An investigation of learners' academic achievement in physics in government-aided secondary schools: a case of Kira Municipality, Wakiso district in Uganda

Abstract

This study investigated learners’ academic achievement in physics through Walberg’s theory of educational productivity in government-aided secondary schools of Kira municipality, Wakiso District. The study was guided by a positivist paradigm and a cross-sectional correlational survey design. The target population included Senior Two physics learners of the two government-aided secondary schools of Kira municipality. A simple random technique was used to select a sample of 217 participants. Data from the self-administered questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics which involved the use of percentages and mean scores of numerical variables to summarize data and inferential statistics which involved Kar Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient for the bi-variate to test the hypotheses and simple linear regression for the multivariate to establish the effect of the variables in percentage. Findings indicated that there was a very weak positive relationship between learners’ aptitude, learning environment, and their academic achievement in physics with r-coefficients of 0.141and 0.139 respectively. On the other hand, there was a negative relationship between teachers’ instruction and learners’ academic achievement in physics with r-coefficient of -0.084 which implied that teachers’ instruction affects students’ academic achievement. In a nutshell, learners’ aptitude, and learners’ learning environment affect their academic achievement positively while teachers’ instruction affects it negatively. The study recommended that school management and teachers should be encouraged to motivate learners through bursaries, gifts, and praising the disciplined ones in the process of teaching and learning. Furthermore, it calls upon teachers to improve their relationships with learners, especially those with different communication and learning preferences. More on to that, school management should organize parents’ meetings to sensitize them on how to create a conducive learning environment at home as teachers also create the same in classrooms and at school. Keywords: Academic achievement, Government-aided, Physics, Uganda.