INFLUENCE OF ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT ON THE ACHIEVEMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PHYSICS STUDENTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELLING AND EMPOWERMENT

Abstract

The overall estimate of physics students’ achievement in internal and external examinations has raised doubt for integration of non-cognitive variables in their programme of studies. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of academic engagement on the academic achievement of secondary school physics students: implications for psychological counseling and empowerment in Enugu Education Zone of Enugu State. Five research hypotheses were formulated and tested at .05 level of significant guided the study. A correlational survey research design was adopted for the study. A simple random sampling procedure was used in selecting three hundred and sixty-five (365), Senior Secondary II (SS II) Physics students comprising 165 males and 200 females from twelve selected schools in the Zone. Physics Academic Engagement Scale (PAES) and the Physics Students’ Psychological Empowerment Scale (PSPES) were used for data collection. The PAES was adapted from Rovan, Golub, and Petricevic (2016), The PSPES was adapted from Spreitzer (1995) and Students’ Achievement Scores were obtained from their promotion examination results from the schools used were used for data collections. The instruments (PAES) and (PSPES) was validated by three experts and tested for reliability using Cronbach’s alpha with the reliability indices of 0.82 and 0.96 respectively. Data were analyzed using path analysis to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings of the study amongst others showed that psychological empowerment positively mediated the relationship between academic engagement and academic achievement of secondary school physics students. Based on these findings, it was recommended
that students’ should be engage with learning materials that can promote behavioral, emotional, and cognitive involvement, thereby fostering psychological empowerment.