Factors influencing students' academic performance in public day secondary schools in Katulani sub-county, Kitui county, Kenya

Abstract

The aim of the study was investigating factors influencing public day secondary schools performance of students in academics in Katulani sub county, Kitui county, Kenya. Factors refer to reasons which are behind students’ academic performance. The study objectives sought to investigate the influence of; instructional materials, instructional techniques, home environment and peer group on students’ academic performance. Utilisation of descriptive survey research design was done. There were 59 public day secondary schools in the target population The research employed a stratified sampling approach as well as plain random sampling. The sample size was 18 public day secondary schools. A 10% was used to sample 89 teachers who were further sampled using simple random sampling. All the 18 school principals from sampled schools participated in the study. Questionnaires were used to gather information. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and displayed using frequency distribution tables, bar graphs, and pie charts. The qualitative data collected from open-ended items was grouped into themes focused on the study's goals and presented in narrative form. From the findings, study established that there were no enough teachers to handle students comfortably as indicated by18.8% of the principals and 39.0% of the teachers. The study found that 31.3% of the principals and 37.8% of the teachers strongly agreed that teaching materials support students learning. The study established that organizing students to interact with the content improves students' academic performance as agreed by 62.5% of the principals and 51.6% of the teachers. The study also noted from 50.0% of the principals and 70.7% of the teachers that parent's level of education has a direct influence on student academics. It was also found from 62.5% of the principals and 50.0% of the teachers that peer group discussion improves the performance of the students. According to the findings, using improvised instructional materials facilitates and improves the teaching-learning process and that discussion together with demonstration and inquiry are the most effective techniques of improving students’ academic performance. Academic success is often affected by parental educational credentials, economic status, occupation, and home place. Peer groups have an impact on learning, and such factors such as socioeconomic status and parental factors affect student participation in most peer groups and that students are closer to their friends than to their teachers and parents concerning their academic and that parents monitor their children’s peer group association which affect their academic performance. The study recommended that to minimize the cost of development and maintenance of instructional materials, teachers must be resourceful in their collection, preparation, and usage of instructional materials. Encouragement of teachers in all subjects should be followed so as to make use of a number of methods, such as group work, peer guidance, debate, and projects are used to help students develop their knowledge and abilities based on their level of understanding. It’s vital to encourage involvement of parents in their academic affairs of their children as this is one way to improve academic achievement and that teachers should use the peer groups as study group to bring about effective classroom interaction. The importance of the study to various stakeholders could be making information available for the utilization in improving management practices of students’ academic performance in schools.