Influence of school based factors on preschool children participation in creative activities in Marani sub county ,Kenya

Abstract

Every child is born with creative potential and it is the role of early education and later school years to nurture that creativity and support resourceful problem-solving, imaginative thinking, and transference of skills and knowledge to new experiences. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of school based factors on preschool children participation in creative activities in Marani Sub-County, Kenya. The study aimed at establishing the influence of teachers’ attitude towards creative activities, assessing the influence of availability of teaching and learning resources, and examining the influence of teachers’ professional development on preschool learners’ participation in creative activities in Marani sub-county, Kisii County. The study was based on Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory. The study adopted cross sectional survey design. The study targeted 61 head teachers, 198 preschool teachers and 3040 preschool children from 61 public Early Childhood Development Education centres. The study sampled 36 preschool teachers, 18 head teachers and 845 preschool children. Data were collected through preschool teachers’ questionnaire, head teachers’ interview schedule and preschool learners’ creative activities observation schedule. Pilot testing involved teachers and head teachers from the neighbouring Kitutu Chache Sub County. The content and construct validity of the data collection instruments was ascertained by presenting the instruments for scrutiny by the researcher’s two university supervisors. Reliability of the preschool teachers’ questionnaire was ascertained through test-retest technique. Data were analysed by both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics involved frequencies, means, standard deviations and percentages. The three formulated null hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis. It was found that most of teachers had positive attitude towards creative activities. Most of ECDE centres had inadequate educational resources while most of preschool teachers required professional development in regard to creative activities. The study three independent variables contributed 56.9 % of variance in learners’ participation in creative activities (R2 = 0.569). Availability of teaching and learning resources for creative activities had the most significant influence on the preschool learners’ participation in creative activities (β = 0.523, t = 4.526, p < 0.05), followed by the teachers’ professional development (β = 0.429, t = 3.481, p < 0.05), while teachers’ attitude had the least influence (β = 0.248). The study recommends that head teacher, school management committee and teachers should collaborate and device an in house in service continuous programme that would equip all teachers with essential knowledge and skills on creative activities. Teachers should also be encouraged by the school management to take charge of the quest to seek more knowledge and skills through online materials.