Life skills education implementation and perceptions on its effect on discipline in secondary schools in Kangema District, Murang'a County, Kenya
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Date
2015-12
Authors
Mugo, Titus K.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Life Skills Education is aimed at equipping the learners with psychosocial competencies
that would help them make informed decisions, solve problems, think creatively and
critically, communicate effectively and build healthy relationships. However, the rising
cases of indiscipline in schools in Kangema district characterized by many students'
unrests seem to suggest that, the objectives of Life Skills education have not been
achieved. This study therefore sought to investigate Life Skills Education and perceptions
on its effect on discipline in Kangema district, Murang'a County. The study was guided
by the following objectives: To establish how life skills education is taught in secondary
schools, to determine teachers' competencies in LSE, to find out the availability and
adequacy of LSE teaching and learning resources in schools, To determine perceptions
on the effect of life skills education implementation on students' discipline and to
determine possible teaching strategies which can be put in place to enhance life skills
education. The study used a descriptive survey design targeting the teachers, form I-IV
students and the principals in Kangema District. Stratified random sampling was used to
select the students into subgroups of form (I-IV) and then systematic sampling used to
sample 101 students from each subgroup. Purposive sampling was used to select teachers
who teach LSE and eliminated those who didn't teach LSE, then, Simple random
sampling was used to select 51 teachers from all the teachers who teach LSE in the
selected schools. All the 11 principals in the 11 selected schools were used in this study.
Two different questionnaires designed for the teachers and students were used in the
study. An interview schedule for the principals was used to collect data for the study.
Quantitative data from questionnaires were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS) while qualitative data from interviews were analyzed thematically. The
study established that LSE is taught in most of the secondary schools in Kangema but
teachers were never trained on both LSE content and methodology.LSE teaching and
learning materials were both unavailable and inadequate, majority of teachers and
principals perceived that LSE has effects on students' discipline and teachers commonly
used traditional methods to teach LSE instead of the recommended participatory
methods. The study, therefore, recommended that Higher education institutions should
fully incorporate Life Skills Education as part of teachers' education; secondary schools
administrations should allocate more monetary resources to procure LSE teaching and
learning resources. Curriculum supervision should be intensified to ensure effective LSE
implementation and teachers involved in LSE teaching should be allocated less workload
to enable them prepare and implement LSE curriculum effectively.
Description
A research project submitted to the school of education management, policy and curriculum studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Degree of Master in Education of Kenyatta University. December, 2015