Influence of school type on availability and use of history and government instructional resources in Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate on the influence of type of school in the use of history and government instructional resources in Kenya a case of secondary schools in Nakuru County. The objectives of study were to; Investigate on the nature of the teachers teaching the subject; ways of obtaining the instructional resources; the difference on the two types of school on the availability and use of instructional resources. This study adopted a survey design in which public and private secondary schools in Nakuru County were involved. The target population was 1153.Stratified sampling was used to categorize schools into public and private. 102 History and Government students and 19 history and government teachers were randomly sampled from the two categories of schools. Data was collected using questionnaires, observation and document analysis. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented using frequency tables, graphs and pie charts. From the study it was found out that, that some teachers in private schools teaching the subject were untrained while some were overloaded with lessons as compared to those in public schools more so public schools had more instructional resources and were used more often than private schools. It was recommended that schools should employ trained teachers on the subject to teach, in-service courses be organized to equip the teachers with more pedagogical skills on use making and use of instructional resources and the Quality Assurance and Standard Officers should ensure proper supervision in schools on use of resources. It is hoped that the findings of this study will form a basis for formulation of policies on strategies for effective use of instructional resources in secondary schools and provide solutions to the challenges being faced.