ABSTRACT

This study purposed to investigate the influence of informal education on the formal education of secondary school students in the Buea Municipality. Three objectives were used in the study namely; to investigate the influence of the home on the formal education of secondary school students in the Buea Municipality, to investigate the influence of peer groups on the formal education of secondary school students in the Buea Municipality and to find out the influence of the neighbourhood of students on their formal education. These objectives were later transformed into questions and hypotheses. The study used a quantitative research method where the descriptive survey design was adopted. The population of the study was made of all secondary schools in the Buea Municipality. The target population in this study was students in form 3,4 and 5 in the Buea Municipality. The schools where the samples was from are NABESK comprehensive college and GHS Great Soppo where 60 questionnaires were administered in the ratio of 25:35. Based on findings and conclusions, it was recommended that the formal education agencies like schools should work hand in hand with the family and community of the student to be able to boost students’ academic performance and behaviours as well as habits. Again it is clear that more research needs to be done using a larger sample size and using other variables and indicators. If possible other regions and schools should be targeted to make the research more inclusive.

Key words: Informal education, formal education, the home, peer group, and neighbourhood,BUEA MUNICIPALITY.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Introduction

Informal  education  an  important  form  of  education, since  it  is  a  lifelong  process  and  the  failure  or  success  in  this  sector  of  education  will  affect  the  individuals  interact  with   others  and  with  their  environment. Formal  education  is  a  well-planned, structured  and  organized  form  of  education  and  it  takes  place  in  agencies  like  schools  and  universities  but  in  this  study  the agency  that  we  will  focus  on  will  be  secondary  schools. The  type  of  informal  education  that  students  receive  has  a  big  effect  on  how  their  behaviour  and  perceptions  of  things  are  shaped. This  also  plays  a  big  impact  on  how   these  students  behave  in  school, towards  their  teachers, classmates  and  school  authorities. This  research  will  highlight  the  influence  of  the  informal  education  on  the  formal  education  of  secondary  school  students  and  how  this  knowledge  can  be  used  by  the  various  stake  holders  involved. This study will help the readers under the reason for the increase in deviant behaviour in formal education sector and how it is related to the quality of informal education received.

 This  chapter  comprises  of  the  background  of  the  study, statement  of  the  research  problem, research  objectives, research  question, justification  for  the  study, significance  of  the  study, scope  of  the  study  and  operational  definition  of   terms.

Background of the Study

The  backgrounds  of  this  study  include  the  historical, conceptual, theoretical  and  contextual  background.

Historically, education  is  a  very  broad  concept  which  has  been  studied  in  different  times  using  different  methods  and  concepts according  to  various  cultures. Education  stems  from  two  latin  words  “Educere”  meaning  to  “bring  out”  and  “Educare”  meaning  “to  train  or  mould”. Informal  education  is  the  oldest  form  of  education  since  it  involves  learning  through  interaction  with  others. It happens through play, conversation with others and observation. Informal education occurs daily as we learn from others. Informal education has existed for as long as humans have. Informal  education  in  the  past  was  mostly  used  by  parents  and  the  community  to  transmit  culture  and  to  help  their  children  become  good  and  productive  members  of  the  community. Formal  education  was  observed  in  early  civilizations  in  places  like  Egypt, Mesopotamia, and  North  where  formal  education  was  aimed  at  training  scribes  and  priests,  to  learn  practical  subjects  such  as  science, medicine, mathematics  and  geometry,  and  it  started  from  the  ages  5-7  years  to  about  18  or  17  years. Before  that  formal  education  also  existed  as  indigenous  education  which  was  through  initiation  ceremonies  and  instructions  provided  in  age-grade  societies,  and  various  forms  of  religious  schooling  like  Quranic  schools  and  Sunday  school. The  ‘modern’  understanding  of  formal  and  informal  education  owe  much  to  the  work  of  Rosseau (in  Emile, and  the  social  contract)  and  to  educators  such  as  Pestalozzi  and  Hebart  who  took  up  his  studies. However, in  terms  of  taking  forward  the  thinking  in  this  century, it  is  the  figure  of  John  Dewey  that  dominates. He  picked  up  on  many  of  the  ideas  explored  by  Hebart  and  others, and  he  infused  them  with  his  own  commitments  and  interests.

Conceptually,  informal  education  is  made up  of  the  home  which  in  this  case  will  be  parents/guardians  and  siblings  of  the  secondary  school  students, peer  group  which  refers  to  the  student’s  friends  and  other people  they  associate  with  in  school  and  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  the  neighbourhood  or community  which  is  where they  live  and  the  people that  surround  them. These  three  concepts  influence  the  formal  education  of  secondary  school  students  in  the  Buea  municipality. In  this  study  the  agency  of  formal  education  that  will  the  focus   is  secondary  schools  precisely  in  the  Buea  municipality. In  this  study,  we  will  see  how  the  behaviour  of  students  in  school, their  behaviour  towards  teachers  and  school  authorities  as  well  as  their  classmates  is  caused  by  the  education  they  received  at  home, in  their  peer  groups  and  in  their  communities  or  neighbourhood.

