scholarly journals INFLUENCE OF SCHOOL RESOURCES ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF VISUALLY IMPAIRED LEARNERS IN INTEGRATED PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN BARINGO COUNTY, KENYA

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinah Jepkorir Konga ◽  
Stephen Tomno Cheboi

Despite the provision of school resources by Kenyan government through the Ministry of Education, there has been an outcry from stakeholders owing to dismal performance among Visually Impaired Learners at Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination in Marigat and Kabartonjo Sub-Counties. The purpose of this study was to establish the extent to which school resources influence academic performance of visually impaired learners in integrated primary schools in Baringo County. The study adopted mixed methods methodology where data was collected by use of questionnaires, interview, and observation guides to obtain both quantitative and qualitatively data, respectively. The target population involved501 participants comprising 2 head teachers, 68 regular teachers, 49 VI learners, 380 sighted learners and 2 Educational Assessment Resource Centers (EARC) officers. From this population, a total sample of298 participants was drawn. Simple random sampling technique was used to draw 59 regular teachers, 191 sighted learners and 44 VI learners, while 2 EARC officers and 2 head teachers were purposively sampled. Data was collected using questionnaires for teachers and sighted learners, interview guide for heard teachers and EARC, and observation checklist for Visually Impaired respondents. The tools were piloted to establish their reliability and adequately validated. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics while thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. The study found out that inadequate learning materials was a major cause of low academic performance of VI learners in Marigat and Kabartonjo integrated public primary schools. It further established that there were inadequate learning resources, support services and a learning environment that was not conducive for VI learners. The study recommends that the government provides more learning resources to VI learners and school management to provide barrier free learning environment. This study results would be of great value to teachers, parents, head teachers, schools, stakeholders, and Ministry of Education in enhancing academic performance of the V.I learners in Integrated schools. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0781/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 92-112
Author(s):  
Dorine Adhiambo Obara ◽  
Charles Michael Were

The Government of Kenya made inclusive education a policy requirement in the provision of education to all children. Research has shown that the support given by teachers plays a very important role in curriculum implementation that ensures success in a child`s career. Education Assessment records in Kisumu county indicate that between the year 2012 and 2016, 846 learners who are physically challenged had been assessed and placed in regular schools in Kisumu West, Kisumu Central and Kisumu East sub-counties, out of which 246 had dropped out of school. However, Learners who are physical challenged often drop out of school more as compared to their regular counterparts particularly in Kisumu West Sub-County. The number of learners who are physically challenged enrolled in regular primary schools has been decreasing due to dropouts despite the fact that officers in Kisumu EARC conducted sensitization programs and workshops yearly for teachers and stakeholders in education. This decrease is confirmed at 138 (31.9%), which is higher as compared to the dropout of neighboring sub-counties namely: Kisumu East 31 (21.8%) and Kisumu Central 77(28.4%). Reason for this high dropout has not been established. The purpose of this study was therefore to establish teachers’ level of support in the use of teaching and learning resources of learners who are physically challenged  in regular primary schools in Kisumu West Sub-County and objective of this study therefore was to establish teachers’ level of support in the use of teaching and learning resources of learners who are physically challenged. A conceptual framework was used to show the interaction of dependent and independent variables. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. Target population of the study consisted of 15 head teachers, 30 teachers, 6 EARC coordinators and 90 learners who are physically challenged. Saturated sampling technique was used to select 13 head teachers and 4 EARC coordinators, while purposive sampling was used to select 27 teachers and 81 learners who are physically challenged. Data was collected using questionnaires, interview schedules and observation checklist.  Face and content validity of instruments was established through expert judgment and revision. Reliability of instruments was established through test-retest method on 10% of study population using Pearson’s product correlation. Reliability coefficient for head teachers questionnaire was 0.8, teachers’ questionnaires was 0.9; Learners who are physically challenged questionnaires was 0.7. This was above the accepted value of 0.7. Correlation coefficient analysis was used to establish teachers’ level of support in the use of teaching and learning resources f learners  who are physically challenged. Quantitative data was analyzed using frequency counts, percentages and mean. Qualitative data from interview and observation schedules were collected, organized and categorized into themes and sub-themes, which were reported. Findings of the study indicated that most regular primary schools did not have adequate adapted teaching and learning resources required for learners who are physically challenged. The study recommended that Ministry of Education should ensure adequate supply of adapted teaching and learning resources, Findings of this study would be useful to teachers, EARC coordinators, and Ministry of Education.


