Personal Factors and Student’s Conformity to School Rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. Volume 3 - Issue 2

Kingsley Akarowhe¹, Jonah² and John Effiong²*

• ¹Department of Educational Foundations, Guidance and Counselling, Faculty of Education, University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria
• ²Department of Educational Foundations, Guidance and Counselling, Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria

Received: October 10, 2020   Published: December 10, 2020

Corresponding author: John Effiong, Department of Educational Foundations, Guidance and Counselling, Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nigeria

DOI: 10.32474/JAAS.2020.03.000156

 

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Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to determine the influence of personal factors on student’s conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. Two research questions were answered in the study and two null hypotheses were tested at .05 level of significance. The population of the study comprised of 19,272 students in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. A sample of 213 students were drawn from the population using stratified random sampling technique. A questionnaire with 10 items designed by the researchers was used for data collection for the study. The instrument was subjected to face-validity by two validators from the Department of Educational Foundations, Guidances and Counselling, University of Uyo. The internal consistency of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha’s technique and a reliability coefficient of 0.79 was obtained. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the two research questions. The independent t–test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to test the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that gender hadlow influence; and age hadhigh influence on student’s conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. And also, gender had no significant influence on their conformity to school rules; andage had significant influence on student’s conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. Based on these findings, it was recommended among other things that in the post- COVID 19 school era, school administrators should involve students in policy making process at school to ensure that they don’t feel alienated. This would help to inculcate in them a sense of belonging in the decision making process, hence inducing them to conform to school rules.

Keywords: Conformity; Personal Factors; Gender; Age; School Rules; Post-COVID 19

Introduction

In the pre-COVID-19 school era, the Nigeria school system was bedevilled by failures on the part of students to conform to established school rules. This was not different in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial district but more worrisome. This often than not induces relevant stakeholders in the education sector to proffer solution to the situation which notwithstanding had yielded little result than anticipated. Although,best known to the researchers attention had not been given to personal factors, even though it is an indispensable factor that may induce a student to conform to laid down rules in school. The similitude of this instigated the researchers to investigate the influence of personal factors on students conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. It is believed that this will serve as a blueprint to remedy the situation in post-COVID-19 school era.
It is believed that the school do not exist as an island, but usually located within an environment. Hence, the school is referred to as a microcosms of the larger society probably because of the interdependence, inter-relationship and interconnection between them. As each classroom is regarded as a community, it is therefore expected that the members must comply with the norms of that miniature society. As a mirror to the wider society, the school is often influenced by the society and vice versa; ‘a micro-society within a macro-society’. The school is an organized institution established for the primary purpose of transmitting formal education to members of the society. It is often regarded as a place where one is trained in a particular skill or activity and often surrounded by laid down rules. Such rules are usually associated with classroom management and these rules act as guidelines for evaluation of actions in terms of good and bad, right or wrong and therefore a part of moral education in the school system.
School rules govern the conducts of students within the school system. In light of this, Jarolimek [1] opined that the school is an organized system established for the purpose of preventing individual and group behaviours deemed unwanted, for the development of positive behaviour that would earn societal acceptance.Thus, rules and regulations are kept in place to enable everyone within the school setting work and behave in a manner conducive to the pursuit of the laid down goals of the school Ibia [2]. Hence, it tends to model students for the larger society they live in by conforming to its rules too.
Conformity means to comply with rules (norms), standards or laws and to behave according to the usual standards of behaviour that are expected by a group in a society. Non-conformity to laiddown rules can be referred to as a deviance which Akarowhe [3] view as a behavioural disposition that is not in conformity with an institutionalized set-up or code of conduct. Okorodudu [9] argues that one may conform or accept influence because he/she hopes to achieve a favourable reaction from another person or group. He/ she adopts the induced behaviour not because he believes in its content but because he expects to gain specific rewards or approval and avoid specific punishments or disapproval by not conforming. Nigeria, schools are being run with the norms [rules] regulating people’s actions in school organisations as enacted by the State Ministry of Education Asuka [5].
According to Asuka [5], every student is expected to know how to sing the National Anthem and recite and the National Pledge; lateness is not tolerated and latecomers are punished; attendance at school is regulated, except in cases of illness which should be reported to the school authority; attendance at morning and afternoon assemblies is compulsory, students are to be punctual at all school assemblies; there should be no loitering about during lessons; all students should come to school with the approved college uniforms except on society days when they are supposed to wear society uniforms; perming of hair, use of eye shadow, ultra sheen, painting of fingers and toe nails, or any other kind of make-up etc, are disallowed in school; any student who sneaks out of the school premises is to be penalized by the authority; examination misconducts are strictly forbidden; hard drugs, cigarettes and alcohol are strictly forbidden among students; truancy is completely forbidden in the school system, persistent truancy leads to suspension and ultimate dismissal of student; public assault, thuggery or hooliganism in and outside the school are not permitted and are not be engaged in by members of the school community.Conformity to these rules may be influenced by personal factors of the students.
Personal factors are attributes observable in an individual that tend to induce him/her to posses certain values, norms and depositions. They are indispensable factors which may determine one interaction, deposition and comformity to set standard in any given social setting or society. Some of these factors include age, marital status; gender among others. Gender composition of students is a dicing factor that may determine their conformity to set school rules. Gender is an important factor that may influence the live of students in school and in the society. It is so important that it affects the role student’s play and the relative power they wield. It determines the opportunities and privileges we have Kamla-Ray [6]. Gender discrimination begins before birth in many parts of the world. In Nigeria, every father, whether rich or poor, desires a male child. Mothers are blamed for producing girls, even by those who know that father’s chromosomes determine the sex of the child Odimegu [7].
Males are often regarded as assets within the school system. Since male and female students undergo different socialization experiences, they tend to learn different gender roles and behaviour patterns but both have been known to be involved in deviant behaviours. In correlation with this, Makokha [8] found that the type of offence differs sharply between the sexes, boys [males] being more convicted of violent offences like bullying, robbery, vandalism while girls [females] involve in gossiping, lying, slandering and sex-related crimes such as prostitution.
In families where parents are extremely strict on the female child, they enforce strict rules to deny them freedom in and outside the house, these girls see school as an opportunity to ‘free themselves’. Hence, skipping schools and changing into casual wears in order to elope may beidentify among females. According to Etuk [9], female children are often considered the weaker vessels when compared to their male counterparts and are likely to comply with exercises that are less rigorous. Also, female students tend to display less self-confidence than men when confronted with tasks and when performing in areas new or unfamiliar to them. This may be one of the factors influencing their behaviours which may constitute conformity to school rules among female students.
With age come different changes physiological and psychological. It is so because of the numerous qualitative shifts that takes place, at this time, the character of a radical break with the previous properties, interests, and the relationships of students. Moreover, the changes that take place are often accompanied by the manifestation in the students significantly subjecting to various rules. The reasons for which are, the numerous qualitative shifts that take place, at this time, which at times assume the character of a radical break with the previous properties, interests, and the relationships of students. This can take place over a relatively short period of time and often it is unexpected, imparting to the process of development of an uneven, turbulent character.
At certain age students begin to have a sharpened sense of his/her own dignity, he/she sees himself as someone who may not be browbeaten, humiliated and deprived of the right to independence. At certain age in a student life, there bound to be many contradictions. They strive for recognition; but do not get it! Consequently they cling to their own age group. This tends to make age homogeneity in classrooms. But in the pre-covid-19, the composition of students by age was heterogeneous in naturein the classroom. In view of this, Asuka [5] noted that over aged students were observed to be the most stubborn and rebellious ones in class to instructions issued by younger prefects. Hence age becomes a factor for studentsconformity to established rules in any environment especially at school. It is consonance with the background of the study, the researchers investigated the influence of personal factors on students’ conformity to schools rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.

