Influence of Teacher-Student Interpersonal Interactions on Students’ Academic Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Machakos County

The purpose was to establish the influence of teacher-student interpersonal interactions on students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Machakos County. This study used a survey research design. The target population was 14,894, comprised of 19 school principals,483 teachers, and 14392 students. Schools were selected by stratified sampling, while random sampling was used to select individual participants. The sample size was 10 school principals,30 teachers, and 275 students, hence 315 respondents. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires and an observation chart. Two schools were selected for piloting research instruments. A questionnaire was administered to 2 school principals,6 teachers, and 20 students. Data analysis was done using both descriptive and inferential techniques. The data was then presented in the form of frequency tables and charts. The findings on teacher–student interpersonal interactions, using descriptive analysis techniques, the study found that there was a strong agreement (87%) of respondents (students/teachers/school principals) that healthy teacher-student interpersonal interactions influence students’ academic performance. This was also the case for inferential analysis, where the null hypothesis was rejected because the results showed that the influence of teacher-student interactions on academic performance was statistically significant with a p-value of 0.000, which is less than 0.05, the researcher’s preselected alpha level (p-value). The study concluded that school social environment elements, especially healthy interpersonal relations between teachers and students, greatly influenced students’ academic performance. The study recommends that the Ministry of Education, school principals, and other education stakeholders should pay more attention to the school social environment by promoting these attributes, such as teacher-student interpersonal interactions. Sensitize the school principals, teachers, and students on a conducive school social learning environment. In addition, similar studies in relation to other categories of secondary and primary schools should be carried out.