Space for Convenience Planning and Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Every secondary school leaver is expected to be able to seek and gain admission into institutions of higher learning, both locally and internationally. However, this has become unattainable as a result of the poor academic performance seen in senior secondary school examinations; the quintessential example being the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (W.A.S.S.C.E.).  Therefore, in line with this worrisome predicament, the study investigated the influence of space for convenience planning on the academic performance of students in Oyo State, Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design of the ex-post facto type and made use of a sample of 1,440 selected through a multi-stage sampling procedure. The two validated instruments used for data collection were space for convenience planning scale (r=0.81) and student academic performance scale (r=0.70). Three hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data collected were analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) and Multiple Regression analysis. Two, out of the three independent variables, had significant relationship with the academic performance of students. These were toilet facility (r = 0.336; P < 0.05) and water facility (r = 0.262; P < 0.05). Also, the independent variables (i.e. the three spaces for convenience planning elements) accounted for 13.9% of the variance in the dependent variable and the joint effect of space for convenience planning is significant on the academic performance of students (F=78.597; df= (1,439); P<0.05). The study concluded that toilet and water facilities have been adjudged to have contributed immensely to the academic performance of students. Thus, based on the findings, some of the recommendations made include provision of adequate toilet and water facilities.

Keywords: Influence, Space for convenience, Toilet facility, Water facility, Academic performance of Students.