An evaluation of the influence of life skills curriculum Implementation on academic performance in public primary Schools in Nzambani Sub-County, Kitui County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of life skills curriculum implementation on academic performance in public primary schools in Nzambani sub-county, Kitui County, Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives: to assess the extent in which in-servicing teachers on implementation of life skills education curriculum has influenced academic performance in public primary schools in Nzambani sub-county, to determine how availability of teaching/learning materials used in the implementation of life skills education curriculum influence academic performance in public primary schools in Nzambani sub-county, to establish the extent to which instructional strategies used by teachers in implementation of life skills education curriculum has influenced academic performance in public primary schools in Nzambani sub-county and to determine how teachers‟ attitude on implementing the life skills education curriculum influences academic performance in public primary schools in Nzambani sub-county in Kitui county. The study employed mixed research approach to collect and analyze data. The research design was convergent research design. The target population for the study was one sub-county Quality and Standards Officer (SCQUASO) and all the public primary schools in Nzambani sub-county. The study used simple random, purposeful and stratified sampling procedures to select the appropriate samples. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used to gather information from the respondents. Quantitative and qualitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics and also thematically. Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS) version 21 was used to analyze quantitative data. The study adopted Lev vygotsky‟s theory of proximal development and Bloom‟s taxonomy of cognitive and affective learning. The findings of this study were that majority of public primary school teachers in Nzambani sub-county are not in-serviced on LSE curriculum implementations and that they were not teaching Life Skills in most of the schools and that affected the academic performance of pupils. Moreover, many schools in the sub-county lacked adequate teaching and learning resources for LSE and that affected motivation of teachers to a great extent leading to poor teaching or no teaching at all. Many teachers had negative attitude towards teaching of LSE because of heavy work load, lack of resources and that it is not examinable. Based on the findings from this study, the researcher recommends that: the ministry of Education should frequently in-service teachers on proper implementation of life skills education so that teachers can understand its importance, primary school head teachers should be encouraged to procure enough teaching and learning resources for life skills education and other subjects in order to boost academic performance. The Ministry of Education should develop strategies to make education less exam oriented in order to ensure equal attention to all subjects.