The association among the factors that influence students in getting private tuition at the G.C.E.(A\L) examination

Abstract

The G.C.E.(Advanced Level) is the only exanJination in Sri Lanka that paves the way to free higher education. Hence, this examination has become one of the most competitive examinations in Sri Lanka. Most of the students who study for the G.C.E (A\L) examination seek the assistance of Private tuition classes. Therefore it seems necessary to identify the interaction among the factors that influence students in getting private tuition for the Advanced Level Subjects. Hence, this study Was cal Tied out in order to explore the relationship between various reasons that influence students in attending private tuition for the G.C.E.(A\L) examination. The data for this study were collected by administering a questionnaire survey among a sample of 312 students who entered the Physical Science stream of the University of Kelaniya in the academic year 2002/2003. The seven influential factors that compel students in getting Private tuition for the A\L Subjects viz. gaining additional knowledge, associating with friends, covering the entire syllabus, parental influence, tense competition to get into a local university, attractive teaching pattern of the teacher and association with fiancee/fiance Were Considered as variables in this study. According to the Pearson’s chi-square test, most of the variables were found to be associated with each other. Hence, a more advanced log-linear modeling approach Was Used to explore the relationship between the categorical variables considered in this study. Model selection was done using the SAS statistical package and the goodness of fit of the model was tested using Pearson’s likelihood ratio Chi square test statistic. The best model which mostly influences students in getting Private tuition selected by the forward step wise method that could be used to model cell counts in terms of the associations among the variables Was found to Contain six partial associations. According to the study it was revealed that students who participated in tuition classes mainly due to their parents influence have done so either to have association with their fiancee /fiance or friends. Most of the students who attended private tuition classes to have association with friends have also taken into accountant the attractive teaching pattern of the teacher. Those students who participated in private tuition classes in order to cover the entire syllabus have not taken in to account the attractive teaching pattern of the teacher but however have considered the fact of gaining additional knowledge .It was also revealed that those who attended due to tense competition to get into a university have also considered the attractive teaching pattern of the teacher