Influence of life themes pedagogy on performance in christian religious Education in Public Secondary Schools in Bungoma County, Kenya

Abstract

The performance in Christian Religious Education in Public secondary schools in Bungoma varies from one school to another as some schools perform very well while others perform poorly. Kenya National Examination Council reports clearly portray that the performance has generally stagnated at grade C yet it is an elective subject in some schools. The purpose of this study was to investigate the Influence of Life Themes Pedagogy on Performance in Christian Religious Education in Public Secondary Schools in Bungoma County, Kenya. The specific objectives were to; find out teacher preparedness in the use of life themes pedagogy, establish the teaching/learning resources which enhance the use life themes pedagogy, the extent to which the five steps of life themes pedagogy influence performance in CRE and the challenges in the use of this pedagogy in Public Secondary schools in Bungoma County. The study was guided by Social Development Theory by Vygotsky, and Constructivist Theory by Brunner. The study employed descriptive survey design. Stratified sampling was used to sample the schools and purposive sampling to sample teachers of CRE. Questionnaires and observation guide were used for data collection. The total number of respondents was 258. The data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively, using structured questionnaire and observation guide respectively. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. Data was presented using means and frequency tables. From the study, on teacher preparedness in terms of pre-service training, it was found that most teachers were well trained on the use of life themes in teaching CRE. However, there was limited evidence of in-service training specifically on the use of life themes. On the teaching/learning resources which enhance the use of the pedagogy, the study revealed that several materials including Bibles, reference books, teachers’ guides and student textbooks were available and commonly used in to enhance teaching CRE. Further, the study found out that resources like videos, radio, charts, posters and pictures/photographs were not available and were rarely used. The use of life themes pedagogy was evident among most of the observed lessons although most teachers were found not following the steps. Some of the commonly identified challenges included; inadequate resources, lack of in-service training on life themes pedagogy, inadequate time allocated for CRE lessons, inadequate teachers pedagogical skills, wide syllabus, large classes and lack of lesson plans. Based on the findings, it was concluded that life themes pedagogy has an influence on performance in CRE. The recommendations made were as follows: The Ministry of Education should organize in-service training and workshops for CRE teachers on life themes pedagogy, CRE teachers should ensure that they attend the workshops, seminars or in-service to enhance preparedness when using the life themes pedagogy, more teaching/ learning resources to be allocated for the subject, CRE teachers should follow all the steps in the pedagogy and they should use life themes pedagogy as it is proven to have an influence on performance. The findings of the study will provide feedback to the Ministry of Education on the effectiveness of their training programs and this will improve the quality of teaching. It shall provide a basis for training teacThe performance in Christian Religious Education in Public secondary schools in Bungoma varies from one school to another as some schools perform very well while others perform poorly. Kenya National Examination Council reports clearly portray that the performance has generally stagnated at grade C yet it is an elective subject in some schools. The purpose of this study was to investigate the Influence of Life Themes Pedagogy on Performance in Christian Religious Education in Public Secondary Schools in Bungoma County, Kenya. The specific objectives were to; find out teacher preparedness in the use of life themes pedagogy, establish the teaching/learning resources which enhance the use life themes pedagogy, the extent to which the five steps of life themes pedagogy influence performance in CRE and the challenges in the use of this pedagogy in Public Secondary schools in Bungoma County. The study was guided by Social Development Theory by Vygotsky, and Constructivist Theory by Brunner. The study employed descriptive survey design. Stratified sampling was used to sample the schools and purposive sampling to sample teachers of CRE. Questionnaires and observation guide were used for data collection. The total number of respondents was 258. The data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively, using structured questionnaire and observation guide respectively. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. Data was presented using means and frequency tables. From the study, on teacher preparedness in terms of pre-service training, it was found that most teachers were well trained on the use of life themes in teaching CRE. However, there was limited evidence of in-service training specifically on the use of life themes. On the teaching/learning resources which enhance the use of the pedagogy, the study revealed that several materials including Bibles, reference books, teachers’ guides and student textbooks were available and commonly used in to enhance teaching CRE. Further, the study found out that resources like videos, radio, charts, posters and pictures/photographs were not available and were rarely used. The use of life themes pedagogy was evident among most of the observed lessons although most teachers were found not following the steps. Some of the commonly identified challenges included; inadequate resources, lack of in-service training on life themes pedagogy, inadequate time allocated for CRE lessons, inadequate teachers pedagogical skills, wide syllabus, large classes and lack of lesson plans. Based on the findings, it was concluded that life themes pedagogy has an influence on performance in CRE. The recommendations made were as follows: The Ministry of Education should organize in-service training and workshops for CRE teachers on life themes pedagogy, CRE teachers should ensure that they attend the workshops, seminars or in-service to enhance preparedness when using the life themes pedagogy, more teaching/ learning resources to be allocated for the subject, CRE teachers should follow all the steps in the pedagogy and they should use life themes pedagogy as it is proven to have an influence on performance. The findings of the study will provide feedback to the Ministry of Education on the effectiveness of their training programs and this will improve the quality of teaching. It shall provide a basis for training teachers, curriculum developers will establish the strengths and weaknesses of the method in order to improve performance in CRE. The Ministry of Education will be able to assess the methods used in teaching CRE and also provide a basis for further research.hers, curriculum developers will establish the strengths and weaknesses of the method in order to improve performance in CRE. The Ministry of Education will be able to assess the methods used in teaching CRE and also provide a basis for further research.