Impact of School Climate and Location on Academic Achievement of Students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North West- Zone, Nigeria

Impact of School Climate and Location on Academic Achievement of Students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North West- Zone, Nigeria

Dr. Yusuf Habib Osuwa, Dr. Mustapha Shariff Abdulkadir, Dr. Ahmed Tijjani Ibrahim

Federal College of Education Katsina, Nigeria Katsina

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.908000655

Received: 17 August 2025; Accepted: 22 August 2025; Published: 25 September 2025

ABSTRACT

The study investigated the impact of school climate and location on academic achievements of students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North-West Zone, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted. The population comprised of 59,431 students, while 381 were sampled out of 59,431 NCE students. Impact of School Climate and school location on Students’ Academic Achievements Test Questionnaire (ISCSLAAQ) are two instruments designed for this study and were found reliable after a pilot test was conducted with 0.81 and 0.79 Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient respectively. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics to answer research questions and simple linear regression analysis to determine impact at 0.05 level of significance. 375 questionnaires were retrieved from the 381administered to the respondents. In addition, 30 respondents were interviewed where 10 students were used from each College of Education selected. The findings showed positive impact of school climate and location, on the academic achievement of students in Colleges of Education in the North-West Zone, Nigeria. Despite the challenges of balancing social life and academics, most students perceived a supportive and conducive environment for learning existed. Emphasis should be placed on the crucial importance of a positive school climate and well-balanced conducive location within educational institutions. These factors significantly contribute to academic achievement. It was concluded that, the findings collectively shed light on the educational landscape of NCE students in Colleges of Education. They emphasize the crucial importance of a positive school climate and conducive location within educational institutions. It was recommended among others, that educational institutions should prioritise by creating and maintaining a positive school climate, location measures in a balanced and constructive manner. Ensure that rules and norms are clear, fair, and supportive of student growth and development, rather than overly punitive or restrictive; also address resource disparities, especially in the context of school climate and location. It also emphasized that all Colleges of Education, regardless of their location, have equitable access to resources and support systems and continuously assess the effectiveness of school climate and other factors that influence academic achievement. Regular evaluations can help identify areas for improvement and allow for tailored interventions.

Keywords: School Climate, Location, Academic Achievement, Federal Colleges of Education and North West Zone, Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION

School is one of the social institutions that are responsible for the development and training minds and skills in the human societies. School is an institution or organization which provides education and instruction to students of various age groups in a particular discipline. Characteristics of school such as the physical structure of a school building and the interaction between students and teachers are two diverse factors that both impact or help to define the broad concept of school climate. The importance of education has been well accentuated in all societies whether developed or developing; ancient or modern.  It is as a result of this obvious truth that every country accords great emphasis to education both in terms of access and quality. The school inwardly remains centre for moral and academic training and empowerment of individuals for the benefit of community, state, nation or family to a lesser extent (Huha, 2014).School climate has been recognized and identified by parents and teachers as sector that equally contain many other sub-sectors which have effects on students and schools progress (Petrie, 2014).

 The school climate construct is complex and multi-dimensional that refers to the quality and character of school life. It has been described as the unwritten personality and atmosphere of a school, including its norms, values, and expectations (Ajadi, 2019). Climate is referred to as the feeling, character or personality of a formal and informal group features and factors in a work environment. Climate is said to affect efforts geared towards the goal attainment of a school negatively or positively. Marina and Hinjari (2018) identified five types of climate prevailing in schools such as open, parental, familiar, close and controlled. Marina and Hinjari (2018) classified school climate in two forms, namely positive and negative. A positive school climate is seen as an accessible, co-operative, respectful, pleasant, approachable, supportive and highly motivational interaction among principal and teachers and students. A positive school climate improves student motivation and achievement. The school climate influences collaborative efforts of staff, students, authority and policy makers toward the desired education (school) goals. On the other hand, negative school climate is built under the collective features of school climate such as culture, administration and classroom ecology. National School Climate Centre (2019), a comprehensive assessment of school climate includes major spheres of school life such as safety, relationships, teaching and learning, and the environment as well as larger organizational patterns e.g. from fragmented or shared to healthy or unhealthy.

According to Huha (2014), school climate is a broad factor that could be viewed in varied perspectives; school policies and physical environment, how the staff interact with each other and the students, the type of school leadership and whether or not the administration of the school engages the learners in matters to do with decision making and the varied beliefs and attitudes that the students bring into the school from the families and their communities. The leadership, staff, students, community and families all interact to produce a favourable school climate. School location is a powerful force and plays a pivotal role in the all-round development of the students. Federal Colleges of Education have various locations, some in the urban areas while others in the rural areas. It is observed that colleges which are located in the urban areas tend to have more facilities, manpower, government attention, etc. as against those located in the rural areas. School location refers to where a given school is situated and it could be in an urban or rural area. Similarly, Bosede (2010) asserts that location is a particular place in relation to other areas. He further states that urban areas are those with high population density, high variety and beauty while rural areas are those with low population, subsistence mode of life, monotonous and burden. School is a social institution where several teachers having different personality traits, values and dispositions must work together for the harmonious development of the students’ abilities, attitudes, and the personalities. In the same way, Bosede, (2010) and Ezendu, (2013) in their studies on the influence of study interest and school location on the attitude of school students towards academic achievement stated that in Nigeria students that reside in urban centres especially where there are higher institutions like Colleges of Education, Polytechnics or Universities are likely to have inclination for higher education than those in the rural setting and also could have more access to libraries, laboratories, etc. than those in rural setting.

