An Assessment of Kiswahili Teachers Charatcteristics as Determinants of Student Performance in Kiswahili Subject in Kenya

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of teacher characteristics on students’ performance in Kiswahili subject in Secondary schools in Kenya. This research focused on teacher characteristics in education, more so in Kiswahili language. Every year results in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations depict different achievements by students in Kiswahili subject. This raises mixed reactions from teachers, parents and other stakeholders. Nevertheless, it is this disparity in students’ performance that made the researcher interested in determining its cause. This research therefore aimed at determining if teacher characteristics predicts students’ performance. The study objective was to find out how teacher characteristics of Kiswahili teachers in secondary schools influence students’ performance in Kiswahili subject. This study was guided by the theory of Input and Output which was advanced by Psacharapoulos and Patrinos (2004). It states that input reflects output. The research adopted a case study design and used library and field research oriented methods. Purposive sampling technique was used to acquire data based on teacher characteristics such as experience, level of academic achievement, specialization in the areas of study, responsibility, teamwork, creativity and linguistic competence. The research was carried out in 12 schools of levels of national, county and sub-county, which were purposively sampled in Kakamega and Siaya counties. The research involved 36 secondary school teachers of which 3 teachers were selected from each school inclusive of the principal. In this research, 24 form four students were involved in the study representing 2 students from each of the schools selected. Different questionnaires and observation guides were used for the different categories of respondents. Statistically Quantitative data was analyzed by way of descriptive as well as inferential statistics by use of SPSS program and presented graphs, pie charts and tables of frequencies and percentages. The findings of the research showed that teachers 18 (79%) who posted good results exhibited three major characteristics, namely: teamwork, regular class attendance and good preparation before going to class. This research recommended that there was an urgent need by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) and the Ministry of Education to still hold seminars and workshops for Kiswahili teachers on effect of teacher qualities on student performance in Kiswahili in secondary schools in Kenya. Better still there is need for KICD to review the curriculum with the view of reducing workload and increasing time allocated for Kiswahili lessons in secondary schools in Kenya. Keywords: Teacher characteristics, Student Performance, Kiswalihi subjec