The impact of school location on the academic activities of pupils and teachers A case study of Dansokrom primary school in Bia West District

Abstract

The objective of the study is to ascertain the effects of school location on the academic activities of pupils and teachers of Dansokrom primary school; to identify what motivate and drive the pupils towards the attainment of their academic aspirations and to investigate the perception of parents/guardians on the influence of school environment on the academic growth of their wards. The study adopted the descriptive research design with the use of a survey instrument administered by the researcher in-person to 65 participants selected through the multi-stage sampling techniques. Data collected was handled quantitatively with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Science (IBM SPSS v.21) within the Positivists research paradigm. The study found out that, the location of Dansokrom primary school has effect on the academic activities of the pupils which manifests in their rampant lateness to school to participate in morning assembly sessions, inability to partake in early morning lessons, and to a minimum level, discourages their involvement in school sporting/cultural/march pass activities. It also found that, the pupils are highly motivated by the advice receive from their parents/guardians as well as the manner in which their class teacher teaches them, to strive towards the attainment of their academic aspirations. They are however, less motivated by their class/exams scores and to a larger extent, demotivated by the current location of the school and its environment. It again found that, parents/guardians of Dansokrom primary school perceive the absence of classroom furniture such as tables and chairs; the absence of school canteen and the lack of qualified teachers, as having the greatest influence on the academic growth of their wards in that respective order. They however, consider the cocoa farms surrounding the school, to have the least influence on the academic growth of their wards. The research findings would significantly guide the Ghana Education Service through its curricular development and capacity building workshops for teachers, to re-orient instructors on their lesson delivery techniques and classroom management. It again calls on the local assembly in collaboration with the school authorities to locate canteen within the school compound. Since majority of the pupils are motivated by the manner in which their class teacher teaches, a further research work should be conduct in similar schools to ascertain the impact of divers teaching methodologies on the teaching and learning process. Keywords: school location, academic activities, pupils, school environment