Students' Perception of Their School's Teaching and Learning Interactions and KCSE Performance in Public Secondary Schools of Kibwezi Sub -County, Makueni County, Kenya

Abstract

The aim of this study was to establish the relationship between students' perception of their school's teaching and learning interactions and KCSE performance in public secondary schools of Kibwezi Sub -County, Makueni County. A descriptive survey design was used targeting all principals, heads of curriculum departments and KCSE graduates in the 61 secondary schools in Kibwezi Sub- County, Makueni County. Stratified sampling was used to select 12 schools, comprising 6 schools from the top performing category and 6 from the bottom performing category. Purposive sampling was used to select the informants. The study participants comprised 12 principals, 13 Heads of Curriculum departments and 12 KCSE graduate students in the 12 selected schools. The researcher used descriptive survey design for the study.  Questionnaires, interview guide and document analysis were used as data collection instruments. Results from both the low and high performing schools were compared at the three categories of respondents. The study revealed that students from the high performing schools perceived the teaching and learning interactions employed in their schools to be collaborative and student centred. Similarly, the principals and the HODs in the high performing schools also agreed with the statements requiring them to indicate whether they employed collaborative and student centred teaching and learning interactions. T-test run on mean responses between the two groups revealed significant differences in favour of collaborative and student centred teaching and learning interactions. Students' positive perception of their school teaching and learning interactions relate to students' KCSE performance in public secondary schools. From the results, the study recommends that school administrators should be encouraged to improve on management of academic programmes by Interactive and student centred teaching and learning styles. In order to attain better in National exams, schools should ensure that appropriate teaching interactions that motivate students are put into place. The schools should also aim at developing feedback mechanisms to inform appropriate adjustments in the way the schools are run.