Factors affecting Grade 12 learners' academic performance in the Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate ordinary level Biology in the Khomas educational region, Namibia
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that affect Grade 12 learners’ academic performance in the Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate Ordinary (NSSCO) level Biology in the Khomas Educational Region, Namibia. The study addressed two research questions. Three categories of samples made up of 15 Science Heads of Departments (HODs), 15 Biology teachers and 450 Grade 12 NSSCO Biology learners respectively were selected using the simple random sampling technique. Furthermore, a sub-sample of 2 Biology teachers and 2 Science HODs who have taught NSSCO Biology for at least, three consecutive years and also completed the questionnaires were purposively selected to participate in the interview. Descriptive statistics (percentages) and content analysis were used to analyse the quantitative and qualitative data respectively. The study found that learner-based factors such as learners’ indiscipline, lack of motivation; teacher-based factors such as: teachers’ low expectations and motivation, teachers’ workload, teachers’ competency and teaching methods used; as well as school-based factors like: lack of teaching resources, overcrowded classrooms, large syllabus content for Biology, and lack of commitment from the school management affect Grade 12 learners’ academic performance in NSSCO Biology in the study area. In dealing with the identified factors, the Biology teachers and science HODs indicated that they used the following strategies: giving motivational speeches to encourage the learners, involving parents to address the learners’ shortcomings, improvising on available teaching materials, networking with other professional colleagues within the same school clusters and conducting after-school and holiday classes. Thus, the study recommended that the learners should be encouraged to participate actively in the after-school and holiday classes put in place to cover the large content of NSSCO Biology syllabus. In addition, the Biology teachers need to attend capacity building workshops to improve their skills on the topics that they could not teach competently. There is also need for provision of teaching and learning resources for the NSSCO Biology in the study area.
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