A Study of Impact of School Teaching-Learning Facilities on Psychological Competencies of Adolescence

The impact was seen on all the dependent variables considered in this study except Cognitive Capabilities of the students. Advanced schools offer an environment conducive to learning which promotes the psychological health of an adolescent to achieve the desired results. Unlikely, moderate level schools lack the basic infrastructure and facilities, have shown a negative impact on the student’s psychological health. Students from both categories of school exhibited different levels of competence with regards to their psychological well-being, motivation and outlook towards life. A good school infrastructure provides a sense of safety and security to parents; hence the presence of such facilities is found to be associated with the performance of the students.


Introduction
Children spend a significant time of their childhood at school.They have the most interactions at school compared to home and these interactions affect their adolescent life and may as well carry further into their adult life.It is therefore important for schools to understand the importance of developing a child with a healthy mind and not just push academic responsibilities to them and grade them on it.Many schools in India have awaken to this important aspect of learning and have imbibed into their culture and practices such frameworks, policies and processes that enable teachers to impart fruitful education and the students to learn essential skills during their time at the school.
But many schools are yet to acknowledge and accept the importance of modern education and the benefits that it can have on the school as well as its incumbents.
This module is a guide to help such schools get on to the fast track of achieving great improvements through making subtle, small and inexpensive changes in their current framework and processes.The intention of this module is to serve as a ready-reckoner to help schools identify and overcome issues that prevent schools from becoming an Advanced Teaching-Learning Facility.PALS represents four parameters of measurement of school success as discussed in the sections below.

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Due to this incorrect belief, teachers of such schools focus on memorising the texts in the books without caring for its meaning or its purpose in a student's life once they graduate from school and enter the workforce.
If schools want their students to be able to survive in the real world, they must focus on imparting life skills and problem-solving skills to tackle the challenges they will face once they graduate from school.This requires a paradigm shift in the mindset from "memorise-the-texts" to using the curriculum to "inculcate problem-solving approaches" when presented with a situation.Such techniques will help adolescents face the challenges head-on rather than feel helpless and incapable.
To develop and enhance problem-solving ability in students, teachers can adapt following techniques in the classroom using these simple and inexpensive methods: 1. Give students difficult problems to solve.2. Make problem-solving a relevant skill by creating learning materials that have application in reallife.3. Teach the art of perseverance by putting the students through assignments that are difficult to achieve and problems with hard to find solutions.Such activities will help students to learn how to persevere during difficult situations and have faith in their abilities to ultimately achieve success.4. Abstract teaching through technology: In modern education scenario, a teacher who only focuses on learning from a textbook and merely monitors class assignments are just certificate holders without real skill in teaching.Such teachers are considered incapable of actual teaching and cannot be qualified as educators.For teachers to be effective and relevant in their field, they must innovate new ways of teaching with the help of technology and abstraction of the learning process.By using the new teaching aids and following the trends in education industry, teachers can keep themselves relevant and valuable while imparting quality education to students.Teachers need to think of several ways to instruct, rather than focusing solely on lectures and written assignments that might leave some students struggling to keep up.Barrett et al. (2016) found that environmental and design elements of school infrastructure together explained 16% of the variation in primary students' academic progress.The research shows that the design of education infrastructure affects learning through three interrelated factors: naturalness (e.g.light, air quality), stimulation (e.g.complexity, colour), and individualisation (e.g.flexibility of the learning space).Amy et al. (2014), performed a study to investigate the impact of schools on academic performance and cognitive skills.The researchers related standardised achievement-test scores to the measures of cognitive skills.The sample size consisted of 1,367 students of 8th grade attending traditional, exam, and charter public schools.The findings of the study showed that random offers of enrollment to oversubscribed charter schools resulted in positive impacts of school attendance on Math achievement but had no impact on cognitive skills.

