Influence of Gender Streamed (Boys’ and Girls’ Only) Classes on Coeducational Secondary Schools’ Mathematics Teachers Perceptions in Nakuru, Uasingishu, Kericho and Baringo Counties of Kenya

Abstract

The skills acquired in mathematics provide a country with a human resource that is highly educated and able to tackle most of the country’s social economic problems. However, the performance of students at the KCSE mathematics examinations in Kenya has been dismal for many years. In addition, majority of the girls in particular have been performing poorly in the subject compared to the boys. As a possible remedy to this, single sex classes within coeducational secondary schools were created. There is however limited research, which has been carried out to  compare mathematics teachers’ perceptions between single and mixed sex classes in coeducational  secondary schools in Kenya. Therefore, this study was designed to find out the effects this intervention. The study adopted an ex post facto causal comparative research design. A sample of 203 mathematics teachers from county and sub county co-educational secondary schools (those with mixed sex and single sex classes) in Nakuru, Uasingishu, Kericho and Baringo counties of Kenya participated in the study. Data was obtained using self-report questionnaires for mathematics teachers. The instrument was pilot tested and validated to improve it before actual data collection. A Chronbach alpha reliability coefficient was calculated and an index of 0.87 obtained. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA at a significant level of alpha (α) equal to 0.05.The findings show that mathematics teachers’ perceptions of their classes are positive irrespective of the class gender composition. The findings further show that there were no statistically significant differences in their perceptions between single sex and mixed sex classrooms in both the sub county and county schools.  The results from the study have yielded valuable information that may inform the intervention in Kenya’s coeducational secondary schools and advice policy makers, teachers and administrators of the schools on appropriate measures to undertake to enhance its effectiveness in the teaching and learning of mathematics.

Keywords: Gender streamed classes, mathematics teachers, Perceptions, Coeducational secondary schools