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.