Chrispus K. WawireDoyne K. MugambiSakina, Mogaka Moraa2022-08-052022-08-052021-12http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/23885A Research Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment for the Award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Educational Psychology) in the School of Education of Kenyatta University, December, 2021There is substantial literature on inferiority complex but scanty research has been done on academic inferiority in relation toability grouping, ranking and the use of rewards on secondary school students.The main aim of this study wastherefore to investigate the predictors of academic inferiority feelings. More specifically, the study was designed to find out the relationship between ability streaming, ranking, extrinsic rewarding and academic inferiority feelings among students who do not perform well. Alfred Adler’s theory of individual psychology forms the theoretical framework of the study. The study adopted a mixed methods sequential explanatory research design. It was carried out in Kisii County, Kenya. The target population was all the Form Three students in public secondary schools in Kisii County (29309 students). Proportionate stratified sampling was used to select the top, average and low ranking schools in the county. It was further used to stratify schools into boys’ boarding, girls’ boarding, mixed boarding, mixed day and boarding and mixed day schools. Simple random sampling was used in the selection of the 400 respondents. The sample consisted of 400 students selected from 20 schools. The research instruments were questionnaires and an interview schedule for the students administered by the researcher. Personal and academic self-concept inventory (PASCI) was used to collect data on academic inferiority feelings and Stephanie Soto Gordon’s questionnaire was used to collect data on ability streaming from students. Researcher developed questionnaires were used to collect data from students on ranking and extrinsic rewarding. A pilot study was carried out to validate and ensure reliability of the research instruments.Both descriptive and inferential statistical procedures were used to analyze data using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The results were presented using frequency tables. The results showed that there was a significant positive relationship between ability streaming, ranking, extrinsic rewarding and academic inferiority feelings.Most of the respondents experiencing moderate feelings of academic inferiority, that is, r (399) = .31, p=0.1 in ability streaming, r (399) = .28, p=0.01 in ranking and r (399) = .32, p=0.01 in extrinsic rewarding. Sex differences were found in ability streaming, ranking and extrinsic rewarding in regard to academic inferiority feelings. Boys experienceda higher level of academic inferiority feelings with a mean of 67.11as compared to girls who had a mean 65.08. A major recommendation of the study was that the ministry of education should try to do away with ranking totally more so within school ranking which leads to ability streaming in schools and extrinsic rewarding thatmake the students feel academically inferior.enAbility StreamingRanking and Extrinsic RewardingPredictorsAcademic Inferiority FeelingsSecondary School StudentsKisii CountyKenyaThesis