Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

Over the years, there have been growing concerns about the attitude of students towards the study of social studies in secondary schools.  The need to adapt our education to the needs of the Nigerian society started before and after independence.  Many educational elites began to recognize that the functional inadequacies of the educational system inherited from the colonial education failed to develop positive values, attitudes and habits in our society because the social studies they taught was British oriented and has nothing to offer to the Nigerian child. The implementation of ICT policy in Nigeria dates back to April 2001 following the establishment of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). NITDA was empowered to enter into strategic alliance and joint venture to realize the country’s vision of making Nigeria an Information Technology country in Africa and a major player in the information society by the year 2005. The entire world has become a global village through information and communication technology. The new wave of office technology and information is a dynamic change that is being experienced even more in developing countries.

The integration of information and communication technology into Nigeria school curricula particularly in the secondary schools has been the topic much debated since 1988. The government has tried to implement series of measures aimed at ensuring that the secondary school teachers and students have adequate training to enhance their acquisition of minimal competencies in the pedagogical use of information (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2013).

Attitude according to Seifert (1991) is the acquisition of certain feeling about something or somebody, either positive or negative that influence his/her choice of action in a consistent way. In order words, attitude of students towards computer education could be seen as the way of thinking or behaving towards computer education. This may be as a result of the training they have acquired or exposed to from their institution of training. In recent times, students and their attitudes towards Computer education has been an area of most concern to stakeholders and other researchers in the field of education (Akintoal, 2005). This has been so because the major objective of education is to bring about desirable behavioral changes on the parts of the learner and the learned. It also aimed at producing a well-balanced personality to live accordingly to what the society cherishes. Nigeria is a diverse nation with various ethnic groups, and cultures.

Schools are established for the purpose of teaching and learning. It is also more important that the teachers and learners are properly accommodated to facilitate the teaching and learning that go on there. This is the essence of the school plant and facilities (Alimi, 2004). Therefore, school facilities are the space interpretation and physical expression of the school curriculum. In Nigeria at large and in Ondo State in particular, secondary schools, irrespective of ownership are expected to function in compliance with the achievement of the national education objectives. To this end, students are expected to perform brilliantly in the final examination as this determines the quality of output of secondary schools.

This is one of the parameters used to measure the effectiveness of a school system. The better the performance of the students, the more effective the system is assumed to be (Philias and Wanjobi 2011). In another related study, (Cynthia & Megan 2008) confirmed a strong and positive relationship between quality of school type and student performance in social studies. In Nigeria, it is the general opinion of people that private schools are better in terms of the availability of human and physical facilities and consequently students’ performance than public schools. This situation has made many parents to enroll their children in private secondary schools. Experience has also shown that most students who secured admission into tertiary institution such as Colleges of Education, Polytechnics and Universities are from private secondary schools. 

Studies by Entwisle (1986) and Goldberg (1994) found that most science students begin their career with a desire to learn and with an intrinsic approach to achievement, which later switches to a more extrinsic orientation as students increase in age. This scenario was reported by Richardson (1994) who concluded that mature students were rather more likely than younger students to adopt a deep approach or a meaning orientation towards their academic work, and was conversely less likely than younger students to adopt a surface approach or a reproducing orientation. According to Herr and Cramer, (1996), the level of career aspiration usually affects curriculum choice hence career choice. At the same time, career aspirations are influenced by numerous factors including gender, race, parental support, academic achievement, socioeconomic status, and self-esteem.

Young and Fraser (1994) conducted a study on gender differences in science achievement, and the relative contribution of schools to student achievement was examined; and school level differences were found to contribute significantly toward explaining variations in student performance. Chambers and Schreiber (2004) study found that girls showed better performance than boys in certain instances. In addition, gender, ethnicity, and father’s occupation were found to be significant contributors to student achievement (McCoy, 2005).

1.2     Statement of the Problem