Influence of Nursery Education on Pupils Academic Achievement in Primary Schools

INFLUENCE OF NURSERY EDUCATION ON PUPILS ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Education being an indispensable tool in nations building is a process of systematic training and  instruction  designed  to  transmit  knowledge  and  acquisition  of  skills  potentials  and  also abilities which will enable an individual to contribute efficiently to the growth and development of his society and nation.  It involves all round development of an individual social, physical, moral and intellectually (Osakwe, 2016). It is therefore glaring that early childhood education has influence in a child later academic achievement. This has motivated the development of a number of pre-school institutions.

More recently, formal kindergarten programmes have been designed to prevent high drop-out and low levels of intellectual functioning that are found in disadvantaged  children  as  early  as  two  or    three  years  of  age  (Fafunwa,  2012).  Ministry  of Education  knowing  extensively  the  importance  of  nursery  education  on  the  academic performance of pupils in Nigeria and in the world at large.

Nursery  education  as  defined  by  Omozeghian  (2014)  is  the  education  meant  for  children between the ages of 3-5. The National policy on education (2014) sees pre-primary education as the education given in an institution to children aged 3-5 years plus prior to their entering the primary school.  It means it is a special kind of education provided in an institution prior the children entering the primary school. Having known the importance of pre-school or nursery education, the government encouraged private efforts in the establishment of these institutions.  Also, in recent years the government sponsors the pre-primary school levels in public primary school in the country (Nigeria).

 

Influence of Nursery Education on Pupils Academic Achievement in Primary Schools

Learning  according  to  Osakwe  (2016)  is  a  natural  process  of  pursuing  meaningful  goals, discovering  and  constructing  meaning  from  information  and  experience  filtered  through  the learners  unique  perceptions,  thoughts,  and  feelings. Hence, when the child is born into the world   learning   commences   immediately   to   enable   the   child   get   adapted   to   the   new environment.  The child learns to feed, hear, see and respond to stimuli, before learning to sit, walk, talk and behave like people around him.  The drive for curiosity is innate in every child and can be developed to yield greater results by given him early education.

Nursery education experience according to Barnard (2011) positively affects later home and school involvement in education.  A child who fails to acquire nursery education may suffer emotionally, socially, intellectually and even physically if he is taking to the primary school without nursery education experience that will give him a solid foundation in the primary school.

Therefore,  for effective and efficient unlocking and development of the child’s later abilities, attitudes and other  forms  of  behaviour  of  positive  values  in  the  society  in  which  he  lives  early  childhood education becomes very important.  This is important because researches on early childhood education  experiences have  great impact  on all  areas of the  child’s development  and had suggested that the first teaches is extremely an important person in the child’s life.

According to Feeney et  al.  (2012)  early  childhood  is  an  asset  of  immense  value  in  the  later academic pursuit of a child and much more later in life. This early experience exposes the child to all fields which give him an edge over those who did attend nursery school in the primary school as the confidence in his learning capability which he acquired from the nursery school is lifted to the primary school.  This eventually aids and  facilitates  his  learning. The early childhood institution aims at developing the cognitive and affective potentials of the child at an early age.

Anderson (2012) is of the view that when children are exposed to early childhood education, they develop superior communication skills, necessary physical abilities and social unit needed in adult life and an increased cognitive and effect educational balance. Having  realized  the  importance  of  nursery  education,  the  government  encouraged  private efforts  in  the  establishment  of  this  institution. Also, in recent  years  the  government  now sponsors the pre-school levels of public primary schools in the country.  Also the government has  a  deliberate  attempt  to  raise  the  quality  of  education  at  all  levels  in  order  to  make  the product of our educational system more useful to our society.

Therefore, early childhood education will provide that vital physical, psychomotor, affective, cognitive, social potentials which are fundamental to human life that will play essential role in the primary and even more in later life of the individual.  This study attempts to investigate the Influence of nursery education on pupil’s academic performance in selected primary schools.

Influence of Nursery Education on Pupils Academic Achievement in Primary Schools

1.2      STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Psychologist such as Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson have the opinion that early childhood experiences have a lot of influence on the later life of an individual. The rearing practices which the child is exposed to influence the value, norms and belief of the individual even in later life. The content of the knowledge which the child is exposed to early in life is the bedrock to later education. There is a scriptural injunction that says “train up the child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it”. Proverbs 22 verse 6.

From this injunction, the manner of teaching a child in the pre-primary school days go a long way to help him develop his cognitive, social and motor skills early enough as these would be lacking in children who did not attend nursery school. Therefore the problem of this study is to find out the Influence of nursery education on pupil’s academic performance in selected primary schools.

 

1.3      PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The specific objectives of this study are:

1. To determine the role of nursery education on the academic performance of pupils in primary schools.
2. To indicate that nursery education equips pupils enough to perform better in primary school.
3. To establish that pupils in rural area do not perform equally well as their counterparts in urban areas who attended purpose nursery schools.

 

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. Does Nursery school education equip pupils well enough to perform better in primary school?
2. Do pupils in rural areas perform equally well as their counterparts in urban areas who attended Nursery schools?
3. Does interaction as an aspect of social skill influence the academic performance of primary school pupils who attended nursery school and those who did not attend nursery school?
4. What is the role of nursery education in academic achievement of pupils in primary schools?

Influence of Nursery Education on Pupils Academic Achievement in Primary Schools

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

To aid the completion of the study, the following research hypotheses were formulated by the researcher

H₀: Most children who attended Nursery schools does not perform better in primary school than those who did not

H₁: Most children who attended Nursery schools perform better in primary school than those who did not

H₀²: pupils in rural area do perform better than their counterparts in urban areas who attended nursery schools

H₂: pupils in rural area do not perform better than their counterparts in urban areas who attended nursery schools

 

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The findings of this study would be significant in the following ways:

1. If effectively carried out, it would inevitably contribute to improving the academic life of pupils.
2. It shall reveal the role of nursery education in the life of primary school pupils.
3. It will show the extent to which the nursery education has contributed to the development of pupils interest in education.
4. It will assist the national policy makers in planning for this cadre of education.