Pedagogical Challenges Facing The Teaching Of Business Studies And Impact On Students’ Achievement In Secondary Schools In Nyandarua County- Kenya

ABSTRACT

The teaching of Business Studies, overtime has been recording below average performance in the national examinations all over the world, Kenya inclusive. Studies carried out in some other part of the world clearly document the reasons for this and the measures that have been undertaken to alleviate this problem. This study sought to investigate the pedagogical challenges facing the teaching of Business Studies subject and their impact on students’ achievements in national examination in Nyandarua County. The study was guided by constructivist theory which describes how learning takes place in the classroom. The study used exploratory study design to identify the challenges faced by the Business study teacher, how the teaching and learning environment determines the teaching and learning methods applied in the classroom by the teachers, to determine how well the teachers were aware of the different teaching and learning methods available and the determine whether the levels of cognitive domain tested by the Business Studies teachers in the internal examinations are in line with those tested by the examining body-KNEC. The sample size was obtained using random and purposive sampling. Data was collected from 10 teachers out of 33 Business Studies teachers. The data was gathered using teachers’ questionnaires, HoDs questionnaires, classroom Observation checklist and teaching documents. Quantitative data was analyzed using the SPSS computer programme. Qualitative data was subjected to the Spearman -Brown prediction where even and odd number questions were correlated to determine reliability. Qualitative data was analyzed through narration and constant comparison. The data was represented using frequency table tables, bar graphs and pie charts. The finding indicated that the Business Studies is taught mostly by unqualified teachers. Data analysis revealed that most of teachers were using commercially sourced schemes of work and did not have lesson plans. Mostly teachers used expository methods of teaching and learners were passive. Since most of the teachers were not trained, they set internal examinations that only tested the low levels of cognitive domain that is knowledge and comprehension while the national examinations tested all the levels of cognitive domain. Teachers did not prepare a marking scheme nor tables of test specifications because either they were ignorant or did not know how to prepare. Due to lack of adequate teaching and learning resources, there was little integration between what was taught in class and the application of that knowledge in real life situation. The finding would help in making decision on recruitment of qualified teachers, providing appropriate resources, retraining of teachers and the school management emphasizing on the need for the teachers to prepare their own scheme of work. Appropriate recommendations were made including retraining of the teachers.