Relationship between Preschool Teachers’ Training and Their Preparation of Teaching Instruments, the Case of Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Abstract

Developing teaching instruments allows teachers to evaluate their own knowledge in the subject area to be taught and ensure adequate content mastery. Teaching instruments are a reliable testimony showing what a teacher has been doing and the achievements made. Teachers use their teaching instruments as pointers of areas that need further instruction or individualized teaching. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the relationship between preschool teachers’ training and their preparation of teaching instruments (PTI) in Kesses Sub-county, UasinGishu, Kenya. The descriptive survey research design was used to conduct the study. Multi stage sampling technique was used to sample 17 (25%) public pre-schools/head teachers out of 68 of them and 34 (25%) out of 136 pre-school teachers. Data collection involved use of questionnaires and oral interviews. Piloting was done in four pre-schools using eight teachers. Data was analyzed using both descriptive statistics as well as Chi-square two tailed test. Chisquare two tailed test was used to establish the significant influence of teachers’ training on preparation of teaching instruments. The Chi-test found a significant relationship between teachers’ training and preparation of teaching instruments. The study recommended that, despite most of the teachers being trained and able to prepare teaching instruments, the recently recruited curriculum support officers (CSOs) in Uasin Gishu County should establish a preschool teacher professional support system by identifying and developing partnerships between preschool teachers and head teachers. This system should assist newly recruited teachers to plan instructions using appropriate teaching instruments. The CSOs could also establish a digital teacher support system (DTSS) using mobile phones.