Contributing Factors for Female Students’ Attrition in Science Education: The Case of Faculty of Science at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
| dc.contributor.advisor | Subramaniyam, Vijaya (PhD) | |
| dc.contributor.author | Tesfaye, Helen | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2018-07-06T11:31:09Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-11-18T08:46:29Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2018-07-06T11:31:09Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-11-18T08:46:29Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2010-07 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The need to be part of the globalized science-lead economy on the one hand and ensure social justice on the other necessitated including half of the human race, women. This requires giving special attention not only on the enrollment of female students in science education but also on their retention. To the dismay of the Faculty of Science at Addis Ababa University, despite deliberate and continuous efforts to enroll female students so far, the number of female who graduate has been negligible for the last five years. Therefore, this study examined different factors for female students’ attrition in the faculty. A mixed method of approach was used to gather information on the factors of female students’ attrition by employing quantitative and qualitative methods. This study reports on a result of a survey from 89 randomly selected female readmitted students from six departments. It also reports responses of 11 in-depth interviewees who were drop-outs and readmits and one group of focus group discussion. The respondents returned the field questionnaire about their backgrounds, attitude about science education, and factors that contributed for their attrition. Most are found to have negative attitude towards their ability to study and succeed in science fields especially in physics and mathematics. Low pre- university academic preparation was a factor to most of them. Insufficient and irregular academic support session in the faculty and absence of support and interaction between instructors/advisor and students were cited as factors for their attrition by many. Factors related to unfair grading system, or poor teaching quality in the faculty were cited as a factor by few. Most common reasons for their attrition falls under the following classifications: Socio-psychological factors, academic and support related factors and personal factors, including marriage and health issues. This finding agrees with the existing literature. The study has provided recommendations for the faculty improvement. These include providing sufficient and regular support, continuing evaluation of advisors/instructors, providing tutorial class for students with different or insufficient levels of knowledge | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/6994 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Addis Ababa University | en_US |
| dc.subject | Gender Studies | en_US |
| dc.title | Contributing Factors for Female Students’ Attrition in Science Education: The Case of Faculty of Science at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |