School of Education
http://ir.mu.ac.ke:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/41
2024-03-29T05:37:51ZFactors influencing dropouts in public primary schools in Mogotio Sub-County, Baringo County, Kenya
http://ir.mu.ac.ke:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/8854
Factors influencing dropouts in public primary schools in Mogotio Sub-County, Baringo County, Kenya
Chepkangor, Elima Jerono
The major drawback in attaining Education for All (EFA) and Vision 2030 is the
rising cases of school drop-out. Any factor that interferes with pupil learning not only
undermines the goals of education but also hampers the growth and development of
the children. Policies to improve school progression and reduce the numbers of
children dropping out of school are critical if Universal Primary Education (UPE) is
to be achieved. Despite the policies that Kenyan government, UNICEF and NGOS
have put in place with regard to accessibility to education by all children; there are
still children in the rural areas not going to school. Even those who are able to go
usually perform poorly academically and even drop before they complete the primary
education system. The purpose of this study therefore is to investigate the factors
affecting dropout rates in Mogotio Sub County. Objectives of the study were; to find
out school related factors influencing dropout rates in primary schools in Mogotio Sub
County, to investigate the socio-Economic factors influencing dropout rates in
primary schools in Mogotio Sub County, to identify learner related factors influencing
dropout rates in primary schools in Mogotio Sub County and to establish measures
put in place to reduce dropout rates in primary schools in Mogotio Sub County. The
study was guided by Push- out Grounded Model by Arkifat. The study was conducted
in Mogotio Sub-county, Baringo County. The target population included all the 2,459
pupils of primary schools, 919 teachers and 103 head teachers in Mogotio Sub
County. Proportionate stratified sampling was adopted to stratify the pupils, teachers
and Head teachers according to the location they belong. Mugenda’s rule of 10% was
used to select a sample of 246 pupils, 92 teachers and 31 head teachers making a total
of 369 respondents. Close ended questionnaires were used to collect data from the
learners and the teachers. Head teachers were interviewed with the aid of interview
guide to get in-depth information concerning pupils drop out. The questionnaires in
this study were validated through application of content validity. To ensure reliability,
the researcher, in close consultation with the supervisors, constructed the research
instruments and pre-tested them by carrying out a pilot survey. The questionnaires
were pre tested in the neighbouring Eldama ravine sub county. Ten percent of the
sample was used for pre testing this comprised of 25 pupils, 10 teachers and 3 head
teachers. Data collected from the study was checked and validated for accuracy and
completeness at the end of each day. Quantitative data was entered using SPSS. Data
was presented using pie charts, bar graphs and tables. The study findings revealed that
knowledge resources were not enough in the institutions which negatively influenced
drop out. Schools with limited learning facilities discourage students from attending
such schools. The study concluded that the factors influencing dropout were; poor
parental care, poverty, child labor, death of parents, pregnancy, peer influence and
indiscipline while the factors that influenced drop out were; poor academic
performance, absenteeism, indiscipline, child labor, peer influence, poverty and poor
parental care. Both dropout and repetition were influenced by poverty, peer influence,
indiscipline child labor and poor parental care. The study recommends there should be
affirmative action aimed at encouraging pupils in ASAL to stay in school. Besides,
the County and National governments should collaborate and pool resources to ensure
that they coordinate feeding programs in schools and scholarships for needy students.
The study will be significant to the government through the ministry of education in
identifying the factors that affect dropout of pupils in primary schools hence helping
them to develop policies that boost retention of learners
2023-01-01T00:00:00ZExploring gender-based violence experiences of secondary school girls in Mathare informal settlements Nairobi County, Kenya
http://ir.mu.ac.ke:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/8833
Exploring gender-based violence experiences of secondary school girls in Mathare informal settlements Nairobi County, Kenya
Mworia, Naomi W.
Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is part of the hard realities of living in an informal
settlement. The United Nations reports it as one of the serious human rights
violations, with more than 30% of the females experiencing it. Vulnerability to GBV
in these locales is even increased when one is younger, as is the case with secondary
school girls, with statistics indicating that they have the highest recorded number of
cases of GBV. Numerous policies to mitigate this are in place, yet the vice is on the
increase. Most data on GBV that exist focus on adult females, yet the vice can be
traced in the early years of the females’ lives, and later ignored and thus normalizing
the malpractice. Besides, this vice could be propagated by congested housing in
informal settlements in urban areas, coupled with broken moral fabric in traditional
families. The study, therefore, set out to explore secondary school girls' experiences
of gender-based violence in Mathare informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. The
objectives of the study were: to explore the forms of gender-based violence
experienced by the girls; to establish the girls' responses to these acts; to explore
schools’ responses to gender-based violence cases, and to find out from the girls how
secondary schools can improve their support systems. The social feminist theory by
Crenshaw and Janes, and the social support theory by Drennon-Gala and Cullen
guided the qualitative study, which employed phenomenological research design
within the interpretivist paradigm. The study involved 28 participants (girls), who
were selected through snowball sampling, from two public secondary schools in
Mathare informal settlements selected purposively. Data were generated through
participatory visual methods (drawings), which were used to explore girls’
experiences of GBV. Data emanating from discussions of the drawing were
thematically analyzed. The findings revealed that the girls experienced physical,
sexual, psychological, and verbal abuse. The girls’ responses to the violence included
resisting, reporting, seeking help, and internalizing feelings. On the other hand, some
girls did not report, but rather remained silent. Further, the girls revealed that their
responses to school depended on their knowledge of response strategies, whether
teachers kept the matter in confidence or not, and the fears that the response was
perceived to bring along. Some girls reported that the key school response was often
guidance and counseling while others reported that the school was unable to help
them. Several participants reported a lack of belief by the teachers upon reporting
their experiences, perceiving the experiences as normal occurrences. To improve
school support for them the girls shared that schools should formulate clear reporting
strategies and introduce whole-school awareness training. Thus, the study concluded
that girls in informal settlements experienced GBV in varied forms and that sexual
abuse was experienced the most; that teachers reacted “retrogressively” to abused
girls’ cases; that those who reported their experiences were casually treated to a
counseling session by the school; thus, that schools should strive to offer adequate
support to girls who experience it. The study therefore, recommended that schools
should have a mechanism to identify girls experiencing GBV, understand their plight,
and offer specialized trauma counseling services. Furthermore, that schools should
organise whole school development sessions where teachers, boys and girls are
trained on general sexuality, as well as GBV awareness and possible intervention
strategies. The study findings could be significant to secondary school girls, teachers,
the Ministry of Education and other researchers.
2023-01-01T00:00:00ZUtilization of outdoor play in an enhanced holistic development of the child in early childhood development Education centres in Bomet East sub-county, Kenya
http://ir.mu.ac.ke:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/8801
Utilization of outdoor play in an enhanced holistic development of the child in early childhood development Education centres in Bomet East sub-county, Kenya
Ndugi, Evalyne Chepngetich
Outdoor play activities are important in the early life of the child; they enhance holistic
development and creativity which are useful in later life and career choice of the child.
Available literature indicated that early childhood development and education (ECDE)
teachers perceive outdoor play as a waste of time, yet it was a central aspect as required
in the ECDE curriculum in Kenya. The purpose of this study was to investigate the
utilization of outdoor play in enhancing holistic development of the child in the ECDE
centres in Bomet East Sub-County, Kenya. The objectives were to: establish the
different types of outdoor play facilities available; assess the appropriateness of outdoor
play facilities; evaluate the roles of the teacher in organizing outdoor play activities;
examine the outdoor play activities that pupils’ participate in; identify the challenges
ECDE teachers faced during outdoor play activities in Bomet East Sub County. The
study utilized Maria Montessori’s theory of play which emphasized that children be
moved from being dependent to perform activities independently. Descriptive survey
design was employed. A sample of 36 schools was selected through stratified and
random sampling methods, with a target population of 36 Head teachers/Deputy head
teachers and 36 ECDE teachers, one from each sampled school, who were selected
using purposive sampling and simple random sampling techniques respectively giving
a total of 72 participants. The data collection tools were; the observation schedule,
interview schedule and questionnaire, all administered by the researcher. Descriptive
statistics were used to analyse quantitative data while qualitative data was analysed
using thematic analysis procedures. Data was presented in tables, figures and
narrations, guided by the study variables. The findings revealed that most ECDE centres
had no outdoor play equipment, there was inadequate materials. The main roles of the
ECDE teachers included: planning, supervising and ensuring full participation among
children. Children participated in guided outdoor play activities daily during
midmorning besides running around the field. Challenges faced include: lack of
adequate play facilities and materials, interference among other learners. The study
recommended all ECDE stakeholders to pull efforts together to provide for adequate
and relevant outdoor play equipment and materials for holistic development and a
research be done on perception of teachers on how parents can enhance outdoor play
activities. The beneficiaries of this study include the teachers at the early childhood
education in applying outdoor play in an enhanced holistic development, preschool
administration in assessing the importance of children outdoor play and hence provide
adequate facilities for play, curriculum developers in evaluating the curriculum and
putting emphasis on children’s outdoor play and development of play materials, ECDE
teacher training institutes in training teachers on the importance of children outdoor
play and holistic development and Teachers may also benefit from this study as the
findings may call for in service course to train them on different types of outdoor play
that promote holistic development among ECDE children and to formulate efficient
strategies and worthwhile approaches to make learning through play more
comprehensive and retentive.