Theoretically, this  study  will  use   the  Ecological  system  theory  by  Urie  Brefenbrenner (1979)  which  explain  the  various  ways  in  which  subsystems  like  the  home  and  school  interact  with  and  influence  each  other, the  sociocultural  theory  of  Lev  Vygotsky  which  explains  how  we  learn  from  others  through  socialisation, Erik  Erikson’s  psychosocial  theory  which  shows  how  children  develop  from  one  stage  to  the  next  and  the  various  individuals  that  influence  this  growth, the  parenting  style  theory  by  Diana  Baumrind  which  explains  the  effects  of  the  various  parenting  styles  on  how  children  behave  and  finally  Addler’s  birth  order  theory  which  shows  how  the  birth  order  influence  children’s  development

Contextually, we will see the relationship between how students are students behave and are treated at home with and by their family and peers as well as within their neighbourhood and how they act in school which is their agency of formal education. We will also see how these factors affect their formal education. In recent times in Africa and various regions in Cameroon, there has been many cases of secondary school students being violent with their teachers and classmates. There has been cases of students stabbing teachers and classmates during fights, increase in school violence, an increase rate of drug and alcohol abuse by the student population as well as lack of respect for school authorities and school rules and regulation. Many secondary schools in Buea are dealing with this issue today. This study seeks to investigate to which extent the home environment, the peer group and neighbourhood of the students are responsible for this Buea.

Statement of the Research Problem

Formal  education  is  one  sector  of  education  and  the  agency  of  this  sector  of  education   that  we  will  be  focusing  on  is secondary  schools. In  secondary  schools  in  the  Buea  municipality, there  has  been  a  notable  increase  in  indiscipline  and  in  deviant  behaviours  and  practices  like  absentism, alcohol  and  drug  abuse, refusal  to  study,  rude  and  aggressive  speech  and  behaviour  which  is  done  by students. Though  there  are  still  some  students  who  are  making  an  effort  to  study  and  behave  well  in  school, teachers  and  the  school  administration  are  still  overwhelmed  by  the  increase  in  deviant  behaviour. Also the normal functioning of schools has been impaired due to all this factors making it for the main aim for this sector of education to be achieved, since the students do not want to cooperate with the administrator and do not take their studies seriously.

This  study  will  try  to  figure out  the  various  roles  that  the  kind  of  informal  education that these student receive has on their  formal  education  and  to  find  out  if  the  informal  education  received  by  these  students  is  the  cause  of  their  behaviour  in  school  be  it  good  or  bad.

Objectives of the Study

The objectives of this study are the things the study seeks to achieve. They will be divided into the general objective and specific objectives.

General Objective

To  investigate  the  influence  of  informal  education  on  the  formal  education  of  secondary  school  students in  the  Buea  municipality.

Specific Objectives

To  investigate  the  influence  of  the  home  on  the  formal  education  of  secondary  school  students  in  the  Buea  municipality.

To  investigate  the  influence  that  peer  groups  have  on  the  formal  education  of  secondary  school  students  in  the  Buea  municipality

To  investigate  the  influence  of  the  neighbourhood  of  students  have  on  their  formal  education  in  the  Buea  municipality.

Research Questions

This section is made up of the general research question and the specific research questions, which are as follows;

General Research Question

How  does  the  informal  education  of  secondary  school  students  in  the  Buea  municipality  affect  their  formal  education?

Specific Research Questions

How  does  the  home  influence  the   formal  education  of  secondary  school  students  in  the  Buea  municipality?

How  do  peer  groups  influence  the  formal  education  of  secondary  school  students  in  the  Buea  municipality?

How  does  the  neighbourhood  of  secondary  school  students  in  the  Buea  municipality  affect  their  formal  education?

Research Hypothesis

The research hypothesis is made up of the general hypothesis and the specific hypotheses, which are as follows;

General Hypothesis

H0 : The  informal  education  of  secondary  school  students has  no  significance  on  their  formal   education.

Ha : The  informal  education  of  secondary  school  students  has  a  significance  on  their  formal  education.

Specific Hypotheses

H01 : The  home  has  no  significant  effect  on  the  formal  education   of  secondary  school  students  in  the  Buea  municipality.

Ha1 : The  home  has  a  significant  effect  on  the  formal  education   of  secondary  school  students   in  the   Buea  municipality.

H02 : Peer  groups  have  no  significant  effect   on  the   formal  education  of  secondary  schools  students   in  the  Buea  municipality.

