PHD-Department of Educational Foundations

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Browsing PHD-Department of Educational Foundations by Subject "Curriculum Practices"

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    Curriculum Practices as Determinants of Learners School Readiness in Public and Private Preschools in Uasin-Gishu County, Kenya
    (Kenyatta University, 2023) Khamala, Wanjala Justus
    In the course of this research, a comparison was made between the public and private preschools in Uasin-Gishu County with regard to the impact that curriculum practices have on the academic preparedness of their pupils. Two theories, Piaget's theory of child development and Vygotsky's theory of social interaction, formed the foundation for this investigation. The research used descriptive survey approach. Stratified random sampling was used. The following methods were used in the collection of data: the School Readiness Checklist, the Lesson Observation Schedule, the Questionnaire, and the Interview Schedule. Participants in the research included preschoolers in preprimary II, as well as instructors in preprimary II and first-grade. Sub-county Quality Assurance and Standards Officers were also part of the participants. The number of preschools included in the study was as follows: 37 public preschools, 150 private preschools. 366 preschoolers enrolled in public preprimary II, 1396 preschoolers enrolled in private preprimary II, 37 teachers of public preprimary II, 150 teachers of private preprimary II, and 6 sub-county Quality Assurance and Standards Officers. A pilot research was carried out in which participants were 176 preschoolers, 19 preprimary II instructors, and 19 preschools. The validity of the content was determined using the opinion of experts. The test-retest method was used in order to determine the level of reliability. The Cronbach Alpha Method was used to conduct the analysis of the reliability coefficient. For the analysis of the quantitative data, descriptive statistics were used, and for the study of the qualitative data, thematic content analysis was utilized. The results revealed that children who attended public pre-schools were better in psychomotor abilities than in private high-cost pre-schools. Children who attended private preschools with lower fees had the lowest levels of psychomotor skill growth. Learners in high cost preschools had the highest command of the English language. It was discovered that learners in public pre-schools had greater language capabilities compared to those in private low-cost. According to the findings of the research, administrators of low-cost private preschools should provide their facilities with learning materials that should be used by instructors to engage preschoolers in order to encourage the development of the relevant ability. In addition, it was suggested that the officer in charge of early childhood education within the county government makes plans for in-service trainings for the teachers. The last recommendation was that the administrators of preschools should devise means of gathering resources to allow them to provide classrooms with instructional and learning materials that are cognitively suitable for the preschooler