Mpekethu, Nelly Mwendwa2020-10-052020-10-052019http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/20503A Research Thesis Submitted In Partial Fulfilment for the Award of Degree of Master of Education (Early Childhood Studies) in the School if Education, Kenyatta University, November, 2019The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of parental and school characteristics on pre-primary participation. Children who access holistic, quality Early Childhood Development Education services have a better start in learning, and are better prepared for entering and staying in primary school. However, many children are missing out on the stated benefits of early childhood education since a large percentage of the pre-primary children are not attending the early childhood education programmes. The average number of children enrolled in each pre-primary range between 42 and 52%. This means that many children in Kenya do not have access to pre-primary education while those from poor backgrounds of semi-arid, arid and slum areas are less likely to enroll. Therefore, the purpose of this study sought to examine how specific parental and school characteristics influence participation of children in pre-primary schools in Mlolongo Slums. The study was guided by the following objectives; To establish how parental involvement influences children's participation in pre-primary in Mlolongo Slum; To examine how the economic status of parents influences children's participation in pre-primary in Mlolongo Slum; To establish how parents‟ level of Education influences children's participation in pre-primary in Mlolongo Slum and finally to examine how school characteristics, influence children's participation in pre-primary in Mlolongo Slum. This study adopted the culture of poverty view by Osca Lewis. In addition, the study adopted a descriptive survey design and employed both qualitative and quantitative methods in data collection and analysis. The study employed simple random and purposive sampling to obtain the study sample. The target population in this study was 30 headteachers, 68 pre-primary teachers and 1466 parents in the thirty schools in Mlolongo slum in Athi River Sub-county. From the 30 registered pre-primary schools, simple random sampling was employed to get 9 schools to be included in the sample. The head teachers in the sampled schooled were purposively selected for the study. Simple random sampling was used to select 68 pre-primary teachers and 440 of parents who had children in the 9 pre-primary schools. The study used semi-structured questionnaires to obtain data from teachers and head-teachers, and interview schedules for parents. Piloting was carried out in two pre-primary schools within Mlolongo slum. Any ambiguity in the instruments was corrected after piloting. Qualitative data was analyzed using thematic approach. Narrative passages and tables were used to convey the findings of the study. The findings of the study revealed that 84% of school going age children were not attending school daily and therefore did not participate in school activities. This confirms that an alarming large number of pre-primary age children do not participate effectively in pre-primary education which definitely affects their future educational endeavors. The findings revealed that learners were caned which seemed to make them dislike school. It was evident that many parents had little or no knowledge on the importance of pre-primary school education, therefore they may did not give their children the necessary support to enable them attend pre-primary school effectively. Harsh treatment from teachers contributed a lot to low participation in most schools. Moreover, the study established that most of the preschool teachers who taught in the sampled schools were not adequately trained to teach. These undermined their morale in teaching children; therefore the researcher recommends that the Kenyan Government should formulate clear policies to decrease school dropout especially in informal areas.enThesis