Influence of gender and career interest on African university students’ perceived difficult concepts in the study of public administration

Abstract

There have been few studies on topic difficulty in the public administration curriculum of African universities. This is further problematized by non-existent literature on the relationships between gender, future career interest and country of study on student difficulty in the study of public administration. This is a gap in the public administration literature which this study attempts to fill. The work is significant to the extent that our understanding of ‘where the shirt tights’ regarding topics that students find difficult will guide teachers and other stakeholders in applying appropriate remedies. The purpose of the study is to find out (a) what topics in public administration students find difficult to learn; (b) if there are statistically significant relationship between gender and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities; (c) if there are statistically significant relationship between student’s career interest and concept difficulty in the study of public administration; and (d) if there are statistically significant relationship between country of study and concept difficulty in the study of public administration. Quantitative method was employed with sample (N = 650). The study reports bureaucracy, decentralization, public policy and politics as moderately difficult; significant relationship between gender and concept difficulty; and significant relationship between student future career interest and concept difficulty. We suggest curriculum development that would improve students’ knowledge by laying more emphasis on the perceived difficult areas in the study of public administration, gender, and encourage early students’ interest in public sector career choices.

In the classroom I enhance students understanding of entrepreneurship development – the culturo–techno-contextual approach

“…The current findings support the works of Abah et al (2015); Donato-Kinomis (2016); Okebukola et al (2016); Adam (2019); Awaah et al (2021), while the works of Riffel et al (2013) contradict the findings. Illustratively, Adam (2019) notes the CTCA has a greater influence on students' academic performance than the lecture teaching style.…”

“…Awaah et al (2021) reports that learners lean heavily on their culture to shape their comprehension of whatever is being taught. As a result, it is preferable to incorporate students' traditional viewpoints into the teaching process, allowing them to perceive things from perspectives familiar to them and their indigenous surroundings, fostering greater comprehension of the concepts (Awaah et al, 2021). However, students are also entreated to be objective to prevent cultural biases in their pursuit of scientific knowledge (Egerue, 2019).…”

Previous knowledge and difficulties in the study of public administration among undergraduates in African universities

“…Research on students' difficulties in the study of public administration in African universities is scant (see, Awaah, 2020). Yet, in the scant studies that have investigated difficulties in the study of public administration, no attempts have been made at investigating whether or not group studies, previous knowledge in public administration, syllabus being wide, and ease of textbooks, influence students' difficulty in the study of the course in African universities.…”

The creation of international collaborative governance discourse during the process of teaching vocabulary at the university

“…These words apply to PA institutions of all the countries. For example, the latest research works by (Awaah et al, 2020(Awaah et al, , 2021 and others, concerning the perspective of teaching difficult concepts of public administration sector in Africa, state that focusing on such difficult key concepts as bureaucracy, politics, decentralization, public policy, ethics, governance, defining public administration and some others is really very important for raising students' understanding of PA activity and in the long run for developing public administration education in the field of PA. The authors claim that it is essential for future public administrators to understand clearly the concepts of PA and what is understood exactly by their definitions.…”

“…The authors claim that it is essential for future public administrators to understand clearly the concepts of PA and what is understood exactly by their definitions. (Awaah et al, 2020(Awaah et al, , 2021. That is why we believe that much attention should be paid to the creation of international PA discourse during the new "collaborative governance" epoch in public administration history.…”