PSYCHOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AMONG OVER-AGE LEARNERS IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BUTULA SUB COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

The 8-4-4 curriculum system is not strict on the age of a learner at any stage. A good number of over-age learners have transitioned to public secondary schools in Butula Sub County as a result of 100% transition and the basic education Act. Sub County joint examinations conducted annually among form four students give evidence of low academic achievement as indicated by low mean scores of 3.6489, 3.934, and 3.8818 in the years 2019, 2020, and 2021 correspondingly. This is in relation to the overall mean score of 12.0. Over-age learners do contribute to the academic achievement in these schools since they are part of this population. The purpose of this study was to find out the relationship between psychological determinants and academic achievement among over-age learners in public secondary schools in Butula Sub County. Objectives were to: examine the relationship between self efficacy and academic achievement of over-age learners, establish the differences in levels of self-esteem on academic achievement of over-age learners, determine the relationship between interpersonal relationships on academic achievement of over-age learners and finally to establish the relationship between guidance and counseling on academic achievement of over-age learners. The study was anchored on Walberg’s theory of academic achievement. The study employed descriptive survey and correlation research design establish the relationship of psychological determinants on academic achievement of over age learners. The target population consisted of 2306 form four students and 54 teachers from 27 public secondary schools. Stratified random sampling was used to sample schools, simple random sampling to sample students while purposive sampling was used to sample teachers. The sample size for the study was 331 (321 over-age learners and 10 teachers). Instruments of data collection were questionnaire, interview schedules and document analysis check lists. Quantitative data was analyzed using Kendall’s(r), One way Analysis of variance and Spearman’s(r), percentages, means and standard deviations, using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. Findings indicated a significant relationship between psychological determinants and academic achievement of over-age learners as follows: Academic achievement and psychological determinants: SE; r=.088, Self-esteem; F=1.1771, p=0.028 with most learners experiencing low self-esteem. Interpersonal relationship; r=-.112. Further findings from interview schedules indicated a positive relationship between academic achievement and guidance and counseling of over-age learners. It is recommended that: teachers help cultivate high SE of over-age learners, classmates to over-age learners be encouraged to view them in their environment with high self-esteem and not look down upon them and also that teachers in-charge of guidance and counseling particularly offer guidance and counseling that helps improve academic achievement of over-age learners. The findings of this study will be beneficial to Education stakeholders in helping improve academic achievement of learners and more so, over-age learners whose population has significantly increased in public secondary schools.