Is the Kenyan education system ready for change? A pilot study

Abstract

Kenya has traditionally adopted a teacher-centred teaching methodology and is now aiming to make improvements by replacing this approach with an education system that is more child focused. The purpose of this study is to examine the Kenyan teaching system. It is an exploratory pilot study, which tries to establish whether governmental directions match the real experience of teachers and students and discusses whether student perceptions of teaching practices match those of the teachers. Personal experience raised a need to answer the research questions and the study does not pretend to be a thorough examination of the topic, rather, given the lack of previous studies, it seeks to establish a basis for future in depth research. The study used a non-experimental approach, based on the perceptions of students and teachers obtained through a structured questionnaire. The data for this study was obtained from: 10 students, 5 males and 5 females, aged between 11 and 13 years in classes 7 and 8 attending a boarding school in Kiambu on the outskirts of Nairobi. Three teachers responsible for teaching at the school attended by the student participants: two male teachers responsible for upper primary students aged 12-13, and a female teacher responsible for lower primary students aged 7-10. The questionnaires used in this study were created for both students and teachers and were designed to elicit their opinions regarding the methods of teaching and learning. They were validated before being provided to the participants.