Factors influencing the transition of students from primary to secondary schools

Abstract

The objective of the study was to establish the factors that affect the transition from primary to secondary schools in Uganda. The assessment was made by teacher’s gender, qualification level and teaching experience. The researcher hypothesized that Parents' education and transition of students from primary to secondary are not related: Age and transition effects are not related; Orphanhood status and transition of students from primary to secondary schools are not related; and Sex and transition of students from primary to secondary schools are not related. Secondary data was collected from 461 respondents analyzed using SPSS. The research findings showed that the majority of the respondents were females (50.8%). The majority of the children were non-orphans (76.1%) and 23.9% of the children had at least one of the parents dead. The parents’ level of education was found to have a significant positive effect on the child’s transition from primary to secondary schools (P=0.018). There was no evidence of a significant association between the child’s age, gender, orphanhood status, and relationship with the household head and the transition from primary to secondary schools. Due to limited resources and time, the researcher was not able to carry out extensive research so further related studies are recommended to be carried out on a wider area so that results can be compared and other studies should be carried out focusing on other factors influencing students’ transition from primary to secondary schools. The researcher also recommends for other studies to be made about the same topic, following the same children from primary to secondary level of education.