A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF STUDENTS AND TEACHERS PERCEPTION OF STUDENTS’ PROBLEMS
Background to the Study
Each stage or period of human life and development is associated with a number of problems. Adolescence, a typical and distinct period in human growth and development, is not an exception and has sometimes been described as a specially problematic period. Bakare writes that: The modern technological world has been aptly characterized by age of anxiety. But perhaps there is no stage of development at which those stresses and conflicts are more acute than at adolescence since at this stage physiological changes combine with psychological and societal factors to make the period a particularly critical one for the individual. The need for concern about others group of individual has been emphasized. Dada remarked that: The adolescent comes for special treatment, because they have special physical and psychological needs; they vary widely in their physical, moral, intellectual, social and behavioural development. They therefore need special treatment. The problems of adolescent in secondary school students considered in this study were those which related to academic work, study skills and habits, and the adjustment the students have to make due to certain features of the school such as its teachers, physical facilities and curriculum. A number of studies like those of Bakare, Adams and Akinloye to mention a few had revealed that adolescent secondary schools actually have these problems. Some of the problems that have been specifically identified are; not knowing when and how to study. Fear of academic failure, lack of space in
the school to study, some subjects being very difficult to understand. Fear to some teachers and principals and teachers having no regard for students’ needs and feelings. There seems to be a close relationship between an individual’s needs and problems. People perceive that they have problems when their needs are not satisfied. According to Mouly, in as much as everyone has at all times multiple needs to satisfy, everyone is perpetually faced with adjustment problems and therefore, is potentially capable of being adjusted or maladjusted depending on the adequacy of his need – satisfying behaviour.