Application of Whole School Model in Addressing Persistent Decline in Numeracy Knowledge among Primary School Pupils in Plateau State, Nigeria.

The study addressed the challenges of poor performance in numeracy knowledge at primary educational level by exploring the innovative strategy of whole school instructional model to improve teacher teaching-learning strategies and pupils’ attitude/interest towards numeracy at primary level of education. Three objectives and research questions were raised with two hypotheses. The pre-test, post-test quasi-experimental design was adopted with a focus on public primary schools’ pupils and teachers teaching numeracy within Plateau state central educational zone. The target population for the study comprised 523 primary five pupils in public schools enrolled in 2023/2024 academic session with sample size of 32 pupils in two intact classes from two Local Government Areas within the plateau central educational zone. The instruments for data collection were self-constructed questionnaire and achievement test titled “Teachers Numeracy Teaching Methods/strategies Observation Checklist (TNTMOC)”, “Pupils Numeracy Achievement Test (PNAT)”, and “Pupils Interest/attitudes towards Numeracy knowledge Checklist (PINKC)”. The instruments were validated using face and content validity by experts and the reliability index of 0.76, 0.75 and 0.81 respectively determined by Cronbach Alpha and split-half Methods. Data was analyzed using mean, standard deviation and paired sampled t-test to examine the differences of the repeated measure on pupils in the study. The study found significant improvement in teachers’ teaching strategies and Pupils interest/attitude in numeracy teaching and learning processes respectively with significant Pupils’ numeracy performance after being exposed to whole school instructional model. The study therefore recommended the use of whole school instructional model in teaching and learning of numeracy at primary school level.