Abstract:
Quality education has always been the seal of most educational policies made in Ghana.
In spite of quality education, the main aim of many educational reforms and policies, the
desired quality has not yet been achieved. The purpose of this study was to assess the
causes of low academic performance among Senior High School students. Descriptive
research design was employed for this study. Simple random sampling was used to select
the respondents. A total of one hundred and sixty (160) participants made of 100
students, 40 teachers and 20 parents participated in the study. Questionnaire and
interview were the data collection instrument used to solicit for data. The collected data
was analyzed using statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 21. The results
were presented using percentages and mean values in a Table. The study find out that,
inadequate provision of teaching and learning materials to students, teacher absenteeism
and inadequate assessment of students were some of the teacher related causes of
students low academic performance. Student’s shyness to seek for clarification from
teachers, insufficient time for students to learn their books and increased indiscipline
among students were revealed to be student related factors that contributes to their low
academic performance. The study concludes that improvement of students’ academic
performance was a shared responsibility of all educational stakeholders. The study
recommend that the head of school in collaboration of the district educational directorate
should conduct regular and prompt in 0 service training for teachers. Students should be
counselled to be bold enough to seek for further clarification from tutors. The district
educational directorate should ensure that there is prompt and regular supply of teaching
and learning materials to enhance teaching and learning.
Description:
A Project Report in the Department of Educational Leadership, Faculty of
Education and Communication Sciences, submitted to the School of Graduate
Studies, University of Education, Winneba, in partial fulfilment of the requirements
for award of the Master of Arts (Educational Leadership) degree