Factors Influencing Male Learners’ Choice Of Home Economics In The /Kharas Educational Region.

ABSTRACT

Home Economics is one of the pre-vocational subjects for the Junior Secondary phase. Statistical evidence indicated that male learners who wrote end of Junior Secondary phase (Grade 10) Home Economics examination were 15% in 2013, 11% in 2014 and 8% in 2015, while the rest were girls (MoE, 2015). Male learners are hardly seen in Home Economics programmes at all levels and females are dominating the class size in the subject. This study aimed at investigating factors influencing male learners’ choice of Home Economics as a subject in the //Kharas Educational Region. The purpose of the study was to find out cultural/ traditional factors contributing to few male learners choosing Home Economics as a subject. The study further sought to find out whether parents, principals and teachers influence male learners’ choice of the subject as well as the strategies that can increase the number of male learners choosing the subject. The study followed a mixed methods research design, where a sample of 50 Grade 8 male learners (nonHome Economics learners), 4 Home Economics male learners and 4 school managers was drawn from five schools that offer Home Economics as a subject in the region. In an attempt to get a representative sample of the population, purposeful random and criterion sampling were used for this study. Triangulation was used in the study by incorporating quantitative and qualitative data obtained from questionnaires, focus group interviews and standardised open-ended interviews. Findings confirmed a number of factors that influence male learners’ choice of Home Economics as a subject. The study recommends enlightenment campaigns through seminars and mass media about the importance of Home Economics and career opportunities that the subject provides to learners and the society.