2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-24
Author(s):  
Pamela Buhere ◽  
Pamela Ochieng

This study assessed the effectiveness of the use of selected teaching/learning resources in the implementation of Inclusive Education (I.E) for Special Needs Education (SNE) learners in mainstream primary schools. Focusing on the organisational effectiveness of the school management in meeting the needs of Special needs Learners, research questions explored the following: the availability of the selected teaching/learning resources, effectiveness of the use of available teaching /learning for Inclusive Education, challenges in the use of available teaching/learning resources and possible improvements with regard to the implementation of Inclusive Education for Special Needs Learners in mainstream primary schools. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Out of 150 schools that had integrated Special Needs Learners in Bungoma Count, Kenya, 20% were stratified, proportionately and randomly sampled. Purposive sampling was used to obtain the participants; head teachers, regular, and special teachers. The sample comprised of 30 head teachers, 120 regular teachers and 8 special teachers (total 158). Data were collected using questionnaires for 30 head teachers, 120 regular teachers, interview schedules for 8 special teachers and observation schedule. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study findings reveal that the integration of inclusive education has not been accompanied by support structures; educators lack the knowledge in handling the available resources, the available learning resources are inadequate and inappropriate. The study recommends that Ministry of education and school managers can implement inclusion smoothly and effectively through a variety of vehicles including in-service opportunities, professional support groups, mentoring activities, monitoring the degree of collaboration between general and special educators and improving the school setting to accommodate learner diversity. In addition, the government should improve on funding to cater for facilities and modification of structures. Key words: inclusive education, special needs learners, teaching/learning resources.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Asha Bekidusa ◽  
Dr. JohnBosco Kisimbii

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of school feeding program on the retention of learners in public primary schools.Methodology: This study was conducted through a descriptive survey research design. A descriptive survey is a present oriented methodology used to investigate populations by selecting samples to analyze and discover occurrences. The survey focused on 60 out of the 188 head teachers and teachers who are beneficiaries of school milk program in all the six sub counties in Mombasa i.e. Mvita, Kisauni, Likoni, Nyali, Jomvu and Changamwe.This gives 31.9 % of the total number of participants in this project. To obtain the study sample for descriptive studies 10% of the accessible population is enough. Simple random and purposive sampling procedures were used in this research.Results: School feeding program influences retention of learners in public primary schools with a reliability value of 0.8 which is considered minimal acceptable thus rejecting null hypothesis therefore meaning that school feeding program has a significant effect on retention of learners in pubic primary schools.Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: School feeding programmes are often designed to enhance academic performance and cognitive development. Improved nutritional status of school-age children leads to better attention and cognition, and thus, better educational outcome. School feeding can improve attentiveness in class by reducing short-term hunger many children come to school on an empty stomach, yet they remain surrounded by the distracting and disturbing facets of the crisis. The study recommends that the ministry of education should review the School feeding Programme and extend it upper primary classes. They should prioritize supply of food to ensure continuous provision and adequate supply of food for pupils. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (04) ◽  
pp. 1292-1303
Author(s):  
Mary Jebii Chemagosi

