Effects Of Private Supplementary Tutoring On Students’ Academic Performance: A Case Of Secondary Schools In Gatundu South District, Kenya

ABSTRACT

While private tutoring may have many positive effects, such as increasing human capital, providing constructive after-school activities for pupils, and generating additional income for tutors, it may also produce a number of negative effects. To this end, the purpose of this study is to find out the effects of private supplementary tutoring in secondary schools in Gatundu South District. The objectives of the study are to: analyze the scale of private supplementary tutoring in secondary schools in Gatundu South District; analyze the cost incurred through private supplementary tutoring per student in secondary schools in Gatundu South District; examine the effects of private supplementary tutoring on academic performance of secondary school students in Gatundu South District. The study carried out a cost-benefit analysis of private supplementary tutoring, by analyzing the scale, cost, and educational outcomes of holiday tuition in secondary schools in Gatundu South District. The study employed a survey research design, and was carried out in Gatundu South District targeting all the31 head teachers, 362 teachers and 8,149 students in the 31 secondary schools in this district. The study sample was 10 schools randomly selected from the 31 from which the head teacher, four teachers and 24 students were selected. This yielded a sample size of the 10 head teachers, 30 teachers and 240 students. Data was collected using three types of questionnaires, one for students, one for head teachers and one for teachers. A pilot study was carried out to establish the reliability and validity of the instruments. Reliability was determined using the test-retest method. Pearson‟s product moment formula for the test re-test was employed to compute the correlation coefficient. A correlation coefficient of about 0.7 should be considered high enough to judge the instruments as reliable. The researcher personally administered the data collecting instruments to the respondents with prior arrangements with head teachers of the sampled schools. The study yielded data that required both qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques. Qualitative data was analysed by organising it into similar themes and tallying the number of similar responses and reporting them thematically in line with research questions. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics with the help of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). Findings were presented using frequencies, percentages and means. The findings revealed that private supplementary tuition is widespread in schools in Gatundu South district. The study also found that students attending private tuition on school holidays spend an average of Ksh 1000 to Ksh 1750 a week, while those attending during the school term spend between Ksh 500 and Ksh 1000 per session. The findings also indicated that private supplementary tuition helps much in improving the academic performance of students. The study finally indicated that that while private supplementary tuition may have some academic benefits, it could also counterproductive as students and teachers become fatigued. The study recommends; legalizing and regulating the private supplementary tuition by the government, schools making it accessible even to those unable to meet the cost in order to enhance equity, teachers to manage the mainstream contact hours properly so that they can complete the syllabi on time and finally the offloading of some of the content in the school curriculum to manageable levels. The study suggests further research to include primary schools, other district in Kenya and also to find out other effects of private supplementary tuition on students