Research Questions

a) What was the influence ofgenderon students’ conformity to schools in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District?
b) What was the influence of ageon students’ conformity to school in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District?

Null Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were formulated for the study:
a) Gender has no significant influence on students’ conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
b) Age has no significant influence on students’ conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.

Research Method

A survey research design was adopted for the study. The study was conducted inAkwa-Ibom North-East Senatorial District. The population of the study comprised of 19,272 students in Akwa-Ibom North-East Senatorial District, in which213studentswere sampled using a random sampling technique. Structured questionnaire with 10 items which was titled: Influence of PersonalFactors on Student’s Conformity to School Rules (IPFSCSR) in Akwa-Ibom North-East Senatorial District was used toelicit responses from the respondents for the study. The questionnaire was divided into two Sections (I and II), Section ‘I’ contained the personal data of the respondents. Section ‘II’ contained the statements on the variables grouped into two clusters (1-2) namely: age, and gender. The response options were: High Influence (HI) - 3 points,Moderate Influence (MI) - 2 points, andLow Influence (LI) - 1 point. The instrument was subjected to face-validity by two validators from the Department of Educational Foundations, Guidance and Counseling, University of Uyo. A reliability coefficient of 0.79 internal consistency was obtained using Cronbach Alpha’s technique. The questionnaire was administered to the respondents by the researchers and only200 copies were retrieved out of the 213 copies distributed. The mean and standard deviation were used to answer the two research questions. The influence of personal factors on student’s conformity to school rules was determined using real limit of numbers as follows: High Influence (HI) – 2.50 - 3.00, Moderate Influence (MI) – 1.50 - 2.49 and Low Influence (LI) – 0.50 - 1.49. These real limitswere applied to research questions. Conversely, in testing the null hypotheses at .05 level of significance, Ho was accepted at the expense of HI when t-cal was less than t-tab at .05 level of significance, otherwise Ho was rejectedfor hypothesis one;and Ho was accepted at the expense of HI when F-cal was less than F-tab at .05 level of significance, otherwise Ho wasrejected for hypothesis two.

