CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
The rapid development of the era is challenging the adolescents to face the wave of globalization. Thus, the ability to control the emotions has become important for not carried away by the flow of negative and evil elements. A high emotional intelligence helps to maintain a state of harmony in oneself and finally be more self-confident in dealing with the challenges of living and learning in educational institutions. Emotional Intelligence is a cross section of interrelated emotional and social competencies, skills and facilitators that determine how effectively we understand and express ourselves, understand others and relate with them, and cope with daily demands and pressures (Bar-On, 2006). It is that part of the human spirit which motivates us to perform, which gives us energy to demonstrate behaviours such as intentionality, persistence, creativity, impulse control, social deftness, compassion, intuition and integrity (Kapp, 2002). Lam and Kirby (2002) are of the opinion that emotional intelligence involves perceiving, understanding, and regulating emotions.
High emotional intelligence can contribute to a student in the learning process (Goleman, 1996; Elias, Ubriaco, Reese et al., 1992, Svetlana, 2007). Students low on emotional intelligence may find failure more difficult to deal with, which undermines their academic motivation (Drago, 2004). Academic motivation is defined as enthusiasm for academic achievement which involves the degree to which students possess certain specific behavioural characteristics related to motivation (Hwang et al, 2002). It is the orientation to the actions which is important to compel with the perfect standards. Goc (2010) has stated the factors affecting students achievement motivation as; effectiveness of the teacher, friends, the individual’s attitude towards school, students’ perceptions about their own abilities, past experiences (positive or negative), the importance given to the student’s success, parents approaches towards their children and school. For many years educators, professionals and the public alike have been focusing on the intellectual achievement of individuals. In the past, perceived cognitive potential, more than any other factor has been seen as a predictor of academic achievement. It has, however, been established that despite an individual having the intellectual potential to succeed at institutions of higher education, he/she may experience difficulty dealing with emotional issues, have poor relationships, and be ineffective in his/her decision making (Goleman,1995). These observations, among others, have led to the realization that individuals from changing populations may require more than intellectual abilities to exist and thrive academically.
All students experience frustration and failure to achieve their goals. They depend on the strength of fortitude to control their negative thoughts and feelings. If they are able to control emotions, they will achieve the academic goals as well (Dweck, 1996). Finnegan (1998) argued that school should help students learn the abilities underlying the emotional intelligence. This he believes could lead to achievement from formal education years of the child. Likewise, Abisamra (2000) reported that there is a positive relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement. He therefore canvassed for inclusion of emotional intelligence in the schools’ curricula. Parker et al (2004) in their study found that highly successful students scored higher than the unsuccessful group on emotional intelligence. In the same vein, Low and Nelson (2004) reported that emotional intelligence skills are key factors in the academic achievement and test performance of high school and college students respectively. A study conducted by Rode et al (2007) predicted that emotional intelligence was related to academic performance for two reasons. First, academic performance involves a great deal of ambiguity. Second, majority of academic work is self-directed, requiring high levels of self-management. Therefore, individuals with high emotional intelligence would perform better academically. Similarly, a study conducted on children aged 4 years found that controlling the impulses of action have shown their ability in achieving good academic and good social skills when they are in their adolescence (Shoda, Mischel, and Peake, 1990). Contribution of emotional management to academic performance was also supported by research done by Mac Cann et al (2011). The results suggest that better educational outcomes might be achieved by targeting skills relating to emotion management and problem-focused coping. Svetlana (2007) suggests the need to incorporate emotional intelligence training into secondary education curricula, due to a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement.
The performance of students in any academic task has always been of special interest to educators’ parents and society at large. The primary concern of any educator who is entrusted with the responsibility of selecting students for any advance training programme in a given field is the ability to estimate as accurately and as early as possible the probability that such candidates will succeed or fail. The major obstacle to the development of education in Ekiti State is persis-tent poor academic performance of students’ in Senior School Certificate Examination, National Examinations Council and Joint Matriculation Examination.
The problem of poor academic performance is so great that it has become a necessary for many students to pass the number of required subjects for admission into tertiary institutions at once (Ajayi 1999). Government, parents and guardians are complaining about this situation. Mass failure of students in external examinations has been attributed to a number of factors which include teachers’ factors (low qualification, lack of experience, poor salaries and allowances, poor supervision, organizational climate (open and close), students’ factors (poor ability of students, under age, unwillingness to learn, bad peer groups influence, among others). It is observed that students’ academic performance is becoming worse in public secondary schools. Many parents prefer to enroll their children in Government Colleges where better academic performance is guaranteed for their children. It also appears that some parents believe that their children cannot perform very well academically in co-educational school (mixed schools). To this end, many of them would prefer to register their children in single sexed schools for Senior School Certificate Examination to enhance better academic performance.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The intent of this study was to examine the influence of emotional intelligence (EI), school type and location on academic achievement of In-school adolescents. There are two major reasons for this. First, the emotional intelligence [EI] construct is relatively new (Mayer &Salovey, 1990). Second, a century of research on general intelligence and cognitive performance has overshadowed the role of non-cognitive EI factors that may affect academic achievement. This has led to a consensus among educators that cognitive factors, like high scores on intelligence tests, predict student performance in college (Jensen, 1998). Yet, many students still fail to live up to their true potential despite their Intelligence Quotient or previous academic performance. Conversely, some adolescents with mediocre grades have managed to complete a college or university education. Both of these examples suggest that other factors, specifically non-cognitive Emotional Intelligence factors, may be at work. In essence, the importance of emotional intelligence on academic achievement has been found to be very significant.
Many parents believe that the academic performance in urban schools is poor compared with academic performance of students in rural schools and therefore enroll their wards in the rural schools for Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE). It appears most of the public secondary schools cannot complete favorably with Government Colleges in terms of students’ academic performance as a result of their inefficiency. It is against this background that the study investigates the influence of emotional intelligence, school type and location on academic achievement of in-school adolescents.