RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELECTED SCHOOL-BASED FACTORS AND STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN KENYA CERTIFICATE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION IN MASABA NORTH SUB-COUNTY IN NYAMIRA COUNTY, KENYA

ABSTRACT

Good performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education is a primary determinant of one's career as it facilitates the transition to the next level of training. The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between the selected school-based factors and students‟ performance in public secondary schools in KCSE in Masaba North Sub-County of Nyamira County. The objectives of the study were: to establish the relationship between teacher qualification and students‟ performance in K.C.S.E.in Masaba North Sub-County; to establish the relationship between school facilities and student performance in K.C.S.E; to determine the relationship between principals‟ supervisory roles on school performance in KCSE. This study adopted a descriptive research design. The population for the study comprised of 264 teachers employed by Teachers Service Commission in Masaba North Sub- County. Purposive sampling was used to select the principals and Directors of Studies while simple random sampling technique was used to sample the classroom teachers. The sample was determined as follows: 24 principals, 24 Directors of Studies and 24 classroom teachers yielding a total of 72 respondents from 24 public secondary schools in Masaba North Sub- County in Nyamira County. Twelve teachers were not included in the final study because they were used for the pilot study. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaire for principals and teachers. The questionnaire was pilot-tested for validity in three public schools that were not included in the final study. Cronbach‟s alpha co-efficient was used to test reliability and yielded a co-efficient of 0.86. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22 was used for data analysis. Data was presented in charts and tables. The findings of the study revealed that there was a significant relationship between teacher qualifications, school facilities and principals‟ supervisory role and students‟ performance in KCSE. Therefore, the study concluded that there is a statistical significant relationship between selected school-based factors and students‟ performance in KCSE in Masaba North Sub- county in Nyamira County. The study recommends policy makers in the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MoEST) to come up with policies on how teachers‟ qualifications can be enhanced to improve academic performance at KCSE. The policy makers should also reduce the burden of the principals being supervisors and at the same time being classroom teachers by allowing them to teach a minimum workload if they must teach. The MoEST and Board of Management should look for means to avail the required essential resources to the various schools.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the study

According to Global Action for Children (GAC, 2005), education is a globally recognized basic human right thus it is a form of investment that contributes to the development of both individuals and the society. It is believed that the basis for any development must begin with the development of human resources. Formal education remains the main avenue for social- economic, political, technological development and social mobilization in any society (World Bank, 2009). Performance in examinations has an invaluable contribution to the area of human resource development of any nation (UNESCO, 2008; World Bank, 2009). The main goal of education is to prepare individuals for the job market by transmitting knowledge, skills, attitudes and cultural norms of the adult world to the younger (Ellis, 2006).

According to UNESCO (2008), 90 million children in the world had not accessed adequate education by 2006. The 2008 UNESCO and UNICEF reports addressed three interrelated rights that must be addressed in order to provide EFA. These rights include the right to access quality education and respect within the education environment. The report noted that the barriers to be removed in the provision of EFA include: funding by parents (cost sharing), inadequate and unqualified teachers, inadequate physical facilities, resources and lack of effective supervision. A study by Aikens, Nikkiand Barbarin (2008), found that school conditions contribute more to the social, economic difference in learning rates than family characteristics. Schools in low social-economic status communities suffer from high levels of unemployment and migration of the best-qualified teachers. Studies that have been carried out in the developed countries indicate that initial academic skills are correlated with the home environment, where low literacy and chronic stress negatively affect a student‟s pre- academic skills. The school systems in low social-economic communities are often under- resourced, negatively affecting students‟ academic performance (Aikens, Nikki L.; Barbarin, 2008). Inadequate educational facilities and resources greatly affect students‟ academic performance. However, improving school systems and earlier intervention programs through supervision channels may help to reduce these risk factors hence increase students‟ academic achievements.To achieve this, developed countries have incorporated the use of electronic media in their educational systems. The use of computers, for example, has helped to reduce the inadequacy of qualified teachers in the UK. In the United States; some States have adopted the use of electronic educational systems (gadgets) where students only access tutorials from their homes. This system is meant to make education more adaptive and home friendly thus removing environmental barriers (Gimbert, Bol& Wallace, 2007).

UNESCO (2014), while focusing on education performance among Asian countries, found that education performance was still low in Indonesia and Philippines. This research attributed this to resource provision and education management. The research revealed that though governments had done a lot to provide physical facilities, still there was a lack of resources and qualified teachers. Stanley (2014) held the same views but added that student‟s discipline was yet another challenge to performance. However, Ghailani and Khan (2004), singled out teacher qualification and school culture as a core determinant of performance. They then recommended an adoption of an all-inclusive model to enhance the effectiveness of secondary school program in Indonesia.

