The Classroom Environment: A Major Motivating Factor towards High Academic Performance of Senior Secondary School Students in South West Nigeria

The paper discusses the impact of the classroom environment as a motivating factor in enhancing the academic performance of secondary school students in South West Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive survey type. The population of this study comprises all students of senior secondary schools in South West Nigeria which consist of Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Oyo and Ekiti State. The sample for this study comprised one thousand and fifty senior secondary school three students from three states out of the six states in the South West Geo-political zone. The sampled states are Osun, Ondo and Ekiti. The researcher made use of a questionnaire and inventory to collect data. A self-designed questionnaire tagged “Motivation and Academic Performance of Senior Secondary School Students” (MAPSSS) was used to elicit information from the respondents. The result showed that there was a significant relationship between classroom environment and the academic performance of senior secondary school students. Based on the findings of the study, Government who is the proprietor of public secondary schools should build sufficient, modern and conducive classrooms and embark on renovation of those in dilapidated condition, teachers should make the classroom environment comfortable and functional for learning to take place, so that students can learn and perform better academically and behave better. Keywords: Classroom environment, motivating factor, academic performance, senior secondary school