https://kerd.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/82 2026-08-25T16:31:57Z https://kerd.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/1498 Accountability in Education in Kenya: Challenges and Strategies Gakunga, Daniel K.; Nguyo, Reuben Accountability in education is a broad concept that could be addressed in many ways, such as using political processes to assure democratic accountability, introducing market-based reforms to increase accountability to parents and children, or developing peer-based accountability systems to increase the professional accountability of teachers. There are various models and forms of accountability in education. School accountability is the process of evaluating school performance on the basis of student performance measures which is increasingly prevalent around the world. Kenya has not been left behind. This paper seeks to explore the challenges and strategies of accountability in education in Kenya. The paper is based on review of literature and document review. The documents were obtained from public records (Ministry of Education, in Kenya), personal documents and physical evidence. The analytical techniques were document analysis and content analysis. The literature review, document and analytical analysis established that the Government of Kenya was struggling with many challenges related to accountability in education. These challenges include; enrolment policy, education for individuals with disabilities, staff and performance, quality assurance and standards, management and governance. The study recommends strategies to enhance accountability to include devising performance indicators through the National Education Sector Plan (NESP). There should be concerted efforts among all the education stakeholders to ensure there is accountability in education. An article published in The WCCES Chronicle 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z https://kerd.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/1238 Implementation of Southern African Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality Recommended Strategies in Literacy and Numeracy in Four Selected Districts in Kenya Katam, Elizabeth Jerop Education is recognized as one of the drivers of economic and social development. However, millions of children who attend school do not acquire essential knowledge and skills. Studies done on strategies to improve pupils‟ literacy and numeracy skills vary due to diverse country conditions and differences in implementation. The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers‟ views about in-service training and utilization of instructional materials in improving pupils‟ literacy and numeracy skills. The study was carried out in four selected districts in Kenya: Kitui, Gatanga, Transmara and Migori. The population of the study was 574 public primary schools (254 in Kitui, 167 in Transmara, 102 in Migori and 51 in Gatanga), 574 headteachers and 574 teachers of class three. A sample of 68 primary schools was sampled using both stratified proportionate sampling and random sampling techniques. All 68 headteachers of the sampled schools became automatic respondents. Class three teachers in the 68 schools were sampled. In cases where there was more than one class three, simple random sampling technique was used to sample one class three teacher. Three instruments namely: Teachers‟ questionnaire, headteachers‟ interview guide and classroom observation guide were utilized. Validity of the instruments was ensured through content validity while the reliability was determined by using internal consistency method. All instruments were piloted before data collection. The qualitative data was analyzed thematically while the quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages. The findings are presented in tables. It was found that teacher‟s attended in-service training through workshops. The useful areas covered in the workshops included literacy and numeracy content, lesson preparation, teaching methods, improvisation of teaching resources and handling pupils‟ diversity. The sampled schools had purchased instructional materials and teachers utilized them mainly as reference material, used for guiding pupils to copy literacy and numeracy exercises in their exercise books, writing work on the blackboard for pupils to do or copy, given to pupils to read and do simple arithmetic on their own, observing examples, given to pupils to do homework; and finally used as learning resources. Among the main challenges teachers faced in improving lower primary pupils‟ literacy and numeracy skills were high pupil enrolment, inadequate instructional materials, lack of funds, absenteeism, presence of over-age pupils, long distance covered to school, non repetition of pupils, lack of feeding programme in schools and diversity of pupils. To improve lower primary pupils‟ literacy and numeracy skills, the study recommends provision of adequate instructional materials. The government, through Ministry of Education should organize regular teachers‟ in-service training. The study will be important to pupils‟ literacy and numeracy skills firm foundation developed. Teachers can apply SACMEQ strategy in various curriculum areas because literacy and numeracy skills are integral in all learning areas and across all years of education level. Finally, community outcry over low pupils‟ achievement will cease when pupils literacy and numeracy skills improve. A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the degree of doctor of philosophy in education (curriculum studies), of Kenyatta University 2016-05-01T00:00:00Z https://kerd.