Implementation of co-curricular activities in secondary schools: a case of Kikuyu Division, Kiambu County, Kenya
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Date
2013-02-18
Authors
Chege, Elizabeth Njeri
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Abstract
Co-curricular activities (CCA) are part of an education system and they prepare and mould
the students' to be holistic. However, more emphasis has generally been given to the formal
curriculum aspect resulting in a student inability to link the excellence in performance
academically to the active participation in co-curriculum. The main problem is when this
dimension of the curriculum is not implemented effectively or when no relationship is found
between the co-curricular activities and enhancement of student's competencies. The
purpose of this study was to assess the implementation of co-curricular activities in secondary
schools in Kikuyu Division, Kiambu County. Implementation was based on four variables
which are planning, resource allocation, actual/physical implementation and monitoring of
the activities. The co-curricular activities included athletics; games and clubs and societies
with a wider inclusion of subject based clubs and community work The main objectives of
this study were to show the student profile in terms of gender, form or class participation in
CCA, the time allocated for CCA in the school routine, resource allocation for C.C.A,
monitoring tools for CCA activities, recognition of CCA participants and the challenges
experienced in iniplementation of CCA within the school. A survey research design was
carried out in secondary schools in Kikuyu Division on school based CCA implementation.
Questionnaires schedule and school records were used to collect data. The research site of
the study was Kikuyu Division of Kiambu County. The rationale for the choice of the site
was due to its proximity to Nairobi City Centre, about 20 km since information can be
accessed from the Ministry of Education Headquarters, Jogoo House and also because the
researcher needed to be in constant consultation with the research supervisions at Kenyatta
University which is about 20 km from Nairobi City Center on Thika Road. The target
population of the study was drawn from 26 public secondary schools in the whole of Kikuyu
Division, Kiambu County; where the researcher used stratified sampling technique to ensure
schools from the three strata were represented. The strata were eighteen (18) mixed day
schools, five (5) girls boarding schools and four (4) boys boarding schools. Nine (9) were
then randomly sampled, i.e. 5 mixed day school, 2 girls boarding then 2 boys boarding
schools. During the piloting of the instruments, researcher designed questionnaires schedules
for principalslheadteacher, teachers and students then administered them in Limuru Division
of Kiambu County among public secondary schools. By choosing this division the researcher
avoided use of same respondents. The pilot test was used to test reliability. Descriptive and
inferential statistics were used in the analysis of the collected data. The calculations were
done using the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) computer programme. One
major finding of this study is that there is evidence that a variety of co-curricular activities are
being carried out in the schools and they are implementation are influenced by several
factors. These factors are resource allocation, pre-planning of the activities, training of
student leaders and teacher patrons of CCA, monitoring and evaluation of the CCA.
Teachers and students perception regarding the value of CCA also affected CCA effective
implementation. Recommendations were made to policy makers, school administrators,
teachers' parents and students on the need for effective implementation of CCA which
improves academic performance. This study may help in decision making on co-curricular
programmes for students so as to improve academic performance, character modeling and at
the same time enhance co-curricular participation. It may also assist in setting up programmes
for teacher patrons to help mentor students in the CCAs.
Description
Department of Educational Management Policy & Curriculum Studies, 122p. The LB 1027.25 .C48 2012
Keywords
Education --activity programs --Kiambu, Kenya, Education --Experimental methods --Kiambu, Kenya