Publication: Factors that influence implimentation of life skills education in public secondary schools in Gatanga Sub-County-Murang'a County.
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2015-04
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Mount Kenya University
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Abstract
Life Skills Education was introduced in the Kenyan School Curriculum to foster the development
of all round individuals upon graduating from secondary school. LSE aims at promoting behavior
change by developing the attitudes, knowledge and skills which enable the individual to deal
effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. As shown in the background, the
poor academic performance and the reported many cases of students’ unrest in Murang’a County
seem to suggest that, the objectives of Life Skills education have not been achieved. This study
therefore sought to assess the factors influencing the implementation of life skills education in
secondary schools in Gatanga Sub-County, Murang’a County. The study was guided by the
following objectives: to assess the attitudes of teachers and principals towards implementation of
life skills education in secondary schools, in Gatanga Sub-County; to assess whether the teaching
methods used by teachers influence implementation of life skills education; to establish whether
availability of learning resources influence implementation of the life skills education; and to
determine whether teachers’ characteristics in terms of professional qualification and in-service
training influence implementation of Life skills education in secondary schools in Gatanga Sub-
County. The study was guided by leadership Obstacle Course Model Propounded by Neal Gross
(1971) model which states that implementation of a new educational programme face difficulties
during implementation phase. The study used a descriptive survey design targeting all the
principals, life skill teachers and form three and four students in Gatanga Sub-County. Simple
random sampling was used to select 120 students while purposive sampling was used to select 10
teachers and 5 principals. To achieve the objectives, the study utilized questionnaires for the
teachers, students and the principals to collect data. Data was both qualitative and quantitative.
Quantitative data collected was coded and entered into an SPSS programme for analysis.
Qualitative data was put under themes consistent with the research objectives. The study
established that the negative attitude among teachers and principals undermined implementation
of life skill education in school curriculum; most of the teachers’ utilized LSE lesson to teach other
subjects since the subject was not examinable. It was established that teaching methods also
influenced the implementation of LSE. The findings revealed that role plays, discussions, drama
and use of resource persons were effective on implementation of life skill education in schools.
However, case study, story telling, songs/dances, debates, miming and field visits did not have any
significant influence on implementation. The study further established that shortage of teaching
and learning materials negatively influences realization of life skill education in the schools
curriculum. The study recommends that the government should commit itself and budget for
financial support to schools in terms of provision of teaching and learning materials needed for
programme implementation; school principals should ensure that teachers don’t utilize LSE lesson
to teach other subjects; among other recommendations. The research will provide useful feedback
to both the Ministry of Education and school administrators as they seek ways of improving the
implementation of Life Skills education.
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school of education