Factors influencing male learners’ choice of Home Economics in the //Kharas educational region, Namibia

Abstract

Home Economics (HE) is one of the pre-vocational subjects for the Junior Secondary phase in Namibian schools. Statistical evidence indicates that male learners who wrote the end of Junior Secondary phase (Grade 10) Home Economics examination in 2013 were 15%, 11% in 2014 and 8% in 2015, the rest were girls (MoE, 2015). Male learners are hardly seen in Home Economics programmes at all school levels females dominating the HE classes. This study was aimed at investigating the factors influencing male learners’ choice of Home Economics as a subject in the //Kharas Educational Region. The purpose of the study was to find out cultural/ traditional factors contributing to few male learners choosing Home Economics as a subject. The study further sought to find out whether parents, principals and teachers influenced male learners’ choice of the subject as well as the strategies that can help increase the number of male learners choosing the subject. The study followed a mixed methods research design, where a sample of 50 Grade 8 male learners (non-Home Economics learners), 4 Home Economics male learners and 4 school managers were drawn from five schools that offer Home Economics as a subject in the region. Purposeful random and criterion sampling were used for this study in selecting the sample. Triangulation was used in the study by incorporating quantitative and qualitative data obtained from questionnaires, focus group interviews and standardised open-ended interviews. Findings confirmed a number of factors that influence male learners’ choice of Home Economics as a subject which include the availability of pre-vocational subjects to choose from, the subject being labelled as a girl’s subject as well as parental influence. The study recommends enlightenment campaigns through seminars and mass media about the importance of Home Economics and career opportunities that the subject provides to learners and the society.