Reasons for Underachievement Among students of basic elementary stages from teachers point of view in Northern Provinces of West Bank

This study aimed at investigating the reasons for underachievement among the students of basic elementary stages (1-4) in the Northern Provinces of West Bank from teachers' point of view. Moreover, the study aimed at investigating the effects of the following variables on underachievement: sex, province, class, experience and educational background. To achieve the goals of the study, the researcher used a questionnaire designed for this purpose which comprised (86) items distributed among five aspects (physical, psychological, mental, family-social and scholastic). The population of the study consisted of (2478) teachers; (1228) males and (1250) females. On the other hand, the questionnaire was distributed among the sample of the study which consisted of (617) male and female teacher; (286) males and (331) females selected randomly according to the stratified random sample. In order to achieve reliability of the questionnaire, it was distributed among (40) male and female teachers from Nablus and Qalqelia governorates who were not included in the sample. Then, Coronbach Alpha Formula was used to measure the questionnaire reliability coefficient which was (0.96). Based on (SPSS) program for analyzing social sciences , the following statistical treatments were used to analyze the results: T-test, Means, One-way Anova , and Schehhe for post-test differences. The results of the analysis indicated the following : 1- The most frequent reason for underachievement was the psycho-tension which scored (83.8%) . Then came the automatic passing which scored (81.4%),.Whereas, the overuse of theoretical teaching instead of practical teaching scored (79.6%). Meanwhile, the students hatred of school environment scored (76 %) and the gap between curriculum and local environment scored (70.8 %). 2- 108 There were no significant differences in the fields of physical, psychological and social aspects which may be attributed to sex variable. Meanwhile, there were significant differences in the fields of mental and scholastic factors between male and female in favour of females. 3- There were no significant differences in the fields of mental and scholastic factors that can be attributed to province (Governorate) variable, whereas, there were significant differences in the field of physical factor between Salfeet and Tulkarem in favour of Salfeet. Regarding psychological and family social factors between Tulkarm and Qalqeelia, the significant differences were in favor of Qalqeelia. 4- There were no significant differences attributed to classroom variable. 5- There were no significant differences related to physical, psychological, social and scholastic aspects attributed to the educational background variable; whereas, the differences were significant in the mental field between B.A teachers and Diploma teachers in favour of B.A teachers. 6- There were significant differences in the physical field between teachers of less than 5years of experience and those of experience ranged between 5-10 years in favour of those teachers of less than 5 years experience. In the light of these results, it is recommended to qualify teachers and to train them how to use modern methods of teaching. Also it is recommended to reconsider the use of automatic passing in education as well as to employ specialized people in education. Moreover, it is recommended that parents should devote more time and effort to their sons and there must be some kind of cooperation between educational and psychological institutions to obtain the educational goals. Finally, the researcher recommends that kindergartens should be given more emphasis and care and that teachers needs should be taken into consideration when planning for educational development. Besides, the researcher recommends giving more attention to some kind of remedial plans in order to develop our educational system.