CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a new concept, which has been used and defined in the management literature since 1990. Different studies have demonstrated that emotional intelligence is one of the virtues associated with success in life (Ranjbar et al, 2012). Developing emotional intelligence among the student which can solve many problems in educational sector, health and management (Miri et al, 2013), There is a growing body of evidence regarding the emotional aspects of student work in the school. Although, few educational and management researchers have accepted this concept, the concept of emotional intelligence has been used by the administrative authorities in many schools and workplaces to explain issues related to the student, performance, absenteeism, teachers commitment and leadership (carmeli, 2003).

The trend in the academic achievement of secondary school students in Nigeria in the last two decades has become a major source of concern to all stakeholders in the education sector. This is so because of the great importance that education has on the national development of the country. There is a consensus of opinion about the fallen standard of education in Nigeria (Adebule, 2004). Parents and government are in agreement that their huge investment on education is not yielding the desired dividend (Adegbite, 2005). There is mass decline in the achievement of students in both National Examination Council (NECO) and the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE),( Dawa, Adamu and Olayomi ,2005). The annual releases of Senior Secondary Certificate Examination results (SSCE) conducted by West African Examination Council (WAEC) depicts the problematic nature and generalization of poor secondary school students’ achievement in different school subjects especially mathematics and English language among secondary school students (Adesemowo, 2005). Poor academic achievement is an achievement that is adjudged by the examiner as falling below an expected standard. Academic failure is not only frustrating to the students and the parents, its effects are equally grave on the society in terms of dearth of manpower in all spheres of the economy and polity

productive and healthy students, which can be achieved through a balance in the cognitive and emotional domains of learning. On account of this, Epstein (1998) and Le Doux (2002) suggest that both the cognitive and the emotional domains of student’s academic development should be the primary goal for educating students. Cherniss (2004) stated the importance of emotional intelligence as necessary to improving performance and psychological well-being in school work. If emotional intelligence skills are developed, strengthened and enhanced, students may demonstrate increased levels of personal, academic and career achievement (Vela, 2003).Emotional intelligence as determined by Nelson and Low (1999) has four major skills dimensions of emotional competencies namely-interpersonal skills, leadership skills, self-management skills and intrapersonal skills. Emotional Intelligence is perceived as a type of aptitude that involves the ability to monitor one’s feelings and that of others, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s feeling and thinking (Salovey and Mayer, 1990).According to Weisenger (1998) emotional intelligence is also defined as “ the intelligent use of emotions: one intentionally makes one’s own emotion work for one by using them to help guide one’s behaviour and thinking in ways that enhance one’s result”. Emotional intelligence skills enable people to reduce negative stress in their life, build healthy relationships, communicate effectively, and develop emotional health. Emotional safety is important at each stage of development. These same skills and competencies are critical to achieving academic and career excellence in life. Nelson and Low (2005) identified the need for more effective development of emotional intelligence skills when they stated that: The qualitative, holistic, emotive and subjective experiences of students are critical to healthy growth and development. Emotional development of students does not seem important until behaviour becomes problematic and reported. Familiar examples are under-achievement, bullying, attrition, school violence, absenteeism, substance abuse, lack of motivation and psychoeducational problems. Even though educators are compassionate, specific help is often absent, ineffective or too late. Proactive programmes to identify and develop emotional skills are needed to prevent problematic behaviours and not react to them after the act. Considering the claims of some of these studies that emotional intelligence accounts for more of the exceptional achievements in students ( Nelson and Low, 2003; Vela, 2003), the present study sought to determine the role of emotional intelligence in the academic achievement of senior secondary school students (Aremu, 2000). Morakinyo (2003) agrees that the falling level of academic achievement is attributable to teacher’s non-use of verbal reinforcement strategy. Adegbite (2005) found out that the attitude of some teachers to their job is reflected in their poor attendance to lessons, lateness to school, unsavory comments about student’s performance that could damage their ego, poor method of teaching and the likes. Edun and Akanji (2008) asserted that poor academic achievement among our students is usually attributed to the school authority and teachers’ attitude to their work. Oyinloye (2005) attributes the problem of poor academic achievement to low level of emotional intelligence among secondary school students. He believes that “students who lack emotional intelligence show some adjustive challenges or in some ways fail to handle effectively the demands of school work. Such students might be said to have little or no emotional intelligence and may not be capable of attaining personal goals which include high academic achievement.” It is apparent that the primary focus of education is academic performance that has been measured using traditional Intelligence tests or other forms of standardized examination, and schools cannot ignore or neglect the development of emotional domains and other personal factors contributing to the success of students (Nelson and Low, 2003).Educators need to build high-achieving

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The decline in the academic achievement of secondary school students in Nigeria has been a major source of concern to stakeholders and policy makers in the education sector. Measures taken by the government at various levels to eliminate this problem and improve the academic achievement of students have focused more on improving infrastructure, equipping the schools and providing qualified teachers, may not have produced the desired results. Poor academic achievement among secondary school students limits their potentials for advancement in career and their ability to compete effectively in an ever increasingly competitive global village. Though the curricula at the secondary school level are designed to address this inherent gap but the importance of students’ emotional standard of performance may have been seen to be missing, misunderstood or neglected. It is therefore necessary to interrupt the ugly trend of poor academic achievement among secondary students by developing and enhancing their emotional intelligence skills which have been observed to be major determinants of academic achievement because a student may recover from physical pain or injury, but may never recover from the terror and degradation of his or her emotional state

1.3   OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The following are the objectives of this study:

1.  To examine the influence of emotional intelligence on academic performance among secondary school student.

2.  To examine the impact of academic performance on emotional intelligence among secondary school student.

3.  To identify the factors that influences academic performance among secondary school student
1.4   RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.  What is the influence of emotional intelligence on academic performance among secondary school teachers?

2.  What is the impact of academic performance on organizational commitment among secondary school teachers?

3.  What are the factors that influence academic performance among secondary school teachers?

1.6   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The following are the significance of this study:

1.  The result of this study will educate stakeholders in the education sector on the importance of emotional intelligence on academic performance and how they can be used as a tool to promote academic performance among secondary school teachers.

2.  This research will also serve as a resource base to other scholars and researchers interested in carrying out further research in this field subsequently, if applied will go to an extent to provide new explanation to the topic

1.7   SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This study will cover some selected Champion secondary plc Uyo Akwa Ibom State. It will also cover the level of staff commitment in the selected secondary schools.

LIMITATION OF STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

 Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

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