Browsing by Author "Mugo, W. Juliet"

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    Effects of an in-service workshop for teachers on frequency of pre-school children's accidents in selected divisions in Nairobi, Kenya
    (2011-08-04) Mugo, W. Juliet
    A High number of accidents among children in school have been reported and in order to curb them, the City Centre for Early Childhood Education in Nairobi, Kenya was to conduct a refresher or in-service workshop for teachers on child safety-care. It was however not known whether or not, safety-care in-servicing would have a positive impact in influencing teachers' safety-care skills, thus reducing the high number of accidents among children thus the need for the current research. The Quasi Experimental research design using the pre and post test approach with an Experimental and Control group was used. Out of 541 pre-schools in Nairobi Province, random selection of 54 (10%) preschools was done and then they were evenly distributed amongst 3 divisions of Nairobi, ending up with nine schools in both the Experimental and Control group respectively. A similar number of teachers from each pre-school were selected. Half or nine of the teachers in each division were trained while the other half was not. This sample was adequate for an experimental design. Data were collected in five different phases: during piloting, pre in-servicing or Baseline Study phase, and post in-servicing phases in Rounds 1, 2 and 3, using a pre and post quasi experimental research design. The test-retest technique was used to test the instruments and Cronbach Alpha Coefficient used to correlate the test items. Descriptive and Inferential statistics were used to analyse data. Descriptive analysis involved use of frequency tables, means and percentages. For inferential analysis, One-Way ANOVA was used to test the six null hypothesis on the significant differences amongst teachers knowledge, beliefs and practices towards preschool children's accidents as well as actual number of pre-school children's accidents attributed to human factors and those in the pre-school play and learning environments. Results show positive effects of in-service training on teachers' knowledge, beliefs and practices towards accidents, which ultimately translated into reduced number of accidents among children particularly in Round One of the study. However, after the Baseline Study and subsequent in-servicing of teachers, the number of accidents progressively started to increase but at times the positive effect lasted until Round 2 and in some instances up to Round 3. This pointed to the fact that in-servicing if not done periodically may not be very useful. The reason was that, time lapse seemed to interfere with the teachers' ability to remember safety-care techniques imparted during in-servicing. To effectively curb accidents among children, it was therefore recommended that teachers be in-serviced regularly at least once a year if possible so that they retain knowledge gained during in-servicing workshops. The curriculum developers could also separate the subject on Safety from Health, Nutrition and Care so that it could be taught alone more comprehensively in order to give it the weight it deserves. This would ensure that children's safety right is provided adequately.
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    Influence of Learning Environment Provided by Teacher son the Implementation of Cede Curriculum in Nero County, Kenya.
    (International Organization Of Scientific Research (IOSR), 2018-07) Keega, Jane Nyokabi; Mugo, W. Juliet
    A pre-school teacher plays an important role in the implementation of Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE).Most importantly, the teacher serves to create the right environment for the curriculum implementation. This study sought to establish the extent to which the environment created by ECDE teachers influence the implementation of ECDE curriculum in Mathira East sub-county, Nyeri County, Kenya. The curriculum implementation theory (Gross, 1971) was adopted to guide the study. The descriptive survey design was used throughout the study. The target population was all the 41 ECDE Centres in Mathira East Sub County, 41 head teachers and 62 ECDE teachers. Simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 21 (50%) of public pre-schools and teachers (one from each of the sampled schools) whilethe 21 head teachers were purposively selected. Data was collected using an observation checklist and questionnaires for head teachers and teachers. Before the actual data collection, the instruments were piloted in 4 ECDE Centres. Validity of the research instruments was ascertained by ensuring that the questionnaire items conformed to the study objectives, while split halftechnique was used to find out the reliability of the research instruments and a correlation coefficient computed using spearman rank correlation at coefficient of 0.8. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics namely mean, frequencies and percentages. The findingswerepresented using tables, graphs and pie-charts. The study established that the learning environment provided by teachers was unsuitable for the implementation of the ECDE curriculum. There were inadequate outdoor play materials which greatly hindered the learners from developing holistically. Although the Teachers were found to be greatly concerned with the cleanliness of the classrooms,the condition and appropriateness of furniture was deficient as well as inappropriate for the level of learners. Similarly, outdoor play equipment was grossly inadequate and at sometimes totally compromising curriculum implementation in ECDE Centres. The findings of this study may help head teachers, teachers, the Ministry of Education and other policy makers in understanding the influence of the learning environment on ECDE curriculum implementation.
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    Teachers’ Preparednes in Identification of Appropriate Instructional Strategies for Use With Special Needs Pupils in Regular Pre-Schools in Tharaka-Nithi County, Kenya
    (European Journal of Education Studies, 2020) Festus, Doris Gatuura; Mugo, W. Juliet
    Children with special needs are found in all ages and class levels within the school system. What is of concern is their school performance most of which is below average since they have some difficulties that affect their learning. Use of appropriate instructional strategies by special needs education (SNE) teachers, ensure that such children are actively engaged in meaningful and challenging learning activities that meet their educational needs by use of appropriate instructional strategies. The main objective of this research paper is thus to present findings of a study conducted on the preparedness of teachers with regard to competence to identify appropriate instructional strategies for use with special needs pupils in regular pre-schools in Tharaka South Sub county of Tharaka-Nithi County, Kenya in order to enhance their learning. Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences was employed to guide the descriptive research study, using the survey oriented. Data were obtained from 31 (30%) regular pre-schools that were randomly sampled from 102 pre-schools and a similar number of pre-school teachers, purposively sampled. using questionnaires for teachers, as well as observation guide. Analysis of data was done both qualitatively and quantitatively. The findings of the study revealed that extra assignments and exercises were the instructional strategies majorly used by teachers (100%), self-pacing (64%), adapting curriculum (22%), remedial classes (53%), repetition of content (67%), and peer tutoring (95%). Chi square test further revealed a significant relationship (X² (4, N=31) =21.47, p<0.80) between teachers’ preparedness in competence to identify appropriate instructional strategies for use with special needs learners. A blend of these strategies has been advocated for by special education scholars for meeting the educational needs of this category of learners. However, to attain maximum gains for these learners, the study recommended that pre school teachers needed to enroll for higher levels of training in order to have a wide knowledge on the trending changes on instructional strategies in special needs education