Abstract:
SMASSE is an acronym which stands for Strengthening of Mathematics and Sciences in
Secondary Education a government intervention on capacity development in Ke~ya. It .
was launched in 1998 as a pilot project and expanded to cover all the districts in Kenya in 2003. The study was used to investigate the perceptions of the impact of SMASSE
project on KCSE performance in Chemistry in secondary schools. It was also used to
investigate the perceptions of the influence of SMASSE project activities on learning of
Chemistry. The study was carried out in Bomet district in Rift Valley Province of Kenya.
A descriptive survey design was used in which data was collected using questionnaire
materials given to the sampled respondents in the district. A sample size of fifty
respondents out of one hundred and twenty one was randomly selected from principals
and Chemistry teachers of public secondary schools in the district. The schools were
stratified into boys', girls' and mixed secondary schools then taking a purposive random
sampling in each subgroup. Data collected was both quantitative and qualitative and
analyzed using Pearson Product Moment coefficient of Correlation, r, which is an SPSS.
The results from the findings showed that there was no significant relationship between
the performance during and after SMASSE training. Furthermore, there was a positive
significant relationship between impact of SMASSE training on the teacher and the
impact on students at 5% level of significance. The SMASSE training has impacted on
the teacher through training and the student through improved classroom activities but the impact on the students through improving their performance was not significant during the study. The government through the ministry of education should continue carrying out SMASSE INSET to improve the teachers' instructional skills and capacity
development.
