INSTRUCTIONAL PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE POOR PERFORMANCE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS BY TECHNICAL EDUCATION STUDENTS

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Theoretical framework

The theoretical framework of this research lunges on the following theories of

learning:

1. Mental development (Odiase, 1992)
2. Theory of cognitive development (Piaget, 1952).
3. Gestalt theory of learning (Odiase, 1992).
4. Reinforcement (Skinner, 1938).
5. Theories of forgetting (Ausubel, 1968)

(a) Theory of Mental Development (Odiase, 1992)

According to Odiase (1992), mental ability is closely related to language ability. As a child grows older, his vocabulary and word usage becomes the best single indicator of his intelligence. Sensory motor ability is the basis of intelligence and other ingredients are ability to perceive situations accurately, to see relations, to remember, to use good judgment and to persist in solving problems. To learn anything, a child must pay attention to what he wants to learn. It also involves exploration of the visual field, fixing eyes successfully on different parts, relating these parts and anticipating phenomenon that are not yet clearly perceived. This study is of the opinion that teachers should be given adequate class size that will enable them to reach individual students' needs, that is, teachers should use the materials that will enable students to easily perceive learning situations in a positive way, especially in teaching physical education. Overcrowded classrooms will not permit such.

(b) Theory of Cognitive Development (Piaget, 1972)

Piaget (1972) has come to be recognized as a giant of the twentieth century cognition psychology. He distinguished four stages in the development of cognitive ability or intelligence. His concept of stage implies that development takes place in unvarying steps like sequence, regardless of the child's culture or education. According to him, the child begins rudimentary concept formation at the preconceptual stage. The child begins to classify things in certain ways because of their similarities. Piaget further explains that the child's logic rather than being either deductive or inductive is transductive.

This study is of the opinion that in teaching the concepts of weight, height, shapes and sizes in physical education class, the teacher should be able to present instructional materials that will enable the students to overcome the problems of transductive. This study focuses on the fact that inability of teachers to control large class size in order to utilize the appropriate materials to teach certain concepts in physical education has contributed to students' poor performances in the subject.

The next stage of cognitive development that is of importance is the period of intuitive thought. The most striking characteristic of this stage is the child's failure to develop conservation. Conservation is defined as the ability to realize that number, length, substance or area remain constant even though these things may be presented to the child in a number of different ways. For example, a child is shown two containers filled to some level with some water. Next, the content of one container is poured into a tall thinner container. At this stage of development, the child who observed that the first container contained an equal quantity of water will now tend to say that the longer container has more water because the level of water is higher in the container.

According to Montessori, as a teacher, one has to bring oneself very low and clothe oneself with patience before one will be able to successfully teach some of the mathematical concepts to children at this stage. The teacher can utilize these containers in the teaching of physical education, particularly cylinder, circumference, diameter and area of circle and volume. If positive attitude is not cultivated in the child at this stage, the child will be confused with some concepts in physical education like volume, perimeter and area of plane and solid shapes. This will go a long way to influence the child's physical education performance.

This is done for the fact that at this stage, the child cannot mentally reverse cognitive questions. It means that the child cannot mentally pour the water from the longer container back into the shorter one and see that the amount of water is the same in both. For Piaget (1972), conservation is the ability that comes about as a result of the child's cumulative experience with the environment. Teachers can teach the concepts of volume using circular tins or containers as teaching materials to improve the concepts of teaching and learning physical education.

Piaget's concrete operational stage of cognitive development according to Odiase (1992) determines the origin of the usage of instructional materials for teaching. Here Piaget explains the ability to deal adequately with classes and variation. The child can arrange things from smallest to largest and vice-versa with number concepts. During this stage, the thought processes are directed towards real events observed by the child. The child can perform rather concrete operations on problems as long as the problems are concrete and not abstract. Utilization of concrete objects in teaching and learning can enhance better understanding.

The educational implication is that as much as possible, all the 'learning' should be related to real life experiences. At this stage, teachers can utilize this theory in teaching physical education in secondary schools.

At the last stage which is formal operational cognitive development, the child can now deal with hypothetical situations and his thought processes are not tied down exclusively to what is immediate and real, due to the utilization of concrete objects in teaching/learning situations. Thinking at this stage is as logical as it shall ever become. This means that the mental apparatus that a person has is as sophisticated as it shall ever be but the apparatus can be directed toward the solution of a "never ending array of problems" throughout ones life. This is the period in which students can engage in logic solutions to abstract problems which is very necessary to carry out mathematical operations. Teachers in the study area can apply this theory in order to improve the students' understanding and application in physical education examination for better results. This theory is relevant to this study based on the fact that it was able to reveal how teachers can get the attention of their students through the utilization of instructional materials to teach certain concepts in physical education. It also emphasized the need for teachers to help the students to persist in problem solving. This is possible in an adequate class size.

(c) Gestalt Theory of Learning (Odiase E.I, 1992)

This learning theory was developed by German psychologists Wertheimer, Koffka and Kohler in the early 20th century. Gestalt means configuration, structure and patterning experience. Gestalt insisted that all learning consist of the simple connection of responses to stimuli, without recourse to the existence of ideas or thought process, people attempt to perceive stimuli in an organized whole, not in the disconnected parts.

Some of the characteristics of sensory fields which influence organization in perception as identified by Odiase (1992: 32-52) are:

1. Figure and ground: That the things perceived stands out against a background. The figure may be complex, but the parts in clear perception are always closely patterned to join a unified whole.
2. The stimulus pattern and perceptual organization: The observer establishes the patterning of the visual field and it frequently happens that the character of the stimulus pattern influences or even dictates the way the sensory qualities are organized. The following are important in establishing the patterns made:
3. Proximity: Patterns which are close together or near to each other tend to be perceived in groups. Teachers can group teaching materials and use them to teach in the class.
4. Similarity and familiarity: Objects similar in form, shape, color or size tend to be grouped in perception. Familiarity with an object allows a carryover from previous to present experiences.Teachers can utilize related materials in teaching and learning situations since it can facilitate learning.Thus, the teacher can use group method to control a large class. This can improve the students' performance in physical education.
5. Closure: Missing parts or gaps in information tend to be completed or filled in by the perceiver as individuals strive to reach a satisfactory end state of equilibrium in complete forms. This form helps in quantitative and local reasoning in physical education learning.
6. Good Continuation: Closely allied to closure is good figures such as circles, squares and lines which tend to remain stable and continue as figure in a way to shift distorted perceptions in the direction of greater symmetry and balance.

