Co-Curricular Educational Strategies and the Development of Life- Long Learning Skills of Secondary School Students in the North West Region of Cameroon

The current study explored Co-curricular Educational Strategies and the Development of Life- Long Learning Skills of Secondary School Students in the North West Region of Cameroon. The aim of this study was to investigate how co-curricular educational strategies such as physical education and cultural education influence the development of life-long learning competencies among secondary school students in the Northwest Region of Cameroon. A cross-sectional survey research design was used and a sample of 800 students and 12 educators was selected from all the four schools which constituted the sample size in North West region. The sampling technique used to select teachers and students was purposive and convenience sampling techniques to select participants effectively within the constraints of the ongoing socio-political crisis in the Northwest Region of Cameroon from CCAST Bambili, ST Paul’s college, PCHS Mankon and GBHS Bayelle. Data was collected from students through a closed ended questionnaire (quantitative) and qualitative tool such as audio-recorders to audio tape teachers’ responses on interview was used. The content validity index was 0.85 and the overall reliability of the instrument was 0.86. Data was analysed quantitatively and qualitatively and descriptive (frequency counts, percentages) and inferential statistics were used to analyse quantitative data while qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis. The Pearson product moment correlation was used to establish the relationship between Co-curricular Educational Strategies and Life- Long Learning Skills of Secondary School Students. Findings showed that there was a significant, positive strong relationship between physical education and the development of life-long learning competencies (P=0.000, <0.05). The strong positive sign of the correlation value (R= 0.81*) implied that physical education strongly influences the development of life-long learning competencies. Findings also showed that there was a significant, positive strong relationship between cultural education and the development of life-long learning competencies (P=0.000, <0.05). The strong positive sign of the correlation value (R= 0.75*) implied that cultural education strongly influences the development of life-long learning competencies. Findings of the study may be used by the students, parents, teachers, government and other researchers to know the extent to which Co-curricular Educational Strategies influence the Development of Life- Long Learning Skills of Secondary School Students in the North West Region of Cameroon. This may encourage them to step up to see that physical education, cultural education, field trips, independent learning, community education and other indicators of Co-curricular Educational Strategies are effectively check before the policy is implemented.