Teacher Characteristics and Students’ Academic Achievements in Physics in STEM Model Public Secondary schools in Nairobi Metropolitan Kenya

Abstract

The objective of the study was to assess the influence of teacher characteristics on student's academic achievements in physics in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) model schools in Nairobi Metropolitan region, Kenya. The study used convergent parallel mixed method design. The target population comprised 11principals, 60 teachers and 1120 students with a sample size of 368(11 principals, 39 teachers and 318 students). The study was anchored on Brunner theory. Proportionate stratified sampling and simple random sampling was used to select students while purposive sampling was used to select teachers of physics and principals. Questionnaires, document analysis guide and interview guide were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) were used to analyze quantitative data. Thematic and content analysis were used for qualitative data analysis. The study found out that teacher characteristics influence student's academic achievements in physics in STEM model schools. Physics performance depended on the teaching approaches and methods used by the teacher, and mastery of physics content and experience. Moreover, teachers' belief in students enable them to work harder, they encourage and motivate students to perform better in case they post poor grades. The study recommends that teachers strive to be passionate in teaching physics, believe in students' abilities to perform better in physics to work harder when they post poor grades in physics and create a friendly classroom learning environment that is favorable for learning to take place. This will ensure that teachers adopt various integrated STEM learning approaches like problem based, project based and inquiry-based learning while teaching.