According to Kohler in Odiase (1992:14-25), Gestalt psychology in relation to learning is best illustrated in situations in which reconstructing of the field relationships provides sudden solution to problems. Physical education teachers can utilize these steps in the improvement of students' performance in physical education.

Teachers need to guide the children to organize their experiences into effective functional patterns through meaningful arrangements and stimulating situations. Teaching should start with the things that are familiar each step or those already taken, facts grouped according to their natural connections. Essential parts should be emphasized, but irrelevant things avoided. Integration of all the divisions, topics of each subject, previews, outlines and review are all that reveale relations between the various parts of a subject and promote the organization of a subject as a whole. Based on the above explanations, appropriate utilization of teacher instructional strategy will play an important role to enhance the students' performance in physical education.

(d) Reinforcement (Skinner, 1938 in Odiase, 1992)

According to Skinner in Odiase (1992), reinforcement is any stimulus whose presentation or removal increases the probability of a response. Reinforcement is said to occur when pleasant or unpleasant consequence follows a response. Reinforcement can be divided into two main types: positive and negative.

Positive reinforcement: Mukherjee (1972) explained that it is stimulus, the presence of which strengthens the behaviour upon which it is made a contingent. Positive

reinforcement is also termed as satisfier. It is any act followed by a state of affairs which the individual does not avoid, and which he often tries to preserve or attain selected and fixed. Teachers can use it in teaching physical education. It can motivate the learners effectively, if wisely used in teaching and learning situations.

Pleasant consequence constitutes positive reinforcement or rewards. In the school, the reward might be a golden star, or a shield, a nod of approval, or a chance to look at an interesting book. Positive reward of any magnitude has value as a signal to identify "good" responses. Particularly, if it is used in teaching situation, increasing reward may make a task of physical education attractive so that the students should understand positively.

Students willing to look for approval can enhance understanding of physical education; but students who have desired to achieve things shall work harder or take tasks that are interesting or promise a concrete reward. Beyond the amount necessary to obtain attractive participation, increases in reward seem not to improve learning and may reduce the learning of whatever does not count towards the reward. It is on this note that the theorists caution against over-use of the positive rewards by the teachers.

Negative reinforcement: This is any stimulus, the withdrawal of which strengthens the behaviour (Mukherjee, 1972:95). Negative reinforcement (coercive stimulation) following a response the teacher seeks to eliminate, has a different effect from nonreinforcement. In teaching/learning physical education, teachers are to use both positive and negative reinforcement to reward appropriately in order to improve the students' understanding of physical education and subsequent performances.

Problems affecting reinforcement include:

1. If the class is large, the individual response cannot be adequately reinforced.
2. If the reinforcement does not follow the response it intends to reinforce immediately, the response might not reoccur.
3. The reinforcement must be proportional to the response it intends to strengthen, especially the understanding of physical education concepts and performance.
4. The teacher might tend to reinforce the response of the best students while neglecting to reinforce the improved performance of the poor ones. This invariably might discourage the less able students. It is on this note that teachers are advised to reward both big and small efforts of the learners in physical education lessons.

(e) Theories of Forgetting (Ausubel, 1968)

Ausubel (1968) is of the view that if learners should remember all they have learnt, their conscious mind would run riot, and adjustment to new situations would be difficult.

This is because new experiences tend to interfere with the old, either directly or indirectly. The theory of interference stipulates that non-reinforcement of an experience displaces that experience with a new one. However, one observes that learning physical education with appropriate class size and teaching materials will build up appropriate experience. New experience builds on old ones. Teachers can note the essence of repetition, revision and previous knowledge in improving learners' performance in physical education.

The theory of forgetting operates in the following ways:

1. The theory of retroactive and proactive inhibition: Recall may be retroactive or proactive to circumstance. For instance, when two similar patterns of behavior are learnt simultaneously or successively, at recall of either, there is likely to be a potent competition between them at the conscious level. At recall of the first instructions, the second may interfere (retroactive). At the recall of the second instructions, the first interfers (proactive). This is what happens when a child learns. The utilization of appropriate class size can enhance both concepts. This unconscious anagram is a confusion of cognitive scheme and it is perhaps responsible for large incidence of forgetting (Odiase, 1992). The teachers of physical education can utilize the concepts of proactive and retroactive inhibitions to teach physical education in such a way that it brings improvement upon the performance of the students. The teachers can do this by being given adequate class size and being qualified to teach the subject or make teaching vivid.
2. Changes in attitudes intersect and cognitive structure: Odiase (1992) and Francis (2003) have the same view that "children will remember things from different angles depending on how at the moment he thinks (were internalized)". If however, the above factors are constant, the learners might continue to remember the experience in its original structure. Teachers that have quality and experience of teaching physical education can utilize appropriate class size to impart knowledge to learners. Thus he/she will be able to give individual attention. Making the lessons interesting will change negative physical education learning attitudes to positive attitudes.
3. Mental set for a given activity: Betiku (2002) supports Odiase (1992) that when the mental set changes between the original learning and the time for recall, recall is more efficient. This is especially so in verbal recall. Thus all learning should have functional utility and should be reinforced from time to time by the teacher. This accounts for the call for the positive utilization of instructional materials in teaching/learning physical education in an appropriate class size. If a long time elapses before the impact of another experience, mental set shall be displaced, giving way to psychological paramnesia. Appropriate class size given to experienced and qualified physical education teachers certainly improves upon the students' performances.
4. Changes in recall situation: A student may not remember a name he learnt previously but when the bearer of the name is physically presented, he may recall. Idialu (1998)

and Ughamadu (1998) are in agreement with the above explanation. They identified the roles that instructional materials can play in learning/teaching of physical education in secondary schools. This situation mostly applies to factual knowledge where recognition is much more difficult than recall. The theory stipulates that an experience gained in one situation may be incompatible in another situation because of the absence of vital cues. Teachers can make the teaching/learning vivid. This can effectively be done in an appropriate class size.

