Title: STUDENTS PERCEIVED PREPAREDNESS OF TEACHERS AND ITS EFFECT ON PERFORMANCE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KWALE COUNTY, KENYA
Authors:
Stephen Laititi Mutunga, PhD and Caleb Were Mboko
Abstract:
Education is a critical success factor in any economy, developed or developing as it is the process through which teaching and learning take place and knowledge is shared or passed. Governments the world over support education in order to ensure that their population is equipped with skills and knowledge to tackle current and emerging challenges. In Kenya, Education is the highest consumer of government funds. A lot of importance is attached to teaching and learning and performance at various stages. Performance of public secondary schools in Kwale County, Kenya, had been observed to be going down over years. The purpose of this study was to establish why performance was declining despite spirited efforts by stakeholders to support education. Further, the study sought to specifically establish the perception of students in secondary schools on their teachers’ preparedness and delivery of teaching and learning. The population was students in Kwale County represented by candidates in form four, their teachers and Principals. Therefore, it was from all 98 public secondary with 6,540 form four students and 960 Teachers and 98 principals. Krejcie and morgan (1970) table of sample size determination was used to get 364 of 6,540 students, 274 of the 960 teachers, and 29 of the 98 principals. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data through drop and pick method in the selected schools. Random sampling of respondents among form four students and teachers was carried out while purposive sampling of principals was done. Responses were gathered on a five-point Likert scale and data analysis carried out through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. Regression analysis was carried out to establish the relationship between the independent and dependent variable. Reliability was established through Cranbach alpha coefficient of .83 signifying high level internal consistency of the research instrument. The findings established that there was a significant relationship between students’ perception of their teachers’ delivery of teaching and performance in examinations (R2 =0.111, F=317.542, P=0.000). Among the constructs determining teachers’ performance that the students rated, teachers reporting on time was the highest at 67.5% of respondents, teachers beginning and ending their lessons in time was next at 64.5%, teachers giving and marking assignments as expected was rated at 61.8% of students, teachers planning of lessons and delivery at 53.3%, teachers’ caring attitude towards students at 51.7% and coverage of syllabi at 31.9%. Therefore, save for poor rating of coverage of syllabi by teachers, the other indicators of their commitment to delivery of teaching and learning were above fifty percent with a number of respondents being neutral (neither agreeing or disagreeing) on the indicators. The findings mean that 11.1% of performance could be attributed to students’ attitude on teachers. Coverage of syllabus in time was found as the important contributor to declining in student’s performance, all other factors constant. It was recommended that teachers Endeavour to cover syllabi in time to enable student’s ample time for revision. Further studies on private and faith based schools along the same parameters were recommended. Policy on teachers’ attention to detail and endearing themselves to students as well as preparedness on delivery of syllabi were recommended.
Keywords: Performance, perception.
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