With regard to this, environment can be seen as an important factor of positive or negative school climate. The school climate may cause disengagement as well as many other factors and may be a source of test anxiety, consequently having an impact on the academic achievement in some instances new students have also failed to adapt to school environment because of the feeling that they might have been admitted to a wrong school that may not be their choice and hence they keep seeking or anticipating a change of school. Nuhu (2019) conceptualized that, teacher characteristics consist of: their knowledge of respective subjects, experience in use of didactic materials and student-teacher relationships. Huha (2014) suggested that a teacher must possess theoretical knowledge about human learning behaviour and must demonstrate a repertoire of teaching skills that are believed to facilitate student learning. He or she (teacher) must display attitudes that foster learning and genuine human relationship and must possess knowledge of subject matter if at all the students are to benefit. Nuhu (2019) further notes that a student’s ability to cope with the transition to tertiary institution is likely to depend on several factors, including personal maturity and coping resources, the nature of the new school environment, and the level of preparation and social control available prior to and during the transition. The school climate is a description of the total written and unwritten, academic achievement, social and administrative rules that affects and influence the behaviour of teachers and students school climate doesn’t operate in isolation that is why it extends its relationship to family, parents and other institutions (Inuwa, 2014). The school setting is fundamentally on “pattern relationship” and interdependent functions based on the students, teachers and school organization, level of academic achievements in school. Academic achievement is a process of achieving success by the students or the standard to which someone does a task effectively such as a job or an examination.

Location refers to a school’s site, type of buildings, usage, capacity, teachers, students, environment and other parameters for rationalisation of both rural and urban school map (World Bank, 2005).  According to Alokan (2013), location refers to the particular place, in relation to other areas in the physical environment rural or urban), where the college is sited. In Nigeria, rural life is uniform, homogenous and less complex than that of the urban centers, with cultural diversity which often is suspected to affect students’ academic achievement. This is because urban centers are better resourced with respect to distribution of social amenities such as pipe born water, electricity, health care facilities. The extent to which location determines students’ achievement lies with the particular type of college, its size and whether it is near or far away from another college.

It is against this background that, Owooye and Yara (2010) in their studies on school location and academic achievement of college students in Nigeria asserts that the various reviews of literatures on location impact on academic achievement is not the same. While some maintain that urban students perform better in examinations than their rural counterparts, other found that rural students (in spite of all odds) perform better. Academic activities are usually measured by test/examination or by assessments. But it is not verified that which one method is the best for testing the students reading, learning and behaving. In California, the achievements of school are measured by the academic performance index because individuals have different mental level, interest, atmosphere which linked to difference in intelligence and personality. The way of student’s interest, skills, reading habits, behaviour etc are the outcome/reflection of parent’s academic socialization. The parents play vital role in child academic socialization. At first stage of their live children learn languages which help them to adjust and fulfill the academic expectations. Physical activity and language plays a vital role in best academic environment because sound body have sound mind and language is a tool for learning and expressing feelings/ knowledge. Exercise specifically increase executive brain functions such as attention, working memory, and motivation (Farooqui, 2012).

Therefore, the location of school has tremendous impact on student’s academic achievements because school facilities refer to inputs which ease the operation of academic activities. They include desks, chairs, blackboards, dustbins, teaching aids, typewriters, computers, generators, and calculators and so on. School facilities according to (Owooye & Yara (2010)) are operational inputs of every instructional programme. They are material resources that facilitate effective teaching and learning in Colleges. This problem of poor achievement is more pronounced in ill-equipped schools hence it becomes necessary to find out the impacts of school location on the academic achievement of students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North-West Zone, Nigeria.

According to Clark (2002) citing Bruner (1966:45) on the importance of learning environment strongly states that:

“Growth depends upon internalizing events into a storage system that corresponds to the environment; it is this system that makes possible the child’s increasing ability to go beyond the information encounter on a single occasion. He does this by making predictions and extrapolations from his stored model of the world.”

He further stated that the individual student’s academic behaviour is effect not only by the motivating forces of his home, scholastic ability, and academic values but also by the social pressure applied by the participants in the Colleges of Education setting.

