Factors determining secondary school students' enrolment for commerce and economics in Nairobi and Machakos districts-Kenya

Abstract

The problem was a continued drop in the number of students registering for KCSE economics while the same increased for commerce. The study was a cross sectional survey of the factors that students considered when opting between commerce and economics in secondary schools in Nairobi and Machakos districts. Microsoft excel was used as a tool in data analysis. The general objectives of the study were to find out the possible reasons for this decline while the specific objectives were to establish the role played by students' career objective, level of abstractness in subject content, performance by past groups of students, availability of instructional resources and the school administration on the students' option between commerce and economics and make recommendations for improving enrolment for economics and for further research. The study found that career objective was a factor that motivated students in their choice of subject and hat the school administration discouraged and removed the economics from the school curriculum while the Level of abstractness of content, availability of instruct ional resources and performance by past others did not feature as factors that motivated students. The study recommended that simplified economics should be taught as a core subject in secondary schools and teachers should be wholly involved in the acquisition of instructional resources as well as being frequently in-serviced. The government should fund and encourage writers of materials with local references for teaching and learning economics. Further research is recommended to find out the reception accorded business studies in secondary schools and why. Research is also recommended to found out the availability and suitability of resources for teaching business studies at this level