Literature Study
Ndemba ( 2014), conducted a study on the influence of school infrastructure on student's performance in public secondary schools.The research indicated that improved academic achievement was associated with more adequate and wellspaced classrooms, the adequate and ample spacing in the libraries, adequate science laboratories, adequate water and sanitation facilities and adequate participation in co-curricular activities.
Suleman and Hussain (2014), examined the effects of the physical classroom environment on the academic achievement scores of secondary school students.Statistical data was collected through pretest and post-test technique.After 26 analysis, it was concluded that favourable classroom environment has a significant positive effect on the academic achievement scores of secondary school students.Well-equipped classroom with physical facilities has a significant positive effect on the academic achievement scores of secondary school students.The students of the experimental group showed better performance as compared to the students of the control group.Based on findings, it was recommended that physical classroom environment should be well-organised, equipped and facilitated.
Ronald ( 2013), conducted a study in Florida, USA to determine whether the transition from an old school building to a new facility affects the academic achievement of the students.The pretest and post-test group design were employed in this research.Results from this study indicated that the mean scores of students passing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) increased after transited students from the old school building to a new building.The evidence from the study suggested that the quality of the school environment is important to student academic achievement.
Adede and Kevin (2012), found that improved academic achievement was associated with more adequate classroom sizes, improved locker spaces, proper stocking of libraries, adequate science laboratories, adequate computer laboratories, adequacy of sanitation facilities, adequate water supply, adequate toilet facilities, improved participation in co-curricular activities and adequacy of co-curricular facilities.
Lawrence et al. ( 2012), conducted a study on the school environment and academic achievement of standard IX students to find a relationship between school environment and academic achievement of the students.Data for the study were collected by using self-made School Environment Scale (SES).The sample consisted of 400 standard IX students were selected for the study.Findings showed that there was a very low positive relationship between the school environment and academic achievements of the students.Shrivastava and Joshi (2011), conducted the research to study the effect of school and area on academic self-concept and academic achievement of adolescents.Results indicated that academic selfconcept and academic achievement of 27 adolescents were higher of urban and in the high facility schools than the rural and low facility schools.
Tamilenthi et al. ( 2011), conducted a study of the high school students about staff, infrastructure of school, amenities provided and achievements.The sample of 20 high schools was taken by applying the stratified random sampling technique.The findings showed that untrained or those trained teachers who just got a degree or diploma were not suitable for large numbers of students.Also, in all the government schools with adequate infrastructure except the computer lab, the students studying there found ill-literate in respect to computer usage, which is a base for the higher studies.
Cuyers and others ( 2011), conducted a study to examine the impact of school infrastructure on the students' well-being in Flemish Secondary Schools.The total sample of 2032 students aged 14 & 15 years from 14 Flemish schools, out of which seven had a good quality infrastructure and seven had a poor-quality infrastructure were taken for study.The analysis shows that there is a stark contrast in the satisfaction levels between students attending schools with good quality infrastructure as compared to those attending schools with poor quality infrastructure.The scores on well-being were significantly lower among students attending schools with poor quality infrastructure.
Murillo and Roman ( 2011), investigated to determine the incidence of school resources and infrastructure and its impact on the academic performance of primary education students in Latin America.Results showed that the availability of basic infrastructure and services (water, electricity, sewage), didactic facilities (sports installations, labs, libraries), as well as the number of books in the library and computers in the school influenced the achievement of primary education students.
Owoeye and others ( 2010), investigated an association between school facilities and academic achievement and attainment of the final year students in correspondence to locality.The results indicated that there found no significant difference between the availability of facilities in rural and urban secondary schools.The study has also proven that school facilities concerning the qualification of personnel like pedagogy, laboratory, library, school buildings, chairs/tables, 28 administrative blocks, chalkboard among others were the most potent determinants of academic achievement and hence play a very crucial role in high academic attainment.
Uline and Moran ( 2008), focused on the quality facilities, school climate and student achievement.For the study teachers from 80 Virginia schools were surveyed having employing measures including the school climate index, a sevenitem quality of school facilities scale as well as three resource support items.Data on students' SES and achievement were also gathered.Results confirmed an association between the quality of school facilities and student achievement in English and Math.As well, quality facilities were significantly positively related to the school climate variables.Finally, the hypothesis made for this study confirmed that school climate plays a mediating role in the relationship between facility quality and student achievement.
Durian & Narucki (2008), emphasised on school building condition, school attendance and academic achievement of the students in New York City Public School.Data were analysed by using a sample of 95 elementary schools in New York City.Variables relevant to academic achievements such as ethnicity, SES, teacher quality and school size were used as covariates.This study found that the conditions of school buildings predicted both attendance and academic achievement after controlling for other possible predictors like ethnicity, SES, teacher quality and school size.This study provides empirical evidence of the effects of building quality on academic outcomes.
McGowen (2007), studied the impact of school facilities on student achievement, attendance, behaviour, completion rate and teacher turnover rate in selected Texas high schools.Major findings of the study were that the student achievement, attendance and completion rate measures were not found to be statistically significant concerning school facility conditions and that discipline, or behaviour was found to be significantly related to the total learning environment.
Edwards ( 2006), investigated student perspectives on the connection between the urban learning environment and student motivation and performance about school facilities and student achievement.The study was conducted to examine urban 29 students' attitudes, perceptions and beliefs regarding the physical environment and the overall quality of the teaching and administrative staffing within the building in which they have been educated.Analysis revealed that students involved in the study perceived there to be a significant association between the condition of the school they attended and their levels of motivation, conduct and achievement.
Picus and others (2005), concluded that there is essentially no relationship between the quality of school facilities and student performance; however, other factors are known to impact student performance.
Earthman and Glen ( 2002), concluded that the condition of school facilities has an important impact on student performance and teacher effectiveness.The research demonstrated that comfortable classroom temperature and noise level are very important to efficient student performance.It was found that school overcrowding made it harder for students to learn, and the reduction in class size led to higher student achievement.Mutlaq (2002), explored the relationship between school building conditions and the academic achievement of 12th students in selected public high schools in Kuwait.The study concluded that there was a significant positive relationship between the overall, structural and cosmetic building condition and student achievement in the Science and Arts major.The results also revealed that there was a significant relationship between building conditions and academic achievement in boy's schools in both majors while in girl's schools no significant relationship was found.
Stevenson ( 2001), conducted a study to explore the relationship of school facilities conditions to selected student academic outcomes.Data analysis suggested that the school facility had a significant impact on students' achievement.It was also found that the relationship of school buildings to specific basic academic areas, differed for science, mathematics, English and social studies.

