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

Year 2019, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 19 - 33, 06.03.2019

Yusuf Suleiman , Araba Hammed

Abstract

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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