| dc.description.abstract | As Kenya puts into action the implementation of competency-based curriculum
(CBC), the readiness of the environment in which the curriculum is being executed
remains questionable. The key stake holders towards the implementation of CBC in
the country who include students, teachers, headteachers, Curriculum Support
Officers, parents and guardians are faced with quite a number of challenges. Such
obstacles are limitations related to teaching and learning resources, infrastructure,
large classes, and limited number of teachers, minimal ICT integration and
insufficient capitation to schools by the government. The study investigated the
preparedness public primary schools towards successful implementation of the
competency-based curriculum. The specific objectives of the study were to examine
the pedagogical preparedness among teachers on the implementation of Competency
Based Curriculum in public primary schools , to establish availability and suitability
of teaching and learning resources in public primary schools for successful CBC
implementation, to evaluate ICT integration readiness in public primary schools
towards successful implementation of CBC and finally to examine the challenges
that teachers and headteachers face in the implementation of competency based
curriculum in primary schools. The study was based on Howard Gardner's concept of
multiple intelligences and Lev Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. An exploratory
research design that targeted all the 192 headteachers and 1925 teachers within the
public primary schools of Mwala Sub-County was used. To get the sample size for
the study, Fisher‟s formulae: n=N/ {1+N (e²)} for calculating sample size was put
into action at 0.05 margin of error. Questionnaires (with open and closed ended
questions) were used as data collection tools. Quantitative data was analyzed using
descriptive statistics such as percentages, frequency counts and means while
qualitative data was thematically analyzed according to the research objectives. The
results were presented in prose form and by using frequency table. The research
findings established that pedagogical preparedness among teachers was quite
minimal as the cumulative mean under this variable was 2.45. The availability and
suitability of teaching and learning resources illustrated that there was a deficit and
those available were generally not suitable for successful CBC implementation. The
study too disclosed that public primary schools were not fully prepared to support
ICT integration (Cum. Mean=2.30). Furthermore, study results showed that teachers
and headteachers who are the key implementers of CBC face numerous challenges as
they strive to implement CBC. The study concluded that minimal pedagogical
preparedness among teachers, deficits in teaching and learning resources, unprepared
schools‟ conditions for ICT integration are critical factors affecting successful
implementation of CBC among public primary schools within Mwala Sub-County.
The study recommended organizing and conducting of more CBC trainings for
primary school teachers as supported by 70.03% of the respondents. There is need to
provide more teaching and learning resources to Kenyan public primary schools
following perception by 82.87% of the respondents. In addition, the study
recommended ICT training for public primary school teachers as 51.39% of the
respondents disclosed that they had no ICT knowledge. Finally, the study
recommended recruitment of more teachers in the primary schools by the Ministry of
Education in the Kenyan public primary schools in order to ease the teachers‟
teaching workload with 54.66% of respondents backing it up. | en_US |
