Factors influencing the implementation of the early childhood development and education curriculum in public ECDE Centre’s in Kenya

Abstract

The study sought to investigate the factors influencing the implementation of the early childhood development and education curriculum in public ECDE centres in Baringo North district, Kenya. Early childhood is the foundation of primary education and beyond, it is with this concern that proper implementation of the ECDE curriculum has to take place. Therefore the study investigated teacher preparedness in implementing the ECDE curriculum, to assess the availability of instructional materials in implementing the ECDE curriculum, to establish whether teachers use appropriate teaching methodologies in implementing the ECDE curriculum and finally determine whether teachers are given administrative support to implement the ECDE curriculum. This study was guided by Gross et al theory on curriculum implementation which asserts that for any successful implementation, suitable conditions must be fulfilled such as administrative support, provision of resources, use of relevant methods and in-servicing of teachers. The study used descriptive research design. The study used selected schools in Baringo North district, which had 120 pre-schools, 160 pre-school teachers, 120 head teachers and 5 DrCECE officers. Simple random technique was used to select 36 pre-schools. All the 36 head teachers and 72 pre-school teachers of the selected schools automatically qualified for participation in the study. One DrCECE officer was purposively sampled for inclusion in the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical techniques which included percentages and means. This was done through the aid of computer programmed application called statistical package for social sciences (S.P.S.S).the findings of this study showed that ECDE teachers had necessary qualifications although they were in-serviced before in relation to the present curriculum, teachers did not utilize all the instructional methods, teachers had inadequate resources and teachers did not get enough support from the administration. The results of this findings would be used to improve the quality of education and also solve the existing curriculum implementation challenges. They will also be a source of valuable information for further research. The recommendations of the study were: Teachers to use variety of instructional methods and resources, ECDE centres should have a resource centre to store resources for easy retrieval, M.O.E. to involve ECDE teachers when preparing the curriculum and provide proper guidelines before it's implementation.