Achievement Motivation Teacher's Motivation
Motivated people have a different approach to their work which enables them to excel in their field.Teachers who are motivated can impart learnings in an effective way to the students.Motivation helps to energise, direct and sustain positive behaviour over a long period of time.It involves planning and working towards goals and achieving them.It also helps to drive innovation, desire to continuously improve and raise the bar of quality and excellence.Such teachers when present in the classroom spark the desire to learn and excel in quest for knowledge in the students.
It also isn't just a case of getting pupils interested in learning in the moment, but also in nurturing the underlying goals and aspirations of their academic studies.This is known as 'intrinsic motivation' and research has found it to be of key importance.

Student's Motivation
The classroom environment plays a key role in motivating a student.They need to be in a positive environment in which they feel valued and respected.If they are learning in a caring, supportive and inclusive environment, they will feel motivated to learn.
However, as well as the overall environment making a difference, having a motivated teacher is also crucial.The way that a teacher presents the information to them will help to dictate how they feel towards it.If a teacher shares the academic material as something worth being excited about, this will shape the student's behaviour and response.They will feel more willing to perform better in their studies as they will want to do justice to a subject that a teacher has taught so passionately -even if it's not the student's main interest in life.
A motivated student will feel genuine pride in the work they have done, which is an important feeling to carry through in life.Motivation helps keep students actively interested in what they're studying and pushes them towards continuing their education in that direction.It enhances their performance in all aspects of their school work and helps them become goal-oriented, motivated individuals in life.A motivated student is simply more disciplined in their work and life than a non-motivated student.A non-motivated student can get easily influenced by others, but a motivated student will ensure that what they start they need to complete, else there is no meaning to such an endeavour in the lives.Thus, motivation plays a deep role in shaping how an adult behaves from the early age of adolescence that shapes their personality.

Building a Motivated Classroom Give Students a Sense of Control
While guidance from a teacher is important to keep students on the task; allowing students to have some choice and control over what happens in the classroom is one of the best ways to keep them engaged.For example, allowing students to choose the type of assignment they do or which problems to work on can give them a sense of control and ownership of their work.It is no longer a task that the teacher asked to complete, rather it now becomes their choice and they will stand by it and give it their 100% to ensure it brings the best out of them.

