Browsing by Author "Otieno, Mary"

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    Impact of internal efficiency on performance of rural public day secondary schools in KCSE examination in Imenti north and Buuri districts, Meru county, Kenya
    (2014-08-18) Kaai, Arichangel; Nyerere, J.K.A.; Otieno, Mary
    The rapid expansion of education in Kenya under the implementation of FPE (2003) and FSE programmes (2008) has led to unprecedented increase in the number of public day secondary schools in rural areas. This shift in policy emphasizing on quantity has highly compromised standards and quality of education in these schools. Day secondary schools, especially those in rural areas have continued to perform so poorly compared to boarding schools. It was for this reason that the current study sought to analyse the internal efficiency of rural public day secondary schools and find out its impact on performance at KCSE exams. The main objective was to determine internal efficiency as measured by absenteeism, dropouts, repetition, and survival and completion rates for the year 2008 - 2011 and determine their impact on performance at KCSE examination. The researcher used the ex-post facto research design and analysed the variables of drop outs, absenteeism, and repetition and determined their impact on the achievements of students in KCSE exams. The target population was all the 33 public day secondary schools in Imenti North and Buuri districts of Meru County. However, a sample-of14 day secondary schools in the two districts that had presented candidates for KCSE since 2008 was selected. Purposive sampling was used to select a group of seven public day schools from each of the three educational divisions for collection of data. Twenty one head teachers, 21 class teachers and one Assistant Education Officer (ABO) were included in the study. The instruments for data collection were written questionnaires, interview schedules and document analysis. Questionnaires were administered to head teachers and form four class teachers who handled the 2008/2011 cohorts to collect information on internal efficiency and problems related to performance in KCSE examinations. Interview schedules were organized for Head teachers in the sampled schools as well as Education Officers in the divisions. Documents such as class registers, schools bio data, and KCSE results analysis files were selected for more data on internal efficiency and KCSE performance. The data collected was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).The information collected was coded, organized and converted into percentages and averages which enabled the computation of indices of performance in KCSE examinations and indicators of internal efficiency. Correlation co-efficient were computed using chi-square method and Pearson's Product Moment Correlation to find out whether there were significant relationships between internal efficiency and performance in KCSE Examinations. The data was presented using tables and figures. The study found out that rural public day secondary schools in the two districts performed dismally (below average) in the period under study (2008-2011), with the schools registering an average pass rate of 31.1o/o(meangrade D+) in the KCSE examinations. It was established that poor performance was caused by chronic absenteeism, low entry behaviour of students, inadequate study time as much of students time was spent commuting long distances to and fro school, inadequate basic school facilities, poor family backgrounds with unfavourable study environment and inability to pay extra school levies. The study recommends that enough funding be allocated to days secondary schools to enable them acquire adequate teaching and learning resources. That, measures be put in place to reduce internal inefficiencies by properly enforcing the ban on forced students class repetition, extra levies charged by some schools be prohibited. The study revealed a need to introduce low cost boarding arrangements to candidates' classes especially in remote areas, provision of basic school-based health care as well as free sanitary towels to girls to enable them stay in school throughout. There is need also, to find out why the General science and alternative B Mathematics options meant for schools with inadequate resources failed to take off.
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    Integrating Digital Personalised Learning into Early-Grade Classroom Practice: A Teacher–Researcher Design-Based Research Partnership in Kenya
    (MDPI, 2025-06-05) Daltry, Rebecca; Hinks, Jessica; Sun, Chen; Major, Louis; Otieno, Mary; Otieno, Kevin
    Although growing evidence suggests that digital personalised learning (DPL) has the potential to enhance learning outcomes, there is little research about the effective implementation and integration of DPL into the classroom. The aim of this study is to investigate the pedagogical implications of integrating a DPL tool into Kenyan earlygrade classrooms to bridge the gap between theory and practice. This paper reports on systematic, design-based research conducted over three years, featuring five phases, each testing iterations to specific aspects of DPL implementation. The findings demonstrate that the pedagogic dimensions of classroom-integrated DPL are pivotal to its effective uptake and implementation. A key research contribution is the identification of a distinct gap between theoretical and practical conceptualisations of DPL, with teachers focused primarily oncurriculumalignmentandclassroommanagement. Theanalysisalsoidentified Academic Editors: Nicola Pitchford, Aida Layachi and Eleanor Dommett Received: 1 March 2025 Revised: 5 May 2025 Accepted: 25 May 2025 Published: 4 June 2025 Citation: Daltry, R., Hinks, J., Sun, C., Major, L., Otieno, M., & Otieno, K. (2025). Integrating Digital Personalised Learning into Early-Grade Classroom Practice: A Teacher–Researcher Design-Based Research Partnership in Kenya. Education Sciences, 15(6), 698. https:// doi.org/10.3390/educsci15060698 Copyright: © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/). teachers’ central role in the process of personalisation, nuancing existing DPL frameworks by exploring interactions between the digital and classroom environments, as well as highlighting important considerations around access and equality. Recommendations include the co-design of DPL with teachers, drawing on their pedagogical perspectives to enhance integrative approaches.
