Learning and how a student performs is undoubtedly a perpetual research drive at the heart of education stakeholders, policy-makers, teachers, researchers, parents, and social workers, to name a few. It is a product of not only formal education but also families, countries and peers, and social, economic and cultural forces.
Sadly, in attempts to investigate what determines the academic outcomes of learners at various levels of education, researchers have conjured up more questions than answers. In the recently released Secondary School Survey Report by Usawa Agenda, findings showed that a student’s performance is impacted by many variables, including family, school types, teachers, environment, and societal as well as motivational factors.
And while the government has tried to invest heavily in education to improve accessibility and quality of education in secondary and primary schools, there’s still sharp contrast between the education inputs and the learning outcomes. Some children are in school but are not learning.
The Usawa Agenda Secondary School Survey Report 2021 sought to determine such inequities that disenfranchise quality education in secondary schools in Kenya. The survey was done in 376 secondary schools – 8 from each county across Kenya – and was informed by the fact that secondary education is critical in the career paths that young Kenyans can take.
Some of the key findings from the report showed that the quality of education in secondary schools depends on the quality of teachers and their competence, their capacity the teaching and the student’s learning process. This aligns with the broad recognition that the quality of teachers and teaching lies at the heart of all schooling systems intending to offer quality education.
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The teaching force is the foundation of quality education at all levels of education. Secondary schools in Kenya are categorized into sub-county, county, extra-county, and national schools – all managed differently – with national schools perceived as the best at producing desirable learning outcomes.
Usawa Agenda found that many factors impact a learner’s grade, most of them outside of the learner’s control. Some of these factors are school-level, while others are beyond the school. Yet the learner almost singly bears the full responsibility for the grade they obtain.
For example, regarding the type of secondary school one attends in Kenya, joining a county school is associated with scoring similar points in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examinations (KCSE) to a fellow candidate who attended a sub-county school.
The report also indicates that attending an extra-county school is associated with scoring 2.51 points more in KCSE examinations than a fellow candidate who attended a sub-county school. In contrast, attending a national school is associated with scoring 5.43 points more in KCSE examinations than a fellow candidate who attended a sub-county school.
Apart from the school category, whether the institution is a boarding, day, day-boarding, mixed, or all-girls/all-boys school has a bearing on the learning outcome. Attending a boarding school, for example, is associated with scoring 7.67 points more in KCSE examinations than a fellow candidate who attended a day school.
For girls, being in a girl school is associated with scoring 1.19 points more in KCSE examinations than a fellow girl who attended a mixed school.
The student-teacher ratio, teaching resources and methods, and school leadership also affect a student’s KCSE grade. In the assessment, Usawa Agenda found that one unit increase in the learners to teacher ratio is associated with a 1.04 points decline in the candidate’s KCSE mean grade.
Attending a school with a library is associated with scoring 1.67 more points in KCSE examinations than a fellow candidate who attended a school without a library.
Meanwhile, a one unit increase in the percentage of teacher absenteeism is associated with a 0.16 points decline in the candidates’ KCSE mean grades. Also, a one unit increase in the proportion of TSC teachers is associated with 7.48 points increase in the candidates’ KCSE mean grades.
In a school where the current principal has served in the same capacity and school for between 5 and 8 years, the school is likely to score 4.76 fewer points in KCSE examinations than a counterpart in a school where the principal has served for less than one year in the same capacity.
These and more factors are some of the earmarked factors that the Usawa Agenda found in their assessment. While the government has done a lot and implemented various policies to ensure all children get quality learning, many factors continue to affect a student’s performance.
Grab a copy of the Usawa Agenda’s Secondary School Survey Report 2021 from this link to find out more.