The Influence of Peer Groups on Students Academic Performance in Secondary Schools within Buea Municipality
Department: Curriculum Studies and Teaching
No of Pages: 38
Project Code: CST3
References: Yes
Cost: 5,000XAF Cameroonian
: $15 for International students
ASTRACT
The
present study was intended to find out the Influence of Peer Groups on students’
academic performance. Some specific objectives were made to investigate whether
peer group affect the academic performance of students, to find out whether
peer influence determines variation in the academic performance of male and
female students, to investigates whether age does determine the extent to which
peer influence affects academic performance of students.
A
survey was used to carry out the study which sample the opinion of students.
The targeted population of the study comprised of three (03) secondary schools
in the Buea Municipality. The sample size was made up of 25 students of B.G.S
Molyko, 30 students of G.H.S Bokova and 35 students of S.B.H.S Molyko
(salvation).
The
instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire addressed to the
students of the above institutions. The data collected were analyzed using
statistical descriptive method. It was recommended that school administrators
should sensitize the students about the effects of influence on students’
academic performance.
Other
main stakeholders like the ministry of education should take an active part in
designing policies to govern schools so as to control the behavior of students.
Parents should also join schools administrators so as to help them to enforce
these rules.
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
introduction
When
children move out from the family to childcare centres, school, and the
community at large, they begin to form attachments, and friendships emerge
through their play. Even infants and toddlers are observed reacting rance or
comfort.
By
about age three, early friendships begin to form and children’s to other
infants by touching them, by crying when others cry and later by offering
nurtupeers begin to have a more lasting influence (Barbour, Barbour &
Scully 2002).
These
children begin to think and act like their friends and they begin to see that
there are other values, opinions, and rules besides those set by their
parents. Peer influence is a core of
every successful institution of learning and forming attachment, for any
student to achieve this he or she must form positive attachment needed for his
or her survival.
Background to the Study
The
oxford advanced learners dictionary (2001) defined peer groups as a group of
people of same age or social status. The peer groups are the first social group
outside the home in which the child attempts to gain acceptance and
recognition. Peer group is an important influence throughout one’s life but
they are more critical during the developmental years of childhood and
adolescence.
Adolescents
always emulate their mates in whatever form of behavior they exhibit,
particularly that which interest them thus, since socialization only refer to
changes in behavior, attitudes having their origin in interaction with other
persons and those which occur through integration, a child learn more through
interaction with peers.
Socialization
being a life-long process cannot be limited to the family members alone. As a
child grows older and more matured, it become more necessary for the external
bodies to be involved in his/her life. The family is not expected to provide
all the education required by the growing child.
The
school that is an established academic institution in which the behavior of an
individual is sharpened to get him/her equipped for occupational socialization.
In the school system, the child gets into the social group of “like minds” and
interest. Because of the various attitudes, skills, knowledge is acquired
through role-play.
Peer
groups as an agent of socialization is the most important socializing is the
most important socializing agent for the developing child. Peer groups are the
pivot of social change and during interaction peers; the child’s life is
transformed from the helpless child into a mature adult.
Each
peer group has its code of conduct which does not always conform to adult
standards. The important thing is that each child takes his/her membership of
the peer very serious and attempts to do anything to ensure he/she is accepted
and recognized. Lack of acceptance by the peer disturbs the child especially at
adolescent age.
Some
children have been known to do badly in school not because they lack the
academic ability to do well but because they are disturbed by the fact they are
not accepted by their peer groups. What makes learning comparative is the fact
that the child has equal status with the other children. There is an atmosphere
of freedom in which each child learns the way of the world from others. The
peer groups thus become more and more important to the child as he advances in
age.
Other
ways in which the peer groups can help the child include, teaching the culture
of the society, making possible social mobility, providing opportunity for the
child to play many social roles such as that of a leader, a follower, teacher
or student.
The
peer groups also help the child to win his/her independence easily from
domination and set before him a goal which is more easily attainable than the
expectation of adults. This in itself provides motivation for learning and is
mainly responsible for the fact that all children at one stage or the other
regard their membership of peer group as very important.
When
the family is not supportive for instance, if the parents work extra jobs and
are largely unavailable, their children may turn to their peer for emotional
support. This also occur when the conflict between parents and children during
adolescence or at any stage during a child’s development becomes so great that
the child feels pushed away and seeks company elsewhere.
Most children and adolescents in this position do not discriminate about the kind of group they join. They will often turn to a group simply because the group accepts them even if the group is involved in negative tendency (Smith and Pellegrini, 2001).
The need for affection or closeness is often greater than
the need to do the right thing. For some adolescents who feel isolated and
abandoned by members of their family being part of a peer group provides such
individual with acceptance and security not available at home.
In the Cameroon society today, the influence of peer group cannot be over emphasized in a child’s life most especially child education. Peer group has in one way or the other influenced the life of children both academically, socially, morally, psychologically and otherwise.
It helps just like any other
agent of school students in Cameroon, Buea in particular Socialization such as
family, religion, mass media, and school among others help in modifying the
behavior of the child.
In
conclusion, therefore the influence of peer group on the academic performance
of secondary school students cannot be over emphasized. The peer group forms
the main basis through which the child learns lot of empirical facts about his
physical and social environment, acquisition of skills and value as well as
attitude for a better future.
Statement of problem
Children
socialize with the people with when they associate. Through interaction over
many years, acceptable social customs are taught and fostered. Other children
as well as adults can have a great impact on a broad range of issues in the
child’s life including achievement in schools.
The
research is geared towards having a proper understanding of the way social
interaction affect academic achievement and it is very important for parents,
educators, and policy makers. The immediate environment such as peer, family,
school, religion and other factors can encourage or discourage students’
academic performance.
This
research is thus an inquiry into the influence of peer group on the academic
performance of secondary school students within the Buea municipality.
Purpose of the study
The
purpose of the study is to examine the influence of peer group on students’
academic performance.
Objective of the study
The
objectives of this study is to:
- To investigate whether peer group affect the academic performance of students.
- To find out whether peer influence determines variation in the academic performance of male and female students.
- To investigates whether age does determine the extent to which peer influence affects academic performance of students.
