Examination Anxiety Unmasked: Predictors and Coping Strategies as Experienced By Junior High School Students in the Effutu Municipality of Ghana (Published)
This study investigated the factors that trigger examination anxiety while exploring coping strategies needed to reduce anxiety among Junior High School students in the Effutu Municipality. The study employed the cross-sectional descriptive survey design with quantitative approach where through proportionate stratified random sampling, a sample of 746 students was obtained from both public and private Junior High Schools in the three (3) circuits of the Effutu Municipality. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that even though different kinds of factors trigger examination anxiety amongst the students, lack of self-esteem was the most dominant factor while subject load of the students recorded the least influence on examination anxiety. The study further established that good study habits and skills, effective teacher support, motivation, reduction of students’ workload, improvement in co-curricular activities, and having enough sleep and rest time were the coping strategies advanced to reduce examination anxiety. Additionally, it was found that factors such as having low self-confidence, past experience and beliefs about examination, history of consistent poor performance, subject load, and psychological factors jointly contributed significantly to examination anxiety among students. Besides, motivation of students, reduction of subject load and good teachers support for students were the coping strategies needed to manage examination anxiety. Based on these results, it was recommended that regular education programmes such as symposia and school festivals should be conducted to heighten students’ self-esteem, and remove negative past experiences and beliefs about examinations while exploring other coping strategies to reduce examination anxiety for improved academic performance.
Keywords: Academic Achievement, Coping Strategies, Factors, Junior High School, examination anxiety
Factors Militating Against Females and Rural Dwellers’ Access To, and Participation in Higher Education in Nigeria. (Published)
The study was a descriptive survey in which Focus Group Discussions were used to get the respondents’ perception on the range of factors that militate against the females’ and rural dwellers’ access to and participation in higher education in Nigeria. The study was carried out in Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) and St. John of God Secondary School (SJGSS), both in Awka, Nigeria. Four research questions guided the study. The population comprised all the lecturers and female students in two faculties (Education and Engineering) of NAU, all the Junior Secondary School class-3 and Senior Secondary class-2 students and teachers of SJGSS as well as Government representatives and a member of Women-Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Anambra State. The major instrument for data collection was a 4-topic interview schedule, while percentage was used for Data Analysis. Findings from the discussions revealed some family, school, society and self-related factors. Some major recommendations made to increase the access and participation of females and rural dwellers in higher education in Nigeria are; provision of electricity in rural areas, provision of adult literacy programme for women and mothers in rural areas, establishing strategies for eliminating teachers’ negative attitude to female students’ potentials, as well as lunching of education campaign for rural dwellers.
Keywords: Access, Factors, Females, Participation and Higher Education, Rural dwellers
Factors Affecting the Quality of Students’ Research Work: Exploring the Perception of Students (Published)
There is a growing debate focused on the quality of students’ project work at Takoradi Polytechnic. There is a general consensus that the quality of students’ project work are declining. However, what constitutes quality is undefined within this debate neither factors that influence quality. Opinions regarding factors which determine the quality of research are, in the main, driven by anecdotes and not concrete facts. Our objective was to identify the factors influencing the quality of project works from the perception of students. The statistical technique used in analysing the data for this study was Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) which yielded five factors comprising only half of the original number of items presented to students to which they were to respond. The extracted items constituting the five factors are thus important corollary for fashioning policies for addressing issues of quality with respect to students’ project work.
Keywords: Factors, Polytechnic, Project Work, Quality Research, Students’ Perception
Factors Affecting the Quality of Students’ Research Work: Exploring the Perception of Students (Published)
There is a growing debate focused on the quality of students’ project work at Takoradi Polytechnic. There is a general consensus that the quality of students’ project work are declining. However, what constitutes quality is undefined within this debate neither factors that influence quality. Opinions regarding factors which determine the quality of research are, in the main, driven by anecdotes and not concrete facts. Our objective was to identify the factors influencing the quality of project works from the perception of students. The statistical technique used in analysing the data for this study was Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) which yielded five factors comprising only half of the original number of items presented to students to which they were to respond. The extracted items constituting the five factors are thus important corollary for fashioning policies for addressing issues of quality with respect to students’ project work.
Keywords: Factors, Polytechnic, Project Work, Quality Research, Students’ Perception
MOTIVATING AND DEMOTIVATING FACTORS AMONG KISWAHILI TEACHERS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ELGEYO MARAKWET COUNTY-KEIYO SUB COUNTY, KENYA: A THEORETICAL APPROACH (Published)
This paper sought to investigate the administrative motivation factors affecting Secondary School Kiswahili teachers in Keiyo Sub County. The study was based on Expectancy theory by Victor Vroom who explained that motivation is a combination of three factors Valence, Expectancy and Instrumentality. The theory stresses that students and teachers expect to get a reward from the effort they put in their work. The paper adopted a survey research design and stratified random sampling to select teachers teaching Kiswahili from a selection of 14 schools out of the 29 schools in Keiyo Sub-County. The sample included teachers and students. Questionnaires and document analysis were used to gather data for the study which was then analyzed using descriptive statistics by frequencies, percentages, variances and standard deviations; t-test was applied in testing the hypothesis. The paper established that motivation plays a major role in contributing to good performance of students, however, most teachers felt demotivated in the school. Some of the factors contributing to demotivation include animosity from the surrounding community, poor infrastructure, lack of teaching resources, poor housing facilities, denial of study leaves or transfers as well as unwarranted blame for poor performance of students. It is recommended that Head teachers should encourage team work, provide the necessary facilities such as good housing, equipped labs, and avail necessary teaching resources as a way of motivating teachers. High quality teaching staffs are the cornerstone of a successful education system. It is thus important that teachers are motivated and any demotivation factor eliminated to ensure improved performance in schools.
Keywords: Factors, Motivation, Performance, Students, Teachers, expectancy theory
FACTORS INFLUENCING STUDENTS’ MATHEMATICS PERFORMANCE IN SOME SELECTED COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN GHANA (Published)
Academic performance is affected by a number of factors including admission grade, social economic status, school background and many more. Students’ personal factors and school based factors are the focus of the study described in this paper. The study was a descriptive study in which a survey research design was adopted. Three Colleges where randomly selected for the study. A total of 50 students from these Colleges participated in the study. Data for the study was collected through student’s questionnaire. The findings revealed that inadequate teaching and learning materials as well as lecturer method of instruction are some of the factors which affect students’ performance. The study also revealed that teachers and students’ self-motivation also influence mathematics performance. On the basis of the findings, the following recommendations were made; interactive method of teaching which are core to improving students’ holistic understanding of mathematical concepts needs to be used by mathematics teachers. Also stake holders need to provide adequate teaching and learning resource to the Colleges of education.
Keywords: Factors, Mathematics, Performance