Correlates of academic performance among grade 12 pupils: a case of Chingola district.

Abstract

This study sought to evaluate the relationship between academic performance and student deviance exhibited in form of student role performance. This was a descriptive cross sectional design. A survey questionnaire was administered to 248 pupils who were Grade 12. Data was analyzed in SPSS version 17. Performance was predicted to be higher in non-deviant students than in deviant students. Looking at the results, the fact that nearly every pupil n = 221 (89.1%) had indicated that school environment was serene or somewhat serene, we can conclude that the bond with the school was rather strong and as such, the school did not provide an environment that would lead pupils to be deviant. There was also a strong bond in relation with the family environment as this provided a favorable environment for the pupils to study from and these two factors were responsible for much of the compliance than the deviance. The two could be attributed to the high to moderate performance that was observed in the study. Given the results, we can conclude that the family and school bonds are rather strong and contribute to the observed academic performance. The study complements the body of knowledge on education by providing an insight into the important factors that affect academic performance of students. The findings from the study revealed that there is a link between students‘ family background and students‘ academic performance.