Curriculum Implementation: Strategies for Improved Learning Outcomes in Primary Schools in Kenya

Abstract

Education in Kenya requires rethinking as the country faces the demands of educational and socio-economictransformation of the 21st century. One of the general objectives of primary education in Kenya states that primaryeducation should provide the learner opportunities to acquire literacy, numeracy, creativity and communication skills.There is evidence from research reports that the objective has not been fully met. A number of learners go throughthe primary school course without acquiring the basic literacy skills which negates the focus of the country todevelop a knowledge based economy. The purpose of this study was to find out the extent to which teachers usedteaching learning resources and learner centred strategies in primary school classrooms. The methodology adoptedwas survey research design. A total of 490 primary school teachers from five counties were purposively sampled anda total of 402 teachers participated; out of the total, 70 were observed teaching and 332 filled in a questionnaire. Outof 35 TAC tutors selected, 27 participated. A total of 80% of the teachers observed teaching used teacher centredteaching learning approaches with little learner involvement. The majority, 61.4% of those who filled in thequestionnaire, indicated that they used teacher centred teaching learning approaches. Only 1(3.7%) was ‘good’ in useof resources for teaching learning in class, the rest were poor or did not use resources. It was found that teaching andlearning approaches employed in the classroom by most teachers was teacher centred and encouraged rote learninghence lacking in active student involvement in the learning process. It was recommended that there should besustained school based teacher professional development activities specifically addressing pedagogy for improvedcurriculum implementation and ultimately improved learning outcomes.