STUDENTS’ POOR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SETSWANA SUBJECT: SOME CONTRIBUTORY FACTORS

Abstract

This paper examined the factors that contributed to poor academic performance by student-teachers in the Setswana Language Teaching programme in Colleges of Education who train for primary education in the years 2005-2006 in Botswana. The study used the qualitative approach to interrogate lecturers on why the poor academic performance was prevalent amongst students in the Setswana Language Teaching programme. Data were collected through interviews, individual discussions, meetings and previous moderation exercise reports from 2002 - 2006. The findings indicated that there were contributory factors towards students’ failure such as irrelevant training programmes by lecturers, lack of suitable professional staff, negative attitude, work overload, unrevised syllabus, non-reflective situations, limited knowledge in research and the use of both English and Setswana concurrently in projects. The study concluded that educational authorities need to reflect and review the Setswana Language Teaching programme which then proved to be deficient in several significant respects.