SPORTS PARTICIPATION PERCEPTION AND SELF-CONCEPT AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN KENYA

The purpose of the study was to examine sports participation perception and self-concept among secondary school students in the Rift Valley Region of Kenya. The study was guided by the perception theory of Kurt Lewin as espoused by smith. The basic proposition of this theory is that every object (student) exists in a field (school) of forces (curricular and co-curricular) that move it, define it or give it a degree of stability and substance. The research objectives of the study were: to examine the relationship between students’ co-curricular participation perception and their self-concept and to examine the relationship between gender, co-curricular participation perception and self-concept. The ontology was realist/objectivist and the epistemology was post-positivism. The research method was quantitative. The research design was ex-post-facto. A total of 72 volleyball players and 124 football players participated in the study. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select the sample. The data was collected using a Likert scaled questionnaire. Data was analyzed using frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, t-test, Pearson r and a two way ANOVA at p >. 05 level of significance. The major findings of the study showed that: (98%) of the participants had a highly rated self-concept, the results further revealed that there was a significant relationship between co-curricular participation perception and self-concept, [r (195) = . 22, p = . 002. ]. Based on the findings it was recommended that since sports participation accommodates the less endowed students to succeed in sport, there was need to use it to enhance the students’ well being, it was also recommended that schools need to provide sufficient opportunities for co-curricular participation as it helps improve the self-concepts of the students. The study showed that there was need to explore on a theory that can guide sport participation in school. Introduction Sports participation and games provides an environment for amusement, recreation, good health, biological development, freedom of expression, career building, income generation, prestige, skill acquisition, reduction of stress, cognitive, and numerous social benefits (Rintaugu, 2005). These ideals are in agreement with the UN Resolution 58/5 of November 2003, which called on governments to use sport as a means to promote formal education, health, development and peace. Consequently, the year 2005 was considered the International Year for Sport and Physical Education. Furthermore, sports can be used to work towards a number of development goals, including; human development; improving public health and well being, supporting education and leisure activities, social development; promoting stability, tolerance, social inclusion and community building, economic development; fostering investment and employment opportunities and political development; promoting peace and respect for the rules of democracy (Sever, 2005). International Journal of Education and Research Vol. 2 No. 10 October 2014 225 Research studies have recognized that athletic ability alone is not likely to predict participation and it is concluded that the social system (educational institutions e.g., secondary schools in this case) must provide support and opportunity for participation before that talent can be translated into active sport involvement (Rintaugu, 2005; Jackson & Strigas, 2004; Kenyon & McPherson, 2005). Indeed, personal attributes, significant others and socialization situations are associated with becoming involved in physical activity and sport (Ipnirmoroti & Ajayi, 2003; Kenyon & McPherson, 2005). Therefore, the results of the combination of these influences appear to imply that participation in physical activity and sports may be determined by the attitudes, perceptions, values and beliefs of those most closely associated with the development of the individual (Dixon, 2004). According to Darling, Caldwell and Smith (2005) the social significance of high school sports has been approached in research by many positions; the developmental theory emphasizes the ‘socializing’ or ‘character building’ effects of the athletic participation while the zero-sum theory stated that athletic participation diverts attention from academic work. They viewed the student society as a finite system in which commitment to academic, athletic, or social values represents a loss to the other two. Others (Matano, 1992; McInally, 2003; Newman, 2005; Ogi, 2005; Okunbor & Mybor, 2005; Bulinde, 2006) argue that the two student cultures are casually linked and that athletics positively affects grades. Several reviews of empirical studies of the effects of sports participation (Arnoldy, 2005; Marsh & Kleitman, 2002; Guest & Schnider, 2003; Tucker, 1999; Croxton, Chiacchia & Wagner, 2006; Klomsten, Skaalvik & Espines, 2004) reported that the most commonly studied outcomes are; academic achievement, educational and occupational aspirations and attainment, self-concept and popularity. For example, Otto and Win cited in Muniu (2009) found that sports participation of male students in the senior year of high school was positively related to the educational and occupational aspirations after controlling for the socio-economic status, Intelligence Quotient (IQ), and school grades. In a prior study according to Otto as cited by Muniu (2009) sports participation in high school positively affected educational attainment, occupational status, and income 15 years later. However, (Tucker 1999; Croxton et al. 2006; & Klomsten et al. 2004) carried out a study on students’ self-concept and sports participation, the results revealed that participation in school sport impacted favourably upon the descriptions and ideas used to determine their self-concepts. More specifically, students’ self-concepts were described in positive terms which consisted of descriptions of their attributes, qualities and skills. Besides, these descriptions were fairly stable over time. Furthermore, increasing evidence indicates that student’s failures in basic school subjects as well as their misguided motivation, lack of academic and sport involvement characteristics are due to unhealthy perceptions of the self and the world (Rehman, 2001). Many students for example have difficulty in school, not because of low intelligence or poor eyesight, but because they have learned to consider themselves unable to do academic work (Rehman, 2001). Consequently, from the foregoing statement, it can be stated in reference to this study that some Kenyan students from some secondary schools may have perceived themselves as unable to do academic work; yet cocurricular participations is the only option to demonstrate their success. Research studies by Dongfang, Simon and Shin (2003) that sought to investigate male and female basketball players goal orientation, perceived motivation, perceived ability and the source of sports confidence, reported that male participants recorded a higher perceived ego climate, perfection of skills and physical performance factors of sports confidence than their female counterparts. Consequently, this finding is significant to the current study as sports participations increases with the levels of self concept. Besides, a study on African volleyball players was carried out by Morakinyo (2003) to understand academic status of African elite volleyball players revealed ISSN: 2201-6333 (Print) ISSN: 2201-6740 (Online) www.ijern. com 226 that 53.3% had obtained academic certificates, while 46.7% had not. Also 80% of the respondents wanted to further their education, while 20% were not interested. According to the current researcher, the players were satisfied because they had an option to demonstrate their success, therefore implying that their sport self-concept was relatively positive therefore contributing to their learning outcomes. Bulinde (2006) undertook an analysis of the demographic factors affecting achievement goal orientation and satisfaction among Kenyan volleyball league players. She found out that task oriented players were more satisfied than ego oriented players. Consequently, this opened a gap for the current study that the perception of the students of their self-concepts ought to be known. Moreover, it was found that apart from gender, other demographic factors (the intelligence (IQ), class level, type of school, teacher qualification and experience, age and facilities) under the study did not influence players’ goal orientation. This statement has implications for the current study as demographic factors have been hypothesized to contribute to the students’ self-concepts and academic performance. Consequently, this finding is significant to the current researcher that it is possible that the expected extraneous variables may not have an effect on the rest of the variables other than gender that is included in the study. Although education is divided into two parts; curricular activities and co-curricular activities in Kenya, many researchers like Ongonga et al. (2010), McInally (2003) and Newman (2005) have observed that participation in co-curricular activities is not fully supported by most schools and the contribution of it to the students’ self-concept and academic performance have not been clearly articulated to the educators, teachers, students and even parents. Yet, the experiences and opportunities provided by secondary schools through curricular and co-curricular participation also influence students’ development. Furthermore, direct interaction with the school curriculum in schools such as the degree of success or failure in various subject matters and the degree of encouragement provided for academic effort influence self-growth, educational aspirations and values of students. Besides, no research has addressed itself to the impact of co-curricular participation on academic performance and looked at it from the perspective of en