1. Repression: This is the theory of a protective device used for avoiding anxiety. Students may deliberately forget emotionally disturbing ideas. This happens when a student fails to recall, say an unfavorable propaganda. Metabolic activities in the nervous system play some part in erasing memory trace from the system. Thus if the functioning of the metabolic system is deficient or inefficient, a process of nervous complication sets in making recall difficult; this is in line with Hunter (1996), Bartlett (1932), Kaplesi (2002) and Back (1992). The authors above are of the view that, worries and anxiety can have negative effects on learning from instructions in the area of preprocessing. They agreed that anxious learners divided their attention between the demands of the task and pre-occupied themselves with negative thoughts. Teachers can help them to overcome emotionally disturbing ideas through the wise utilization of repression. Frequent use of the concept of repression is not advisable in teaching and learning situation.

The underlying philosophy of this study lies in the theories of Gestalt theory of learning particularly that of proximity. This emphasises that teachers can group teaching materials and students and teach especially where the class size is large. Teachers need to guide the child to organize his experiences into effective functional patterns through meaningful arrangement and stimulating situation. Teaching should start with the things familiar, each step on those already taken, facts grouped according to their natural connection. Essentially, parts should be emphasized but irrelevant things should be avoided. Integration of all the divisions and topic of each subjects, previews, outlines and reviews are all revealed relations between the various parts of a subject and promote organization of a subject as a whole. Based on the above explanations, appropriate utilization of teachers‟ instructional strategy will play an important role to enhance the student‟s poor performance in physical education

2.3 The Concept of Class Size

A lot of researchers see the concept of class size in different perspectives and, therefore, seems to have no universal acceptable definition of the term class size in terms of numerical value. For example, class size, according to Florida School Indicators Report (2004) means the number of students meeting in a particular classroom for a class section, engaging in a particular activity. Class size is determined by bringing the total number of students in the classroom and dividing it by the number of teachers assigned to the students (Florida School Indicators, 2004). Lewit and Baker (1997) described class size as an administrative measure typically defined as the number of students assigned to a teacher with the primary responsibility to take charge of given instructions and direction of learning to students. They further stated that available statistics on class size do not properly address the availability, adequacy and type of physical shape used for instruction in the teaching/learning situation. Ward (1990), from the project Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) analyzed students' achievement and development in three types of classes:

i. Small class should have 13-17 students to a teacher. ii. Average class should have 22 - 25 students to a teacher. iii. Large class should have 25 - 80 students to a teacher, and iv.Above 80 students to a teacher is considered to be super large class size.

Achilles and Lintz (1991) considered small class size as a teacher handling 13-17

students while Brewer et al (1999) considered small class size as one teacher to a maximum of 20 students. Molnar (1998) and Benneth (1999) stated that the students/teacher ratio may be calculated by including all licensed and qualified professionals and then came out with the 15 students to a teacher. Hanushek (1998) and Nevada (1999), described class size as an environment where fewer students (like 15 students) are referred to specialized teacher where he has more time to give sufficient assistance and attention to address the individual demands. The implication of this study is that teachers are having smaller classes, where they have enough time to attend to individual problems of the students.

The National Policy on Education (FME, 2004) stated that educational needs and training facilities should be catered for in order to meet the response of societal needs and which will progressively extend to the satisfaction of individual student‟s wants and aspiration. In line with this, they feel that the numerical strength of a class should not be more than forty students per teacher on average. Charleston (1994) described large class size as one teacher to fifty students‟ average. He believed that a teacher with high numerical strength of students will not be permitted to handle the class effectively and adequate attention to individual student will certainly be lacking. That is, individual problems of the students will certainly be buried in a large class.

The physical education educators are worried with the teaching of physical education in a large class size and we have seen the prevailing situations in our school environment in Nigeria as that which contains uneven as 1:20 in some rural schools and uneven as 1:80; 1:220 in some urban schools (NERDC, 2002). Physical education is recognized as an important tool for engineers, scientists, architects and many other professionals. Hence, physical education is considered as knowledge indispensable to all fields of study. Therefore, it needs to be taught in a good and conducive environment. Thus the need for sizeable classes is prerequisite for effective teaching and learning of physical education.

It is however unfortunate that in most schools, classes are overcrowded such that effective teaching/learning of physical education is difficult under this situation, students device poor attitudes towards learning of physical education and they inevitably leave school having only vague ideas about the importance of mathematical concepts. Wooton (1999:1999) argued that for better teaching of physical education three things are required:

“We need an improved curriculum which will offer students not only the basic mathematical skills but also a deeper understanding of the basic concepts and structure of physical education. Physical education programmes must attract and train more of those students who are capable of studying the subject with profit and all help possible must be provided for teachers who are preparing themselves to teach this challenging but interesting course” (pp 26)

It should be noted that Wooton's suggestions could not materialize without adequate class size put into consideration. This work is to review silent researches into the complex issues of the effects of class size or quality of teaching/learning, and the performance of students in physical education. It is going to describe the general attitude of teaching profession towards class size and the performance of students in physical education.

Many educationists accept as axiomatic that there is maximum class size which determines the quality of learning in the classroom. This assumption generally unsupported by researchers, has been expressed in professional literature and has become one of the criteria of the quality of education for crediting agencies and for the public at large to use in assessment. Peter (2000) opined that despite a long-run debate over the effects of class size differences on educational performance, there is little evidence on the classroom processes that might be involved. The effects of class size differences were examined in relation to socio and behavioral adjustment to school, in terms of two dimensions, that is, attentiveness and peer relations. He based that is was predicted that as class size increases, there would be more inattentiveness in the class and more signs of difficulties between children in form of rejection, a social, anxious and aggressive behavior and less pro-social behavior. Grissmer (1999) says the effects of class size differences on school children can be considered conceptually in relation to two main aspects of adjustment to school.

