Teachers' characteristics and their effects on students’ achievements in chemistry: a case study of Bungoma North district

Abstract

Research focusing on the effect of teacher characteristics on students’ performance has been popular in recent years. This has revitalized interest in the subject of teacher characteristics and their effects on students’ performance. Most studies tend to show that teacher characteristics have a positive effect on students’ performance. There, however, lacks sufficient data to support this assertion in Kenya. This study, therefore, focused on teacher characteristics and their effects on students’ achievement in chemistry in Bungoma North District. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of teacher qualification, experience and attitude on students’ performance in chemistry. The theoretical framework in the study was based on the heuristic learning theory as advanced by Henry Edward Armstrong. In this perspective, the student is viewed as one who actively contacts concepts by a process of guided discovery. The research design used to carry out the study was descriptive survey. This was because it was best suited in the study of individual characteristics and would help present responses by respondents in a clearer manner. The target population comprised of students and teachers in a total sample of 42 secondary schools where stratified random sampling was employed to select 13 schools, which represented 30% of the total number of schools. The district was chosen because it had varied performance in national examinations, especially in chemistry. Questionnaire for teachers to investigate teacher qualification, experience and attitude was administered. Another questionnaire to investigate students’ attitude towards chemistry and their teachers was also given. The questionnaire had both structured and unstructured items. The data was collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics, including frequency graphs; mean, mode median, standard deviation and percentages while for inferential statistics, correlation and regression were employed. A statistical program, SPSS was used in data analysis. The findings of the study showed that teacher characteristics were more influential in predicting student performance than school factors. The findings of this study added value to the expanding research studies on the effects of teacher characteristics on students’ performance. The study recommended the strengthening of internal inspection in schools to mitigate against some of the negative characteristics exhibited by teachers.