYPOTHESIS
HO: There is no significant relationship
between growth/performance of a school and child’s academic achievement in
Enugu State.
HA: There is significant relationship
between growth/performance of a school and child’s academic achievement in
Enugu State.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The following are the significance of this study:
1. The
outcome of this study will educate the administrators in education sector and
the general public on the factors that affects the growth and performance of schools and childcare providers
which has been proved by researcher to be determined by the child’s academic
achievements.
2. This
research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the
effect of personality trait on student’s academic performance, thereby
constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area.
1.7 SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This study will cover the factors that affect the growth and performance of schools and
childcare providers in Enugu State. It will also cover the factors
militating against growth and
performance of schools and childcare providers.
LIMITATION OF STUDY
Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the
efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature
or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire
and interview).
Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this
study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time
devoted for the research work.