First and foremost, adjustment can be seen in terms of academic progress. The acrimonious debate over educational consequences of class size differences has centered on the effectiveness of improving children's academic performance. Secondly, in terms of social and behavioral adjustment though, there are some suggestions of classroom processes connected to class size differences, there is little understanding of classroom processes including social and behavioral factors that might be involved (Grissmer, 1999). It might be expected that in large classes there will be more distractions and with more children bidding for the teacher's attention, they will be more likely to be inattentive and the relationship between the children and teacher may suffer. Cahen (1989) said, "one of the several studies is that in smaller classes, behavior is better and classroom management is easier, problems will be identified and solved faster".

Benneth (1996), in a survey of the views of teachers and others, reports that teachers believe larger classes adversely affect behavior in class. Glass et al (1982) formed in their meta-analysis that there were fewer misbehavior in smaller classes. The Scott Committee of N.S.W. emphasized the numerous advantages of reduced class size have been claimed by teaching profession and many adverse corollaries of larger classes have. been stressed, e.g., the larger the class size, the less the active students participation and degree of creative thinking. The less opportunity for students and teachers contact, the more likely it is for teachers' and students' energy morals to be debilitated. The less the opportunity for individualized assignments, the more bookish the programme becomes. The less efficient is implementation of a variety of teaching procedures, the more speech and drama activities are curtailed. The more mobility is impaired and noise level rises, the greater the concern for and therefore time spent on discipline. The greater the increase in safety problems, the more inflexible the seating arrangements.

Aftreth (1995) quotes the principals observations that in their schools, larger classes have the least effective programmes that the teachers' morale have "an inverse relationship to magnitude of class enrolment", that even in large classes, some outstanding teaching/learning does occur. He also noted that teachers regard an "ideal" class size as fewer than 25, "satisfactory" as 30 students, burdensome as 35 students and real drudgery as 39 or more students. Such opinions are supported by Reisert (1990) who pointed out that students and teachers prefer small classes because teaching is more effective, more personal and attentive and grades are more meaningful. The Scott's Report (1999), gives an example of opinion poll conducted among N.S.W. secondary school inspectors on their views of class size. These support the opinion that class size should be reduced progressively from form I to form VI, although suggested sizes are slightly larger than as might be expected, e.g. from a mean size of 33 with a range of 31 - 35 according to the subject teacher. Krueger (1999) and Whitmore (2001), the students/teacher achievement ratio experiment has been analyzed both in terms of its initial impact on student achievement and in its longer term consequence for academic progress.

Angrist and Lavy (1999) exploited a specific rule of maximum class size in Israel to extract presumably exogenous variation in class size between 20 and 40 students, which may not range most of interest to policy makers in many countries. Case and Deaton (1999) identified class size effect by looking at data on black students in South Africa during apartheid, arguing that the variation in class size for black students was largely exogenous, because the black population at this time had neither freedom of residential choice or control over their school endowment. But the South African school system during apartheid was obviously unique in its institutional configuration and was characterized by distinct average class size of up to 80 students. Smaller classes exhibit benefit only in countries with relatively low teacher salaries why large classes have negative class size reduction is probably the most popular and most popular and most funded school improvement policy in the United States. In 1996, the California legislature dedicated one billion dollars for a year to class reduction.

The 1999 Federal Budget contained 12 billion dollars to cover 7 years for the same purpose. Class size reductions are, enacted often because they are popular with nearly every constituency interested in schools. Parents like smaller classes because their personal experiences suggest that they themselves give more to each child when they have fewer children to handle or take care of. Even if parents disagree bitterly about educational methods of a school, they can agree that class size reduction is good. Smaller classes give teacher the opportunity to practice more of each parent's favorable educational or teaching methods. Teachers' unions and administrators like small classes for the same reasons parents do, but they may also like smaller classes for reasons that spring from self-interest. Teachers may like smaller class sizes because they reduce the effort that they will expend in order to deliver instructions.

Teachers' unions may also like class size reduction because it increases demand for teachers. Administrators may like class sizes reduced because it increases the size of their domains. As a result of the policy's popularity, the twentieth century has been a period of continuous decline in class size to the point where American elementary schools had an average 18.6 (approximately 19) students per teacher in 1997/1998 school year.

Nevertheless, there are both economic and empirical problems with class size reduction policies. It is conventional to estimate the relationship between educational inputs

(like class size) and outputs (achievements) and to call the relationship on education production function. This nomenclature suggests that inputs transmit systematically into achievement as they do in the production functions of profit-maximizing firms. The analogy is a false one, however, because firms' production functions are not just a result of their ability to turn inputs into outputs. A firm production function is as a result of maximizing an objective (profit) that gives a production possibility set. It is not obvious that schools have stringent achievement maximization objectives imposed on them as described above, class reduction can fulfill a variety of objectives, not all of which are related to achievement. Thus while class size reduction always afford opportunities for increased investment in each child's learning, it is not obvious that every school takes up such opportunities.

