Impact of the availability of education inputs on effectiveness in teaching of science subjects in public secondary schools in Nyandarua district, Kenya

Abstract

Secondary schools in Nyandarua District perform poorly in national examinations and especially the sciences and mathematics. While many factors may account for this scenario; this study focused on the availability of education inputs and their effect on effectiveness of schools in the teaching of science subjects. The ultimate goal of the study was to assess the impact of the availability of education inputs on school effectiveness in the teaching of science subjects in public secondary schools in Nyandarua District. To realize this ultimate goal, the study had the following objectives: - • The availability of the education inputs in the secondary schools, in the realms of the physical, human and material. • The effect of the physical education inputs on school effectiveness in the teaching of science subjects. • The effect of the human education inputs on school effectiveness in the teaching of science subjects and • The effect of the material inputs on the school effectiveness III the teaching of science subjects. Literature review was organized under the sub themes: - An overview of science education, methods of science teaching, empirical research on education inputs and school effectiveness. The study used a questionnaire to gather the data needed to answer the objectives. An observation schedule for the physical facilities was also completed to complement data on the questionnaire. The study was an expost facto in design. The subjects of the analysis were 32 heads of science departments in the public secondary schools in Nyandarua District. The respondents were from all categories of secondary schools in the district viz: - The boarding boys only, boarding girls only, mixed boarding and day schools for boys and girls and the mixed day schools for boys and girls. The pilot study was conducted in five secondary schools of the various categories drawn randomly from Ndaragwa division, which had all the categories of schools in the district. The pilot study guided the modifications and revision of the research instruments. The data collected was coded and tabulated and then analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics such as averages and percentages. The data was analyzed in terms of the research questions and discussions made on results of the analyzed data.. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine the nature of relationship between a given set of inputs and school effectiveness in the teaching of science subjects. The study established that the availability of education inputs namely: the physical, human and material were not uniformly distributed among schools. The study also found out that availability of education inputs impacts on school effectiveness in the teaching of science subjects. The variables in the physical schooling inputs that were found to be of great consequence on school effectiveness were the boarding facility and the laboratories. The study further established that school effectiveness in the teaching of science subjects increases with increasing availability of the physical schooling inputs. The human characteristics that were found to impact on effectiveness were the cumulative teachers experience and the workload of teachers in lessons taught per week. The study found that in general the availability of the human inputs does impact on school effectiveness. The general finding of the study was effectiveness of a school in the teaching of science subjects increases with increasing intensity of the available resources. The study. also found that majority of the schools were not effective in the teaching of science subjects was shown by the average number of candidates attaining a pass in the science subjects and mathematics. The study also found that most schools were not adequately prepared in the teaching of science subjects. The study concluded that, school effectiveness increases with increasing availability of education inputs, however no single set of the education inputs could be delineated to causing greater effectiveness than the others but all work in an interwoven network of interaction. Recommendations emanating from the study were that: - • There is need for the ministry of education to develop and adopt a policy on the provision of education inputs to secondary schools to ensure that schools are at an equal footing not only on the availability but also on quality of the education inputs. • The various stakeholders in the education sector should be sensitized on the need to provide the schools with the facilities that help increase the effectiveness of schools in the teaching of science subjects. • The Kenya National examination council should liaise with the secondary schools management boards on the procurement of the equipments that are central to the secondary schools science practical examinations. The following suggestions have been made for further research: - • Research be carried out on school environment factors that lead to school effectiveness in the teaching of science subjects. • A research be conducted on the impact of the availability of education inputs on the effective teaching of science subjects in the day public secondary schools. • A research be conducted on the impact of the availability of education inputs on students attainment in the social sciences. • A research be conducted on school effectiveness III the teaching of science subject on either the girl child or the-boy child. • A research be carried out on school effectiveness in the teaching of science subjects using a larger sample.