STAGGERED SCHOOL CALENDAR AND STUDENT’S PERFORMANCE IN PHYSICS IN EDUCATION DISTRICT IV OF LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the connection between staggered school calendar and students’ performance in Physics in Education
District IV of Lagos State, Nigeria. The study adopted a sequential-explanatory mixed method design. A quantitative approach was used for collection of secondary data (WAEC results) while the qualitative approach was used to obtain the opinions of the participants in a Focus Group Discussion on the topic of the study to ascertain the reasons for the trend observed in the physics results in the past six years in the location of study. A total of six (6) SS2 physics students were purposively selected from nine (9) schools each to make up a total sample size of fifty-four (54) students used in the district. Three (3) research questions guided the study and ATLAS.ti version 8 was used to answer the research questions. The results showed that staggered school calendar does not affect students’ performance in Physics but affected their study habits and that the students preferred face-to-face, regular classes to the staggered school calendar. Thus, the researchers suggested that the government can increase the time students spend in school to study, and there can be two sessions per day (morning and afternoon) instead of alternate days.