1. Challenges and Experiences in Decentralization of Teacher Recruitment in Kenya: A Study of Urban Secondary Schools in Uasin Gishu District
Sang K. Antony & Otunga N. Ruth
As part of the educational reforms in Kenya, the Ministry of Education, Science & Technology has decentralized administration of educational services. The reasoning behind this action is to enable policy makers refine strategies and facilitate choice between possible functional options for system restructuring.
This study surveyed the challenges and experiences in the decentralization of teacher recruitment in urban secondary schools in Uasin Gishu District. The sample included the Board of Governors (BOG), headteachers, and teachers. Data were derived from the sample by questionnaires and interview schedules.
It was found that B.O.G members' knowledge base on educational matters was wanting, the recruitment process was inefficient and subject to manipulation. Based on the findings, it was concluded that the general management of urban secondary schools in Uasin Gishu was weak due to lack of management capabilities of the B.O.Gs.
The study recommended that decentralization of teacher recruitment should be devolved only to the level that has capacity and potential to handle the delegated responsibilities.
2. Challenges of Teacher Education in the Twenty First Century: The Kenyan Experience
Kafu Patrick
Education in any form, traditional or modern, shapes the destiny of society. Today, education is considered the critical soft-ware for development. But for it to play this role effectively, there must be a cadre of competent teachers. The education programme that prepares and supplies such a crop of teachers to educational institutions is called teacher education.
Education, and by extension teacher education, is a dynamic process. It is usually influenced by changes in society which tend to create new demands on it. These demands, more often than not, manifest themselves as emerging issues, problems or new perspectives in education. This paper sets out to discuss the challenges, implications and the way forward for teacher education programme in this millenium in Kenya.
3. Change Management: Reflections From Educational Settings
Simiyu John and Chemwile Peter
The dynamic nature of the environment in which the education process takes place has meant that the education system itself has to be transformed regularly in order to remain relevant and useful to the Kenyan society. Efforts to change the process of education have aimed at improving its effectiveness. Some of the major educational innovations in Kenya have included the adoption of the 8-4-4 system of education and introduction of Free Primary Education.
This paper reflects on the process of change management in the education service in Kenya with a view to explaining the factors that have led to poor management of change.
The paper contends that changes in education have not been effective enough because of a variety of factors, the major one being that the stakeholders are neither fully informed nor involved in formulating and initiating change.
Taking the case of transformation in the 8-4-4 system and Free-Primary Schooling initiated in 2003, the paper demonstrates that most challenges facing educational innovations emanate from lack of effective planning and implementation. To confront these problems, the paper proposes a framework of educational change management based on the project model of management.
4. Mainstream Primary School Pupils' Attitudes Towards Integration with the Disabled in Western Province of Kenya
Kipruto K. John, Misigo L. Bernard & Simiyu W. Catherine
The study aimed at investigating the attitudes of mainstream primary school pupils towards integration with the disabled peers in Western Province of Kenya.
Four hundred pupils (200 males and 200 females) aged around 13 years and attending Standard Seven classes in regular urban and rural primary schools in Western province of Kenya responded to a questionnaire based on their attitudes towards being integrated with pupils with disabilities. Percentages were used to analyse the data and results showed more positive attitudes towards integration of pupils with disabilities than negative ones.
A t-test (p < 0.1) to determine whether there were significant differences in attitudes between males and females was carried out. No significant difference was observed.
5. Re-Thinking the Quota System in Education: A Thomistic Analysis of Social Justice and National Unity
Misia A. M. Kadenyi
This paper explains the meaning of education and its relation to social justice and the holistic development of the human person. Based on an empirical study carried out in six provincial secondary schools in Nyanza, this paper attempts to re-examine the logic of the quota system against the background of national unity and social justice. Its concerns are made more urgent in the light of section 82 of the Laws of Kenya which rejects any form of discrimination, alongside the Thomistic concept of system as fairness. Hence by way of critical analysis, it illustrates how the quota system has violated the ideals of unity and justice as essential components of national educational objectives. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are reached by indicating the need to re-think the implications of this system as an affirmative action in a bid to foster national cohesiveness and justice in and through education.
