Modeling Factors Affecting Academic Transition In Kenya

Abstract

Academic transition has been known to be affected by many factors. This project sought to investigate the most effective factors to academic transition. First, the factors were extracted from literature. They were then grouped into demographic factors, social economic factors, social cultural factors, student factors, curriculum and school factors, environmental factors, and social physical factors. Each factor had a number of variables identified from literature. To understand the factors, the study is based on other research findings on the factors affecting transition. The factors sampled out from literature and the data on identified factors were extracted from Kenya Demographic Health Survey of 2008. Using Principal component analysis, the above factors yielded 11 principal components as the most effective factors to academic transition. These were; social economic status, family position, home environment, family composition, regional influence, parents occupation, parents education, house wife status, mother’s type of earning, preventive health measures, and ethnicity. Later, the identified principal components were used as predictors to a multiple regression equation with the highest academic level as the response variable. Among the 11, home environment, mother’s type of earning and preventive health measures was not significant in estimating academic level. The most effective factors affecting academic transition were regional influence, social economic status, parents’ education, house wife status, family composition, ethnicity, family position, and parents occupation, all ranked in levels of effect to transition.