Influence of teachers and school environment on students’ academic motivation and performance in chemistry in Kabarole District

Abstract

The study aimed at examining the relationship between teachers’ influence, and school environment, on the academic motivation and performance in Chemistry among secondary school students in Kabarole district. It adopted a Correlation survey design. A structured questionnaire was administered to a sample of 328 senior four students assessing the impact of teachers influence, school environment and motivation on performance in Chemistry. Pearson product moment correlation was used to test the relationship between the study variables. The results revealed that teachers’ influence and school environment have a significant positive relationship. Also there was a significant positive relationship between teachers’ influence and student’s academic motivation. The study further revealed that the school environment has a significant impact on students’ academic motivation for chemistry. However, there was no relationship between teachers’ influence, and performance in chemistry. There was no relationship between the school environment and performance in chemistry. The results further revealed that there is no relationship between students’ motivation and performance in chemistry. It was thus concluded that teacher’s influence and school environment affect students’ motivation for chemistry. However, high level of students’ motivation for chemistry does not guarantee good performance in the subject in Kabarole District. It is important to note that the study had limitations that are a cause of no significant relationship between the variables and performance. It could be due to lack of competence of teachers of Chemistry, wrong expectations of students about their ability and wrong understanding of the questions in the questionnaire. To improve on students’ performance in Kabarole District it was recommended that other factors rather than teachers influence, school environment, and academic motivation be investigated.