The actual effect of reducing class size will depend on the incentives a school faces. Put it in another way, if a policy maker wants to predict the effect that a proposed class size reduction would have, she should rely on evidence from schools that have faced the incentives that are similar to the incentives that schools would face under the proposed policy. Schwartz (2005) opined that, the vast majority of variation in class size is correlated with determinants of students' achievement. In order to support the above claim, a number of educational researchers such as Fakuade (1983); Balogun (1985); Adepoju (1991); Irovi et al (1992); Salau. (1996); Mahmood (1999); Bassey (2002) and Waitutu (2006). They all have attributed students' poor performance in physical education to large classroom size in our secondary schools. They further listed a number of other factors that can be considered to be responsible for contributory factors to the trend of poor performance of students in physical education. These include:

1. Work over-load by teachers
2. Dissatisfaction with the little or no infrastructural materials iii. Experience or disposition of teachers to use child-centered method of teaching iv.Lack of initiative on the part of the teachers to improvise – using the locally available materials as an improvisation in the teaching/learning process

v. General teaching skills (subject mastery) by the teacher vi. Poor perception and negative attitude of students towards physical education.

vii.Compulsory nature of the subject viii.Finally, the poor control of candidates' admission due to the introduction of UPE (1979) and UBE (1999) of Obasanjo's administration.

The above factors have also been shown to produce or generate similar effect on students' achievements/performance in a number of researches from various parts of the world, for instance, the work of Yoloye (1994), Ayodele (1999) and Osobonye (2000) in Nigeria. In Britain, similar things were experienced as reported by ^various, researchers namely Blatchford et al (1998), in U.S.A. Costello (1992); Bracey (1995); Ziegler (1997), Gursky (1998), Robbie (1998) and Molnar (1998). It should be noted that the problem is universal and educators are actively involved in seeking to find the effective ways of understanding the problems involved in the issue of class size and their effects on students' performance/achievement. Salau (1996), Kogolla (2005) observed that a number of teaching strategies have been employed to teach physical education to large groups of heterogeneous students such as child centered and activity based teaching. This is done to involve and draw attention of student(s) to the subject matter in order to perform better. This is achieved through ownership of ideas generated by the student(s) themselves.

Despite the use of various teaching approaches in the attempt to impact knowledge using effective strategies, Waitutu (2006) further reported that slight changes were noted in students' academic performance in physical education. Erb (1996), Passmroye and Gursky, (1998) examined students' lack of taking or getting responsibility for their own learning in secondary school physical education and found out that large class size was a major contributor/factor. They both opined that the engagement and participation in small classes could very well increase the feeling of responsibility that students require to succeed in academic activities.

Hanushek (1998) reviewed of studies available to compare to various school resource, inputs which include class size reductions and students' outcomes and he concluded that reducing class size should not be expected to produce better students' performance and achievement. The analysis of this study showed that the relationship between various schools expenditures including class size reductions are remarkably weak which has led to call for a drastic rethink in the public education policy in U.S.A. The term "class" does not only refer to a single variable. Apart from being the total number of students/pupils in a room at a given period, it also refers to the homogeneity or on the other hand, the heterogeneity of the students in terms of sex, age, socio-economic background, intelligence and ambitions (Ward, 1999). Achilles & Lintz (1991) and Brewer et al (1999) defined "small" class size as one with one teacher to 13 -- 26 students.

While Charleston (1994) defines a large class as "one whose number does not permit the teacher to cope effectively irrespective of the students, as long as he cannot cope with the demands and aspirations of the individual student". However, he failed to mention what number of students should be adequate to constitute large class size to the teacher who handles students with varying ability levels, interest and mission with a uniform instructional materials and techniques. In this study, therefore, efforts will be made on how students constitute various class sizes particularly, the large class size situation.

2.4 Academic Achievements in Physical education

The concept of academic achievement is the level of development essentially applied to what an individual or group has gained from the learning outcomes. Scholfield (2000) sees achievement as a student's relative growth in a given field of study, that makes him to have an in-depth knowledge and skills possessed as a result of instruction that have been administered either formally or informally. Dike and James (1999) said it is an appraisal of students' educational growth in the three domains. Achino (2000) and Uba (2004) considered achievement to be a level of an individual's educational growth in a test when compared with the scores of others of the same level. Akindehin (1999) and Imo (1997) appraised academic achievement as a student's acquisition of knowledge and the ability to show and demonstrate such positive behavior for a longer period of time. The word achievement, according to

Webster's International, is "a result brought about by resolve persistence or endeavour". Marshall (1991) says that academic achievement is the extent to which a person has achieved something, attained given activity, acquired certain skills or information, usually through a planned instruction in the teaching, learning or training process. Inyang (1988) sees academic achievement as how much or what pupils have learnt after teaching/learning period.

Academic achievement essentially applies to what an individual can do or attain in a learning environment within a specific criterion in a given domain with the teacher's guidance in the teaching environment. Collette and Appetite (1984), Johnson and Johnson (1987) have suggested that the students' performance, interest and motivation will be highly increased if each student is assigned a specific role. This is not possible with large class size in our secondary schools today. Empirical support for the effectiveness of assigning roles and responsibilities to students is available in the research work by Richton (1999). He reported that the inability to provide for and to meet the specific challenges and need of individual has been known to show depressed academic performance and achievement. To support this claim of large class, Abdullahi (1996) observed from his studies that effective

implementation of the curriculum by the teacher in a large class size is apparently difficult to carry out. According to Titua (2002), large class sizes are significant concern to teachers in schools and also for an increasing number of parents whose children attend such schools. His findings have shown that annual budgets in Nigeria do not accommodate large class sizes especially with dwindling and inadequate funding in schools.

The private schools take advantage of this to have a reasonable class size which encourages the parents to enroll their children there. They opined that the engagement and participation that small class size bring could very well increase the feelings and affection of responsibility that students require to succeed. Mosteller (1995) asserted that parents like small class size. He opines that reduction from larger class sizes to smaller ones brought about great academic achievement. Walbery (1997) has a different opinion. He commented that some studies conducted in Chicago showed that students in large class sizes had greater academic achievement gain as a result of cooperative learning than those in small class sizes, where no cooperative learning is practiced. Zerigher (1997) in his research of class size asserted that parents strongly believe and prefer that their children learn faster and benefit more in individualized teaching where more attention and awareness are given to them and will translate into higher scores on achievement exercises. Robinson and Wittebols (1986), Robinson (1990), Everton et al (1990) and Wolf (1994) all agreed that the effects of class size on academic achievement by Educational Researcher Services showed that small classes made great difference in lower levels of education because of self dependence, while there exists increase in academic achievement in higher levels of education as a result of introduction of cooperative or group learning in a large class size.

