Sex related differences in attitudes of primary school children and teachers towards some vocational subjects in Siaya district
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Date
2012-05-10
Authors
Rabari, Joseph A.
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Abstract
This study set out to investigate sex-related differences in the attitudes of primary school children and teachers towards Home Science, Art and Craft subjects.
A total of 300 pupils comprising 147 girls and 153 boys participated in the study. These were randomly sampled from 10 schools in Siaya district, Kenya. Of this sample each of the classes six, seven and eight was equally represented by 100 pupils. The teachers' sample consisted of 49 teachers comprising 24 men and 25 women. A total of 10 head teachers were also interviewed.
The pupils responded to the Attitude Scale for Pupils while the teachers responded to the Attitude Scale for Teachers and the Questionnaire for Teachers, all of which were constructed by the investigator.
The mean attitude scores, as obtained with the attitude scales were statistically analysed using the t-test, to determine whether: (1) for mean attitude scores towards (a) Home science and (b) Art and Craft there were significant differences between boys and girls. (2) For each sex category of pupils there were significant differences in the mean attitude scores between Home Science and Art and Craft. (3) The mean attitude scores of pupils differed across the classes. (4) For mean attitude scores on Home Science, Art and Craft there were significant differences between men and women teachers.
No significant differences in the attitude scores on the two vocational subjects were observed between boys and girls of class six or seven. Also, for each sex category in these classes, the mean attitude scores between Home Science and Art and Craft did not differ significantly. Further, there were no significant differences in the mean attitude scores on Home Science between class six, seven and eight boys.
For teachers, no significant difference in the mean attitude scores on art and craft was observed between men and women. Further, for each sex category of teachers, no significant differences were observed in the mean attitude scores between Home Science and Art and Craft.
Significant differences were observed in the mean attitude scores between boys and girls in class eight on (1) Home Science and (2) Art and Craft. Comparing the two sexes, girls scored higher on Home Science while boys scored higher on Art and Craft. Boys of this class obtained a significantly higher mean attitude score on Art and Craft than on Home Science while girls scored higher on Home Science than on Art and Craft. For boys alone, significant differences in attitude scores on Art and Craft were observed, between (1) class six and seven and (2) class seven and eight. The scores progressively increased with class. Other significant differences in the attitude scores on the said subjects were observed between (1) class six and seven and (2) class seven and eight girls. For Home Science, their scores progressively increased with class. However, for Art and Craft there was an increase from class six to seven and a corresponding decrease from class seven to eight.
For teachers, a significant difference was observed in the mean attitude scores between mean and women on Home Science only. This difference was in favour of women.
Description
Department of Educational Psychology, 136p. 1992. The LB 1065.R3
Keywords
Attitudes (Psychology) -- Kenya (Siaya district) -- testing//Educational psychology//Interest (Psychology)