Ha2 : Peer  groups  have  a  significant   effect  on  the  formal  education  of  secondary  school  students   in  the  Buea  municipality. 

H03 : The  neighbourhood  of  secondary  school  students  has  no  significant  effect  on  their  formal  education.

Ha3 : The  neighbourhood  of  secondary  school  students  has  a  significant  effect  on  their  formal  education.

Justification for the Study

The  main  reason  for  this  study  is  to  discover  the  various  ways  in  which  the  informal  education  of  secondary  school  students  will  affect  their  formal  education.

The other reasons for carrying out this research are:

To  find  out  how  the  family  system, peer  groups  and  neighbourhood  of  secondary  school  students  affect  their  behaviour  in school.

To  discover  the  reason  for  the  increase  of  deviant  behaviour  on  secondary  school  students  and  how  this  can  be  amended  starting  from  the  level  of  informal  education.

Significance of the Study

This  study  will  be  of  benefit  to  the  parents/guardians  and  community  or  neighbourhood of  the  students, their  teachers  and  school authorities, the  students  themselves  and  researchers  researching  related  topics.

This  study  will  help  parents/guardians  and  community   to  realize  the  role  they  as  well  as  the  environment  they  create  around  their  children  affects  their  studies  in  school.

It  also  helps  the  teacher  to  understand  the  various  reasons  that  could  cause  students  to  misbehave  in  school, propose  some  solutions  as  well  as  sensitize  parents/guardians and  help  them  have  a  better  understand the  effects  that  home  life  of  students  have  on  their  school  life.

It  will  help  the  students  to  be  able  to  recognize  and  avoid  peer  groups, habits  and  relationships  that  are  detrimental  to  them.

Finally, other  researchers  who  are  researching  on  this  topic  or related  topics  can  use   these  findings  as  secondary  data.

Scope of the Study

The  scope  of  the  study  will  include  the  geographical, conceptual, theoretical  and  methodological  scope  of  study.

The geographical  scope  of  this  study  will  be  limited  to  secondary  schools  in  the  Buea  municipality. The content  scope  will  be  the  influence  that  informal  education  of  secondary  school  students  has  on  their  formal  education. The  theoretical  scope  of   this  study  will  include  theories  like; the  ecological  system  theory  by  Urie  Brefenbrenner, the sociocultural  theory  by  Lev  Vygotsky, Erik  Erikson’s  psychosocial  theory, the  parenting  style  theory  by  Diana  Baumrind, and

Adler’s birth order theory. Finally, the methodological scope will be the descriptive research method.

Operational Definition of Terms

The independent variable: Informal education of secondary school students.

The dependent variable: Formal education of secondary school students.

The  indicators  of  the  independent  variable  are; the  home, peer  groups  and  neighbourhood  of  the  students.

The  indicators  of  the  dependent  variable  are; the  students’  performance  in  school and  the  students  behaviour  towards  learning, the  teachers, their  classmates  and  school authorities.

 Education: Education  is  the  sum  total  of  all  processes  by  means  of  which  people  develop  knowledge, skills, attitudes  and  other  forms  of  behaviours  that  are  of  positive  value  to  themselves  and  the  society  in  which  they  live (CV  Good  1973).

Informal  Education: Informal  education  is  the  form  of  education  that  transmits  human  values, norms, beliefs, and  basic  skills  such  as  social  skills  and  perceptions, respect, peace, unity, humility, cultural  awareness, hygiene  and  etiquette  that  are  developed  as  we  learn  from  and  interact  with  each  other. Its agencies are the home, community and peer group.

Formal  Education: Formal  education  is  a  well-planned,  structured   and  organized  form  of  education  and  it  takes  place  in  agencies  like  schools  and  universities. The  agency  we  will  focus  on  in  this  study  is  secondary  schools.

Home: The  home  is  a  social  unit  formed  by  a  family  living  together. This  social  unit  is  made  up  of   parents/guardians, children  and  other  family  members. In  this  study  the  home  will  refer  to  the  parents/guardians  and  siblings  that  live in  the  same  house  as  the  secondary  school  students.

Peer group: Peer  group  refers  to  a  group  of  individuals  that  share  similar  characteristics  with  one  another. These characteristics may be age, education, ethnic background or sector.

Neighbourhood: A  neighbourhood  is  the  area  of  a  town  that  surrounds  someone’s  home, or  people  who  live  in  this  area.

Behaviour: Behaviour   is  the  way  someone  acts, reacts  or  conducts  oneself  towards  others  or  a  situation  or  thing.

Teacher: A  teacher  is  someone  whose  job  is  to  teach  in  a  school.

Secondary  school: Secondary  school  refers  to  the  schooling  offered  after  a  primary  school, and  before  higher, optional  education.