AN EVALUATION OF THE PRIMARY TEACHER EDUCATION HOME SCIENCE CURRICULUM IN SELECTED COLLEGES IN KENYA

Abstract

Provision of education in any society is known to be an expensive undertaking. It requires immense investments of human and non human resources, hence the need to justify the viability of the returns obtained from such investments. The main objective of Home Science Education is to promote self reliance and improve the quality of life for its students, families and the community. This objective can only be achieved if the curriculum offered is relevant. The purpose of this study was to establish the relevance of the Primary Teacher Education (PTE) Home Science curriculum in meeting the objectives of Home Science Education. The specific objectives were: to establish the effect of teacher trainees’ attitude towards Home Science on achievement of the objectives of Home Science Education, determine the effect of planned content in the Home Science curriculum on achievement of the objectives of Home Science Education, establish the effect of instructional resources used in Home Science lessons on achievement of the objectives of Home Science Education, determine the effect of instructional methods used to teach Home Science on achievement of the objectives of Home Science Education and find out the effect of assessment techniques used to assess teacher trainees on achievement of the objectives of Home Science Education. Five hypotheses were tested. The study was underpinned in the pragmatic philosophical paradigm and adopted the convergent parallel mixed methods strategy embedded in the cross sectional survey research design. The Context, Input, Process and Product model of evaluation grounded the study. The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), nine primary teacher training colleges (PTTCs) and nine primary schools were selected for study. Stratified random sampling was used to select the stratum size from each training college while simple random sampling was used to select the sample of 331 teacher trainees. Tutors, Deans of Curriculum (DOCs) primary school teachers, teacher trainees and the subject specialist at KICD were purposively selected. Semi-structured questionnaires were distributed to tutors, teacher trainees and primary school teachers while DOCs and the subject specialist from KICD were interviewed. An observation guide was used to assess the environmental context of curriculum implementation at the PTTCs. Cronbach Alpha test for Internal Consistency was used to test the reliability of the questionnaire. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. Skewness and Kurtosis tests confirmed normality of the data. Factor analysis was carried out to verify the constructs underlying each scale adopted. Descriptive statistics were carried out to explain and summarize data collected while inferential tests specifically chi square and standard multiple regression analysis were used to establish the effect of the components of the PTE Home Science curriculum on achievement of the objectives of Home Science education at a 95% confidence level. The results showed that teacher trainees’ attitude towards Home Science (β1=-0.069, p=0.002), instructional resources (β2=0.465, p=0.000), instructional methods (β3=0.172, p=0.000) and assessment techniques (β4=0.342, p=0.000) had significant effects on achievement of the objectives of Home Science Education since all probability values were less than 0.05. However, planned curriculum content (β5=0.004, p=0.957) had no significant effect on achievement of the objectives of Home Science Education. In conclusion, the results indicated that teacher trainees’ attitude towards Home Science, instructional resources, instructional methods and assessment techniques used in Home Science Education at PTTCs explained 86% of v the variance in achievement of the objectives of Home Science Education. These findings contributed to literature pertaining Home Science Education in Kenya and recommended that KICD reviews the curriculum to ensure all curriculum components give a positive contribution towards achievement of the objectives of Home Science Education. The review will also ensure that the curriculum is at par with educational transformations in Kenya and the world for a progressive Home Science Education system.