The competency based curriculum was introduced in Kenya in 2016 as pilot study for the new curriculum but adapted in 2019 in all pre-schools and lower primary school levels. The curriculum is viewed as a panacea in solving problems of unskilled school leavers with knowledge based to practical based curriculum. The objective of the study was to establish teachers’ preparedness on implementation of competence based curriculum in lower public primary schools in Kilifi and Nandi counties, Kenya. The study used descriptive research design. Data was collected by use of questionnaire, interview schedule and observation schedule. The sample used was 48 head teachers, 48 teachers that were purposively selected. A pilot study was conducted in two schools one from each of the two Counties to pre-test the instruments. The study made use of teachers’ questionnaire, head teachers interview schedule and observation schedule to collect and analyse data from the participants. Validity was ensured by face and content validity while Split-half technique ensured reliability. The quantitative and qualitative data were simultaneously analysed in order to triangulate the findings of the study. The results shows that the overall model is significant (F=6.006, p<0.05) and the coefficient also shows that teacher preparedness contributes significantly on implementation of competency based curriculum (β=0.342, t=7.985, p>0.05).This implies that teacher preparedness significantly influence implementation of competency based curriculum and therefore the hypothesis that there is no significant difference between teachers’ preparedness and implementation of competency based curriculum was rejected. The study recommended that the Ministry of education to ensure teachers are equipped with requisite skills, knowledge and teaching and learning resources to adequately prepare teachers for competency based curriculum.


Author(s):  
Janet S. Casta ◽  
◽  
Grace C. Bangasan ◽  
Dario A. Mando ◽  
◽  
...  

Amidst the various educational reforms implemented in Thai education system is a burning question of the current state of schools in the country. What has been accomplished and what is there to improve? This paper utilizes a qualitative research design in exploring the current state of Thai primary schools in Thailand. Specifically, it employs critical discourse analysis to extract relevant data from pre-service teacher’s coursebooks. Additionally, informal interviews were conducted to supplement and provide further information on the areas of school learning resources, daily routines, school activities, classroom rules, and new functions of teachers aside from teaching. Observations and responses were coded and grouped into themes. The results of the study have shown some progress along learning resources, several changes in daily routines and school activities, a more comprehensive classroom policies that include social and cultural rules, and multi-faceted functions of Thai teachers. Keywords: Pre-service teachers, School resources and daily routines, School activities, Classroom rules, Responsibilities of teachers, Thai primary schools


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-45
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Ssenkasi ◽  
Amina Hassan

The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between parents’ attendance of school meetings and pupils’ academic performance in selected primary schools in Kyotera Town Council. The researchers adopted a cross-sectional survey design where both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used. Census and purposive sampling technique were used to select a sample of 71 teachers, 8 Members of the PTA, and 8 SMC members of the selected schools. The major instruments used in the study were a Likert scale type questionnaire which was filled by teachers as well as an interview guide for head teachers, PTA executives and SMC members. Validity of the research instruments was computed and results were found to be .86 while the reliabilityobtained was .948. The research utilized descriptive statistics to analyze data was which presented in form of tables with frequencies and percentages. Equally, a Pearson Product Moment correlation was used to establish the relationship between variables. From the findings, the correlation between attendance of meetings and academic performance was found to be moderate (r = .433, p< 0.01). Thus, the study recommends that the parents and teachers associations (PTA) should ensure that parents attend school meetings regularly, parents should also be sensitized about their role as guidance and counselling providers to their children and government should set in motion adequate measures and policies to enable the parents provide their children with basic school requirements.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Mohammed Shamsul Hoque ◽  
Rozhan M. Idrus ◽  
Yousuf Mahbubul Islam

Bangladesh ELT situation has been deteriorating for the last four decades. Regional and national projects including ELTIP and EIA proved to be futile in improving this situation, especially, in the Bangladesh rural primary schools with almost 0% properly trained English teachers to implement the current CLT curriculum. This article investigates the on-going poor health-status of CLT at randomly selected schools of northern Bangladesh through delving into the research gaps linked with the ELT practitioners’ own English proficiency, their training needs, motivation and teaching skills; their perception on the instructional module; and perception of the YLs of English in Bangladesh. This enquiry uses a mixed method involving a questionnaire survey, semi-structured interview with ELT teachers, teacher trainers, head-teachers and lesson observation followed by a workshop and informal discussion with 100 participants from all ELT stake-holders to validate the findings of the earlier questionnaire survey. The findings conclude that ineffective and lack of teacher training, non-availability of English subject teacher, unproductive instructional materials, unhelpful learning environment, learners’ socio-economic background, teachers’ poor competence in English and knowledge of CLT methods are responsible for this deterioration. It recommends that implementation of a rigorous teacher training program for CLT to produce English subject teachers for each school, production of a pedagogically user-friendly instructional module for CPD, a culture-oriented teaching-learning environment and a program of regular guidance and supervision by CLT experts would address the gaps prevailing in the ELT (and CLT) situation at the rural primary schools of Bangladesh.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-205
Author(s):  
Cheruse Joel Kimengich ◽  
Viviline Ngeno ◽  
Kaptingei Solomon

