ABSTRACT

The study investigated the effects  of training ( T ) and self-management (SM) techniques on  slovenly behaviour among primary school pupils in Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia State. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research with pretest, post-test non-randomized control design using a 3x2 factorial matrix . Five research questions were posed and answered while five null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study consists of one hundred and fifty six pupils for the study. The sample for this study consisted of 36 participants drawn from the population of 156 primary school pupils that exhibited slovenly behaviour using purposive sampling techniques with two instruments titled Pupils Slovenly Behaviour identification Questionnaire (PSBIQ) and Pupils Slovenly Behaviour Observation Shedule (PSBOS) developed by the researcher for the study. The instruments were validated and reliability indices were 0.81 and 0.79, respectively. The data collection in this study involved pre-test phase, treatment phase and follow-up phase .The mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. Analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) was employed to analyze the data collected at pre-test, post-test and follow-up assessment period to test the hypotheses. The findings of the study showed that training and self-management techniques were effective in reduction of slovenly behaviour among primary school pupils. Further, gender differences exist significantly in the treatment groups of slovenly behaviour among primary school pupils especially at the post- test and follow-up assessment period. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that two behavioural treatment techniques should be used in reduction of slovenliness by the teachers and teacher-counsellors, in primary school setting.