Instructional materials and students’ academic performance at lower secondary level in government aided secondary schools in Namutumba District

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between Teaching Instructional materials and Students Academic Performance at Lower Secondary Level in Government Aided Secondary Schools in Namutumba District. Instructional material plays a very important role in the teaching learning process. Population of the study comprised all government aided secondary teachers in Namutumba District. Overall, a total of 5 government aided secondary schools and 280 teachers (270 teachers and 10 Directors of studies), then 164 teachers (5 Directors of studies and 159 teachers) from each school were randomly selected as the sample of the study. An Embedded research design and correlation method was used, both quantitative and qualitative data which was collected. The study used both simple random sampling and purposive sampling. Data collection instruments used were Self-Administered Questionnaire, Interview Guide and Observational tool. Pearson correlation was used to find out the relationship and Regression analysis with linear function was used to find out the differential impact. The study identified that there is a great deficiency in the use of teaching instructional material in the teaching and learning process as students’ academic performance is concerned. The study concluded that the less availability, misallocation and the deficiency in the use of instructional material lead to the wastage of resources, the less effectiveness of instructional material and lower students’ academic performance. The policy implications of the study are that instructional material can have an enormous effect if they are incorporated in teaching and learning hence good students’ academic performance both at internal and external level.