Influence of Learning Environment Provided by Teacher Son the Implementation of Cede Curriculum in Nero County, Kenya

Abstract

A pre-school teacher plays an important role in the implementation of Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE).Most importantly; the teacher serves to create the right environment for the curriculum implementation. This study sought to establish the extent to which the environment created by ECDE teachers influence the implementation of ECDE curriculum in Mathira East sub-county, Nyeri County, Kenya. The curriculum implementation theory (Gross, 1971) was adopted to guide the study. The descriptive survey design was used throughout the study. The target population was all the 41 ECDE Centres in Mathira East Sub County, 41 head teachers and 62 ECDE teachers. Simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 21 (50%) of public pre-schools and teachers (one from each of the sampled schools) while the 21 head teachers were purposively selected. Data was collected using an observation checklist and questionnaires for head teachers and teachers. Before the actual data collection, the instruments were piloted in 4 ECDE Centres. Validity of the research instruments was ascertained by ensuring that the questionnaire items conformed to the study objectives, while split half technique was used to find out the reliability of the research instruments and a correlation coefficient computed using spearman rank correlation at coefficient of 0.8. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics namely mean, frequencies and percentages. The findings were presented using tables, graphs and pie-charts. The study established that the learning environment provided by teachers was unsuitable for the implementation of the ECDE curriculum. There were inadequate outdoor play materials which greatly hindered the learners from developing holistically. Although the Teachers were found to be greatly concerned with the cleanliness of the classrooms, the condition and appropriateness of furniture was deficient as well as inappropriate for the level of learners. Similarly, outdoor play equipment was grossly inadequate and at sometimes totally compromising curriculum implementation in ECDE Centres. The findings of this study may help head teachers, teachers, the Ministry of Education and other policy makers in understanding the influence of the learning environment on ECDE curriculum implementation.