6. Strengthening Guidance and Counselling Services in Kenyan Primary Schools: A Strategy For Survival in the Face of Globalization
Ochieng A. Pamela & Otunga N. Ruth
Kenya is among the countries in the world that have experienced rapid changes in education in the 1990s. These changes have at times had overwhelming negative effects on both the individual and the society he lives in. In the primary educational institutions, these changes have been manifested in varied forms.
The problems encountered by the children and the youth in Kenyan primary schools are vast and varied. The children need to be provided with a tool to enable them to make responsible decisions in life.
This paper examines the need and role of guidance and counseling in the Kenyan primary schools and makes recommendations on how guidance and counselling can be strengthened in Kenyan primary schools.
7. Morality and Education: Overcoming Constraints Towards Achievement in Moral Education in Kenyan Schools
Musamas Josephine
This article addresses the crossroads at which moral education is found. The home and church, due to the ever-changing set-ups in society, seem to have delegated most of its responsibility of childcare to the school. The question therefore is whether the teachers are able and willing to take up more concerns on social welfare other than mere classroom instruction.
A growing number of educators around the globe have been working on the ways of introducing value-based education in response to the increase in violence, suicide, forms of drug addiction, abortion, corruption and child abuse. There is now an increasing recognition that there is a missing link in the education system. This is mainly the lack of focus on the affective domain, skill development and the little concern given to the latent curriculum.
Using a primary school management model by Paisey (1987), the paper presents a discussion on how aspects such as physical assets, managerial skills, values and objectives can favourably be accustomed to promote personal, social and moral education.
8. The Potential Impact of the Children Act (2001) and the Persons With Disabilities Act (2003) on Education of Learners With Disabilities in Kenya in The 21st Century
Ndurumo M. Michael
Special education was established in Kenya by religious and charitable organizations in the mid-1940s. Starting as a modest outfit, the sector continues to expand. For instance, in 1968, there were 1,373 children enrolled in 26 special schools and units (Ndurumo, 1993). The number rose to 14,600 children and 479 programs in 1998 (Koech Report, 1999). While the government's support of special education is evident through the training of teachers at Kenya Institute of Special Education, developing curriculum at the Kenya Institute of Education, and in the management and supervision of the sector at the Ministry of Education Headquarters, legal instruments addressing education of learners with special needs have been absent. The breakthrough, however, came with the enactment of the Children Act in 2001 and the Persons with Disabilities Act in 2003. This paper therefore examines the potential impact of these two laws on learners with disabilities in Kenya in the 21st Century.
9. Challenges Facing the Financing of Education in Developing Countries in the 21st Century: A Case of Kenya
Kosgei Zacharia, Maiyo K. Julius and Chepkurui Ruth
Education is both a private and social investment that is shared by individual students, their families, employees, government and other groups including international agencies. The sharing arrangements vary considerably from region to region both in proportion of public and private funds allocated for education and in the mechanism by which the costs of education are financed. This paper examines and analyses challenges in financing education, in particular it evaluates the financing of free primary education and the bursary scheme fund employed by the government in secondary schools. The paper also brings forward the deferred student loan programme as a method of financing higher institutions. However, there is feeling among parents, leaders, students and other stakeholders that the current loan scheme tends to benefit the rich more than the poor.
Beyond its economic significance, education is viewed widely as a good in itself and indeed a basic human right. For this reason too, efficiency in financing education is often a focus of public debate.
10. Challenges Facing Women in Tertiary Institutions: A Case Study of Eldoret Municipality
Misia A. M. Kadenyi and Kamunyu, M. W.
This paper examines the effectiveness of tertiary institutions in training and empowering women, with compliancy to technological advancement, so that they may fully participate in the development process at both the private and public sector. The paper also scrutinizes other impediments within and without these institutions that impact negatively on women's successful attainment and completion of desired training programmes in their career pursuit.
