A relational analysis of utilization of community resources on students’ performance in History & Government of KCSE in public secondary schools in Embu County, Kenya

Abstract

The students’ performance in History & Government in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination in Embu County has been low over the last ten years. Despite, the various interventions, low performance persists. The study was guided by the following objective to assess how the influence of utilization of community resources affect performance of History & Government, The study was guided by the instructional design and the education production theories. The research employed mixed methodology and concurrent triangulation design. Target population of the study was 1541 respondents comprising 1340 form four students taking History & Government, 134 History & Government teachers, 67 principals in public secondary schools in Kenya. The sample size was a total of 328 respondents made up of 20 school principals, 40 teachers and 268 students. Research instruments comprised of questionnaires for teachers and students while an interview guide was used for the principals. Piloting was done in 10% of the schools in Embu County that were not included in the final sample. Content validity of the instruments was ascertained by a team of experts from the Department of Educational Administration and Management of Mount Kenya University. The reliability of the questionnaire was determined using the split-half method. Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the reliability coefficient. A reliability coefficient of 0.07 and above was accepted otherwise, it was revised. Dependability of the qualitative instrument was ascertained using detailing all the events and asking a team of experts to audit while credibility was established through data triangulation. Data was analyzed quantitatively using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics included percentage, mean and standard deviation. Inferential statistics included correlational and regression analysis. The qualitative data derived was analyzed thematically and presented in narrative form. It was concluded that in – service training adequately prepared teachers in the use of the education syllabus although the teachers were inadequate. Based on the findings of the study, the following were the recommendations; There was need for the identification of the resource requirement and assessing quality in terms of the needs and the use of the resources for teaching and learning of history and government in schools in Embu County.