THE EFFECTS OF PRE-ENTRY QUALIFICATIONS ON STUDENTS PERFORMANCES

Abstract
The topic of this research project is "THE EFFECTS OF PRE-ENTRY QUALIFICATIONS ON STUDENTS PERFORMANCES: A CASE STUDY OF STUDENTS OF EDUCATIONAL PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION. INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY ZARIA". The three pre-entry qualification usually required for the course were:- (a) National Certificate in Education; (b) Grade I Teachers' Certificate; (c) Grade II Teachers' Certificate. The researcher saw no justification in admitting these three categories of students with varying educational backgrounds, spending the same length of time for the same course. He thought there would be great disparities in their academic performances according to their degree of pre-entry qualifications. That is, the higher the qualification of each student the greater would be his her academic performances. These were the problems of the researcher. He found out how each category of the students with the above pre-entry qualifications performed in the prescribed examinations for the award of Diploma Certificate in Educational Administration and Planning. Therefore, the researcher propounde. three Null hypotheses that there would be no significant differences in the academic performances of the three categories of students. That is, they would perform equally. After the review of some vital literature, the researcher chose nine academic sessions, starting from October 1970 to July 1979, as his sampling frame. Out of these nine academic sessions, he randomly selected three academic sessions, of 1972/1973, 1973/1974 and 1976/1977 for his detailed study. The researcher used "THE NON-SURVEY TECHNIQUES APPROACH" of research. He used Educational Institutional records of the randomly selected academic sections mentioned above. The analysis and the findings of the study revealed that the mean (63.6%) of academic performances of students with National Certificate in Education was the highest. This was followed by the mean (61.6% of academic performances of students with Grade I Teachers' Certificate as their pre-entry qualification. But the students with Grade II Teachers' Certificate as their pre-entry qualification obtained a mean of 57.8%. The researcher went further to test the results statistically by using the significane of the difference between means and the t-test of significance at the level t - 0.05. All the three hypotheses for the research were rejected except hypotheses one. This showed that there was no significant differences in the performances of students with N.C.E. and Grade I Teachers Certificate. But hypotheses two gnd three showed significant differences in their academic performance. The researcher, however, found out through the observation and close examination of the results for the three academic sessions that the mean performances of the three categories of students did not hold for individual academic sessions and individual students. For instance, in 1972/73 academic session, students with Grade I Teachers' Certificate as their pre-entry qualification obtained the highest mean score percent of 70. But in the next two randomly selected academic sessions of 1973/74 and 1976/77, students with National Certificate in Education took the lend by scoring the highest mean grades of 65% and 58% respectively. It is interesting to note in the academic session of 1976/77 that students with Grade II Teachers' certificate as their pre-entry qualification performed better than students with Grade I Teachers'1 Certificate as their pre-entry qualification by obtaining mean score of 57%, while the other category of students obtained mean score of 56%. Considering individual students, it was also revealed that some students with Grade II Teachers' Certificate as their preentry quailfication performed better than some students with both National Certificate in Education and Grade I Teachers' Certificate aa their pre-entry qualifications. There were some students with Grade I Teachers' Certificate who performed better than some students with National Certificate in Education as their pre-entry qualification. (See the appedices III-V for detail results of the students). In conclusion, the mean score percent for the three selected academic sessions, the significance of the difference between means and the t-test of significance proved students with Nationcl Certificate in Education as the best. This was followed by students with Grade I Teachers Certificate as their pre-entry qualification, while students with Grade II Teachers' Certificate as their pre-entry qualification came last. But these results did not hold when the researcher considered the performances of the students session by session and student by student. The resenrcher, therefore, recommended thrt the three categories of students should be admitted for the course.
Description
A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF EDUCATION IN EDUCATIONAL PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY ZARIA SEPTEMBER, 1980
Keywords
PRE-ENTRY,, QUALIFICATIONS,, STUDENTS PERFORMANCES
Citation
Collections