Teachers of Christian Religious Education in the teaching and evaluation of the affective Domain Achievements in secondary schools in Emuhaya Sub-County, Vihiga County

Abstract

The present society is faced with challenges such as corruption, substance abuse, ethnicity and also instances of students’ unrest characterized by violence, destruction of property, and even death. All these vices in the society raise doubts to the effectiveness of schools in imparting values and attitudes. Teachers of Christian Religious Education (C.R.E) are vested with the responsibility of imparting values and attitudes during teaching. The affective domain is a significant learning sphere in teaching and learning because it encourages the promotion of these attributes. When values and attitudes are imparted there is need to carry out an assessment so as to determine the various levels of achievement by learners. The purpose of this study was to examine C.R.E teachers in the teaching and evaluation of affective domain achievements in Emuhaya Sub-county. The specific objectives of the study were to: Investigate teacher preparation for teaching of the affective domain in C.R.E; Explore the methods used by C.R.E teachers in teaching the affective domain; Establish the methods used by C.R.E teachers in evaluating learner achievements in the affective domain; To identify challenges encountered by C.R.E teachers in the teaching and evaluation of the affective domain achievements. The theoretical framework upon which this study was based is the Needs assessment theory which stipulates that in a system all needs must be addressed so that the system comes up with a well refined end product. At school level, the end product is the learner who should possess adequate knowledge, skills and attitudes from all learning domains which includes the affective domain. The study adopted a descriptive survey design, using both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis. The target population for the study was all the C.R.E teachers in public secondary schools in Emuhaya Sub-county. The study involved all the thirty public secondary schools within Emuhaya Sub-county and based its sample size of 70 respondents from a target population of 87 C.R.E teachers. A sample size determined using Krejcie &Morgans’ table. Stratified, purposive and simple random techniques were systematically employed so as to give all teachers equal chances of being involved in the study. Data collection instruments included the questionnaire, document analysis, interview and the observation schedules. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Quantitative data was summarized into tables for easy interpretation, while qualitative data was presented thematically. The study found out that 57.2% of C.R.E teachers prepare for the teaching of the affective domain. The study identified methods of enhancing the affective domain as self exploratory exercise, project method, thought sheet and value clarifying response. The study established methods of evaluation of affective domain achievements as observation, cumulative records, analysis of end term tests and analysis of anecdotal records. The challenges encountered by teachers during teaching and evaluation of affective domain achievements included the subjective nature of attributes taught & evaluated in this domain and that objectives in this domain take too long to be realized among others. The study recommended that pre-service training for C.R.E teachers should have compulsory courses on methodological aspects on teaching and evaluation of affective domain achievements; Teachers of C.R.E should renew their efforts in teaching and evaluation of affective domain achievements since it’s by doing so that they will be able to facilitate morals in learners hence producing educated individuals. The Ministry of education should provide adequate in-service training on aspects of teaching and evaluation of affective domain achievements, and Quality Assurance and Standards Officers should intensify visits in schools so as to offer guidance on various aspects on teaching and evaluation of affective domain achievements.