Academic achievement has been explained by several authors. According to Farrant (2019) academic achievement is the knowledge gained which is assessed by marks by a teacher and/or educational goals set by students and teachers to be achieved over a specific period of time. Similarly, Farrant (2019) opined that academic achievement is a measurable and observable behaviour of a student within a specific period that consists of scores obtained by a student in an assessment such as class exercise, class test, mid-semester, mock examination, and end of semester examination. The location that shapes social, emotional, ethical, and educational experiences create a climate conducive to learning, participating in democracy, and overall well-being with high-quality education leads to academic achievements, and there is a strong correlation between education and character development.  However, in an attempt to realize the goals and aspirations of academic achievement in school, the relationship between school climate, and location should cordial such as open, closed, controlled paternal, familiar and autonomics climate (Farooqui, 2012). The researchers investigated the impacts of school climate, and location on academic achievement of students in Federal Colleges of Education in North West Zone, Nigeria.

Statement of the Problem

The issue of students’ academic achievements in Colleges of Education in Nigeria has been of much concern to the government, parents, teachers, and even students. The quality of education does not only depend on students’ related factors but also on the effective coordination of the school climate and location. Moreover, when it comes to the poor academic achievements of the students, people are too quick to blame teachers and the students. But the fundamental problems facing education in Nigeria since independence are organizational or issuing concerns on school climate and location, ranging from inadequate school structures, poorly equipped classrooms, a high rate of school enrolment, inadequate instructional materials, high drop-out rates, and inadequate facilities and location, all of which culminate in positive or negative outcomes in the examination and quality of school leavers in Colleges of Education.

It has been observed in today’s Colleges, that factors relate to school climate, and location such as: an epidemic of attention deficit disorder, behavioural problems, faltering academic abilities, language difficulties (which extend to reading comprehension as well as oral expression) and weak problem-solving skills are reported by teachers across Nigeria that bring about poor academic achievement in schools. Today, Federal Colleges of Education are experiencing technological advancements and changes in improving their teaching methods due to modern technology so as to meet the growing demands of their students. This phenomenon has become a source of worry to many parents, teachers, and educationists who believe that it hinder proper knowledge and skill acquisition toward academic achievement. It is because of these differences that poor teaching experience, inadequate or poor physical infrastructure, and unsatisfactory building design are likely to cause some physical discomfort for the students and are therefore bound to influence their academic achievement. However, this defines the impact of school climate and location of Colleges of Education students’ academic achievement. This raises some questions for their academic achievement in relation to their school climate and location. While there has been a great deal of researches on the impact of school climate, school identification and academic performance in other part of the region, few studies have been conducted on this topic in the North-West Zone, Nigeria.

This investigation will deemed appropriate, as without it, colleges will continue the same without improvement in the students’ academic achievement while jeopardizing national efforts geared at having skilled, qualified and quality teachers in Nigeria as schools seem to exhibit different types of climate, social control and school location, the atmosphere might be healthy and friendly is some colleges while in other, it may be tensed hence, students’ academic achievement seems to be of the school climate and location.

Hence, the school climate remains an important area that should be studied and well managed to enhance teachers’ performance as well as students’ academic achievement. Therefore, this research work aims to investigate the impacts of school climate, social control and school location to shed some light on the factors that may impact on academic achievements of students. Thus, this situation prompted the researchers to investigate the impact of school climate, and location of students’ academic achievement in Federal Colleges of Education in the North West Zone, Nigeria because researches conducted before are mostly on school climate and academic performance without colleges of Education location impact on students’ academic achievements in the North-West Zone, Nigeria

Objectives of the Study

The objectives of the study are as follows:

1. To determine the impact of school climate on academic achievement of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North-West Zone, Nigeria
2. To find out extent to which location affects academic achievement of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North-West Zone, Nigeria.
3. To identify School Climate and Location factors that most predict academic achievement of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North-West Zone, Nigeria.

Research Questions

The research questions for the study are as follows:

1. What is the significant impact of school climate on academic achievement of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North–West Zone, Nigeria?
2. What is significant extent to which location affects academic achievement of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North-West Zone, Nigeria.?
3. Does the impact of School climate and location factors that most predict academic achievement of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North-West Zone, Nigeria?

Research Hypotheses

The research postulates the following null hypotheses:

1. H_O1: There is no significant impact of School Climate on academic achievements of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North-West Zone, Nigeria
2. H_O2: There is no significant impact of Location on academic achievements of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North-West Zone, Nigeria.
3. H_O4: There is no significant impact of School Climate and Location that most predicts academic achievements among NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North –West Zone, Nigeria.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The school is often generalized as a place of learning and socialization of students in accordance with specific cultured education. The functions of education cannot be generalized and cannot be narrowly viewed using single sociological perspective. Theories underpinning and related to this study is Functionalist Theory (Parsons, 1977 cited in Inuwa, 2014), which is also called Functionalism. The structural functionalism approach owes much to Auguste Comte and it has its origins in the work of Emile Durkheim. Thus, functionalism is first associated with Emile Durkheim and Herbert Spencer. It is a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose part work together to promote solidarity and stability. Functionalist perceives society as a system of interconnected parts that work together in harmony to maintain a state of social balance for the whole. The integrated conceptual model of student success is developed by Spector and Fox (2016) to explain the various factors that impact on the success of students in school. The model argues that student success in school is influenced by multi-level factors both in school and at home. The factors they identify within the school context include facilities, rules and regulations and other factors that facilitate quality teaching and learning. They identified that home context contributes to student’s education. In applying the model to the current study, the academic achievement of students in school is presumed to be influenced by multi-level factors in school climate, location and home context.

