Soft Skills and Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in Mathematics: A Relationship Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63561/fnas-jmse.v6i4.916Keywords:
Soft Skills, Performance, Mathematics, Secondary School, StudentsAbstract
This research examined the correlation between the soft skills of secondary school students and their Mathematics performance in Bayelsa State. Soft skills like communication, teamwork, self-discipline, flexibility, and problemsolving are becoming widely acknowledged as necessary for the academic performance of students. The design used in the study was correlational, and the sample size was 1,096 senior secondary school students (SS 1 and 2) who were randomly selected using a stratified random sampling method from Bayelsa State public and private secondary schools. Data were collected using the Soft Skills Assessment Questionnaire (SSAQ)—a 15-item instrument rated on a 4-point Likert scale—and students’ end-of-term Mathematics grades. The SSAQ was found to be highly reliable with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.77. Descriptive statistics and Pearson product-moment correlation were employed to test the data. The results revealed that the majority of students had moderate soft skills and Mathematics performance; a strong positive correlation was found between soft skills and Mathematics performance (r = 0.76, p = 0.00), suggesting that students with higher soft skills tend to perform better in Mathematics. The study concludes that soft skills are a significant predictor of mathematical success and recommends the inclusion of structured soft skills training in the senior secondary school curriculum to enhance students’ academic outcomes.
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