Abstract
Secondary school education provides a foundation for acquisition of further knowledge and skills in tertiary institutions of learning. It is a bed-rock where future productive human capital is nurtured to serve the dynamic needs of a nation’s labour market and the economy in general. Education is used to achieve more rapid economic, social, political, technological, scientific and cultural development in a country. In Kenyan education system, mathematics is a compulsory and an examinable subject offered at all levels of learning except for tertiary institutions where it is selective, yet requisite in some courses of study. There is much emphasis on mathematics performance examined nationally by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) hence necessitating the current study. As a matter of fact, students’ performance in mathematics has attracted attention from various stakeholders and further raised interest in teachers’ qualification in delivering the subject matter. This study ought to establish the influence of teacher competence on mathematics performance in KCSE examinations among public secondary schools in Nyatike Sub-county, Kenya. Teacher competence was conceptualized in terms of teacher educational qualification, teacher training and teacher experience and mathematics performance as the dependent variable. The study was based on three models namely; economical approach, stakeholder theory of management and humanistic-progressive model. The study used a descriptive research design with a survey method and targeted 50 public secondary schools. The researcher used structured questionnaires to collect data from the sampled respondents. The collected questionnaires were then analyzed using SPSS version 20. Both linear regression analysis and Pearson correlation analysis were used and the results presented in tables. The study findings revealed positive correlations between; teacher educational qualifications with mathematics performance, teacher training with mathematics performance, and teacher experience with mathematics performance. However, it was also noted thatsome teachers holding diplomas from reputable colleges such as Kenya Science University College perform better than those with undergraduate degrees from universities.
Highlights
The reason attributed to this may be due to the claim that ladies generally perform better in languages than they do in mathematics and sciences
The study revealed that the relationship between teacher educational qualification and mathematics performance was positive, strong and statistically significant (r = 0.490; p < 0.05)
The study findings indicate that the quality of pre-service teacher training and the level of in-service training significantly influence the student achievement and school performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE)
Summary
Education at secondary school level often provides a foundation for acquisition of further knowledge and skills in tertiary institutions of learning. It is a bed-rock where future productive human capital is nurtured to serve the dynamic needs of a nation’s labour market and the economy in general. According to [22] secondary education is a very important instrument for national development that fosters the worth and development of the individual for further education and development as well as the general development of the. In Kenyan education system, mathematics is a compulsory and an examinable subject offered at all levels of learning except for tertiary institutions where it is selective, yet requisite in some courses at different years of study
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