Self-Esteem and Gender Influence as Predictors of Academic Achievement in Basic Science and Mathematics among Secondary School Students in Katsina State

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the Self-esteem and Gender influence as predictors of academic achievement in Basic science and  Mathematics among secondary school students’ in Katsina state. The total sample size is two hundred and ninety-one (291) SSS One  students which comprised 161 male and 130 female students selected from three schools in Mani Educational Quality Assurance Zone,  Katsina state. Purposive sampling technique was used to select three public senior secondary schools. The instrument used to collect  data was titled Rosenberg SelfEsteem Scale (RSES), with Cronbach’s alpha reliability co-efficient of 0.79. Basic Education Certificate  Examination (BECE) results of 2019/2020 session were used to determine their academic achievement. Analysis of data was carried out  using frequency, mean, percentage, bar and pie chart, non-independent t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Three hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that there was significant difference in self-esteem and academic  achievement between Basic science and Mathematics. Also, there was significant difference in academic achievement based on gender in  Basic science and Mathematics among the students. The study concluded that students with high self-esteem participated  enthusiastically in the learning process and were more confident, active and motivated towards learning and performed better in  examination as compared to those students with low self-esteem. It was recommended that teachers and parents should give both  gender equal opportunities to work independently and improve themselves toward a particular task and avoid giving preferences to one  gender over another which could affect their self-worth in learning.