Influence of Teacher Input on Pupils' Academic Achievement in Public Primary Schools in Kakamega Municipality Kenya

Abstract

Teachers playa key role in pupils' academic achievement in any education system. Academic achievement is measured by pupils' performance in KCPE. Nationally, in 2012 out of 839,759 who sat for KePE 467,353 scored below 250 marks. In Kakamega Municipality from 2007 - 2012, the KePE results have indicated a downward trend, with a declining mark of 3.4786. The literature reviewed suggests that teacher related inputs are the main determinant factors in academic achievement of learners. However, most research work have used teacher variables together with other school variables to get their influence on academic achievement of learners. This study sought to establish if teacher input have influence on academic performance of pupils. The purpose of the study was therefore to establish the influence of teacher input on academic achievement of pupils in primary schools in Kakamega Municipality. The objectives of the study were to: determine the influence of teacher qualification on academic achievement; determine the influene of teacher experience on academic achievement; establish the influence of teachers' workload on academic achievement; establish the influence of teacher pupil ratio on academic achievement and the influence of teacher attitude on academic achievement of pupils in public primary schools in Kakamega Municipality. The study was based on Education Production Function by Psachouroupolos and Woodhall (1985) theory. It helped in determining how teacher input influenced the pupils' performance in KePE. The study employed descriptive survey research, ex-post facto and correlational research designs. The study population consisted of 403 teachers and 25 headteachers from 25 primary schools. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 197 teachers who presented pupils for examination in 2010-2012. Saturated sampling technique was used to select 23 head teachers from schools which were not part of the pilot study and the Area Education Officer. Questionnaires and interview schedule were used to collect data from teachers and A.E.O. Face and content validity of the instruments were ascertained by experts in the Department of Educational Management and Foundations, Maseno University. Reliability of the instruments was established by a pilot study in 2 schools which were not part of study sample. Pearson r was computed and gave coefficients of 0.75 and 0.80 for teachers and headteachers at a p value of 0.05 respectively. Qualitative data was transcribed, categorized into themes and sub themes as they emerged, coded and analyzed. Quantitative data from questionnaires were tallied using descriptive statistics in the form of means, percentages and frequency counts and inferential statistics in form of pearson's rand regression.The study established that all independent variables had a significant j regression co-efficient with a linear model that fits.the data. The correlation between the dependent variable and independent variable (R) was 0.753. R Square was 0.5672 meaning that the independent variable explained 56.72%, unexplained factors contributed to 43.28%. In conclusion, academic achievement was influenced by teacher inputs. The study recommended that cost effective interventions to address the quality of teaching such as employing more teachers, balanced staffing of teachers, evaluating programs for teacher incentives should be addressed by stakeholders. The findings of this study provide information that is significant to stakeholders on influence of teacher input on academic achievement of pupils and unearth some root causes of low performance in KePE.