The integrated model argues that student success in school is influenced by multi-level factors both in school and at home. The factors they identify within the school context include facilities, rules and regulations and other factors that facilitate quality teaching and learning. They identified that home context contributes to student’s education. In applying the model to the current study, the academic achievement of students in school is presumed to be influenced by multi-level factors in school climate, location and home context. These factors form critical elements of the location or learning environment which is hypothesize to impact academic achievement directly

Also, social interaction should be broadly observed as both human and materials, social issues and other associations with the environment in totality. Ecological perspective is employ because of its extensive interactive explanation of social relationship of students and other personnel in schools and the available teaching and learning material in all types of school climate and school factors. The relationship to individual student to the features or structures associated to the eco-system of ecological perception in school climate indicates that position of students to other larger structure indirectly affects and influences their academic achievement. The study utilizes the Socio-Cognitive Learning Theory by Albert Bandura. Bandura (2004) defines learning as an internal mental process that may or may not be reflected in immediate behavioural change and postulates that student behaviour is as a result of interplay of factors both inside and outside the individual. This theory is of great significance to the study, because it concurs that socio-contextual factors such as the school climate (environment) therefore, affect students’ academic achievement learning. The school climate in system theory consideration will remain undoubtedly relevant to the case of quantification in the search for its system hierarchical position that involves value of order and number of school climate extrapolation. The nature of school climate and location is presented sociologically with a complex state of paradigm shift, praxis of understanding presentation of ideology. The existing social system is based on its interrelated and interdependent nature of premise. The physical environment of a school includes buildings, classroom furniture, equipment, instructional materials, laboratories, libraries, playgrounds (Alokan, 2013). The physical environment also is made up of machinery, decorative objects, swimming pools, audio-visual equipment and playfields (Babbie, 2013). The physical environment implies the physical location, buildings, furniture, infrastructural facilities, space and equipment for effective teaching and learning.

The physical learning environment in the classroom includes the spatial arrangement of furniture, walls, ceiling, chalkboard, lighting, fittings, decorative and all the physical enablers of teaching and learning in the classroom. The conducive physical environment is an agent of intellectual stimulation and an essential factor in strengthening the child’s educational development. The factors that determine the success of the educational process include the nature of the school, teacher’s attitude and pupils’ characteristics (Akubue & Ifelunni, 2006). The classroom context, school and surrounding also influences students’ achievement. The nature of the classroom environment has a powerful influence on how well students achieve a wide range of educational outcomes. Classroom environment such as physical, emotional and aesthetic characteristics of the classroom tend to enhance students’ attitude towards learning (Ayodele, 2004). The symbolic interactionist perspective concludes that student interactions is symbolic and interpretive in nature and the meaning a group of students attached to various symbol remain significant and form parts of society’s culture. The school climate and location applies various symbolic means of communication which become part of the school culture (Dong, 2008).

Functionalist Theory can make justification on the latent function of all psychosocial variables of this study where motivation consists of academic discipline, commitment to school and optimism; location consist of family attitude toward education and family involvement, relationship with school personnel and school safety climate; self-regulation consist of managing feelings, orderly conduct and thinking capacity. Therefore, Functionalist Theory was adopted to serve as the theoretical framework of this study because it helps to evaluate on how these social factors or variables e.g school climate and location are necessary for students to attain academic achievement in Federal Colleges of Education in North-West Zone, Nigeria.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The researcher employed descriptive survey. A Descriptive Survey Research is an approach of descriptive research that blends quantitative and qualitative data to provide one with relevant and accurate information; descriptive survey design engages the people who are at the center of the research objective. Best and Khan (2013) reports that descriptive survey involves clearly define problems and objectives. The population of the study consisted North-West zone of Nigeria with three (3) States randomly selected with same curriculum Federal Colleges of Education. They are: Federal College of Education, Kano with 24,394 students, Federal College of Education, Katsina with 16, 551 students and Federal College of Education, Zaria with 18,486 students (NCE I, NCE II and NCE III) with overall total population of 59,431 and sample size of 381 NCE students in the North-West Zone. The selection of the samples size was done through the use of the Research Advisors (2006) table for determining sample size and proportionate sampling technique was used in getting various sample size of the students from each NCE students thus allowing equal chance in the selection procedure. Researcher’s-Design questionnaires on impact of school climate and location on academic achievement of Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North-West Zone, Nigeria. The scores correlated were analyzed using the Cronbach alpha reliability test for the two instruments and the reliability coefficient of the instruments for the questionnaires and achievement test for the research. The analysis of the data collected was through the use of computer statistical package (SPSS) for accuracy and proper conclusions that led to the accurate generalization of findings base on the hypotheses raised. The questionnaire and interviews were distributed and conducted to the respondents with the help of research assistants to ensure coverage in the distribution and collection. The data collected from the responses was coded and analyzed to answer the research questions using the inferential statistics of simple linear regression for significant impacts, Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Cronbach alpha for reliability while frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation was used as the descriptive statistics to uphold or reject the hypothesis advance for the study at 0.05% level of significance. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS, Version 23) was used in analyzing the data generated from the respondents through questionnaire and testing of the hypotheses.

