Perceived Scholastic Competence and Academic Deceit among Form Four Students in Baringo County, Kenya

Abstract

Academic deceit has been a common occurrence in Kenya’s education system in recent years. The present study aspired to establish the relationship between sense of scholastic competence and academic deceit among form four students in Baringo County, Kenya. The study adopted correlational research design. All 4,414 form four students from three selected sub counties constituted the accessible population from which a systematic sample of 396 participants were chosen. Questionnaires including Patterns of Adaptive Learning scale and Sense of Competence Scale were adapted and used for data collection. A pilot study and peer review was utilized to assure validity and reliability of the instruments. Respondents were required to sign a consent form. Descriptive statistics obtained were used to describe and summarize the data. Pearson correlation analysis was done to test the relationship between perceived scholastic competence and academic deceit. It was found out that respondents rated their perception of scholastic competence as high. In addition, an inverse and significant relationship was established between sense of scholastic competence (r = -.32, p < .05) and academic deceit. Thus, it was recommended inter alias that teachers be equipped with skills on how to foster sense of competence which may assist in reducing incidences of academic deceit.