Publication: An analysis of shadow education on mainstream education in Public secondary schools in Athi River district
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2014-05
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Mount Kenya University
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Abstract
Education systems in most developing countries are meritocratic and this encourages tough competition
among students and schools. This has led to increased demand for shadow education. The main objective
of the study was to analyse the impacts of shadow education on mainstream education. This study aimed at
specifically investigating the effects of shadow education on performance, syllabus coverage and its impact
on teachers’ motivation as well as the social effects of shadow education. The target population of the study
were teachers, students and parents in public secondary schools in the 29 secondary schools in Athi River
District. Purposive sampling was used to select respondents from the sampling frame; 29 principals, 29
teachers, 29 parents and another 29 students were selected from the twenty nine schools. This study used
primary data which was collected through use of structured questionnaires. Data from the questionnaires
were analysed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS). Pilot study was conducted to measure
the reliability and validity of the questionnaires. The reliability of the instrument was tested using the
Cronbanch Alpha method. The study used descriptive survey research design. The findings implied that
performance is an important element that is considered in shadow education. The results present the
correlation coefficients of the study. These results shows that there is positive relationship between shadow
education and performance, (R=0.423). This implies that those who rated shadow education highly were
also likely to rate performance highly. The relationship was significant as shown by a coefficient of 0.000.
These results show that there is a positive relationship between shadow education and syllabus coverage
(R=0.501). This implies that those who rated shadow education highly were also likely to rate syllabus
coverage highly. The relationship was significant as shown by a coefficient of 0.000. The results show that
there is a positive relationship between shadow education and teacher motivation (R=0.415). This implies
that those who rated shadow education highly were also likely to rate teacher motivation highly. The
relationship was significant as shown by a coefficient of 0.000.These results show that there is a negative
relationship between shadow education and social effects of shadow education (R=0.52). This implies that
those who rated shadow education highly were also likely to rate the social effect lowly. The relationship
was significant as shown by a coefficient of 0.000. The study findings indicated that shadow education does
not assist in coverage of syllabus, but improves teachers’ motivation and students’ performance. Further,
descriptive studies also show that shadow education affects the time parents spend with their children. The
study provides recommendation to the government to reduce the regulatory burden on shadow education
and to parents to encourage their children to value shadow education. The study recommends further studies
to touch on the implication of shadow education costs to the income of households in Kenya-either in the
rural or urban setting.