EFFECTIVENESS OF POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT TECHNIQUE ON TRUANCY TENDENCY AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN AWKA-NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

School truancy is an unauthorized absence from school which has link with negative outcomes that may not only affect the truants themselves but also the stakeholders in education. As a result of this, the problem calls for urgent attention because when this is settled, the society itself will be at peace. Therefore this study investigated the effectiveness of positive reinforcement technique on truancy tendency among secondary school students in Awka-North Local Government Area, Anambra State. Two research questions and two null hypotheses tested at .05 level of significant guided the study. The study adopted a pretest-posttest, non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental design. The population for this study was a total of 116 SSII students from co-educational public secondary schools in Awka-North Local Government Area. The sample size for the study comprised fifty (50) truants who were purposively chosen from two co-education public secondary schools in the area. Two instruments were used for data collection namely: SSII Class Attendance Register (CAR) and Student Truancy Survey (STS). The STS was validated by experts in Measurement and Evaluation as well as Guidance and Counselling, and the reliability index established at 0.76 using Cronbach alpha statistic. Data collected from the study were analyzed using Mean and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Results obtained from the study showed that positive reinforcement technique was indeed significantly effective in modifying truancy tendency of secondary school students who participated in the treatment((f=3.79, p<.05). The results equally indicated that positive reinforcement technique was slightly more effective in modifying truancy tendency of the female truants than the male truants, but the difference in the effectiveness was not significant based on gender (f=4.60, p<.05). Based on the findings of this study, some recommendations were made. The researchers recommended among others that Anambra State Ministry of Education should provide on–the-job training for both practicing school counsellors and therapists on the use of positive reinforcement in modifying truancy tendency through seminar, symposia and conference.