Limitation of the Study

The researchers investigated the impact of school climate, and location on academic achievement of Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North West Zone, Nigeria. The scope is limited to the impact of school climate, and location on academic achievement of students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North West Zone, Nigeria. This cannot be discussed without considering the demographic factors of the educational zones in Nigeria. The population is homogenous as this almost belongs to the same group. They also share similar cultural trend and are mainly Hausa/ Fulani and other ethnic groups with very few members speaking other languages while ninety (90%) of the population practice Islam as their religion. The major occupation of the people within the area of research is farming, cattle rearing and trading.  The population involves males and females, the average age group of students is (16 and above) years. Also, the research was delimited to three Federal Colleges of Education namely: Federal Colleges of Education Katsina State, Federal College of Education Kano, Kano State and Federal College of Education Zaria, Kaduna State because they have the same curriculum which is different from Federal College of Education (Technical) Bichi, Kano State and Federal College of Education (Technical) Gusau, Zamfara State in the same zone in Nigeria.

 Validity of the Instrument for ISCSCSLSAAQ

The questionnaires and questions for interview was given to supervisors, professionals, test conductors and some lecturers in the College of Education Kaita, Katsina State and College of Education Maru, Zamfara State for thorough scrutiny, clarity, precision, observation, and corrections in order to minimize errors in interpretations. After making series of corrections, the content of the instruments was ascertained valid and which are capable for measuring students’ academic achievement.

 Reliability of the Instrument for ISCSCSLSAAQ

The researchers pre-tested the questionnaires and questions for interview on twenty respondents in two weeks in some selected College of Education in Kano State and Kaduna State, which are different from those of Federal Colleges of Education used for the research. A Pearson Product Moment Correlation method for determining test reliability was employed to compare and determine consistency and degree of accuracy. The Cronbach alpha reliability test was run for the instruments. The reliability coefficient of the instruments was obtained as 0.81for ISCSCSLSAAQ.

 Validity of the Instrument for AAT

The questions for academic achievement test was given to supervisors, professionals, test conductors and some lecturers in the College of Education Kaita, Katsina State and College of Education Maru, Zamfara State and some lecturers from the selected Federal Colleges of Education for thorough scrutiny, clarity, precision, observation and corrections in order to minimize errors in interpretations. After making series of corrections, the content of the instruments was ascertained valid and which are capable for measuring students’ academic

 Reliability of the Instrument for AAT

The researcher pre-tested the questions for academic achievement test on twenty respondents in two weeks in some selected College of Education in Kano State and Kaduna State, which are different from those of Federal Colleges of Education used for the study. A Pearson Product Moment Correlation method for determining test reliability was employed to compare and determine consistency and degree of accuracy. The Cronbach alpha reliability test was run for the instruments. The reliability coefficient of the instruments was obtained 0.79 for AAT.

Method of Data Collection

The researchers travelled to the three Federal Colleges of Education viz: Federal College of Education Kano, Federal College of Education Katsina and Federal College of Education Zaria in the North-West Zone, Nigeria and administered the instruments to the respondents by direct delivery. In the process of data collection, the researchers employed the services of some lecturers who volunteered to serve as research assistants from the Federal Colleges of Education to help in the process of administering the instruments. The interview for this research was focus group interview to collect a variety of information from the participants sampled students for the study. The aim is to obtain knowledge of the participants’ considerations and ideas that have common traits/experience on the Impact of School Climate and Location on Academic Achievements of NCE Students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North-West Zone, Nigeria.

Ten (10) students were randomly selected from each Federal College of Education for the interview. Each participant was given a copy of the questionnaire for completion under the guidance of the researchers and his assistant who guided the respondents to fill and return back immediately. A total of 381 questionnaires and tests were distributed to the sampled Federal Colleges Education for the data collection, but only 375 were duly completed and returned. Thus, this amount was used for the purpose of data analysis which accounted for 98.4% of sample size for the study.

Method of Data Analysis

The data collected as responses were coded and analysed to answer the research questions using the statistics of simple linear regression for significant impact, Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Cronbach alpha for reliability while frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used as the descriptive statistics to uphold or reject the hypothesis advanced for the study at 0.05% level of significance. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS, Version 23) was used in analyzing the data generated from the respondents through questionnaire and testing of the hypotheses.

