The relationship between sports involvement on academic performance for learners in public primary schools in Bungoma County, Kenya

Abstract

Globally, schools are expected to offer sufficient opportunities to nurture holistic character development of learners and to improve academic performance. Schools are key in impacting the formative years of young persons and instilling life skills. However, the Kenya primary educational practices are skewed towards passing the national written examinations; laying less emphasis on non-class activities. Hence, the study evaluated the relationship between sports involvement and academic performance for learners in public primary schools in Bungoma County. The study’s specific objectives were to: find out learners’ level of involvement in sports, assess learners’ perception of the relationship between sports involvement and their academic performance, evaluate the teachers’ perception of the relationship between sports involvement and academic performance and investigate relationships between the level of learners’ involvement in sports and subsequent academic performance by comparing the academic scores of learners who participate in sports. The study was based on Astin’s Involvement Theory whose basic principle is that educational experience ought to consider both classroom and out of class performances in development of a holistic learner functioning physically, emotionally and psychologically. Concurrent triangulation mixed method was used, where both qualitative and quantitative data was collected, analyzed and findings concurrently interpreted was adopted for this study. Purposive and stratified sampling methods were used. Three sub-counties of Bungoma were selected for the study. A total of 54 public schools (33.13%) participated in the study. A sample of 299 respondents participated comprising; 208 learners, 78 class teachers and 21 head teachers. Structured questionnaires, interviews schedules, Focused Group Discussion guide and document analysis guide were used to collect primary data. Secondary data was sourced from published and unpublished scholarly works and relevant governmental reports. Statistical Program for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze collected data. Descriptive data was presented using frequencies, percentage and charts while chi- square was used to present Quantitative data, qualitative data was arranged based on themes and explained. The study established significant improvement on academic performance for learners who participate in sports with a chi-square result of 112.90 on a 0.000 Probability (P) value. Further, the means score of students who participated in sports was 272.20 which was higher than the 237.74 National results in 2019. The findings indicate that majority of learners who participate in sporting equally perform well in their academics. The study found that learners had positive attitude towards sports and believed that it positively impacted their performance. Further teachers said that involvement in sports improved concentration in class hence improves academic performance. The study recommended schools to solicit stakeholders support to improve sporting facilities, teachers to create time for remedial sessions for learners who skip lessons because of involvement in sports and perception of teachers towards learners’ involvement in sports to be boosted. Majority of respondents indicated that learners involved in sporting activities enjoy holistic development hence need for balanced focus on both sports involvement and class performance. The study will contribute towards the improvement in learner participation in sports which from the findings it lags behind.