Abstract:

Declining academic performance among students has remained a recurring irritant in Nigeria’s educational system, in spite of all efforts of government and major stakeholders to change the narrative in the education sector. Since all teaching and learning activities take place within an environment, it is expected that the outcome of the education process correlates significantly with the teaching-learning environment. Following the method of survey design, this research identifies environmental factors that influence learning outcomes based on a sample of 622 respondents from public secondary schools in Anambra State. Multi-stage sampling technique is used in the sample selection, first to choose two senior secondary schools from each of three senatorial zones of the state. A second sample made up of 520 students and 102 academic instructors was drawn on proportionate basis from the previously selected sample of six senior secondary schools. The method of analysis is largely descriptive. The study presents robust evidence that students’ family background, proximity of home to school, level of training/professionalism attained by teachers, as well as school structure greatly affect the performance of students in these institutions and thereby concludes that environmental factors play significant roles in the promotion of improved academic performance among senior secondary school students.