| dc.description.abstract | This study was about establishing factors affecting level of KC.S.E. performance in Kitui District. The major purpose was to determine the factors and their influence on KC.S.E. performance.
The overall and long-term aim of this study was to contribute to the improvement of KC.S.E. performance of students of Kenya. It is also expected to contribute information that could be useful in designing possible ways of improving the performance in the district. Secondly, to establish whether availability of learning facilities and the teachers have any effect on performance in KCSE performance. Thirdly, to find out the role of administration on students performance. In addition to find out the effect of class size and management of homework on students performance in K.C.S.E. Examination in Kitui District.
The setting for this study was ten public secondary schools in Kitui district. The method for this study was survey design because it covers large population and determined current status of population with respect to more variables. To get the samples the researcher used stratified random sampling. Schools were first classified according to school type; 10 Boys public secondary schools, 18 Girls secondary public schools and 38 mixed public secondary schools (day! boarding), Samples were then selected randomly from each category, tools used for data collection were questionnaire and interview
guides that were meant to supplement information in questionnaire.
The respondents that provided data were ten headteachers who were purposively sampled because if was randomly chosen then headteacher was automatically selected, thirty teachers were randomly selected so that one teacher represented each department and one
hundred form four students were systematically randomly selected. These subjects were administered questionnaires under supervision in the classroom.
After a thorough research findings of the study revealed that;
Teachers are qualified and have experience in teaching; therefore this has no effect on performance in K.C.S.E.
Learning facilities/ resources are not adequate in most schools, hence students lacked proper familiarization with equipments like laboratory equipments, revision booklets, lack of adequate facilities led to students lack courage in handling examination hence panic and perform poorly. School with adequate learning materials/facilities created an exposure to students hence performed better than equipped schools.
Due to high workload teaches geared! used various methods which aimed at completing syllabus and could not have time to monitor individual students. This led to ill preparation of teacher and students hence performed poorly.
Teachers with lower workload on average below 24 lessons per week had adequate time to prepare students adequately in revision, marking their assignment and this inspired students fully hence performed better in K.C.S.E. examination .
Schools with low class size. teachers had close attention to students and these teachers could guide students on individual level. The low enrolment led to low student teacher ratio and students were properly guided in their abilities and this led to better performance in K.C.S.E. than schools which had high enrollment.
Administration played a role in performance since they provided learning facilities in right time and inspection played little role in performance. Inspectors
rarely inspected schools, even though performance was poor.
Recommendations based on this study are;
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology should organize seminars and workshops for all teachers on regular basis. This will enable teachers to be equipped with relevant methods of teaching .
School administration should provide learning I teaching resources adequately
and in good time so as to ensure students familiarize and change their reading habits .
Teachers Service Commission should employ more teachers so as to ease their workload. This will enable them prepare effectively for their lessons.
Inspectors should intensify inspection. This will ensure high quality education is
maintained. Also they will offer professional advice to teachers on the expectations of curriculum.
There is need for parents to follow up performance of their students so as to help teachers in proper monitoring of students.
Since the study was conducted in ten public secondary schools in Kitui district, the researcher recommended for further studies to be carried out in the following areas such as other schools in district and province at large to get information that can be used to make decisions. In addition comparative studies to be carried out between Government and Private secondary schools to find out whether factors are the same in Private schools. | en |