It should be noted that what happens in the classroom environment does not only depend on how teachers complement their roles but also we need to know how the students perceive and conceptualize their learning and the role of their teachers in the teaching environment. The above researchers cited so far showed that there are still some considerable degrees that class sizes have a significant role in the teaching/learning and academic achievement of students, thus the researcher is promoted to carry out this study in an attempt to find out the best class size according to prevailing situation in any environment.

2.5 Ability Levels and Effects of Class Size on Students' Performance

Ability level is referred to as the practice of dividing students into separate classes of high, medium and lower achievers on ability grouping according to their academic performance (Bolaji, 2008). The findings from Harlen and Malcolm (1997), found that students of all mental abilities were found mixed in the same classroom, they were given the same assignments required and indeed expected to do the same work. Oakes (1992) and Lynch (1994) defined ability grouping as dividing students into separate classes of high, average and low achievers, or ability grouping of students according to their academic performance. Kunku (1989) reported that within class grouping comprising of high, average and low ability groups, they were found to have substantial positive academic effects.

Slavin (2003) concluded that schools can best deal with individual difference in ability by dividing students into sub groups within a heterogeneous class and thereby supported the use of within class ability grouping. He also noted and entertained fears on grouping of gifted learners together and felt that this type of grouping might lower teachers' morale, create differences in instructional quality and also create differences in students' motivation to learn certain materials. Feldhusen (1993) noted that the most common arguments against ability grouping in any form is that the gifted (high ability students) are needed in classroom situations in order to stimulate, motivate, encourage and inspire other students to learn. He further noted that students of lower and average ability often flourish or become better students when the gifted (high ability students) are not present and leading to competition.

Feldhusen and Moon (1992) agreed that grouping students with similar achievement and talent is essential if the desire is to help students achieve at the levels commensurate with their abilities and sustain or increase their motivation to learn a given task. They concluded that schools should consider gifted (high achiever) students before implementing cooperative learning and heterogeneous grouping, they finally advocated for appropriate grouping, acceleration of instruction, teachers who will create challenging programmes associated with high ability peers, as well as a supportive environment free of negative peer pressures as the ingredients of excellent instructions for high ability learners.

The report of Hoover, Sayler & Feldhusen (1993) which indicates that the high ability or gifted students are needed in all the classrooms in order to stimulate, motivate and inspire other students is adopted in this research study. Also, heterogeneous class is employed on the grounds that the strongest (high ability) students are not over forced and the weakest (low ability) students will gain from sharing with their high ability students in the class. The study will also employ heterogeneous within-class approach where the high ability or gifted students are in the same class and taught with the same teaching method.

Salau (1996) concluded that the achievement profile of high achievers shows a decline as the class size becomes larger. This means that increase in class size tends to reduce the performance of students generally. Medermott (1997) also worked on students of all abilities where a test of general ability was used in small and large classes. The result was essentially identical in all the classes. In line with the work of Slavin (2003), he concluded that high, average and low achievers recorded the same level of achievement in an ability grouped class assignment. Achilles (1992) also reported a decrease in performance of students with different abilities when the class size became larger.

From the various works by different researchers, the result of ability grouping showed that it is one of the most important and controversial issues for schools and classrooms management. It is controversial in the sense that some students mentioned above tend to support grouping according to their ability because it increases students' performance, while other students completely disagreed and feel that there is no significant difference in the performance of students with different abilities. The use of mixed abilities could be more advantageous since the low and average pupil would gain knowledge from their interaction and sharing with the gifted (high achievers) students. Nwagbo (2002) has further sought for more appropriate and an effective class size that would foster the teaching/learning of physical education in the senior secondary schools.

The findings of most studies were that if an appropriate class size is known and applied to teaching/learning, it will be more effective and exciting, this will equally enhance teaching/learning. The available or established satisfactory answer as to how class size promotes students' understanding in teaching/learning of students with different abilities. It is against this background that the researcher is worried and sees the need to carry out the study of effects of class size and the different ability levels of students on their academic performance, using the activity method and grouping of students into different ability levels as medium of instruction. This study tends to investigate grouping of students with different abilities so as to find out how class size affects students either positively or negatively in their academic performance and which group will yield greater performance in

teaching/learning process.

Teaching was done for six weeks to see if meaningful learning will take place. Post test was administered in order to assess the level of students' academic performance. The various available studies reviewed have not conclusively shown that small class size is linked to improved students learning and high academic performance of students in physical education in secondary school level. In view of this gap, an attempt was made to establish which class size is appropriate for teaching/learning of physical education. This study is an extension of most of the literature reviewed to serve as a base for the study.

2.6 Gender and Physical education Achievement

Gender consideration is essential in teaching/learning environment. Begley (1998) and Holder (1998) indicate that there is very little gap in physical education between boys and girls at secondary school level. In similar work of Erinleahey and Gwang Guo (2001), it was reported that very little gap of achievement exists between boys and girls at the elementary level of education in physical education. Their findings reported that boys tend to progress much more quickly as they become older and advance in academic activities (physical education) such as cumulatively, associatively, estimation and applying physical education, the solution to words and practical problems. The researcher has gone through some of the studies that had investigated into gender differences and grouping that constitute the class size and its academic achievement.

Erickson (1994); Rache (1996); Nwagbo (1997); Indolp (1999) and Uhmuavbi et al (2003) observed and reported that there is no significant difference in achievement in girls' schools or boys' schools. Harding (1997); Aigbomain (2002) reported from their studies that boys secondary schools perform better than girls' secondary schools in physical education. Reviewing another research work of Moses (1996), Hatlen (1997), on the effects of grouping students by mixing the sexes in the class size in classroom sitting has shown to bring about conceptualized ideas on notions of proximity/setting and working on the same task/activity. However, the relative performance of students is affected by many variables other than the mix of grouping for instance the class size, ability range, teaching methods and materials, the degree of individual differences and the attitude of the teachers exhibited towards mixed ability teaching and the curriculum content implementation.