Create a Threat-Free Environment
Students need to know that there can be consequences to their actions.However, these can also be conveyed using means such as "positive Shanlax International Journal of English reinforcements" instead of threats.When teachers create a safe and supportive environment for students and affirm their belief in a student's abilities rather than laying out the rules and penalties for not doing stuff, students are more likely to get motivated to do their work.Students will fulfil the expectations that the adults around them communicate.Teachers should focus on what the student can do instead of what the student "cannot" do while they are in the classroom.

Change your Scenery
A classroom can be a great place for learning but sitting at the same desk everyday can make going to school start to seem dull and boring.Students sense boredom and will lose interest in the subject being taught and just switch off.To renew interest in the subject matter or learning in general, give the students a chance to get out of the classroom or change the classroom layout.Take field trips, bring in speakers, or even just head to the library for some research.The brain loves novelty and a new setting can be just what some students need to stay motivated to learn.

Use Positive Competition
Competitions can be a great tool to foster the spirit of sportsmanship in the students.When done right, it can help students learn valuable soft skills such as team building, helping others and strategizing.Introduce positive competitions into routine activities such as assignments.For example, convert individual assignments into group assignments and post the best assignment on the walls of the classroom for a week.Such activities can help adolescents learn many complex values that can be a great support in the adult lives such as staying competitive, researching, abstract thinking, scouting the environment for threats and opportunities.These are some of the skills that the corporate world values more than credentials as these exhibits the leadership qualities of an individual.

Offer Rewards
When a team plays a sport, their eyes are on the prize.The trophy is the reason sports teams play their best.Same is right in the classroom scenario.If you want students to study hard, you need to offer a reward.A reward will put a value on the outcome and change the whole perspective towards the activity.For example, A teacher asks students to complete a project for the school science fair.Another teacher tells the students that once their science project is complete, they will all get a badge to wear at the fair to represent their project.Both teachers want the same outcome, but the approaches are very different.The first one is perceived as a routine annual activity that the student needs to complete.The second one is perceived as a rewarding activity which if done correctly will help students earn something.This perception of earning something in return for their efforts will make the students of the second classroom perform much better compared to their counterparts.

Give Students Responsibility
All of us like to feel important.It is a way for every one of us to claim our part in the social circles that we associate with.Same is true of the classroom setting.Assign classroom jobs to students and make them look important.For example: Making a student a class monitor to ensure everyone is appropriately dressed.Alternatively, asking a student to collect all other student's workbooks and bring it to the teacher's desk.Such small errands will make the students feel important and conform to their social circle, i.e. the classroom that they belong there for a reason.Make sure that as a teacher, you do not single out specific students to always do the same jobs, otherwise, the purpose gets defeated, and the whole concept turns on its head to label a student as "teacher's favourite".

Allow Students to Work Together
In computer science, there exists a concept of "paired programming".Paired Programming advocates that two people can program better together than one person.Many companies apply this principle successfully and builds high quality software.Same principle can be applied to classrooms.Give assignments and make students pair together to complete the assignments.Each one in the pair will brainstorm the other's ideas and both will agree on the best solution through constructive arguments and feedback.Such skills when learnt and Shanlax International Journal of English practiced regularly hones an individual to become a much better adult coping with life situations later.

Give Praise When Earned
Research says that many employees leave high paying jobs when they do not receive appreciation for their work.Many projects fail because the management did not appreciate the workers' efforts.People lose interest quickly in their work if they are not appreciated sufficiently for their efforts.Same is true for students.Teachers must praise the students where required such as being the first one to solve a complex mathematic equation or making the best biology diagram or giving a good speech in front of the class.Such appreciative gestures by the teacher boosts the morale of the students and motivates them to perform better.Teachers must ensure that their appreciation is not often targeted to a few students only otherwise there can be grouping within the classroom and students will feel divided over favourites and not-favourites groups.Such grouping is unhealthy for the students, classroom environment as well as the teacher and the school in general as it fosters emotions of jealousy and despise among students.

Help Students Find Intrinsic Motivation
Teachers must take efforts to find the interests of their students.Some students may be good at maths, some may be good in literature, while others may be good in history.Helping students find their interests and guiding them towards the appropriate field is the most profound gift a teacher can give their students.Teachers must become the student's mentor and help them find their true calling.Students love and respect such teachers and remember them throughout their lifetime.

