Readiness of schools for the universalization of science subjects and the performance of ‘O’ level chemistry students in Kampala District, Uganda

Abstract

This study which looked into the readiness of schools for the universalisation of science subjects and the performance of ‘O’ Level Chemistry Students in Kampala District, Uganda, was intended to find out how schools were prePared to enable ‘O’ level Chemistry students perform well under the universalisation of science subjects programme. Readiness of schools was believed to affect the students’ performance and was conceptualized into teacher capacity, Chemistry learning materials, and student’ willingness to learn Chemistry.

The purpose of the study was to establish the effect of the readiness of schools for the universalisation of science subjects on the performance of ‘O’ level Chemistry students in Kampala District. The objectives of study were; (i) To establish the influence of teacher capacity, on the performance of ‘O’ level Chemistry students in Kampala District. (ii) To find out the influence of the availability and use of chemistry learning materials on the performance of ‘O’ level Chemistry students in Kampala District. (iii) To assess the students’ willingness to learn on the performance of ‘O’ Level Chemistry students in Kampala District. The study took a correlational, cross sectional survey design and followed a quantitative approach involving 54 Chemistry teachers and 206 ‘O’ level Chemistry students selected from 27 secondary schools using the cluster and stratified sampling. Primary data were collected using two sets of self administrated questionnaires and two sets of interview guides for secondary school chemistry teachers and students in addition to a laboratory observation checklist. Data were analyzed at Univariate level using frequency count and summary statistics while at bivariate level, t –test, ANOVA, Linear regression techniques were employed.

The study revealed that; i) Readiness of schools in terms of teacher capacity impact significantly on students’ performance in “O” level chemistry (p<0.05). In addition, since teacher capacity was measured by a number of teachers, teacher quality and teacher attitudes, it is only teacher quality and teacher attitudes that had a significant influence on the performance of “O” level chemistry students (p<0.05) but number of teachers did not have a significant influence on the performance of “O” level chemistry. ii) Readiness of schools in terms of learning materials had a significant influence on “O” level chemistry performance (p<0.05) and PLCC, r= 0.414, implying that learning materials altogether contribute about 41% towards “O” level chemistry performance. However, it is laboratory, text books an iii) iv) d library that significantly influence “O” level chemistry performance (p<0.05) but chemicals and equipment (p<0.05) did not significantly influence “O” level chemistry performance. v) Readiness of schools in terms of students willingness to learn generally was found to be a positive significant influencer of “O” level chemistry performance (p<0.05). in addition it was noted that it was only interest and attitude which had a positive significant influence on “O” level chemistry performance which perception had an insignificant positive influence on “O” level chemistry performance.

The recommendations from the study were: i) Readiness of schools in terms of teacher quality in Kampala district should be improved so as to enhance ‘O’ level chemistry performance, more specifically, the number of chemistry teachers should be increased to improve the teacher students radio, in addition, school administrators in Kampala district secondary schools should ensure that they help change the chemistry teachers attitudes towards teaching the subject. ii) Readiness of schools in terms of availability and utilization of chemistry learning materials should be improved so as to produce better “O” level chemistry performance in Kampala district, that is to say, all secondary schools in the district should have laboratories to conduct chemistry practicals. The required chemicals and equipment should be purchased and stocked to achieve this goal. iii) Readiness of schools in terms of students willingness to learn should be given attention so as to produce good “O” level performance: students need to be prepared to do chemistry through counseling sessions and their interest in the subject should be stepped up by the school administrators, teachers and government by giving them incentives like sponsorship in chemistry related course among other and strategies.