Social constructs as a predictors of boy-child educational aspiration: a study of public secondary schools in Nakuru County, Kenya

Abstract

Educational aspiration is one of the crucial determinants of a person’s success in life. It is influenced by a number of constructs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the social constructs as a predictor of boy-child educational aspirations in secondary schools in Nakuru County, Kenya. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of gender roles, school, teachers and home factors on boy- child educational aspirations in secondary school. The question of educational aspirations among Kenyan boys has become the subject of concern. It is against this background that the need for this study was envisaged. The research was guided by sociological theory, social learning theory. These theories were suitable because of the complex socio-psychological backgrounds of the students. The accessible population of the study was 9715 boys spread among secondary schools in Nakuru County, and 950 teachers. Four hundred and twenty boys were selected through simple random sampling from twenty one secondary schools. The schools were selected through stratified random sampling. Twenty one male teachers and twenty one female teachers, one of each gender from every sample school were selected through simple random sampling. The researcher employed a pragmatic paradigm which is regarded as the philosophical partner for mixed method approach. A causal comparative (ex-post facto) research design was used in the study and the research instruments used in collecting data were questionnaire and interview schedule. A pilot study was carried out in two schools which did not take part in the actual research. The reliability of the instrument was determined through the use of cronchbach’s alpha formula and a coefficient of 0.867 and 0.923 for questionnaire and interview respectively. Expert judgment was employed to establish the validity of the research instrument. The researcher carried out analytical review of relevant literature. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages) and inferential statistics (Anova, t-test, Pearson moment correlation coefficient, and linear regression). Null hypotheses were tested at α= 0.05. The findings from this study revealed that gender roles, school type, teachers’ gender, teachers’ expectations, paternal educational attainment and paternal involvement in education significantly influenced boys’ educational aspirations. The educational aspiration of boys in single sex schools was higher than that of boys in co-educational schools. It is strongly recommended that the government and education policymakers should consider establishing only single sex schools or convert progressively all the existing co- educational schools into single sex schools to enhance educational aspirations of students. Knowledge of such constructs would be useful to government, parents and teachers since it may guide in formulating strategies that may help improve boys’ educational aspirations.