CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction
(Good, 1973) defines education as the aggregate of all the processes by which people develop abilities, attitudes, and forms of behavior that are of positive value to themselves and to the society in which they live. Education is also said to be a process of teaching, learning and training especially in school to develop skills and knowledge. The acquisition of knowledge in an environment which the school is located and other facilities greatly affects the participation and performance of the students. In order for the students to acquire the best form of education, parents make sure that they carefully choose the best schools; while some parents prefer lay private schools, others prefer public and mission schools. Many people have attributed the success of schools to factors such as class size, number of students, seats, teachers‟ attitudes, playground, libraries and the laboratories of the school. This study aims at studying the effect of environmental influence on students‟ academic participation in the Buea Municipality. In this chapter, the following will be discussed; the background of the study, statement of the problem, research questions, research hypothesis, purpose of the study significant of the study, delimitation or scope of the study and finally the operational definition of terms.
1.1 Background to the Study
School environment refers to the set of relationships that occur among members of a school community that is, the playground, libraries, laboratories, buildings, teachers, students, parents, location and class sizes that help in the facilitation of teaching and learning process in the school curriculum. variety of skills and techniques that teachers use to keep students organized, orderly, focused, attentive, on task, and academically productive during a class. When classroom management strategies are executed effectively, teachers minimize the behaviours that learning for both individual students and groups of students in a conducive environment, while maximizing the behaviour and the class size, the environment itself that facilitates or enhance learning. Generally speaking, one law of the Cameroon educational constitution state that students has the right to go to school but now depend on the school environment in which they find themselves effective teachers tend to display strong classroom management skills, while the hallmark of the inexperienced or less effective teachers in a disorderly classroom filled with students who are not working or paying attention because of the environment or the nature of the class size. Historically the construct school environment can be traced back 100 years (Perry, 1908). The scientific study of school environment was not undertaken until 1950s with the birth of organizational school environmental research. March and Simon (1958) and Argyris (1958) began to analyze businesses and organizations in an attempt to correlate the influences of an organizational environment to such outcomes as morale, productivity and turnover. Research continued throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, examining socioeconomic and race different years to explain achievement with mixed success (Coleman et.,ali, 1966; Hauser, 1970; McDill, Meyers, & Riugsby, 1967)

By the late 1970s researchers were attempting to associate school environment with students‟ outcomes in schools. Brook over and colleagues (1978) examined the environment of the school, defined as the set of norms and expectations that were defined and perceived by individuals within the school, and determined that school environment was positively linked to the difference in mean outcomes between schools, even when adjusting for race, and other demographics. In this study the greatest indicator of achievement is the way students feel within themselves about the social environment within the school. In the early and mid-1990s, studies focused on individual classes or teachers (Griffith 1995; Stockard & Mayberry 1992). Griffith (1995) argued that the relationship between the level of study depended on the level at which the students identified themselves in their school environment. Thus in an educational environment where classes are held in different classrooms with different teachers, it naturally follows that the unit of school environment measure is the school as a whole, whereas the individual classroom would be the appropriate measurement unit where students spend all or most of their time with a single teacher. Since the end of the 1990s and continuing today, researchers have attempted to link school environment to different outcomes including school achievement (Hoy & Hannum, 1997) aggression, victimization, bonding connectedness and engagement (libbey, 2004) and health problem (Coker & Borders, 2001).
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. According to Dawn (2011), as the number of students in a classroom grows, so do the negative effects to both the teacher and the students. That is a teacher can only devote much attention to one student when he or she has to divide their attention among twenty or more students in a class. As a result, when the number of students in a classroom rises from thirty- five to 60 or more, it is impossible to give all students the attention that they need. This is due to limited teaching learning resources. Schools in Buea Sub Division which are the context in which the researcher is focused on is a very good example.

Relating this study to international occurrences are the assertions Williams, Persuade, and Turner (2008) quoting Marden (2005), which reported that safe and orderly classroom environment (aspect of instructional space), school facility (accessories) were significantly related to students‟ academic performance in schools. The three researchers, also quoted Glassman (1994), asserting that a comfortable and caring environment among other treatments help to contribute to students‟ academic performance. The physical characteristics of a school have a variety of effects on teachers, students and the learning process. Poor lighting, noise 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 high absentee rates Frazier (2002), Lyons (2001) and Ostendorf (2001). These factors can adversely affect students‟ behaviour and lead to high levels of frustration among teachers and poor learning attitude among students.