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    Relationship between physical resources and internal efficiency of public secondary schools in Tana river county, Kenya
    (Kenyatta University, 2014) Obinga, Pascal Onani; Otieno, Mary; Gatimu, K.
    Education creates a platform upon which economic, social and political prosperity of any nation is founded. Investment in education can help bring about economic growth, improve productivity, contribute to social and national development and lead to reduction in social inequality. This study was therefore to affirm the above sentiments by confirming whether physical resources in any way relate to internal efficiency in secondary schools of Tana River County. The study specifically sought to establish the relationship between physical resources and internal efficiency of public secondary schools in Tana River County in terms of number of classrooms, laboratories, textbooks, furniture, toilets/latrines, and electricity among others. The research particularly sought to determine the magnitude of inefficiency in form of dropout, repetition, and completion and aimed at providing possible solutions in relation to physical resources to minimize wastage in secondary schools and establish corrective measures that can minimize dropouts and repetition. The study was guided by the cost benefit analysis theory which aims at achieving optimal output. This theory stresses that the out-put of any investment should be correlated with the in-put in order to assess profitability. The objectives of the study were to assess the adequacy of physical resources in development and enhancing internal efficiency in public secondary schools, to find out the relationship between physical resources and dropout rate, to examine the relationship between physical resources and repetition rate of public secondary schools in Tana river County, to find the relationship between physical resources and completion rate and finally to develop complimentary policies and interventions related to physical resources that can reduce wastage in public secondary schools of Tana river County. The study was conducted using a descriptive survey and correlation research designs and the data was collected using questionnaires, interview guide and documentary analysis from 15 secondary schools which were visited by the researcher; 1 County Director of Education, 3 District Education officers, 15 Principals and 30 teachers were contacted with the Principals being purposively selected and teachers selected randomly from the accessible population. Data generated was analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative data from interview schedule and questionnaires was analyzed thematically based on research objectives. Data from documents analysis and numerical data generated from interview schedules with key informants was analyzed using mean, frequency counts and percentages. Chi-square test was used to establish relationships between physical resources, dropout, repetition, and completion rates. On the first objective, the study found out that school in Tana River County had inadequate physical resources and that those available were in poor condition. On objective two the study found out that there was no relationship between dropout rates and condition of physical resources. On objective three and four the study found out that there was Positive significant relationship between repetition, completion rates and condition of physical resources. The research also revealed that the secondary education system in Tana River County as at the period of study was inefficient with a mean dropout rate of 16.0.On the basis of findings, the study concluded that physical resources are positively correlated with internal efficiency of public secondary schools in Tana river County. It was therefore recommended that for realization of internal efficiency, there was need to equip schools in Tana River County with the necessary physical resources, adequate mechanisms and procedures for ensuring retention and high completion rates in schools. Finally, the researcher suggested that schools should be given funds directly for them to have a chance of prioritizing and acquiring essential physical resources based on their specific needs.
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    Strategies head teachers employ to improve retention in primary schools in lake Victoria islands of Suba district, Kenya
    (Kenyatta University, 2014) Ochieng’, Sylvia Adoyo; Otieno, Mary; Njihia, M.
    The Kenyan government, in collaboration with other education stakeholders, has done a lot to improve retention and access in the Kenyan schools. However, the situation has not improved much in the schools within Lake Victoria islands of Suba district. The present study investigated the strategies head teachers employ to improve retention in primary schools in Lake Victoria islands of Suba district, Kenya. The study adopted descriptive survey research design with an ex-post-facto approach. Kiwa and Kibuogi primary schools were purposively sampled to be studied, being the only island schools in the district. Data was gathered using both interview schedules and questionnaires administered to two (2) head teachers, six (6) teachers, 86 school pupils and 16 primary school dropouts. The sixteen school dropouts were reached through snowball sampling technique. The collected data was presented and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 16.0 program). It was observed that the main factors that lead to pupil drop out of school were unemployed educated family members, death of both or one parent and migration of parents. Other factors included early pregnancies, early marriages, uncaring polygamous fathers and poverty. The study findings revealed that the most effective strategies head teachers employ to improve retention were games and clubs, peer counseling, academic counseling, gender appropriate facilities and normal class size. These were obtained through rating of the responses from pupils, teachers and head teachers. Others were gender balanced staff and feeding programs. The study recommends intensified monitoring and evaluation of these schools for proper data keeping and to ensure provision of quality education. Kenyan Government can also come up with low cost boarding schools to enlarge the catchment area of these schools thus increasing their efficiency. The Ministry of Education should collaborate with Non Governmental Organizations such as UNICEF and USAID to organize school feeding programs in these island schools. There should be an establishment of Adult Education program in the region to improve the level of literacy among the parents. School mapping should also be done to improve on the existing schools and locate new ones or even merge others depending on their catchment areas. These will help improve retention in the primary schools