School environment and students’ performance in Secondary schools in Rachuonyo North Sub-county, Homabay county.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of school environment on students’ performance in secondary schools in Rachuonyo North Sub-County, Homabay County. The study aimed at achieving the following specific objectives: to determine the influence of class size in relation to student performance, to establish the relationship between motivation and student performance, to examine the influence of availability of physical resources on students’ performance and to investigate how gender influence student performance. Descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population for the study was 50 secondary schools. A total of 359 respondents were targeted by the study (constituting 44 teachers and 315 students) out of which 309 responded (constituting 44 teachers and 315 students) giving a response rate of 86%. Questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection. The instrument contained both closed ended and open ended questions. Both qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques were used to analyze the data. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages while qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis technique. The analyzed data were presented in the form of tables and figures. On the influence of class size on students’ performance, 55% of the teachers indicated that class size influences students’ performance. The findings further showed that 5 out of 8 students who scored grade A and 7 of the students who scored grade A- were in classes which had between 21-30 students. Regarding the relationship between motivation and students’ performance, the study found that 91.9% of the respondents indicated that they were taught well. Further analysis revealed that majority 162 (59.8%) of those who scored C+ and above indicated that they were being taught well. On the influence of physical resources on students’ performance, the study found that 253 (93%) of the respondents indicated that availability of physical resources in schools influences students performance. Finally, on the influence of gender on performance, the study found that 97 (35.8%) of the respondents who scored C+ and above were boys while 71 (26.2%) of the respondents who scored C+ and above were girls. The study also found that 68.7% of the respondents indicated that there was a good relationship between boys and girls in their schools. The study concluded that class size, students’ motivation, school dropout and gender influences students’ performance in schools. The study recommended that schools should ensure that classes accommodate only the recommended number of students. The study finally recommended that another study be done to assess the influence of home environment on students’ performance in other sub-Counties which was not the concern of this study.