Attitude of students’ and teachers’ on the integration of African traditional religion in christian religious education in secondary schools in Homa- Bay County

Abstract

The study investigated the attitude of students and teachers towards integration of African Traditional Religion (ATR) in Christian Religious Education (CRE).The Ministry of Education recommended the teaching of African Traditional Religion (ATR) in recognition of its multi-religious society. The newly independent nation was in search of its own genuine culture. African Traditional Religion content (ATR) in Secondary School is taught at form one and form four levels and examined by the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) in Paper 1 question 6. ATR is mostly covered in form one and covers topics such as African concepts of God, ancestors and spirits and African moral and cultural values. Learning of ATR concepts present learners with numerous challenges making learners to regard it as something of the past and could not help them solve contemporary issues. Life approach is not frequently used in instruction of ATR content because ATR has been overtaken by contemporary issues such that citing a life experience is indeed difficult. The study was guided by the following objectives, to find out the attitude of teachers’ and students’ on the importance of integrating ATR in CRE, to establish teachers’ and students’ attitude on the integration of ATR in CRE, to establish how CRE lessons were conducted in schools and classrooms, to find out problems teachers’ and students face in CRE lessons and to establish teachers’ and students’ suggestions on how the integration of ATR in CRE could be improved. The study was carried out among CRE teachers and forms two students in Homa-bay County. Simple random sampling technique was employed in choosing the sample size. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. Data was analyzed through Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0. The results could be useful to policy makers in the ministry of Education, Curriculum developers at the Kenya institute of education. CRE teachers may also benefit in that the results may help them adjust their instructional strategies.