Influence of Reward and Punishment on Academic Performance of Secondary School History Students in Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State

In order to avoid creation of anxiety that causes loss of concentration, fear, distortion and poorlearning attitude from the students, teachers need to use commensurable punishment thatcan bring about a desirable behaviour as well as the reward that will encourage students toacquire skills and knowledge for their own development, not for mere marks. Thus, this studyaimed at examining the influence of reward and punishment on academic performance ofHistory students in Senior Secondary School in Ilorin metropolis of Kwara State. Simplerandom sampling technique was adopted to select 27 History teachers and 90 Historystudents from the nine (9) selected Senior Secondary Schools in Ilorin metropolis as a samplefor this study. The instrument administered to collect data and information are questionnaireand profoma, using Pearson product moment correlation statistics at 0.05 level of significanceto test the three hypotheses generated in the study. The findings revealed that there was asignificant relationship between teachers’ frequent use of reward, punishment and academicperformance of History students’ in Ilorin metropolis. Based on the findings, it is recommendedthat teachers should cultivate the habit of using reinforcement techniques that would encouragelearners to put in extra efforts toward learning. Also, they need to understand that punishingstudents cannot determine an excellent academic performance. Therefore, there is need for theteachers to minimize the use of punishment so that students can perform better in schools.