According to Matthew (2013) and Anyaogu (2015), education performance in Nigeria is not anything better. They asserted that graduates of the education system could neither usefully live in society nor move to higher institutions of higher learning without parental aid. Carnoy (2005) report on education for all recommended that decisiveness has to be taken to monitor learning to ensure all achieve the projected learning outcomes. Kaur (2012) found that environment was the major determinant of students‟ performance. However, he failed to single out the various components of the school environment.

World Bank (2009), education report for african nations shows that performance in Tanzania and Uganda were wanting. Although much has been done on enrolments and accessibility, material provision is still a challenge to many developing countries. This trend is clearly indicated in the Kenyan context. This is because although enrolment has impressively improved over the years, quality and performance of education have been compromised. In the 1979-1983 government development plans, the Kenyan government aimed at enhancing the quality and performance of secondary education through the provision of qualified teachers and other suitable resources. This was important for Kenya especially as she recently unveiled a vision of making the country a medium economy by the year 2030. This can only be achieved through educational performance. According to the Ministry of Education Science and Technology (MOEST, 2005) master plan, secondary school education is extremely crucial in achieving this dream. At the end of the secondary education cycle, students sit for secondary education Examination (KCSE) which is administered by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) to all students who have enrolled and completed four years of secondary education. KNEC was created by an act of parliament in 1983 and mandated to administer examinations to both primary and post primary institutions, award certificates and rank students, schools and Sub- Counties. The ranking then is subjected to public scrutiny for evaluation and judgment based on it every year.

The annual surveys that have been carried out by the Kenya National Examination Council and Ministry of Education Directorate of Quality Assurance and Standards Office division, on secondary schools which performed well in KCSE in the past four years; shows that out of the top 50 high performing schools in the country, not even one had come from Masaba North Sub-County (www.knec.ac.ke, 2011). A similar analysis conducted by the Sub-County Education Officer Masaba North Sub- County also concurred with this report (SCDEO, Masaba North Sub-County, 2011). Despite the government providing schools with the necessary resources, materials, and qualified teachers to Masaba North Sub-County her performance in KCSE has not been impressive (www.knec.ac.ke, 2011).

Since independence in 1963, various efforts have been made to improve quantitatively and qualitatively all levels of formal schooling in Kenya. This is evidenced by the quantitative expansion of educational facilities to make primary education more readily available to all children of school-going age, the establishment of more secondary schools, and the revision of the curriculum (Mcgowen, 2007). Secondary schools in Kenya fall into two categories; government funded and private. Government funded schools are categorized into national, Extra-County, County and Sub-County schools. Private organizations or individuals run private schools. Private secondary schools in Kenya are high-cost schools offering students an alternative system of education with better or more luxurious facilities compared to public schools. They are often favored for prestige. Most private schools in Kenya offer the British system of education which includes “O-levels “and “A-levels”. Very few offers the American system of education and a good number of them offer the Kenya system (Gikungu, Karanja, & Thinguri, 2014).

After taking the primary school leaving exam and successfully passing, government funded schools select students in order of scores. Students with the highest scores gain admission into national schools while those with average performance are selected into Extra County, County and Sub-County schools. Students who fail examinations either repeat the final school year or pursue technical training opportunities. Some students also drop out of school by choice due to poorperformance (Gikungu et al., 2014).

Under the current system of education, students attend secondary school for four years before sitting for KCSE at the end of the fourth year. The first class or year of secondary school is known as form one and the final year is form four. At the end of the fourth year, from October to November students sit for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination (K.C.S.E). In 2008, the government introduced plans to offer free Secondary education to all Kenyans (Gikungu et al., 2014).

It should also be noted that success in educational institutions is measured by the performance of students in external examinations. These examinations if used properly improve the quality of teaching. This gives the reason when KCSE results have released the feedback is sent to schools through a report indicating not only on how students have performed but also on what teachers and students should do to improve on future examinations. The FPE and consequently, FDSE has only addressed the issue of levies, failing to raise issues of infrastructural provisional, staffing among others (Waita, Mulei, Mutune& Kalai, 2015).

According to performance reports available at the County Education Office, secondary schools in Masaba North Sub- County have been performing poorly in KCSE (DEOs, 2011). The 2011 KCSE results depict this because no school from Nyamira County was ranked top among the leading 20 schools nationally. The county has six Sub-Counties among those in thirty lower Sub-Counties (Kisii Central, Gucha South, Gucha, Manga, Nyamira and Masaba North in that order). Table1 shows the performance of Masaba North Sub-County on a more or less the same constant performance level which shows improvements over the years. In addition the performance of all public secondary schools has wanted as per the school mean standard scores....

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Item Type: Kenyan Topic  |  Size: 57 pages  |  Chapters: 1-5

Format: MS Word  |  Delivery: Within 30Mins.

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