IMPACT OF AVAILABILITY, ADEQUACY AND UTILIZATION OF LEARNING RESOURCES ON PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN’S LEARNING OUTCOME IN SELECTED NURSERY SCHOOLS

Abstract

Childhood Education plays a critical role in their overall development and viewed as the foundation for a child’s future academic achievements. In this study, two hundred and twenty (220) nursery school teachers from public and private schools in Odeda Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria were used as sample. Descriptive research design was utilized.  Data were collected using questionnaire. The research employed descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages, mean, standard deviation and Pearson's Product Moment Correlation to analyze the inferential statistics. Females were 68.18%, majority (52.73%) were aged 20-30. About 35% were married. Educationally, 53.18% had tertiary education; 55% had 1-5 years of teaching experience and very few (6.82%) had more than 15 years’ experience. Books for literacy skills were available in 96.82% of schools but adequately only in 85.5% of schools while other resources were scarcely available. There was a positive correlation (r = 0.45; p<0.05) between the availability of learning resources and their utilization, indicating that as the availability of resources increased, their use in classroom settings also increased. Also, there was a positive correlation (r = 0.38; p< 0.05) between the utilization of learning resources and early childhood education outcomes. Factors influencing the availability, adequacy and utilization of learning resources were: economic constraints, lack of government support and inadequate teacher training. In conclusion, the demographic factors could influence teachers' morale, opinion and determination in educational settings. Learning resources were available but not adequate. It was therefore, recommended that Government agencies, parents, teachers, educational institutions, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) etc. should collaborate to provide adequate learning resources for children at homes, in recreational centres and in schools to support childrens’ development, especially in their formative years; teachers should strive to use these limited resources to enhance the cognition and total development of these children.