Table 1: Population Distribution of NCE Students Enrolment in the selected Federal College of Education in 2024/2025 Academic Session

Source:  (FCEs) Academic Planning, Research & Statistics Unit (APRS, 2024/2025) 

Table 2: Population and Sample Size Distribution of NCE Students Enrolment in the selected Federal College of Education in 2024/2025 Academic Session

Source: (FCE(s) Academic Planning, Research & Statistics Unit (2024/2025) 

The table of specifications for the English Achievement Test is outlined in Table 3. This table indicates the following areas of assessment:

1. Listening Skills (Q1–Q2): Evaluates the understanding of listening strategies and their purposes.
2. Language Skills (Q3–Q5): Tests basic knowledge and application of language relationships and terminology.
3. Acronyms and Paragraph Writing (Q6–Q7): Assesses recognition of acronyms and comprehension of paragraph construction.
4. Sentence Structure (Q8–Q9): Measures understanding and application of different sentence types and voice.
5. Speech Types (Q10): Evaluates understanding of direct versus indirect speech.
6. English Varieties and Grammar (Q11–Q13): Assesses knowledge of English usage in Nigeria and grammatical accuracy.
7. Verb/Grammar Usage (Q14–Q15): Tests the understanding of verb types and registers in various contexts.

Table 3: Specification for English Achievement Test

Key: K = Knowledge, C = Comprehension, Ap = Application and An = Analysis

Data Presentation and Analysis

This data analysis of the research aimed at investigating the impact of school climate and location on the academic achievement of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North-West Zone, Nigeria. This consist of data presentation, data analysis through answering the research questions and hypothesis testing, discussion of interview questions, summary of findings and general discussion of the findings.

The data collected from the study were collated, organized and presented for data analysis. The bio-data of the respondents were presented in table 4.

Table 4: Bio-Data of the Respondents

Source: Extracted from the Questionnaire retrieved from Field Study

The table (4) represents the bio-data of the student respondents of the study. 41.6% responded from FCE, Kano, 30.1% responded from FCE Zaria and 28.3% responded from FCE Katsina. This is presented in Figure1. The age variation of the respondents showed that 29.3% were within the age limit of 18-20 years, 26.1% were within the age range of 21-23 years, 23.5% were within the age range of 27 years and above, and 21.1% are within the age range of 24-26 years old as presented in Figure 2. 35.0% of the respondents are in NCE III, 33.3% are in NCE II and 31.7% are in NCE I respectively and this is presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Sample of Students from selected schools

Figure 2: Age of Students Selected

Figure 3: Level of Students Selected

Testing of the Hypotheses

H_O1: There is no significant impact of School Climate on academic achievements of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education.

Table 1 presented the results of simple linear regression to find impact of school climate on academic achievement of NCE students. The results showed that F(1,373) = 94.532, and the p-value = 0.000. Thus, the null hypothesis 1 (Ho₁) is rejected since p-value is less than alpha value (0.05). There is a significant impact of School Climate on academic achievement of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education. The R² = 0.202, indicating that school climate explained 20.2% of the achievement and the regression equation is:

Achievement = 14.930 + 0.675(School Climate).

H_O2: There is no significant impact of Location on academic achievement of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education.

Table 2: Regression analysis results of impact of location on academic achievement of NCE students

Table 2 represents the simple linear regression analysis of impact of location on academic achievement of NCE students. The results are F(1,373) = 148.346 and the p-value is 0.0000. Since the p-value is less than the alpha value (0.05), the null hypothesis 3 (Ho3) is rejected. Thus, there is significant impact of location on the academic achievement of NCE students in Colleges of Education. The value of R² = 0.285, indicating that location accounts for 28.5% of the academic achievement of NCE students and the regression equation is given as: Achievement = 14.884 + 0.733(School Location)

H_O3: There is no significant impact of the three factors (School Climate and Location) that most predicts academic achievements among NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education.

Table 3: Regression analysis results of impact of school climate and location on academic achievement of NCE students

The results in table 3 show the simple linear regression analysis of impact of school climate and location on academic achievement of NCE students. The results are F(3,371) = 408.474, at p-value = 0.000. Since the p-value is less than the alpha value (0.05), the null hypothesis 3 (Ho3) is rejected. Thus, there is significant impact of school climate and location on academic achievement of NCE students in colleges of education. The value of R² = 0.768, indicating the combined effect of school climate and location on academic achievement of NCE students and the regression equation is given as:

Achievement = -3.150 + 0.737(School Climate) + 0.787(Location)

 Interview Analysis

1. College Atmosphere:

The respondents, on average, rated the college atmosphere as 75% according to the interview results gathered. One of the respondents said that “… it encourages learning and good performance in academics” and another said that “I enjoy the entire environment”. One other respondent said that “the atmosphere of the college is favourable for teaching and learning”. This suggests that the majority of students find the physical and psychological environment within the colleges conducive to teaching and learning and can boost positive academic achievement of the students. The remaining quarter however, have doubt on the relation of the school atmosphere on developing positive academic achievement.

2. Living Within or Outside Campus:

From the interview conducted, it shows that approximately 70% of the respondents reported that they live outside the campus, while 30% live within the campus/outside. An anonymous respondent said that “I am a married woman I cannot live in the campus”. This showed that the reason this respondent could not stay on campus is because of marriage. This result indicates a fairly unbalanced representation of both on-campus and off-campus students in our sample. Thus, more students stay off-campus compared to those staying on campus from the sampled respondents.

