| dc.description.abstract | This study sought to investigate school based factors influencing students' performance in K.C.S.E in public secondary schools in Lari district. It was conducted in 29 public secondary schools in Lari district, Kiambu County.The researcher the ex-post facto research design to conduct the investigations. Simple random sampling techniques were used to sample 29 schools headteachers, 203 teachers and 327 students, to conduct the study. Primary data was mainly collected using teachers' and headteachers questionnaires; that was pretested to ensure reliability and validity. Data collected were analyzed using a combination of statistical combinations. These included frequencies and percentages. The analyzed data was interpreted using frequency tables and percentages.
The study indentified the availability of teaching/learning materials, physical facilities, language of communication, class population as well as the headteachers' supervision. The main findings of the study were at schools based on lack of adequate teaching/learning resources. Important equipments like textbooks, science laboratories equipments and classrooms were also inadequate. It also found that teachers' workload is moderate and teachers/learners ratio manageable, but they do not give homework adequately and if given the students ignore the homework.
The study also revealed that most teachers have the skills and knowledge required to handle students to perform well in K.C.S.E. and other examinations. The findings also revealed that physical facilities e.g. libraries and science laboratories in public secondary schools are not adequate and appropriate to enable K.C.S.E students perform better. The study made recommendations that the Ministry of Education (MoE) should consider immediately increasing the provision of teaching and learning resources in public secondary schools. The government through T.S.C should recruit more qualified teachers in public secondary schools who should- address the rising number of students in public secondary schools. These have resulted from F.P.E initiative to ensure entry from primary schools.
The current budgetary allocation is not enough hence the government should endeavor to source funds from well wishers and NGOs to diversify secondary education. All stakeholders in. the Education sector should organize awareness campaigns and motivation strategies to both learners and teachers in public secondary schools in order to encourage them to work hard for better performance in K.C.S.E. Guidance and counseling as well as motivation speeches should be organized so as to encourage the stake holders and model the learners thus improve the K.C.S.E performance in public Secondary schools in Kenya.
Thisstudy suggested that other areas of research should be done. These may include an assessment System that recognizes progress towards national competencies in public secondary schools in Kenya. The study also was confined to headteachers, teachers and students leaving out parents' and PTA members who equally are involved in the day to day running of public secondary schools. A related study should be carried out involving them. At the same time the study was confined in public secondary schools in Lari District, however generalization of the study to public secondary schools throughout the country should be applied with caution. A similar study may be carried out in other parts of the country. | en_US |