Beyond the direct effects that poor facilities have on students‟ abilities 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, creates a stressful set of working conditions for teachers. This is because it is possible that the above mentioned 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 of student-teacher ratio, school location, school population,classroom ventilation, poor lighting in classrooms and inconsistent temperatures in the classroom with student health problems, students behaviour and student achievement Crandell & Smaldino (2000); Davis (2001) ; Johnson (2001), Lyons (2001) ; Moore (2002); Stricherz (2000); Tanner (2000) this study the will examine the aforementioned areas of school environment as it affects students‟ academic performance in Cameroon schools especially in Buea Sub Division. Theoretically, theories that will be used in this study are: UrieBronfenbrenner, (1917), Ecological System Theory, who views child development as a complex System of relationships affected by the multiple levels of the surrounding environment from immediate settings of family and school to broad cultural values, laws and customs. That is, His theory focused more on the quality and the context of the child’s environment. He States that, as a child develops, you he interaction within these environments becomes more complex. This complexity can arise as the child’s physical and cognitive structures grow and mature. Bandura (1977), Social Learning Theory, who is known for his social learning theory, he quite different from the other theorists who looked at learning as the direct result of conditioning, reinforcement and punishment. Bandura asserts that most Human behavior is learned through observation, imitation or modeling. Lev Vygotsky and Social Learning Theories. This Social learning theories help us to understand how people learn in social contexts (learn from each other) and informs us on how we, as teachers, construct active learning communities. Furthermore, Lev Vygotsky (1962), first stated that we learn through our interactions and communications with others. Vygotsky (1962) examined how our social environments influence the learning process. He suggested that learning takes place through the interactions students have with their peers, teachers, and other experts. Moreover, Vygotsky (1962) argues that culture is the primary determining factor for knowledge construction. We learn through this cultural lens by interacting with others and following the rules, skills, and abilities shaped by our culture. Contextually, in Cameroon, It is believed that family is one of the most crucial partners when it comes to learning and promoting different kinds of skills. You will notice that teachers are urged to keep the parents informed about their children education progress using various means such as parents‟ visitations to school setting, telephone or informal notes, regular face to face conversation etc. All of these are focused on what the child is actually doing at school and whether or not their parents are aware of it. The condition of Buea precisely creates hurdles for children to get quality education and form barriers for school planning. Most teachers have told the Post that they encountered a lot of difficulties in the teaching and learning process. Refusing Lekunze, a history teacher in Bilingual Grammar school Molyko, said that he classes are overcrowded in such a way that it is difficult e discipline the students. In addition, Bryan Gwanmesia a student in Lower Sixths in Inter Comprehensive High School Buea, the school premises are too small such as that whenever he tries to read, he is disturbed by other students ( Fru Rita Ngum, 2009, Cameroon Post line.)
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The notion of the influence of environment plays a vital role in the academic participation of students. The way the environment is, attracts interest and promotes a desire for learners to participate effectively during training learning process. As such, parents, guardians have the responsibility or duty to observe keenly and make sure that the environment of their children is adequate for learning in order to enable them to participate well and produce good results. For some years now, students or learners have been facing a lot of challenges, difficulties on their academic participation. It has been observed that, peer group, parents, teachers, motivation, noise, light, seating position, class seize, school location, infrastructure etc. have an effect on students‟ performance. Due to poor academic participation of students in secondary schools, the researcher wants to find out whether the influence of environment has an effect on the academic participation of students in secondary schools in Buea Sub-Division.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
1.3.1 General Objective of the Study The general research objective of this study is to investigate the influence of environment on the academic participation of students is some selected secondary schools in Buea sub-Divosion.
1.3.2 Specific Objectives of the Study –

To determine the effect of psychological environment on the academic participation of students. – To assess the effect physical environment on the academic participation of students. – To investigate the effect of peer group influence on the academic participation of students.
1.4 Research questions
The researcher seeks to find out the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. They will be sub-divided into general and specific research questions.
1.4.1 General research question

What are the relationships that exist between the environment and students‟ academic participation?
1.4.2 Specific research questions

These are questions that will be based on sub-independent variables. – How do psychological environment affect students’ academic participation? – How do Physical environment affect students‟ academic participation? – How do peer group affect students‟ academic participation?
1.5 Research Hypothesis
1.5.1 General Research

Hypothesis Ho : Environment does not affect students‟ academic participation. Ha: Environment affects students‟ academic participation. Specific Research Hypotheses Ho1: Psychological environment does not affect students‟ academic participation. Ha1: Psychological environment affects students‟ academic participation Ho2: Physical environment does not affect students‟ academic participation. Ha2: Physical environment affects students‟ academic participation. Ho3: Peer group influence does not affect students‟ academic participation. Ha3: Peer group influence affects students‟ academic participation.