STUDENTS’ ENTRY BEHAVIOUR AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AS DETERMINANTS OF STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: CASE OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN MACHAKOS COUNTY, KENYA

Elizabeth Njoroge, David M. Mulwa, Josephat Mboya Kiweu

Abstract


Quality education is indicated by learner aptitude, perseverance, readiness for school, prior knowledge, barriers to learning, and demographic variables, among many others. This study sought to investigate the extent to which students' entry behavior influences students' academic achievements and also to determine the association between the learning environment and student's academic achievements in public secondary schools in Machakos County. A descriptive survey research design was adopted, and the target population for the study was 369 principals, 4,267 teachers, and 115,132 students. The researcher used purposive and stratified sampling techniques to extract the actual sample size for the study. The sample size was 37 principals, 390 teachers, and 397 students. Questionnaires collected data from the teachers, students, and principals. The test-retest method was used to determine the reliability of the research tools. The validity of the instruments was ascertained through discussions with the lecturers from the department of Education of Machakos University and the supervisors. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean, mode, standard deviation, frequency tally, and percentages. Inferential statistical tools, mainly Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Regression Analysis, were also used, and inferences were made from the analysis. Findings showed that; there is no statistically significant relationship between students' entry behavior and students' academic achievement (p = .863) and that there is a statistically significant relationship between learning environment and students' academic achievement (p = .000).

 

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academic achievement, students’ entry behaviour, learning environment

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v10i1.4708

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