Factors influencing students’ enrolment in physics in secondary schools: a case of Bungoma East sub – county Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors influencing students' enrolment in Physics in Secondary Schools in Bungoma East sub- County. Physics is now an optional subject in the secondary curriculum. Despite the fact that very few students are opting for Physics as their science subject choice, most of the major courses at university require that a student should have done Physics in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE). Diploma technical oriented courses also require that one should have done Physics to be admitted to the colleges. The objectives of the study were to determine the effect of students' attitude, gender, performance and timetabling on enrolment in Physics in Bungoma East Sub-County. The study was intended to establish major factors contributing to low enrolment in Physics and recommend strategies and principles that could raise the enrolment of students in the subject. The design of the study was descriptive survey. Purposive sampling was used to select Bungoma East Sub-County, Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the schools and participants respectively. Data was collected from 234 students selected from twelve secondary schools. A questionnaire was used to collect data after validating and testing reliability and in addition, data on performance and timetabling was collected by document analysis from District Education Officer (D.E.O's) and school principals' offices. The data was analyzed using both descriptive methods such as percentages and means. Inferential data analysis was done using chi-square. The study revealed that; students' attitude, gender, performance and timetabling are among the many other factors that influence a learner’s choice for Physics or not. Teaching methods used and teaching resources also affect performance in Physics hence resulting into low enrolment. The study concluded that there is a very close relationship between enrolment in Physics and students attitude towards the subject. The study recommended that strategies should be put in place by educators and the ministry of education (M.O.E) to change the attitude of students towards Physics to enable them approach Physics with confidence and improve enrolment. More female teachers should be employed to teach Physics to act as role models to girls. Performance in Physics should be improved for the subject to attract more students and the timetables in schools be made more balanced. The study recommends that Physics teachers assess the attitude of students if negative, appropriate measures be taken, female students should be taught by female teachers as role models, Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) should set Examinations that are fair to improve performance and Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) to develop a suitable syllabus which is not overloaded.