INFLUENCE OF SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON THE SOCIAL BEHAVIOURS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN IMO STATE

Abstract

The study investigated influence of school environmental factors on the social behaviours of secondary school students in Imo State. The design of the study is a survey research. Three research questions and three null hypotheses that guided the study. The study’s population comprises 73,004 students in the senior class. The sample size is made up of three hundred and ninety-eight (398) students in SS 2. The sample involves 190 males and 208 female students. The sampling technique is the multistage proportionate sampling. Instrument for data collection is the Rating Scale tagged: School Environmental Factors and Social Behaviours Rating Scale (SEFSBRS). The instrument was validated by five experts two in the area of Educational Measurement and Evaluation and three in Sociology of Education. The instrument were trial tested using cronbach alpha and a coefficient value of 0.86 indicating that the instrument is internally consistent and reliable. The data generated from the study were organized and analyzed using mean and standard deviation for the research questions. Hypotheses were tested using t-test at 0.05level of significance. It was discovered that school physical environment influences students’ social behavior but the test of hypothesis is insignificant based on gender, social school environment influence students social behavior and the test of hypothesis is insignificant based on gender, virtual school environment influences social behaviour the test of hypothesis is insignificant based on gender, school psychological environment influences social behaviour and the test of hypothesis is insignificant based on gender. Based on the findings, it was recommended that students should adapt to the school environment.