Considerable research has been conducted on teaching skills, climate, socio-economic conditions, and student performance (Rafferty, 2013). Depending on the environment, schools can either open or close the doors that lead to academic performance.
The school environment, which include the classrooms, libraries, technical workshops, laboratories, teachers’ quality, school management, teaching methods, peers, etc. are variables that affect students’ academic performance. Hence, the school environment remains an important area that should be studied and well managed to enhance students’ academic performance. The issue of poor academic performance of students in Ilorin metropolis has been of much concern to the government, parents, teachers and even students themselves.
Eze (2016) explained that the quality of education does not depend on teacher’s ability as reflected in their performance of duties, but also in effective co-ordination of the physical environment. Emphasizing the importance of physical environment to student academic performance, the physical environment is an essential aspect of educational planning, he further explained that “ unless schools are well suited or situated, building are adequately constructed and equipment are adequately utilized and maintained teaching and learning may not take place.
Great educators such as Comenius, Fafunwa and Dewey emphasized the important role `physical environment plays in the education of children.
School environment which include instructional spaces planning, administrative places planning, circulation spaces planning, spaces for conveniences planning, accessories planning, teachers as well as students are essential in teaching-learning process. The high levels of student’s academic performance may not be guaranteed where instructional spaces such as classrooms, libraries, technical workshops and laboratories are structurally defective. Learning takes place through the experience which students gain from environment in which they are placed. Parents and teachers ought to be concerned with providing environmental conditions to maximize the development of children. It is believed that a well-planned school will gear up expected outcomes of education that will facilitate good social, political and economic emancipation, effective teaching and learning process and academic performance of the students. Relating this study to international occurrences are the assertions of Turner (2014), quoting Marsden (2011), which reported that safe and orderly classroom environment (aspect of instructional space), school facilities (accessories) were significantly related to students’ academic performance in schools. It was equally asserted that a comfortable and caring environment among other treatments helped to contribute to students’ academic performance. The physical characteristics of the school have a variety of effects on teachers, students and the learning process. Poor lighting, noise, high levels of carbon (iv) oxide in classrooms and inconsistent temperatures make teaching and learning difficult. Poor maintenance and ineffective ventilation systems lead to poor health among students as well as teachers, which leads to poor performance and higher absentee rates (Frazier, 2012). These factors can adversely affect student behavior and lead to higher levels of frustration among teachers, and poor learning attitude among student. Beyond the direct effects that poor facilities have on students’ ability to learn, the combination of poor facilities which create an uncomfortable and uninviting workplace for teachers, combined with frustrating behavior by students including poor concentration and hyperactivity, lethargy or apathy, creates a stressful set of working conditions for teachers. Because stress and job dissatisfaction are common precursors to lowered teacher enthusiasm, it is possible that the aforementioned characteristics of school facilities have an effect on the academic performance of students.
Previous studies have investigated the relationship of poor school environment including problems with student-teacher ratio, school location, school population, classroom ventilation, poor lighting in classrooms and inconsistent temperatures in the classroom with student health problems, student behavior and student achievement (Crandell & Smaldino, 2011; Davis, Moore, 2012; Stricherz, 2013;). To complement these studies, the present research will examine the highlighted areas of the school environment as it affects students’ performance in schools in Ilorin West Local Government of Kwara State, Nigeria.
Despite various views on the importance of school environment on teaching and learning, very little is known about it, although there has been a great deal of researches on some aspects of teaching and learning process such as the relationship of reading program or teaching methods on the achievement of reading skills. Sinab(2015) explained that the forces of environment begin to influence the growth and development of the individual right from the mother’s womb. A proper and adequate environment should provide the necessity for fruitful teaching and learning experience of the child. The home and school should provide necessary stimulus for learning experience. The child spends most of the time in school and the environment exerts influence on performance through curriculum teaching and relationship. Educational institutions are intimately linked with the society at large, therefore, the general condition of schools is a matter of great concern for the nation.
Twenty-first (21st) Century learning environments are envisioned as places where the learner is engaged in self-directed and co-operative learning activities, and the physical environment is planned so that it can be routinely re-organized to mediate learning (Partnership for 21st century Skills, 2016).
Academic performance has been largely associated with many factors. Most students in Nigeria are daily confronted with challenges of coping with academics under serious emotional strains; trekking to school, poor school environment, being taught by unmotivated teachers under harsh learning conditions and uncooperative-to-study attitude of parents who often toil to provide for the family.