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/1008 Differentials in Student Academic Achievement: A Hierarchical Linear Modelling of Primary School Effects in Mumias and Kuria East Sub-Counties, Kenya Epari, Charles Ejakait Spurred by the Coleman Report of 1966 on the Equality of Educational Opportunity in the US, the past five decades have seen rapid expansion in academic achievement surveys albeit fraught with mixed findings and interpretation. Utilizing the education production function models, the surveys sought to test whether school or teacher-level variables explained more academic achievement variance than did student-level variables. Within this framework, this study examined the effect of primary school level variables on student academic achievement in Mumias and Kuria East Sub Counties. Despite heavy resource allocation to public primary schools under the Free Primary Education policy in terms of financial, human, material and capital inputs, student academic achievement in these schools has remained low compared with that in private primary schools. The study examined the effect of teacher-level variables, non-teacher school-level resource input variables and school-level aggregate variables on student academic achievement in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination. Mumias and Kuria East Sub-Counties were randomly sampled from the top and bottom five percent Sub-Counties on a merit list of KCPE results for 2010-2012 respectively. Using the ex-post-facto research design, stratified random sampling using probability proportion to size was used to draw 1824 Class 8 students in 61 primary schools from target populations of 6120 and 161 respectively. Sixty-one head teachers and 305 teachers of Class 8 were purposively drawn from the sampled schools. Supervisors validated the instruments and the inter-item reliability correlation coefficient was 0.812, 0.793 and 0.778 for the school, teacher, and student questionnaires respectively after piloting in four schools, one public and one private in each of the Sub-Counties. Using Hierarchical Linear Modelling, teacher-level variables explained 1.05% of the 49.29% variance explained in Objective 1. A Likelihood Ratio (LR) test for this value ( 2 = 24, < .001) suggested sufficient evidence to reject the null hypothesis that the teacher-level variables in the final Model had no statistically significant effect on student academic achievement. Under Objective 2, the non-teacher school-level resource inputs explained 2.71% of the 58.07% variance explained. A LR test for this value ( 2 = 42, < .001) suggested sufficient evidence to reject the null hypothesis that these inputs had no statistically significant effect on student academic achievement in the KCPE examination at α .05. Under Objective 3, other school-level variables explained 49.31% of the 63.67% variance explained. A LR test for this value ( 2 = 122, < .001) suggested that there was sufficient evidence to reject the null hypothesis that these variables had no statistically significant effect on students’ KCPE scores. The conclusion is that school-level variables accounted for much of the variation in student academic achievement than did student or teacher. It is recommended that strong mentorship programmes for female students be initiated to improve their academic achievement. Day schools should maximally utilize their time while students should be allowed to borrow school and library books and other learning materials for private study during their free time away from school. An Abstract 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z https://kerd.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/977 A Study of the Effective Implementation of Ministry of Education Policy Guidelines for Free Primary Education in Lugari District, Western Province, Kenya Waudo, Dayana Josephine From independence in 1963 to 1987, the Government subsidized primary education but in 1988 cost sharing was introduced. In 2003 the government reintroduced the policy of funding most of the cost for primary education to fulfill International Agreements such as the World Conference in Jomtein (1990) which emphasized development of education in countries. From 2003 Free Primary Education has been implemented through specific MoE policy guidelines. These include unconditional admission of learners into public primary schools; government funding of the teaching-learning resources; empowering more of head teachers as AIE holders; enhanced in-service courses for teachers to handle all learners; empowering more of SMCs and SIMSCs on management of schools resources and monitoring of school activities by QASOs and auditors. This study therefore set out to evaluate the effective utilization of MoE guidelines in FPE implementation in Lugari District between 2003 and 2006. The literature review focused on research findings on the effective management of the human, financial, physical facilities, teaching-Ieaming resources and time and then linked the findings to gaps in the strategies of FPE implementation in Lugari District. The study used random sampling to obtain 34 (30 %) of the 114 public primary schools in Lugari District and chairpersons of SMCs of the schools respectively. In addition, purposive sampling was used to sample the 284 (18.8%) teachers including the head teachers from a total population of 1508 and the 14 (100%) educational supervisory staff in Lugari District. All the respondents in the study were 332. The study used questionnaires, interview schedules and a document checklist to collect data. The data was analyzed using quantitative and qualitati ve data analysis methods. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 10.0 computer programme was also used. The analyzed data was presented in frequency tables, percentages, pie charts, bar graphs, line graphs and correlation tables. Some of the major findings of the study were that the teachers used Alternative Teaching Approaches such as Multi-Shift to address understaffing and inadequate physical facilities; the involvement of SMC and SIMSC in resource management in the schools had led to effective utilization of the available resources; promotion of discipline in the schools was mostly done through guidance and counseling; the course content of the in-service courses organized for head teachers on effective finance management were inadequate and the monitoring of school activities by QASOs and auditors was still inadequate. From the research findings, the researcher drew a conclusion that most of the strategies for the implementation of FPE in Lugari District were effectively articulated save for the enhancement of head teachers as AIE holders and the monitoring of school activities by most officials. Some of the recommendations made were that in-service courses on resource management should be of longer duration; parents should be encouraged to support government efforts in the FPE programme and the monitoring of school activities by QASOs and auditors should be enhanced. A Thesis Submitted to the School Of Education in Fulfillment of the Requirement for Doctor of Philosophy in Education Kenyatta University 2009 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z