Analysis of the extent to which school transition policies Address the transition rate in upper primary in Kangundo Sub County, Machakos County, Kenya

Abstract

This study aimed at analysing the extent to which school transition policies address the transition rate in upper primary in Kangundo Sub-County Machakos County, Kenya. The research seeks to answer several research questions formulated to achieve the stated objectives as to identify the Nature and Type of school transition policies in addressing the transition rate in upper primary in Kangundo Sub-County, To examine the Knowledge on school transition policies in addressing the transition rate in upper primary in Kangundo Sub-County, To identify the Frequency of use school transition policies in addressing the transition rate in upper primary in Kangundo Sub- County, To examine adherence to school transition policies in addressing the transition rate in upper primary in Kangundo Sub-County and finally to examine the Challenges of applying school transition policies in addressing the transition rate in upper primary in Kangundo Sub- County. The study was significant to policy makers, teachers, parents and the stakeholders to understand the existing problem and know the causes of low transition from lower primary to Upper primary school. This can help in formulating ways and means of utilizing government policies to solve this problem. This way called for strategies to be taken to reduce the gap of transition. This study used mixed methodology with a triangulation research Design. Triangulation Design is considered the most appropriate design for conducting this study since it is the one that deals with things as they currently are (Creswell, 2003).To collect quantitative and qualitative data, the researcher used questionnaires and interviews. The target population for this study was 18,920 pupils, 700 parents’, 120 teachers and 24 head teachers from the 24 primary schools in Kangundo Sub- County. To form the respondent, teachers’, parents and pupils were selected using random sampling. The sample of 5 schools which represent 20% of the target population of 24 schools was sampled. This was in line with Gay’s (1992) recommendation of at least 10% sample size of educational research. All the teachers of the 5 sample schools were drawn as respondent in the study. Stratified random sampling was employed to select 20 pupils from each school. The head teacher helped the researcher to identify 20 parents 4 per school. In order to address the research objectives and research questions, data was collected by use of questionnaire and interview guide after establishing its validity and reliability. Before the actual research, the questionnaire and interview guide were piloted in schools in neighbouring Yatta Sub-County which had the same setting as the location of the study. Gall, (1996) argues that the main aim of piloting is to check on the clarity of the questionnaire and interview guide items and instructions to eliminate ambiguity in wording. For instrument validity, the researcher applied method of triangulation using different instruments to collect data. Member check was used by sending the transcribed copies to interviewees for them to confirm whether the notes taken accurately reflect their position, while reliability of the instruments Research instruments was tested using tests retest method in order to assess their reliability. Questionnaires were used to gather data from head teachers and teachers; an interview schedule was used to gather data from pupils and parents. The researcher used Dunlop & Fabian ecology transition theory (2002) to ensure it remained within the stated objectives. Quantitative data were analyzed by use of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) passion 21. This included, the mean, mode, the media, the variance and the standard deviation. Inferential statistics was used to analyze Quantitative; this included ANOVA and correlation analyses. To analyze qualitative data, the researcher used Thematic analysis (TA) Pals (1993) argues that Thematic analysis is one of a cluster of methods that focus on identifying patterned meaning across a dataset.