Attitudes of pre-school teachers towards early childhood development and education curriculum in Bomet central sub-County, Bomet County.

Abstract

In Kenya, official Early Childhood Development and Education curriculum was developed by Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development in 2008. The role of a pre- school teacher is very important in curriculum implementation. This lays the foundation for primary school and later life of a child because of the developmental levels that children are undergoing. The study sought to investigate the attitudes of pre-school teachers towards the Early Childhood Development and Education curriculum in Bomet Central Sub County, Bomet County. The specific objectives of the study were: to examine pre-school teachers level of awareness on the Early Childhood Development and Education curriculum, to establish how teacher training influence the attitudes of pre-school teachers towards the Early Childhood Development and Education curriculum, to establish the effect the teaching methods on the attitudes of pre-school teachers towards the Early Childhood Development and Education curriculum. The study was to also determine the effect of the availability of resources and facilities on the attitudes of pre-school teachers towards the Early Childhood Development and Education curriculum and to find out the effect of pre- school teachers’ experience on their attitudes towards the Early Childhood Development and Education curriculum. The study was guided by diffusion theory and ecological theory. Descriptive research design was employed and data was collected using questionnaires and document analysis for pre-school teachers and interviews for education officers and primary school head teachers. Stratified sampling was used to select 30 pre-school centres from which the pre-school teachers and head teachers were selected and purposive sampling was used to select the education officers. The statistical procedures were carried out using the statistical package for social sciences. Qualitative and quantitative techniques were employed in order to analyze the obtained data. Specifically, frequencies, means, percentages were used. The findings of the study showed that it is beneficial to the Ministry of Education to help curriculum developers to structure early childhood development and education teacher training and material development to suit the early childhood development and education curriculum implementation. It is also beneficial to the government so as to motivate teachers hence developing positive attitudes towards the curriculum and to suggest ways for teachers to develop positive attitudes towards the curriculum. The researcher found out that most teachers are trained but their level of training is still low, and that qualification levels and experience do not influence attitudes of pre-school teachers towards the curriculum. Most of the preschool teachers were aware of the current pre-school curriculum and had positive attitudes towards the curriculum. It was noted that resources available were fairly adequate and did not affect teachers’ attitudes towards the curriculum. Most teachers have positive attitudes towards child-centered methods. It was recommended that teachers need to be encouraged to participate actively in pre-school education and to pursue further studies in the field. The government should employ adequate number of pre-school teachers, remunerate them well and provide basic resources so as to reduce the cost of pre-school education this way more parents will afford to send their children to school. Teachers should be in-serviced especially on child-centred pedagogy to keep them updated in curriculum implementation.