Provide Equal Opportunities for Success
Students can become frustrated and demotivated when they feel like they are struggling or not getting similar recognition as others.As a teacher, you should ensure that all students get an equal opportunity to play to their strengths and feel valued.Such realisation can make a positive difference in their motivation and prevent them from getting depressed and feeling frustrated.

Level of Aspiration Define the Objectives and Rules
Before assigning any project or task, the teacher must define the objectives to the students clearly.It can be frustrating for the students to complete the given task if there aren't clearly defined objectives.Students need to know the teacher's expectations of them in order to stay motivated towards their academic performance.For example: At the start of the academic year it is the teacher's responsibility, to lay out clear objectives, rules and expectations of the students so that they have goals towards a task and perform well to achieve their goal.

Encourage Self-Reflection
In order to succeed, some students need guidance and direction to know what they need to do.Teachers can motivate their students by encouraging them to introspect and determine their strengths and areas of improvements.Such self-checks will make them feel in charge of creating their objectives and goals.For example, allow students to prepare a debate topic by themselves and present it in front of their classmates and allow them to figure out the mistakes by themselves instead of the teacher pointing them out.Such activities will help them know their strengths and areas of improvements.

Make SMART Goals
SMART goals stand for: Students too, like to be challenged and will work to achieve high expectations so long as they believe these goals to be within their reach, so don't be afraid set SMART goals.

Measure Student's Academic Progress
It can be hard for students to know how far they have come, especially with the subjects they find difficult.Teachers can use the methods of tracking progress to encourage students to achieve the desired goals by allowing them to see visually how much they are learning and improving as the year goes on.

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For example, the teacher can hang a monthly chart on the wall indicating different areas of learning and against that put the names of the achievers.This way teachers can encourage the students to participate in various activities and help them set their attainable goals.

Reward for Achievements
Teachers should celebrate the achievements of the students by organising a fun event such as a class party or a pizza party.Such gesture shows the teacher's enthusiasm and excitement towards the student's achievements.It will help students get engaged in setting new goals and keep them motivated towards learning new things.

Security Insecurity Feeling
Well-functioning schools (also known in this study as Advanced Teaching-Learning Facilities) foster learning, safety and socially appropriate behaviours.Such schools have strong academic focus and support their students in achieving high standards of skill development, fostering positive relationships between school staff and students, and promoting meaningful parental and community involvement.Most prevention programs in such schools address multiple factors and recognise that school safety and order are integral to the student's holistic development (social, emotional, and academic).Strategies for effective prevention, intervention and crisis response are most effective in schools that do the following:

Focus on Academic Achievement
Effective schools project the attitude that all children can achieve academically and can behave appropriately, while at the same time appreciating individual differences.Adequate resources and programs help ensure that expectations are met.Expectations are communicated clearly, with the understanding that meeting such expectations is the responsibility of the student, the school and the home.Students who do not receive the support they need are less likely to behave in socially desirable ways.Examples of inappropriate behaviour that can stem from lack of feel of social security are:

Fear of Failure
Children can be afraid to complete their work because they fear to make mistakes and look foolish in front of their classmates and teachers.If a child has a learning disability, the situation is compounded, and the child might, for example, constantly distract the class with wonderful humour, but never complete an assignment or answer a question in class.They use humour as a cover-up for their fear of failure.

Lack of Challenge
Children can get bored with schoolwork due to various reasons.A gifted student may be "unmotivated" in a class that repeatedly explains a concept they already understand.A child with a learning disability may be bored if the study material available is written far above the child's cognitive ability.The child may also be unmotivated if it is apparent that the teacher attributes the lack of potential success of the child based on the label of "Learning Disability".If the teacher, in this case, does not challenge the student, the student may determine the teacher's apparent assessment and not demand more exciting content.

Lack of Meaning
Students may believe that the schoolwork is not important because they cannot see how it helps to go about their everyday lives.It is especially strongly visible in a student with a learning disability.For example, a student with a visual-motor problem finds it difficult to organize math problems in order to arrive at the correct answer.That student knows that the calculator can do the problem correctly in an instant and is likely to see no meaning to a class on addition, division, or any other math concept.