3. Distance from College or Off-Campus Students:

Among the students living outside the campus, the distances from the college vary widely. The mean distance is approximately 5 kilometers, with some students living as close as 1 kilometer who spend at least 30 minutes to reach the college and others residing more than 10 kilometers away. An anonymous respondent said that “I am living outside the campus and it take me 30 minutes to reach school” while another respondent said that “I live outside the campus and it is about 1½ hours to the school”. This suggests a diverse range of commuting experiences among off-campus students where some have to cover longer distances to reach the school compare to others.

4. Social Amenities:

When asked about the provision of social amenities, students generally agreed that it can promote academic achievement, with an average rating of 80% responses from the interview results. A respondent said that “honestly, the college social amenities help me in my academic achievement but the college should try to create portal for result checking” and another said that “provision of social amenities will promote my academic achievement, but over population in lecture halls should be managed”. This suggests that students recognize the importance of social infrastructure in supporting their educational journey.

5. Factors Influencing Academic Achievement:

In response to this open-ended question, the most commonly cited factors influencing academic achievement among students of colleges of education include time management, access to resources, and peer influences. A respondent said that “I am scared due to some lecturers’ method of teaching” and another said that “signing forms during registration is a problem and no enough time is given for registration to students who doesn’t have money”. Another respondent said that “no enough seats for large number of students in some courses” and that “some students’ refuse doing tutorials with me and forming groups for assignments is not good for me academically”. Some are of the view that results are not released as at when due, this forces students not to know their fate in previous examination and lack the moral to face subsequent examinations, while others complained about their colleagues partaking in examination misconducts. These themes align with the quantitative findings, highlighting the multifaceted nature of academic success

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

The results from data analysis reveal the following findings for the research:

1. The school climate has positive impact on the academic achievements of the NCE students. There is a significant impact of School Climate on academic achievement of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education.
2. Location affects academic achievement of NCE students in Colleges of Education. There is significant impact of location on the academic achievement of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education.
3. The school climate better predicts academic achievement, followed by location. Thus, there is significant impact of school climate and location on academic achievement of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

Hypothesis and interview one indicated that school climate has a positive impact on the academic achievements of the NCE students, and there is a significant impact of school climate on academic achievements of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education highlights a crucial connection between the educational environment and the academic success of students pursuing NCE programme. This finding is in line with other previously exiting findings such as work of Mensch (2016) that conducted research on the school climate and academic achievement among secondary school students in Kano Metropolitan of Kano State. The major findings revealed that, school climate among secondary students yield achievement in their academic life. The research made recommendation that: functional programme should be established at primary and secondary school climate this might equip students with adjustment and such functional programme should be established at non-school setting to cater for the community needs more especially in achievement. Also, in line with the work of Bello in Nasarawa (2016) that examined the Relationship between School Climate and Students’ Academic Performance in Some Selected Secondary Schools in Sokoto State, Nigeria on the principal leadership style and teachers’ attitude to work in secondary schools in Sokoto State. The study indicates that most principals of senior secondary schools in Sokoto State are inclined towards a democratic leadership style, and the use of harsh leadership style by the principal, social stigma placed on teachers/low esteem rating accorded teachers by the society and government.

Finding of hypothesis and interview two indicated that there is a significant impact of school location on the academic achievement of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education. This highlights the important role that the physical location of educational institutions plays in shaping the academic outcomes of students. This finding corroborates with Emore (2005) and Gakure, Mukuria and Kithae (2013) that distance from school can determine success or failure of students’ achievement. Urban schools may have more resources, including libraries, technology, and extracurricular opportunities, which can positively influence academic achievement. In contrast, rural schools might have limited access to these resources and location can shape the composition of peer groups. Urban schools may have a more diverse student body, potentially exposing students to a wider range of perspectives and ideas that can be advantageous for academic growth. On the other hand, rural schools may have smaller and more homogeneous student populations.

The finding of hypothesis and interview three indicated that the school climate better predicts academic achievement, followed by location, and there is a significant impact of school climate and location on academic achievement of NCE (National Certificate in Education) students in Federal Colleges of Education is a critical insight that helps us understand the relative importance of different factors in influencing the academic outcomes of NCE students. This is in line with Cohen, McCabe, Michelli and Pickeral (2009) who stated that school climate predicts achievement of students. He further say that a positive school climate characterized by safety, trust, respect, and collaboration tends to foster an environment where students are more motivated and engaged, which, in turn, positively impact their academic achievement.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the findings collectively shed light on the educational landscape of NCE students in Federal Colleges of Education. They emphasize the crucial importance of a positive school climate and well-balanced location within educational institutions. These factors significantly contribute to academic achievement. While the geographical location of the school is a factor, its impact is relatively less pronounced. The absence of a significant negative impact of these factors is promising, but there is still room for improvement in terms of optimizing the learning environment to further enhance academic achievement. Educational institutions should continuously assess and improve school climate, location policies, and resource allocation to ensure that students have the best possible opportunity to succeed. In conclusion, the research provides valuable insights into the relationship between school climate, and location with the academic achievements of students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North-West Zone, Nigeria. The findings underline the importance of creating a positive and inclusive school environment, establishing effective location mechanisms, and addressing location-specific challenges to enhance students’ academic achievement.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Educational institutions should prioritize by creating and maintaining a positive school climate measures in a balanced and constructive manner. Ensure that rules and norms are clear, fair, and supportive of student growth and development, rather than overly punitive or restrictive.
2. Address resource disparities, especially in the context of location. Ensure that all Federal Colleges of Education, regardless of their location, have equitable access to resources and support systems.
3. Continuously assess the effectiveness of school climate, location and other factors that influence academic achievement. Regular evaluations can help identify areas for improvement and allow for tailored interventions.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

