Perceptions of pre-service bachelor of education (arts) students on environmental factors that influence high school students’ academic performance

Abstract

The study used Ex post facto research design to find out Pre-Service Bachelor of Education (Arts) degree teachers’ perceptions on the Internal and External Education Environmental Factors that influence high school students’ academic performance. Internal factors are those within the institution that have a direct influence on the students’ academic performance; and, the external factors are those outside the institution but can affect the students’ academic performance, if not well managed. The research was carried out at Kikuyu Campus, University of Nairobi. Data was collected using a self-report response questionnaire and analyzed using descriptivestatistics and analysis of variance. The results indicated that learning resources, effective teaching and assessment are the most important attributes in the internal factor, while family size and home environment are the most critical attributes in the external factor. The findings seemed to indicate that the internal factors have the highest influence on students’ academic performance as compared to external factors. The findings have implications on Pre-Service teacher education in universities and on curriculum implementation.