Influence of Teaching Strategies on Students’ Competences in Mathematics in Public Secondary Schools in Rwanda

Abstract

The level of students’ competency in various subjects like mathematics depends on the effectiveness of teachers while teaching especially teaching strategies used in teaching process. The purpose of this study therefore, thought to examine influences of parent’s involvement in teaching strategies and students ‘competences in mathematics from selected Bugesera Public Secondary Schools. The target population was 454 people that provided the sample size of 146 respondents got using Yamane formula. Interview guide and questionnaire were used as data collection instruments. A descriptive survey design was also employed. The findings revealed that group work, too much tests and quizzes and homework were discovered to be the most commonly used teaching approaches used by teacher and head teachers also good for learners in the selected schools. But ICT was not a teaching strategy favored by both teacher and students. The results showed that teaching strategies have high positive correlation to students’ competences as shown by 0.529 of Pearson coefficient. Multiple linear regression analysis found that teaching strategies have significant influence on students ‘competences at 64.9% of R-Square. Further, there is a highly significant positive correlation between teaching methods and student competencies. Moreover, the study established that there is a highly significant positive correlation between teaching methods and student competencies. The study recommends that Teachers should increase their efforts in finding where mathematics is relevant and applying it to math’s problems when they connect with students in the class. Ministry of Education to supply sufficient teaching and learning materials such as textbooks, computers and internet. In addition, providing training to teachers on how to use effective teaching strategies that influence students’ competences such as ICT and among others is necessary. Keywords: Mathematic competences, Teaching strategies, Group work and assignments