The study compared mathematics teachers’ attitudes towards mixed sex and gender streamed (boys’ and girls’ only) classes all organized in public coeducational secondary schools of Nakuru, Uasingishu, Kericho and Baringo Counties of Kenya. An ex post facto causal comparative research design was used. Purposive and stratified random sampling techniques were used to select 20 co-educational secondary schools each from two school categories (county and sub-county) and types (those with mixed sex and gender streamed classes). Two mathematics teachers from each class type were selected from each school based on gender stratification where possible giving a total of 203 teachers. A mathematics teachers’ attitude questionnaire named (MTAQ) was used to collect data. This instrument was piloted and validated to improve it before use and a reliability coefficient of 0.87 using Chronbach alpha obtained. This was considered appropriate as it was within the accepted threshold of 0.70 and above in social science research. The collected data was then analyzed using both descriptive statistics (means, standard deviation and percentages) and inferential statistics (ANOVA) at a confidence level of 0.05. The results of the study revealed that mathematics teachers’ attitudes were lower towards girls’ only classes as compared to boys’ only and mixed sex classes in both county and sub-county co-educational schools. The statistical tests of significance show that there were statistically significant differences in county schools’ mathematics teachers’ attitudes while there were no significant differences in sub-county schools. The results from the study have yielded valuable information that may be used to 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.
Published in | Education Journal (Volume 4, Issue 5) |
DOI | 10.11648/j.edu.20150405.18 |
Page(s) | 238-244 |
Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Coeducational Secondary School Mathematics Teachers’ Attitudes, Gender Streamed (Boys’ and Girls’ Only) Classes, Mixed Sex Classes, Mathematics, Kenya
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APA Style
A. C. Barmao, B. N. Githua, J. M. Changeiywo. (2015). A Comparison of Mathematics Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Coeducational Secondary Schools’ Mixed and Gender Streamed Classes in Nakuru, Uasin Gishu, Kericho and Baringo Counties of Kenya. Education Journal, 4(5), 238-244. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20150405.18
ACS Style
A. C. Barmao; B. N. Githua; J. M. Changeiywo. A Comparison of Mathematics Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Coeducational Secondary Schools’ Mixed and Gender Streamed Classes in Nakuru, Uasin Gishu, Kericho and Baringo Counties of Kenya. Educ. J. 2015, 4(5), 238-244. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20150405.18
AMA Style
A. C. Barmao, B. N. Githua, J. M. Changeiywo. A Comparison of Mathematics Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Coeducational Secondary Schools’ Mixed and Gender Streamed Classes in Nakuru, Uasin Gishu, Kericho and Baringo Counties of Kenya. Educ J. 2015;4(5):238-244. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20150405.18
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TY - JOUR T1 - A Comparison of Mathematics Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Coeducational Secondary Schools’ Mixed and Gender Streamed Classes in Nakuru, Uasin Gishu, Kericho and Baringo Counties of Kenya AU - A. C. Barmao AU - B. N. Githua AU - J. M. Changeiywo Y1 - 2015/09/16 PY - 2015 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20150405.18 DO - 10.11648/j.edu.20150405.18 T2 - Education Journal JF - Education Journal JO - Education Journal SP - 238 EP - 244 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2327-2619 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20150405.18 AB - The study compared mathematics teachers’ attitudes towards mixed sex and gender streamed (boys’ and girls’ only) classes all organized in public coeducational secondary schools of Nakuru, Uasingishu, Kericho and Baringo Counties of Kenya. An ex post facto causal comparative research design was used. Purposive and stratified random sampling techniques were used to select 20 co-educational secondary schools each from two school categories (county and sub-county) and types (those with mixed sex and gender streamed classes). Two mathematics teachers from each class type were selected from each school based on gender stratification where possible giving a total of 203 teachers. A mathematics teachers’ attitude questionnaire named (MTAQ) was used to collect data. This instrument was piloted and validated to improve it before use and a reliability coefficient of 0.87 using Chronbach alpha obtained. This was considered appropriate as it was within the accepted threshold of 0.70 and above in social science research. The collected data was then analyzed using both descriptive statistics (means, standard deviation and percentages) and inferential statistics (ANOVA) at a confidence level of 0.05. The results of the study revealed that mathematics teachers’ attitudes were lower towards girls’ only classes as compared to boys’ only and mixed sex classes in both county and sub-county co-educational schools. The statistical tests of significance show that there were statistically significant differences in county schools’ mathematics teachers’ attitudes while there were no significant differences in sub-county schools. The results from the study have yielded valuable information that may be used to 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. VL - 4 IS - 5 ER -