All thanks to Allah for supporting at the different stages of the work, ranging from the inception to the end. Our sincere gratitude goes to Dr. Ahmed Tijjani Ibrahim (the Provost of Federal College of Education, Katsina) whose leadership made this works a reality. We are also very grateful to Dr. Ahmed Dan Maigoro, and TETFUND committee in the Federal College of Education, Katsina which provided immense support, encouragement and supervision to the end of the work. Those worthy to be acknowledged are Provosts, Lecturers and Students of the sample colleges for maximum co-operation they gave us during the work. We are very grateful to the following people: Prof. Muhammad Garba Mahuta, Prof. Uthman Abdullahi AbdulQadir, Prof. Halima Sarkin/Fada and Dr. Umar Francis Audu for their criticisms, corrections, observations and contributions that led towards the completion of the work. We are and will always be proud of them. May Allah (SWT) bless them (Ameen)

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APPENDICES

Appendix A

Federal Colleges of Education, Kaduna, Kano and Katsina State

Dear Respondent,

The questionnaire is on the study of Impact of School Climate and Location on Academic Achievement of Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) Students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North-West Zone, Nigeria. You are therefore, requested to contribute to the success of this study by giving honest responses to the given statements.

Please, you are to assist in responding to the items on this questionnaire as they apply to you by ticking (P ) in the appropriate column to show the level of your agreement on each item. There is no right or wrong answer. Your responses will be treated with utmost confidentiality.

Yours faithfully,

Dr.Yusuf Habib Osuwa

Dr. Mustapha Shariff Abdulkadir

Dr. Ahmed Tijjani Ibrahim

Impact of School Climate and Location on Students’ Academic Achievement (ISCSCSLSAAQ)

Questionnaire for Students

Section One

Socio-Demographic Profile

1. Name (optional) —————————————
2. Age——————————————————-
3. Sex——————————————————-
4. Level of Students- NCE: I, II & III

Appendix B

Federal Colleges of Education, Kaduna, Kano and Katsina State

Dear Respondent,

The questions are on the study of Impact of School Climate and Location on Academic Achievement of Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) Students in Federal Colleges of Education in the North West Zone, Nigeria. You are therefore, requested to contribute to the success of this study by providing honest responses to the given questions.

Please, you are to assist in responding to the questions on this interview as they apply to you. There is no right or wrong answer to the responses as they will be treated with utmost confidentiality for the purpose of this research.

Yours faithfully,

Dr.Yusuf Habib Osuwa

Dr. Mustapha Shariff Abdulkadir

Dr. Ahmed Tijjani Ibrahim

Impact of School Climate and Location on Students’ Academic Achievement (ISCSCSLSAAQ)

Questions for Interview

Section Two

Socio-Demographic Profile

1. Name (optional) —————————————
2. Age——————————————————-
3. Sex——————————————————-
4. Level of Students- NCE: I, II & III

1. Are you living within the school campus or outside?
2. If you are living outside the school campus, what is your distance from the college?
3. If it is Yes or No, do the distance from where you live to the college hinder you from attending morning lectures?
4. Does this lateness due to the distance affect your academic achievement?
5. As a student of College of Education, do you have friends?
6. You and your friends normally attend parties or other social gatherings organize by friend in and outside the campus?
7. If you normally attend such parties and gatherings, does this affect your academic achievement as they may hinder you from studding and writing your assignment as well as visiting the library for research?
8. Do your friends influence you to smoke cigarette or something of that nature or chase girls in and outside the college campus?
9. Is the college atmosphere (physical and psychological) favourable for teaching and learning?
10. Are the lecturers in your college patient with the students who approach them with their problems?
11. Do lecturers in your college motivate you to study hard, as well as attend to your questions on academic activities?
12. Is the environment you live peaceful and warrant you to participate freely in all the academic activities in the college?
13. As a student of College of Education, do you think peaceful co-existence between students, lecturers and other staff in the college affect your academic achievement?
14. Does cordial relationship among lecturers and other staff in the college affects your academic achievement?
15. Do you think provision of social amenities in the college can promote academic achievement?
16. Please, mention any two factors that influence or affect academic achievement among students of College of Education?