Results

Research Question I

What was the influenceof gender on students’ conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District?
Key: = Means, SD = Standard Deviation, HI = High Influence, MI = Moderate Influence and LI = Low Influence.
The result presented in (Table 1) shows that the items on gender has the cluster mean of 1.21. This indicated that genderhadlow influence on students’ conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. All the items had their meanbelow the cut-off point of 1.50, notably the item onmale being asset in school had the lowest mean ( = 0.31), while the item on more selfconfidence in malehad the highest mean ( = 1.48). In addition, the standard deviation ranges from 0.12 – 1.71, thisindicated that the respondents were more convergence in their responses.

Research Question 2

What was the influence ofage on students’ conformity to schoolrulesin Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District?
Key: = Means, SD = Standard Deviation, HI = High Influence, MI = Moderate Influence and LI = Low Influence.
The result presented in (Table 2) showed that the items on age have the cluster mean of 2.54. This indicated that age hadhigh influence on students’ conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. All the items had their mean above the cut-off point of 1.50. The item on same age range in classroomhad the highest mean (=2.91).The standard deviation range from0.09 - 1.45which indicated that the respondent were convergent in their responses.

Testing of Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were tested in the study.

Null Hypothesis I

Gender has no significant influence on students’ conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
(Table 3) showed the summary of the independent t-test analysis of the influence of gender on students’ conformity to school rule in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. Since the t-cal of0.84 was less than the t-tab of 1.96, the null hypothesis which stated that gender had no significant influence on students’conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District was accepted.Thus, students conformity to school rules was not significantly influenced by their gender.

Null Hypothesis 2

Age has no significant influence on students’ conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
(Table 4) showedthe summary of the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) of the influence of age onstudents’ conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. Since the F-tab of 3.09 was less than F-cal of 5.21, the null hypothesis was therefore rejected. Howbeit the alternative hypothesis which wasstated that age had significant influence on students’ conformity to school

Discussion of Findings

Discussion of the results of this study was primarily based on the research questions and hypotheses that were formulated in the study.
The result of research question one indicated that gender hadlow influence on students’ conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. And from hypothesis one,gender had no significant influence on students’ conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial. This findingwas in consonance with Salivalli, Kukainem and Lagerspetz (1998) finding, that gender of students does not determine the propensity to become delinquents and refuse to conform to school rules. This may be due to the fact that gender of a student does not exonerate him/her from non-comforming to school rules. This is beenthe case in some schools where female students are found of nonconforming to school rule, so also their male counterpart.
The result of research question two revealed that age hadhigh influence on students’ conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. Similarly, hypothesis two showed that age had significant influence on student’s conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. This finding was in line with the earlier finding of Asuka (1997) who found that those over aged students were observed to be the most stubborn and rebellious ones in class to instructions issued by younger prefects. This result, may have been necessitated byheterogeneity in age among students in pre-covid 19school era.

Conclusion

Genderhad no significant influence on students’ conformity to school rules; andagehad significant influence on student’s conformity to school rules in Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. Hence, keen attention to students’ age is an imperative factor necessary that may trigger their conformity to school rules in post covid-19 school era.

Recommendations

Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made:

A. In the post-covid 19 school era, school administrators should involve students in policy making process at school to ensure that they do not feel not alienated irrespective of their age. This will help to inculcatein them a sense of belonging in the decision making process, hence inducing them to conform to school rules.
B. Teachers should create a cohesive environment in school, one in which teachers and studentsshare affection(parents and children kinds) irrespective of students’ gender. This will helpstudents to conform to schools rules without being compelled or punished.

References

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2. Ibia I (2006) Sociological Foundations of Nigerian Education. CATS Publishers, Nigeria.
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4. Okorodudu G (2010) Influence of parenting styles on adult delinquency in Delta Central Senatorial District. Edo Journal of Counselling 3(1): 58-86.
5. Asuka T (1997) Sociology of Nigerian Education. Yenagoa. Oneness Books.
6. Kamla-Raj J (2007) The Status of Women, Sex Preference, Decision-making and Fertilization Control. 3rd Edition. Oxford Press, Nigeria.
7. Odimegu F (2001) The Effect of Sex Preference on Contraceptive Use and fertility in Rural India. International Family Planning Perspective 20(3): 88-95.
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9. Etuk H (2012) Factors Influencing Utilization of Family Planning Services among Married Women in Useabat Community. An Unpublished B.Sc Project. University of Calabar.