Influence of Students and Teachers Attitudes on Students Enrollment in Physics in Secondary Schools in Imenti South Constituency, Meru County, Kenya

Abstract

The study examined the influence of students and teachers attitudes on students’ enrolment in Physics in secondary schools in Imenti South constituency of Meru County. This study was premised on the component theory of attitudes and self-efficacy theory. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The target population was composed of 138 physics teachers 1,864 students and 61 principals from 61 public secondary schools in Imenti South Constituency. Purposive sampling was used to select six principals whereas simple random sampling was used to select 14 Physics teachers and 220 students, yielding a total of 240 respondents. The instruments used in this research were questionnaires for students and Physics teachers as well as interview guidelines for principals in the selected schools. The main finding was that both female and male students had a positive attitude towards Physics and were capable of performing well in the subject. The major challenge thwarting students’ enrolment in Physics was the inadequacy of teaching and learning resources that limited the range of instructional techniques used by teachers to teach the subject effectively. The study recommended that the Government of Kenya, through the Ministry of Education, should ensure that Physics teachers are provided with adequate instructional resources to facilitate adoption of more learner-friendly teaching methods that attract more students to enrol in the subject.