Teachers’ Perception of Selected Determinants of Primary School Pupils Academic Achievement in Nyanza Region Kenya.

Abstract

The performance of primary school pupils in Kenya certificate of primary education (KCPE) examinations in Nyanza Region has been unsatisfactory over the years. Most of the candidates obtain atleast average and below average scores in the annual examination. This has been cause for worry among parents, teachers and the community. This especially because KCPE results are used for secondary schools placement and also gauge school performance. The purpose of the study was to investigate teacher’s perception of the factors influencing primary school pupil’s academic achievement in Nyanza Region. The objectives of the study where to; establish teachers perception on whether the curriculum content, physical facilities, human resources, parents and community support, pupil behavior and teachers characteristics determined primary school pupil academic achievement. The study was guided by the transaction theory of teaching/learning and general systems theory. The area of study was Nyanza Region in the counties of Siaya and Kisumu. The study employed mixed methods approach and was conducted using descriptive explanatory survey design. The instruments used to collect data included questionnaires and interview guide. The sample was selected using stratified random sampling. Data was collected from 136 schools where 136 head teachers and 493 teachers were respondents. The researcher interviewed 36 teachers. The unit of analysis was primary school teachers. The data was analyses using descriptive and inferential statistic (factor analysis). Descriptive statistics such as measure of central tendency, counts and percentages, were used to analyses the data. General linear model was used to test the hypotheses. The study found that there were relationships between variables in the study such as curriculum content and physical facilities; for example, lack of tools such as syllabuses affected head teachers ability to monitor syllabus coverage. The teachers perceived the following variables to be the major predictors of achievement; lack of monitoring syllabus coverage, lack of adequate text books, parenting style, social gatherings such as discos, teachers’ participation in co curriculum activities, lack of checking pupils assignment, age of pupils and pupils absenteeism. It was found that since the school is a system, it has subsystem such as curriculum content, physical facilities, teachers characteristics and pupils behavior and parent community. These subsystems interacted and were dependent on each other. As such, problems in one variable affected the other. For example, the post election violence 2008 affected pupils KCPE achievement. It was suggested that a study should be conducted to investigate the challenges facing implementation of specific subjects in primary education curriculum.