2023-01-01T00:00:00ZTeachers’ use of rubrics as a tool for assessing learners’ Reading aloud tasks in language activities for early Years education in Kenya
http://ir.mu.ac.ke:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/8785
Teachers’ use of rubrics as a tool for assessing learners’ Reading aloud tasks in language activities for early Years education in Kenya
Chepsiror, Philomena J.
The rubric is the most common tool for assessment in the Kenyan Competency Based
Curriculum (CBC). However, flaws and inconsistencies in its use have been a major
concern. The objectives of this research were to examine the competencies of teachers
in using the rubric for assessing reading aloud tasks in Early Years Education (EYE),
the extent to which expected learning outcomes of reading aloud tasks were true to the
criteria of assessment rubrics, the consistency of rating learners’ reading aloud tasks
with the use of assessment rubrics and the challenges teachers encountered as they used
rubrics to assess learning outcomes of reading aloud tasks in EYE. The study was
anchored on the pragmatic paradigm and was based on Biggs, Tang, and Kennedy’s
Constructive Alignment Theory. It was conducted in selected schools in Kesses Sub-
County in Uasin Gishu County. The mixed method approach was adopted for the study
through the convergent mixed-parallel research design. Slovin’s formula was used to
obtain a sample of 115 teachers of Grade 3 drawn from 139 primary schools in the five
educational zones in Kesses subcounty by stratified and simple random sampling
techniques. Data for the study was collected using a questionnaire, document, analysis,
observation schedule and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). Data analysis followed the
convergent parallel design wherein quantitative and qualitative data was collected and
analyzed concurrently. The quantitative data were analyzed by computing frequencies,
percentages and means while presenting them in tables and plotting of charts and
graphs. Kandall’s Coefficient of Concordance (W) was used to determine the level of
agreement among raters of a reading aloud task. The qualitative data was coded and
collapsed into broad themes and analyzed through detailed descriptions of the emerging
themes. The study revealed that 106(92.17%) of the teachers were adequately
proficient, 76(66.08%) strictly adhered to requirements of the marking scheme for the
rubric criteria. With a Kendall's coefficient of concordance (W) of .801, assessment of
reading aloud tasks was found to be consistent across raters, though comprehensive use
of the rubric was hampered due to inadequate time when dealing with large classes and
difficulty in converting rubric scores into grades among other challenges. The study
concluded that although the rubric is an invaluable tool for teachers in objective
assessment of reading aloud tasks, teachers did not use it to the expected quality to
fairly distinguish the level of performances of learners’ reading aloud tasks. The
researcher hopes that the findings will benefit EYE teachers, curriculum developers and
policy makers by increasing understanding of the rubric for optimal support for reading
aloud. The study proposed expanded learning of the rubric both in the initial and the in-
service training of teachers, introduction of dummy marking before the actual marking,
creation of funded INSETs and development of a manual to guide teachers’ efficient
use of the rubric. To address the limitations for comprehensive use and to provide
appropriate interventions for the rubric in assessing reading aloud, this study suggests
that further research should be carried out to examine if tutors in the teacher training
institutions are competent enough to train teachers about the rubric, how learners utilize
the rubric to track their own performance, whether teachers have a good command of
the language used in designing rubrics and that the study be replicated in other sites in
Kenya to get a broader scrutiny of the genesis of discrepancies in the use of the
assessment rubric.
2023-01-01T00:00:00Z