Emotional Problems
Children with an emotional problem can have difficulty learning because they cannot focus in class.Anxiety, fear, depression or perhaps problems at home could interfere with their attention in class.Children with learning disabilities also have emotions related to the frustration of their learning disability or other related emotional patterns that limit motivation towards schoolwork.

Anger
Some children use schoolwork, or lack of it, as an expression of anger towards the parents.Such behaviour is called passive-aggressive behaviour.For example, when a child feels intense pressure to succeed academically, he or she may yell or argue with the parent and try to get lower grades by deliberately not studying or not performing to their full potential in tests.The result is that they get low grades.The cycle repeats with parents increasing pressure on the child due to low grades; the child tries more to lower the grades.

Desire for Attention
Such is the norm of our society.As children who are well-behaved and disciplined do not cause trouble for their parents, friends, relatives or teachers, they often become invisible.Sometimes, when such children see that others who show helplessness with a particular chore get more attention and they who do chores on their own do not get appreciation, they tend to become demotivated and feel that since there is no reward in being excellent and well-mannered, they begin to behave like an ill-mannered and irresponsible person.

Steps to Reduce the Feeling of Insecurity are as Follows: Manage Student Anxiety
Teachers should ensure that students do not get overwhelmed by the academic expectations of a particular topic or school activity and offer support to make them feel relaxed and comfortable during such events.

Make Learning Fun
School work is serious business, but students who see school as a place where they can have little fun while learning will be motivated to do the work that is required of them compared to those who regard it as a dull chore.Adding fun activities into the school day can help students to stay engaged and make the classroom a better place for all students.

Give Feedback and Offer Chances to Improve
Students who struggle academically can sometimes feel frustrated and start feeling down and unmotivating.In such situations, it is critical that teachers help students to learn exactly how they can improve.Helping students figuring out an approach to get where they want to be can also help them stay motivated to work hard.

Module Application
The suggestive module is applicable to any school or institution that wants to improve their premises and environment with an aim to boost the student's academic performance and well-being.The module does not differentiate between grade, medium of instruction, education boards or core teaching methodology.It can be applied across grades, boards and any institution.However, the best results can be obtained if the grade selected are between 7th to 9th standards (upper primary / secondary) because it is the age of adolescent that needs school's intervention the most in a student's life among the overall schooling years.These are the years where the student goes through many decisionmaking phases related to further education, career options, talent identification, etc.

Conclusion
The current study strives to highlight that a school capable of providing better infrastructure and facilities to students during their learning period offers a higher potential to the children to become better adults later in life.Parents agree to this notion and this can be seen in their quest to search for the perfect school fitting their child's talents and needs.Even teachers are seen promoting their own schools more aggressively within their social circles if the school offers modern education.The areas under study in this research has been explored only in a limited way in past researches.Thus, not many studies exist that can accurately measure the impact of TLFs on the achievement-motivation, level of aspiration, problem-solving abilities, securityinsecurity feeling and cognitive capabilities of an adolescent.Most of the studies cited in this research that show major variances between advanced and moderate school student's performances were dated before 2022.From that time onwards teaching and learning methodology and technology has improved tremendously with easy and cheap accessibility of the internet and opening of markets and companies specializing in creating and marketing tools for Consider what is important to students.Student interest is a great place to start on what drives their own thinking tank.Find inspiration from their world.Creativity is intrinsic in nature.Try to promote creativity by stepping into their viewpoint to find what motivates them.Student interest are a great place to start on what drives their own thinking tank.Find inspiration from their world.6. Encourage curiosity -Curiosity is very important to promote learning.A person curious of something will go to lengths to learn all they can about it.If students are curious about a topic or a phenomenon, they will do their own research, compare their findings with the curriculum materials and validate their knowledge 7. Problem solving skills encompass all areas of a child's development: social, emotional, creative, cognitive and physical, so the sooner you can encourage and build up these skills in your child, the better.8. Teaching to learning styles: Learning styles are defined by how students learn and retain information.Hence, teachers who build their lessons around different learning styles must ably understand how to reach individual students.One way to address the many distinct learning styles is to incorporate movement, reading, writing and lectures into each part of the class assignment.