Abstract:
Appropriate Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) programmes as well as quality outcomes are directly correlated with better educated and trained teachers. In Kenya, the management of ECDE programe has been devolved to the 47 counties across the country since 2013. However, limited information is available with regard to teachers’ professional qualifications and staffing levels in public preschools. The purpose of this study therefore, was to investigate the status of quality of ECDE teaching and learning in public pre-schools in four Counties in Kenya. The study was guided by Hawe’s and Stephen’s (1990) Theory of Goals, Context and Agency which stipulates that quality is interpreted under the lenses of efficiency in meeting set goals; relevance to human and environmental needs and conditions; and pursuit of excellence and human betterment. Census method was used to select 12 officials from the four counties and 27 sub county administrators. Document analysis was used for collecting data on teachers’ professional qualifications and teacher to learner ratios. Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. Although the findings revealed that the counties did not have properly kept ECDE records, the concerned teachers in the public preschools had good level of training. The study also revealed that the quality of education at this level was compromised by high teacher to learner ratio. It was recommended that the counties employ more teachers so as to improve the teacher to learner ratio to desired international standards. Additionally, the study recommends that further research be done on strategies to improve record keeping with regard to ECDE activities in public pre-schools.