Patterson and Povle (2001), suggested in their study, that teachers should make smaller groups or within the class to see the effects of it not only to provide individual differences and their contributions but also to provide avenue for opportunity of maximum participation within the groups. Also in agreement with the work of Stodolsky (1991) and Schmuck (1999) that the scheme for sub-grouping a class into different work groups does not have a decided effect on students motivation and high interaction and social climate in the sharing of ideas; teaching materials and cooperation promote good social climate. All these factors are important determinants of teaching/learning and students' achievement. The subgroup is defined by Oakes (1986) and Lynch (1994) as the division of academic subject into classes which geared for different levels for students of different ability (high, average and low achievers). Their findings reported that boys tend to progress much more quickly as they become older and advanced in academic activity (Physical education) such as cumulatively, associatively and applying physical education the solution of world and practical problems.

This study is aimed at investigating the effect of sex, age and attitude on students' performance in physical education on gender difference to see what the result will be.

2.7 Influence of Student’s ages on Students' Performance in Physical education

A teacher according to Urama (2003) is a person in a given community who stands to influence one another through various interactive experiences. In the formal school situation such as western educational system, the professional is otherwise known as the regular classroom teacher who also stands to learn from his/her students anytime (Arifisayo, 1996:26).

For many years educators and researchers have debated which school variables influence students' achievement. As policy makers become more involved in school reform, this question takes on new importance since their many initiatives rely on presumed relationship between various education related factors and learning outcomes.

Darling-Hammond (2009), some researchers have suggested that "schools bring little influence to bear upon a child's achievement that is independent of his background and general social contexts" (Coleman, Campbel, Hobson, McPortlan, Wood, Weinfeld & Yoru, 1966:325).

Other evidence suggests that factors like class size (Glass et al, 1982 andMosteller, 1995), teacher ages (Ferguson, 1991), school size (Haller, 1993) and other school variables may play an important role in what students learn. As new standards for student learning have been introduced across the states, greater attention has been given to the role that teacher's quality plays in students' achievements (National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 1996; National Education Goals Panel, 1998). While some evidence suggest that better qualified teachers may make a difference for students' learning at the classroom, school, and district levels, there has been little inquiry into the effects on achievement that may be associated with large-scale policies and institutional practices that affect the over-all level of teachers' knowledge and skills in a state or region (Begley and Geeslin, 1972:86-92).

Subject matter knowledge is another variable that one might think could be related to teacher effectiveness. While there is some support for his assumption, the findings are not as strong and consistent as one might suppose. Studies of teachers' scores on the subject matter test of the National Teachers" Examination (NTE) have found no consistent relationship between this measure of subject matter knowledge and teacher performance as measured by students' outcomes (Blackmon & Mackey (1980), Ayers & Quails, (1979),Haney et al, (1986); Quirk et al, (1973) and Summers & Wolfe (1975).

Teacher quality variables constructed from the schools and staffing survey (SASS) data include the proportion of "well qualified teachers" defined as the proportion holding educational age and the equivalent of a major (either an under-graduate major or masters degree) in the field taught. The proportion of teachers who are "fully qualified" includes teachers with standard or regular certification and new teachers on probationary certificates who have completed all requirements for a license except for the completion of the probationary period (usually 2 or 3 years of beginning teaching). The proportion of teachers who are "not full qualified" includes teachers with no certificate and those with provisional, temporary or emergency certification (Darling-Hammond, 1997; Haberman, 1995; Monk, 1994 and Fuller, 1999).

Some recent multivariate studies of students' achievement at the school and district

levels have found substantial influence of student’s ages on what students learn especially when scores in public examinations are included. Ferguson (1991) found that combined measures of teachers' expertise - scores on a licensing examination, masters degrees and experience - accounted for more of the inter-district variation in students' physical education achievement. Of the teacher age variables, the strongest relationship was found for scores on the state licensing examination, a test that measures both basic skills and teaching knowledge.

The effects were so strong and the variations in teacher expertise is so great that after controlling for socio-economic status, the large disparities in achievement between public and private school students were almost entirely accounted for by differences in the age of their teachers. (Strauss and Sawyer, 1986) also found out that every additional money spent on more highly qualified teachers netted greater increase in students' achievement than did less instructionally focused uses of school of high school resources.

A study of high school students' performance in physical education and healths using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Studies of 1988 (NELS) found that fully qualified teachers have a statistically significant positive impact on students test scores relative to teachers who are not qualified in their subject area, as do teachers who hold degree in physical education or physical education education (Goldhaber and Brewer, 1999). Also a more recent Texas study (Fuller, 1999; Fetler, 1999 Greenwald et a!, 1996) found that students in districts with greater proportions of licensed teachers were significantly more likely to pass the Texas State Achievement exercises, after controlling for students socio-economic status, school wealth and teachers' experience. In discussing the teachers as the center of the educational system, Ukeje (1991) affirms that no education can rise above its teacher, and no nation can rise above its teachers. On the basis of the above expositions, the student’s age can truly influence students' achievement in physical education, and students' performance will be more encouraging if only teachers who are professionally trained should be recruited to teach physical education in the schools. The untrained teachers already on the job should be compelled to obtain teaching age within a given period of time or be relinquished from their jobs, and lastly adequate teaching materials and a manageable class size should be provided to enhance teachers' “efficiency and job satisfaction”.

2.8 Empirical Studies

Betiku (2002) carried out a research on factors responsible for performance of students in school physical education and it suggested remedies. A reliable and validated fourteen item type questionnaire was administered on 45 undergraduates and 42physical education. Result showed that factors of poor foundation in secondary school Physical education are the employment of incompetent teachers in the school system, physiological fear of the subject and large classes. It was recommended among others that:

1. Physical education laboratories should be established in the school system
2. Results of deliberations of workshops, conferences should be revisited and made open to the physical education teachers

The reviewed work is closely related to the present study since both focused on the problems of learners poor performances in physical education. But they differ since the work of Beliku (2002) centered on the general factors responsible for poor performance in physical education in all levels while the current is limited to the effects of sex, age and attitude on the learners‟ performance in physical education in secondary school level. More respondents were used and it was experimental in nature.

