Preparation of Teacher-Trainees in Pedagogy in Kenyan Universities

Abstract

There has been a concern about the quality of school teachers being prepared at the university especially in pedagogy. The main objective of the study was to investigate the preparation of teacher-trainees in pedagogy in Kenyan universities.The theoretical framework of the study was based on Shulman’s concept of pedagogical content knowledge. The study was conducted in public and private universities in Kenya. Purposive, random and stratified sampling techniques were used to select the subjects for the study.The sample size comprised of 85 lecturers and 1100 fourth year students drawn from the selected universities.The research instruments included questionnaires, interview guide observation and document analysis. The study established that Teacher education programme is narrow in scope, conservative/conventional in nature and more or less irrelevant to the needs of modern Kenya. Lectures and students have a good perception about Teacher preparation programme however they feelthe present duration for preparing school teachers is perceived to be inadequate.Also, the established findings show that the quality of instruction in pedagogy good. The study recommended that given the need for modernization and broadening of the scope of this programme to meet the needs of modern Kenya, the duration/period of preparing school teachers be extended from the present four years to at least five years.