The paper presents the findings of a survey carried out in technical colleges in Eldoret Municipality to examine enrolment gender disparities, course relevance and marketability of the graduates. The study found that enrolment gender disparities in specific courses, loop-sided cultural beliefs and a discriminatory employment market have severely reduced women productivity and capacity to promote development. The paper recommends gender mainstreaming in technical courses, eradicate redundant courses and encourage job market to tap female potential.
11. Educational Accountability: An Emerging Issue in Contemporary Education
Shikuku M. Mulambula
The need for transparency and accountability in all spheres of life makes it necessary for educational enterprises to be subjected to accountability. It is in view of this concern, that a study was carried out investigate the influence of class level, gender, type of school, training and teaching experience on educational accountability. Stratified sampling was used to obtain a sample of 374 students and 40 teachers in Kakamega Municipality and Kabras Division in Western Province of Kenya. Questionnaires were used to measure students' and teachers' perception of school environment, evaluation instruments and locus of control as indicators of educational accountability. An ex post facto research design was used and null hypotheses tested using two-way ANOVA at - = 0.05. The results showed the students and teachers cannot be held accountable for the consequences of educational programmes, since the role of the government is exaggerated. It was recommended that educational accountability should be enhanced through equity and demystifying the evaluation process.
12. The Perception of Society on the Education of Girls in Kenya: A Case of Secondary Schools in Ainabkoi Division, Uasin Gishu District, Kenya
Kyalo B. Wambua and Yungungu M. Alice
The main focus of this paper is the perception of society on the education of girls and how this influences their limited access to education. This study adopted a survey research design. It used both convenient and simple random sampling techniques. It revealed that majority of the parents preferred investing in the education of their sons to that of their daughters. It established that the major causes of dropout among girls were adolescent pregnancies, poor academic performance, lack of encouragement from parents while in school, poor parents investing their limited resources in the education of their sons, parental negative attitude towards girls' education and lack of school fees.
The study recommends awareness campaigns on the importance of education and especially that of girls by teachers, social workers and civic leaders. It also recommends that girls who become pregnant while in school be allowed to rejoin the main stream and that guidance and counselling in schools by teachers and female role models should be intensified.
13. Cross-Border Provision of Higher Education: Bridging the Gender Gap in the Case of Kenya
Ruto-Korir Rose and Chelang'a K. James
"No one is so remote that they might not find themselves interfacing with the international, digital literate community….education is about empowerment and computer literacy connect people to the rest of the world…the absence of education kills people" (Briggs, 2004). As the world continues to progressively sell education as any other trade commodity, there is the risk that the gender gap will continue to widen in the very processes that are meant to narrow these gaps.
Scholars have consistently concluded that men and women start off their quest for education from different advantage points, with the conclusion that both cultural and situational circumstances disadvantage women in this quest.
The purpose of this paper is to highlight and link these factors to the gender equity issues and education. It discusses how these factors pre-dispose women to less opportunities vis-à-vis Cross-Border Provision (CBP) of higher education, and how the same can be addressed at the country level. Suggestions are made for efforts to make CBP for women a reality.
A further argument of this paper is that CBP can be tailored to enhance women education without any significant opportunity costs either to the family or society.
The paper addresses the challenges faced by providers of Cross-Border Provision of higher education.
14. Factors Affecting the Teaching and Learning of English in Secondary Schools in Kenya: Perspectives on Training, Policy and Practice
Barasa L. Peter
This was a study investigating the problems affecting the performance of English in Kenyan secondary schools. The study examines the role of the training institutions (universities) in producing teachers of English Language, and, in particular, how they can enable the educational enterprise to appreciate the role played by the language.
The paper also examines the relationship between training teachers of English and some of the factors influencing the teaching and learning of English. Based on the findings, suggestions for solving the explored problems are made.
15. Impact of Drama on English Language Teaching
Ong'ondo C. O. and Barasa L. P.
