Yusuf SULEİMAN, Araba HAMMED

10761

Perceived Causes of Students’ Failure in Mathematics in Kwara State Junior Secondary Schools: Implication for Educational Managers

Perceived Causes of Students’ Failure in Mathematics in Kwara State Junior Secondary Schools: Implication for Educational Managers

This study examined the perceived causes of students’ failure in mathematics in junior secondary based on three research questions and objectives. Stratified, purposive and systematic random sampling techniques were used to select 220 respondents from four secondary schools in Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State, Nigeria. An instrument tagged “Perceived Causes of Students’ Failure in Mathematics Questionnaire (PCSFMQ)” was used to elicit data from the respondents. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Partial Least Square (PLS) were used to analyze the collected data. Specifically, PLS software was used to assess the psychometric properties of the data while SPSS was used to find answer to the research questions. Findings of the study revealed probable causes of students’ failure in mathematics, which include insufficient number of qualified teachers in mathematics, lack of teaching aids/ instructional materials, frequent transfer of mathematics teachers from one school to another, poor socio-economic background of the student, poor teaching methodology. The findings also indicate that inappropriate period allocated for mathematics, as well as overpopulation of students in classroom caused students’ failure in mathematics. Based on the findings, it is suggested that educational managers need to avoid mass failure in mathematics by ensuring that adequate mathematics teachers are available in their schools at all times so that students can be taught mathematics at all levels. Also, managers should ensure decongestion of classroom so as to enhance effective teaching and learning in mathematics. Recommendations were made and future research directions were suggested.
Keywords:

mathematics junior secondary school, educational Managers,

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International Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics-Cover
  • Yayın Aralığı: Yılda 4 Sayı
  • Başlangıç: 2014
  • Yayıncı: Ercan MASAL
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