TY - JOUR
T1 - School environmental factors, pupils’ characteristics, and academic performance
T2 - The case of junior high school pupils of the Krachi west district of Ghana
AU - Codjoe, Richard Nyankomako
AU - Amoah, Linda Ama Owusuaa
AU - Amoah, Solomon Kofi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024
PY - 2024/8/15
Y1 - 2024/8/15
N2 - Background: Data suggest that Ghana has made significant improvements in the educational system, resulting in some accomplishments. Nonetheless, pupils’ academic performance at the junior high school level and in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) remains poor nationally. Some factors have been identified to influence poor academic performance in some parts of Ghana, but none in the Krachi West district. Thus, it has become imperative to determine the local factors accountable for this trend and identify the most appropriate localised solutions. Materials and methods: An embedded research design was employed to ascertain the influence of pupils’ characteristics and school environment factors on academic performance. In all, 361 participants (325 BECE candidates, 12 teachers, 12 head teachers and 12 PTA/SMC Chairpersons) were selected using cluster sampling, simple random and purposive sampling across 12 schools in the district. The academic performance of pupils was assessed using scores from six (6) subjects in the standardised district-level mock examination. Results: Based on the examination scores, half of the pupils performed poorly in the six subjects. Even though from the quantitative study, pupils’ characteristics had no significant influence on academic performance, school location (β = −3.29, p < 0.01), school type (β = 1.15, p < 0.01), and school environmental factors (β = 0.807, p = 0.024) were significant predictors of academic performance in the district. Pupils in private schools were thrice more likely to achieve average academic performance than pupils from public schools (OR = 3.2, CI = 1.06–9.47). Also, schools with good environmental factors were twice as likely to have average academic performance than schools with poor environmental factors (OR = 2.2 CI = 1.11–4.52). Conclusion: While school environment factors and pupil characteristics have a relationship with academic performance as suggested by the ecological theory, it was established in this study that only school location, school type and school environment factors were the significant predictors of academic performance in the Krachi West District. Therefore, education stakeholders need to consider these predictors when coming up with integrated but local strategies to improve pupils’ academic performance in that district.
AB - Background: Data suggest that Ghana has made significant improvements in the educational system, resulting in some accomplishments. Nonetheless, pupils’ academic performance at the junior high school level and in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) remains poor nationally. Some factors have been identified to influence poor academic performance in some parts of Ghana, but none in the Krachi West district. Thus, it has become imperative to determine the local factors accountable for this trend and identify the most appropriate localised solutions. Materials and methods: An embedded research design was employed to ascertain the influence of pupils’ characteristics and school environment factors on academic performance. In all, 361 participants (325 BECE candidates, 12 teachers, 12 head teachers and 12 PTA/SMC Chairpersons) were selected using cluster sampling, simple random and purposive sampling across 12 schools in the district. The academic performance of pupils was assessed using scores from six (6) subjects in the standardised district-level mock examination. Results: Based on the examination scores, half of the pupils performed poorly in the six subjects. Even though from the quantitative study, pupils’ characteristics had no significant influence on academic performance, school location (β = −3.29, p < 0.01), school type (β = 1.15, p < 0.01), and school environmental factors (β = 0.807, p = 0.024) were significant predictors of academic performance in the district. Pupils in private schools were thrice more likely to achieve average academic performance than pupils from public schools (OR = 3.2, CI = 1.06–9.47). Also, schools with good environmental factors were twice as likely to have average academic performance than schools with poor environmental factors (OR = 2.2 CI = 1.11–4.52). Conclusion: While school environment factors and pupil characteristics have a relationship with academic performance as suggested by the ecological theory, it was established in this study that only school location, school type and school environment factors were the significant predictors of academic performance in the Krachi West District. Therefore, education stakeholders need to consider these predictors when coming up with integrated but local strategies to improve pupils’ academic performance in that district.
KW - Academic performance
KW - Basic education
KW - Pupil characteristics
KW - School environment
KW - School location
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85199304510&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e34897
DO - 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e34897
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85199304510
SN - 2405-8440
VL - 10
JO - Heliyon
JF - Heliyon
IS - 15
M1 - e34897
ER -