This paper highlights the results of a research conducted in Western Province of Kenya in 2003. The study sought to establish whether drama, as a co-curricular activity has any impact on a learner's speaking and writing competence in English Language. The study was based on the Communicative Approach to Language Teaching. Relevant literature was reviewed. The descriptive survey design was used. A speaking and a writing test were used to collect data from three hundred students selected using a multi-stage cluster sampling technique. Data were analysed and the hypotheses were tested by means of appropriate statistical provisions. From the analysis and interpretation of data, it was deduced that drama students showed better speaking and writing competence in English language than non-drama students. Consequently, this paper recommends that the use of drama as a language teaching activity should be increased and improved in the Kenyan school system.
16. Towards Policy Making for Open Learning and Distance Education in Kenya
Joyce J. Agalo (Part-time Lecturer)
Distance Education, Open Learning and their worldwide expansion have become powerful and significant trends in modern education. Open Learning and Distance Education (OL & DE), both as concepts and practices, have been marginal phenomena in Kenya and only recently have they become educational themes of any significance. It was only last year that Kenya's Ministry of Education significantly focussed its attention on OL & DE during the National Consultative forum on OL & DE held between 12th and 15th September 2004.
Besides, the phenomenal growth of OL & DE systems the world over, continues to drastically change the educational scenario, thanks to rapid advancements in information and communication technologies. In Kenya, education has become part of national consciousness, and geared towards contributing to national cohesion, unity and uniformity. Because of this pre-eminent role, the current 8-4-4 system of education faces innumerable pressures of change.
This paper, discusses the ineptitude of the education policy on OL & DE and resituates policy making within the broader notions of education. It identifies seven fundamental policy areas for OL & DE policy making which characterize policy making as a continuous process that should not be circumscribed by artificial, political or operational time frames or fiscal years. It also proposes that OL & DE policies be developed to support the dynamics and potentials of information and communication technologies in enhancing access to education.
17. The Study of Technology: An Imperative in Africa's School Curriculum
Bonaventure Wanjala Kerre
As the world community strides into the 21st Century that is characterized as Scientific and Technological, Africa lingers at the doorstep in a dilemma and faced with a millenium challenge.
Her dilemma: a vast continent well endowed with both human and natural resources, yet, a mother to poor nations greatly afflicted by ignorance, poverty and disease-perennial enemies.
Her challenge: to enter, survive and remain competitive in a world that is fast becoming a global village in order to guarantee her posterity a future.
It is evident that popular prescriptions and quick fixes of development theories of yesteryears and structural adjustments of our day have all come to naught as the search for other fixes continues.
Africa, the cradle of man, and the first crucible of technology, should take a leaf from her past. This should not be misconstrued for retreating in antiquity, but rather recapitulating on the manner in which ingenuity, innovativeness and appropriateness were deployed in iron-smithing, brewing, brain surgery, food preservation and music making, just to mention a few technologies that have stood the test of time.
It is my position that we go back to the drawing board (in this case, the classroom) to re-design our curriculum. There is dire need for broad-based and integrated curricula as opposed to the present narrow focused, theoretical/academic and examination-oriented curricula in Africa.
The study of technology is imperative as it provides and builds a foundation for the extension of each individual's capacity in the formative years. The focus should be the creation of awareness at early childhood and primary level. At secondary level an appropriate orientation and exploration of technological careers should be the emphasis. At the post-secondary level, emphasis should be placed on specialization with due regard for higher education and training for those with the capacity and willing to do so.
18. The Bachelor of Education Programme on the Cross: A Case for A Fresh Testament
Machele K. Matthew, Khaemba Ongeti, Wando Dave, Misia Kadenyi & Barasa P.
This paper provides a lucid discussion of the background development, contributions, strengths and weakness of the Bachelor of Education Programme at Moi University.
In the final analysis this paper suggests that like all other processes of education and training, B.Ed needs review of curriculum to meet new challenges in society. It is asserted that any change must be made by those with the appropriate expertise in the field.
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