Access, successful completion and learning achievement of female undergraduate students studying mathematics at the University of Education, Winneba

Abstract

The study aims to describe gender inequalities in female participation in mathematics education in the University of Education, Winneba (UEW). The study investigated, particularly, the trends in access and successful completion (of female undergraduate students studying mathematics in UEW from 2009 to 2018. The study was based on quantitative secondary data extracted from the university’s admission and graduation records. The study therefore employed the methodology of secondary data analysis (SDA) which was adopted to replace the original questionnaire survey research which had to be abandoned as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown of the institution for nearly one year. A template was developed to capture the data from the UEW Planning Unit and others were obtained online from statistical publications to authenticate the Planning Unit data. The main findings of the study were that the trend in access for qualified undergraduate students provided by the Mathematics Education Department has been consistently high (i.e., nearly all qualified female applicants were admitted). But the proportion of female applicants ranged from 6.2% to 14.2% with a mean of 8.9% of the total applicants. The proportion of undergraduate female students actually graduating was consistently high with the females usually obtaining the middle grades (i.e., no Pass or First-class grade). It is recommended that the Department, and for that matter the University, embarks on an admission drive at the senior high school level to sensitize female students to select mathematics education for their tertiary education.