The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between headteacher’s commitment and learners’ academic performance in primary schools in Kericho County, Kenya. The study was based on the transformational leadership theory. The research design employed was the convergent parallel mixed methods design. The target population consisted of 801 headteachers (524 public schools and 277 private schools) and 5933 teachers in the primary schools, 31 CSOs, 6 TSC Sub County directors and 6 MOE Sub County directors in Kericho County. Simple random and stratified sampling were used to sample 86 head teachers, Purposive sampling was used in selecting 172 teachers, 10 CSOs, 6 TSC Sub County directors and 6 MOE Sub County directors in Kericho County from Kericho County. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. Data on academic performance was collected using secondary data approach. Piloting was done in 9 primary schools in the neighboring Bomet County. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as pearsons correlation moments and regression. Qualitative data was analyzed using textual analysis. The study established that headteachers’ commitment did not have a statistically significant relationship with learners’ academic performance in primary schools in Kericho County. The regression analysis were as follows. Headteachers' Commitment and learners’ academic performance (Beta = -0.012; p = 0.914).


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-47
Author(s):  
Grames Chirwa ◽  
Francis Lingolwe ◽  
Devika Naidoo

Purpose: This study sought to investigate the challenges which schools are facing in implementing inclusive education in mainstream primary schools in Zomba district. Methodology: Qualitative research method which employed a case study design was used. Thirty-four participants were involved in this study. These were purposely sampled. Data was collected through interviews, documents review and classroom lesson observations to provide methodological triangulation. Data was analyzed using thematic content analysis method inductively. Results: The results of the study indicated that the implementation of inclusive education is facing a number of challenges such as ineffective orientation of head teachers and teachers to inclusive education, unavailability of teaching and learning materials for special needs learners in the mainstream schools, lack of special needs specialist teachers and lack of infrastructure suitable for the diverse special education needs learners.   Unique contribution to theory and practice: The study recommended, that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology officers, that is the District Education Managers and the Primary Education Advisors involved in the implementation of inclusive education need to ensure that there is effective orientation training of the head-teachers teachers and teachers on inclusive education. The Ministry of education, Science and Technology should provide teaching and learning materials for the special education needs learners in the mainstream schools.


Author(s):  
SEVERINA MUKOKINYA MWIRICHIA ◽  
Tarsila Kibaara

Through appropriate activities in teamwork among head teachers and parents, inclusive education is improved. The purpose of the study was to analyse activities in team work among head teachers and parents for the improvement of inclusive education in regular public primary schools, in Meru County, Kenya. The objective of the study was to examine activities in team work among head teachers and parents for the improvement of inclusive education. The significance of the study was to inform education policy makers, who need the study results to evaluate the current policies on inclusion and formulate appropriate ones for promoting head teacher-parent collaboration to improve the status of inclusive education for all learners. The study was guided by Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological systems theory and Peters’ input-process-outcome-context framework of Inclusive Education. Qualitative research approach method was predominantly used. The target population was 101,612. Through purposive sampling, 24 participants were selected. The study instruments used included; questionnaires, interview schedules, focus group discussion guide, observations and documents’ analysis schedules. Qualitative data analysis was done with the help of computer package, ATLAS. ti. The study findings were presented using narratives within themes generated from the collected data. It was found that, though, many head teachers carried out numerous activities, as a team with the parents, challenges contributed to minimal improvement of inclusive education. It was recommended that, the school stakeholders should be well sensitized on the collaboration for the improvement of inclusive education. Key words: Activities, head teacher-parent collaboration, inclusive education, Meru County.  


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