Comparative analysis of gender performances in geography among NCE III Students of KSCOE, Ankpa, for sustainable equitable quality education

Abstract

The paper investigated the gender performances in geography among NCE students of KSCOE, Ankpa with curricular implications. A total of 220 final year students’ results comprising 120 males and 80 females between 2015-2018 were studied. The research design adopted was ex-post-facto. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The data was sourced from documented final CGPA’s for the three academic sessions from the school for the analysis. Descriptive statistics was used for analysis of the first and second research questions. T-Test and correlation analysis were applied through SPSS for the test of hypothesis on the scale of 0.05 Levels of significance. The results showed that there was a progressive increase in percentage enrolment of male students studying geography, while there was a corresponding decline in the female number. It was recommended that the interest and motivation of students should be promoted right from the pre-NCE level and attention should be specially given to certain gender-sensitive courses in curriculum review. Keywords; Gender performances, KSCOE Ankpa, Quality Education, Sustainable Education. I.INTRODUCTION here has been increased attention to the performances between both sexes. (Bandaru, 2012). That is why education quality influences what students learn and what benefit they draw from education (Tadesse,2007). Onoyase (2015) stated that the issue of academic performance of students is of great importance to every concerned parent. This is because the future career of any child is greatly determined and highly dependent on the child’s academic performance early in life. However, it should be noted that there may be a number of arrayed factors that can contribute to the child’s performance while in school, ranging from the nature of the child in terms of inherited intelligence, availability of school facilities, teaching techniques/methods of instructors among others. Filgona and Sababa (2017) observed that the socio-cultural difference between girls and boys has over the years given rise to the examining academic achievement. These may likely be as a result of the societal perception of some courses as more masculine and feminine. A typical African sees engineering courses as more of men course while arts oriented courses as for women. It is worthy of note that the interest and love students develop for geography right from the initial developmental stage is greatly influenced by methods of teaching of the subject. Geography as a discipline has a unique place in Nigerian education system. At the primary level, it is not a subject but it is reflected in teaching of social studies. However, at the senior secondary level (SSS), it is one of the subjects captured in the syllabus of WAEC and NECO. It is taught from the SS1 to SS III as physical, regional, human geography and map reading and interpretation. At the NCE level, it is also part of the NCCE minimum standard, cutting across PRE-NCE to NCE III and covering a variety of course units and titles. It is also a single major course combined within disciplines such as ISS, CRS, Mathematics and Social Studies. At the Polytechnic level, aspects of it are taught within environmental studies or management. At the University level, T International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 9, Issue 2, February 2019 717 ISSN 2250-3153 http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.9.02.2019.p8688 www.ijsrp.org Geography is a single honour course standing on its own, merit for which a B.Sc, B.A, B.Sc.Eds degree can be obtained (Odoh,2003). According to UNSTATS (2018), Quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all are central to ensuring a full and productive life to all individuals and to the realization of sustainable development. Despite the considerable increase in child enrolments in schools, a large number of children still remain out of school mainly because educational systems cannot keep up with the aggressively growing population especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2000, there has been enormous progress in achieving the target of universal primary education. The total enrolment rate in developing regions reached 91 percent in 2015, and the worldwide number of children out of school has dropped by almost half. There has also been a dramatic increase in literacy rates, and many more girls are in school than ever before. These are all remarkable successes over the years. SDGFund (2019) Education is a public good and a human right from which nobody can be excluded since it contributes to the overall development of people and society UNESCO (2008). II.STUDY AREA Kogi State College of Education, Ankpa is sited in Ankpa town in Ankpa Local Government Area. It was established in 1981 after it was converted from Advanced Teachers College (ATC) to a full blown College of Education awarding Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE). Ankpa town in Ankpa LGA in Kogi State is located on Latitude 7o 451 and 7o 221 N and 7o 221 and 7o 45 1 E with a land area of approximately 1200km2 (500sq mi) while that of the College is 120,3900.968 sq meters( KSCOE,Ankpa Master Plan 1981). It has an average temperature of 28 o C with rainy season spanning through seven months from April to October. It is characterized by derived tropical guinea savanna/woodland and gallery vegetation along the River Anambra (locally known as River Imabolo) III. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The rating of performance along gender lines has become needful to correct certain perceptions and to identify the degree and reasons for differences in performance among final year geography students. For too long now, the theory and practice in geography education at the NCE level have been essentially on formative and summative assessment techniques. Gender based assessment over time and course combinations might facilitate the use of other assessment techniques for a more proactive and problem solving discipline. Such an assessment might give a holistic appraisal of the importance of geography. The paucity of studies in this regard makes this study all the more relevant. Equally, if the national policy on education grants the same opportunity for both male and female education, then it becomes needful to examine performance differentials, if any, and their curricular implication, especially in geography. The study may also put aside any stereotype or perception of the academic superiority of one sex over the other based on invalid reasons. IV. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The objectives of the study are to: 1. Determine the relative percentage of male and female geography students from 2015 -2018. 2. Clarify the relative percentage of each subject combinations prevalent in geography department from 2015 2018. 3. Test the difference, if any, in the performance of male and female geography students across the sessions. 4. Examine the significant relationship in performance of male and female students in geography across the four subject combinations. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 9, Issue 2, February 2019 718 ISSN 2250-3153 http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.9.02.2019.p8688 www.ijsrp.org 5. Examine the relationship, if any, in performance of male and female students in geography across the sessions under study. V. NULL HYPOTHESIS The following null hypotheses (HO) were tested on a scale of 0.05 level of significance: 1. There is no significant difference in performance of male and female geography students over the period of study. 2. There is a significant relationship in performance of male and female students in geography across the four subject combinations of SOS/GEO, MAT/GEO, ISS/GEO and CRS/GEO. 3. There is no significant relationship in performance of male and female students in geography between the sessions under study, i.e, 2015/2016, 2016/2017, 2017/2018. VI. METHODOLOGY The study adopted an ex-pos-facto design which involves the use of existing data gotten from the college. The population of the study was 220 comprising 140 male and 80 female between 2015 and 2018. The data used were the final year results of geography students gotten from the examination results archived in the department of geography, Kogi State College of Education, Ankpa. Descriptive statistics and T-Test statistics were used in the data analysis at P 0.05 level of significance. VII.RESULTS What is the Percentage of male and female geography student from 2015-2018? The total number of each sex was divided by total number of both sexes within the study period and was multiplied by 100, as shown on table below: Table 1: Percentage of male and female geography students between 2015-2018