Journal of Quality and Technology Management
Volume VII, Issue II, December, 2011, Page 01 ‐ 14
FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ QUALITY OF
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: A CASE OF SECONDARY
SCHOOL LEVEL
M.S. Farooq1, A.H. Chaudhry1, M. Shafiq1, G. Berhanu2
1University of the Punjab, Pakistan
2University of Gothenburg, Sweden
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to examine different factors influencing the academic
performance of secondary school students in a metropolitan city of Pakistan. The
respondents for this study were 10th grade students (300 male & 300 female). A
survey was conducted by using a questionnaire for information gathering about
different factors relating to academic ...view middle of the document...
This increase
in productivity also leads towards new sources of earning which
enhances the economic growth of a country (Saxton, 2000). The quality of
Factors Affecting Students’ Quality of Academic Performance: A Case of Secondary School Level
students’ performance remains at top priority for educators. It is meant
for making a difference locally, regionally, nationally and globally.
Educators, trainers, and researchers have long been interested in
exploring variables contributing effectively for quality of performance of
learners. These variables are inside and outside school that affect
students’ quality of academic achievement. These factors may be termed
as student factors, family factors, school factors and peer factors (Crosnoe,
Johnson & Elder, 2004). The formal investigation about the role of these
demographic factors rooted back in 17th century (Mann, 1985). Generally
these factors include age, gender, geographical belongingness, ethnicity,
marital status, socioeconomic status (SES), parents’ education level,
parental profession, language, income and religious affiliations. These are
usually discussed under the umbrella of demography (Ballatine, 1993). In
a broader context demography is referred to as a way to explore the
nature and effects of demographic variables in the biological and social
context. Unfortunately, defining and measuring the quality of education
is not a simple issue and the complexity of this process increases due to
the changing values of quality attributes associated with the different
stakeholders’ view point (Blevins, 2009; Parri, 2006).
Besides other factors, socioeconomic status is one of the most researched
and debated factor among educational professionals that contribute
towards the academic performance of students. The most prevalent
argument is that the socioeconomic status of learners affects the quality of
their academic performance. Most of the experts argue that the low
socioeconomic status has negative effect on the academic performance of
students because the basic needs of students remain unfulfilled and hence
they do not perform better academically (Adams, 1996). The low
socioeconomic status causes environmental deficiencies which results in
low self esteem of students (US Department of Education, 2003). More
specifically, this study aims to identify and analyze factors that affect the
quality of students’ academic performance.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Educational services are often not tangible and are difficult to measure
because they result in the form of transformation of knowledge, life skills
and behaviour modifications of learners (Tsinidou, Gerogiannis, &
Fitsilis, 2010). So there is no commonly agreed upon definition of quality
that is applied to education field. The definition of quality of education
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Journal of Quality and Technology Management
varies from culture to culture (Michael, 1998). The environment and the
personal...
