EFFICACY OF THE SELECTED PROCESSES IN CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION IN PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN KENYA

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of selected Processes in Curriculum Implementation of Pre-Primary Education. The study objectives were;i)To establish the relationship between Professional Documents and learners’ readiness for Primary School.ii)To find out the effect of teaching methods in promoting learners’ readiness for Primary School.iii)To examine the effect of learning resources in promoting learners’ readiness for Primary School iv)To appraise the effect of assessment strategies in Promoting learners’ readiness for Primary School. The study was guided by curriculum implementation theory by Gross and Ecological Systems Theory of Bronfenbrenner.The study adopted a descriptive survey design and Mixed (Embedded) research paradigm. The study respondents were CSOs’, Section Heads, Centres in Charge and ECDE Teachers. Instruments for data collection were Questionnaires, Interview Schedule and FGDs. A pilot study was conducted from the neighbouring Sabatia Sub-County to ascertain the strength of the reliability and validity of the instruments.A reliability co efficient of 0.793 was attained using Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient. Validity was ensured based on Face, co1tent, consequential, construct, Triangulation and criterion referenced validity. The study enhanced ethical consideration through anonymity, informed consent, non-malfeasance, beneficence and plagiarism. The study population comprised 6CSO’s, 116Section Heads, 130ECDE centres-in-charge and 200 ECDE teachers. A sample size of 212 respondents was calculated by Yamane’s formula. Cluster, stratified and simple random sampling was done to apportion individual members of the groups. Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis and presented in narrative form. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages and findings presented in pie charts, graphs and tables. Inferential statistics was done using Pearson correlation and Ordinal Logical Regression. Tests for normality by both Shapiro-Wilk and Kolmogorov-Sminorv tests was done on the data. Objective one used Pearson correlation test while the rest deployed logistic regression analysis at 5% significance level. The null hypothesis for objective one was rejected and the study concludes that there is statistically significant relationship between preparation and utilization of professional documents and learners’ readiness for primary school. For objective two, the study rejected the null hypotheses that utilization of selected pedagogical strategies has no statistical significant effect on learners’ readiness for primary school. For objective three the study rejected the null hypotheses that utilization of selected learning resources has no statistically significant effect on ECDE learners’ readiness for primary education. For objective four, the study also rejected the null hypotheses that utilization of selected assessment strategies has no statistically significant effect on learners’ readiness for primary education. The study concludes that implementation of curriculum in pre-primary is not effective hence recommends for in-service of pre-primary teachers on effective utilization of professional documents, teaching methods, learning resources and assessment strategies. These findings may be used by the County Government in designing,planning,funding to deliver quality ECD services.The National Government may use them in policy formulation and regulation to ensure effective supervision and management of centers to realize learners’ readiness for school.