AComparison of Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions of the Factors Contributing to Poor Performance in Physical Sciences: A case of South Africa

Özet

Students’ poor performancesof Physical Sciencesare a major problem in South Africa,particularly the district of Motheo. Even though the Department of Elementary Education in South Africa has invested a great dealof moneyfor Physical Sciences in the new curriculum called the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS)to train teachers through workshops and in-service education, students have notstill been well performing for this subject. Studies have been conducted on reasons and possible solutions/treatments of students’ poor performancesin Physical Sciences, but little progression has been achieved yet. This study aimed at comparing the teachers and students’ perceptions of the factors contributing to poor performancein Physical Science,and discussing how to improvesuch performance. Thesample of the current study consisted of seventy ninegrade 11studentsand seven teachers selected via convenient sampling method.Within aquantitativeresearch method,a survey research design was used.The teachers’ and students’ responses to the questionnairewere compared to find out whether they have similar perceptions of the factors contributing to poor performance inPhysical Sciences.Thisstudy revealedthat they hadvaried perceptionsof the factors under investigation.For example; teachers regarded instructional language (English)and students’ poor mathematical backgroundsas great contributors tostudents’ poor performances, whereasstudents saw a lack of practical work as a great contributor totheir poor performancesin Physical Sciences.The teachers and students also suggested different ways on how to improve students’ performancesin Physical Sciences.