Ahmed (2009) carried out e research on “Effect of sex, age and attitude on performance in physical education among senior secondary schools in Zaria educational zone. The study tried to examine some factors responsible for poor performance of students in physical education and recommendations and suggestions were made. Physical education achievement exercise consisted of a set of fifty multiple choice test items which was designed and administered on 180 students in three senior secondary schools and 12 physical education teachers. Result showed that poor performance in physical education in senior secondary school are as a result of overcrowded classroom, poor salaries to physical education teachers, lack of in-service programmes for physical education teachers, inadequate physical education teachers e.t.c.

The researchers recommended that allowances should be given to physical education teachers, apart from the monthly salaries. They should be assisted financially to acquire in service training from time to time. Appropriate teaching aids should be made available for mathematic teachers. Class size of 30 students should be encouraged and supported by government in Nigerian secondary schools for improvement in poor performance of students in physical education at the senior secondary schools.

The review work is very much related to the present studies since both focused on the problems of learners‟ poor performance in physical education. But they differ since the work of Ahmed (2009) is centred on the senior secondary schools in Zaria educational zone. In the current study, less respondents were used and the focus on secondary schools in Calabar metropolis and not Zaria.

Uyagu (2009), also carried out a research on “the effects of utilization of Teachers Instructional materials on students performance in physical education in senior secondary schools in Zaria”. The study tried to examine some factors responsible for poor performance of students in physical education and recommendations and suggestions were made. Physical education Achievement consisting a set of fifty multiple choice test items in physical education was designed and administered on 80 students in two secondary schools. Observation schedule was also designed and administered on 9 physical education teachers. The result showed that poor performance in physical education in senior secondary was as a result of lack of students‟ positive attitudes and interest towards physical education, physical education textbooks, lack of pre-service training and lack of physical education laboratory in secondary schools. Poor utilization of the instructional materials on senior secondary school physical education classes, teachers age and experience, overcrowded classroom were other additional factors.

The researcher recommended that instructional materials should be sourced for and properly utilized for each physical education topic designed to be taught; government should ensure the adequate employment of dedicated qualified physical education teachers to teach the subject in all secondary schools in the study area in particular and Nigeria in general.

Organization of physical education “fairs” on utilization of instructional materials at local, state and national levels. The inventive physical education teachers could be made to describe the processes and principles involved in designing and utilizing such materials.

• Government should make available funds and sponsor the teachers attendance at conference, seminars and workshops on utilization of physical education instructional materials.
• Suitable source books on utilization of physical education materials should be made available to all secondary schools.
• Government should be mindful of recommended class size in all levels of secondary schools for effective teaching and learning of physical education.

The reviewed work is related to the present studies since both focused on the problems of learners‟ poor performance in physical education. Both studies used teachers age as one of the variables. However, they differ since the work of Uyagu (2009) is centred on the senior secondary schools in Zaria and also on the effective utilization of instructional materials in teaching physical education to improve student performance in physical education. She also used two sampled schools in Zaria Local Government Area of Kaduna State while the current study has used three sampled schools in Calabar metropolis. The former examined the effect of teaching materials on students performance in physical education while the current examined the effect of class sizes.

Idowu (2010), investigated the influence of home background on students‟ performance in physical education in secondary schools.

The study was designed to examine some selected factors through empirical strategy that contribute to poor performance in school physical education and some remedies were suggested. A reliable and validated thirty-two likert type questionnaire was administered on 300 students and 27 physical education teachers. Results showed that factors of poor performance in secondary school physical education may not only be due to the common and obvious factors like methodology, teachers‟ quality, overcrowded classroom, curriculum but also some subtle factors from the home such as parental support in academic work, socio-economic status of the parents, parental education level, parents occupation and gender difference contribute to poor achievement of studies in school physical education. It was recommended that:

• Parents should strive to provide for the education and needs of their children in schools, especially the poor, whatever, might be the level of their income.
• Also parents should have a small family size which is manageable with their income, so that students from the poor background would be able to perform equally with those from rich homes.
• Parents should monitor their children‟s school work and performance and create time for their wards.
• Since parents‟ level of education was an important factor for determining a child‟s academic performance, federal and state governments should be directed to improve the literacy level of the populace which can be done through mass literacy campaigns.

This study showed that students from high socio-economic status parents‟ performed better than those from low socio-economic status parents. The result also showed that the higher educational level of parents, the better the students performance. It furthered showed that parents occupation has a positive impact on the students performance.Again, the higher the parents‟ interest and support, the better the performance of the students. In order words, students whose parents at home help in their home work do well in their academic pursuits. It equally showed that gender has influence on students‟ performance in physical education. Today in Nigeria schools, there are students of high socio-economic status who perform poorly in school while those from low socio-economic status are doing well contrary to these findings.

Another study was conducted by Ojo (1987) on the effects of teacher‟s ages on students‟ performance in physical education. The result revealed that teacher‟s ages strongly affect performance. He sampled twenty government owned secondary schools within the State and concluded that the schools lacked competent teachers and hence performance was poor. He then recommended that the teachers should be encouraged to further their education. His study further revealed that students‟ poor performance in physical education is connected to teachers‟ failure to cover the prescribed syllabus before the examinations. He also recommended that students should complement the teachers‟ effort of covering the syllabus by independent study.

The work is related to the present study as both focus on the problem of students‟ poor performance in physical education. Both used secondary schools in the state and teachers quality was used as one of the causes of poor performance of students of physical education.But they differ since the work of Ojo (1987) is focused on teacher ages only. In the current study, less respondents were used but both studies were experimental.

The later also identified other factors responsible for poor performance of students in physical education Recommendations were made in both studies.