Life Skills Education Curriculum Implementation: Appropriateness of Teaching Methodologies Used By Secondary School Teachers in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya (Published)
Life Skills Education was introduced into school curriculum in 2009 by the Kenya Institute of Education. The examined the role of teachers’ pedagogical competences in the implementation of Life Skills Education in public primary schools in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. Based on the study this paper explores the appropriateness of the teaching methodologies used by the teachers in implementation of life skills curriculum. The study was guided by Overcoming Resistance to Change (ORS) theory. It employed the descriptive survey research design using stratified sampling and purposive technique to recruit participants. To this end, stratified sampling technique was used to select 80 head teachers and 290 teacher representatives. On the other hand, purposive sampling technique was used to select one County Education Officer and 5 QUASO Officers. The research further used questionnaires and interviews to collect data. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the quantitative data while qualitative data was analysed by arranging the responses thematically in line with the objectives of the study. The study established that inadequate homework and exercises given to learners, lack of adequate presentations for evaluations and lack of end-term examinations had hindered the implementation of life skills education curriculum in public primary schools. It is, therefore, recommended that teachers need to adopt appropriate teaching methodologies in their implementation of life skills education. Appropriate methodologies are those that focus on achieving the best learning outcomes among students. Since life skills education is a relatively new subject area, school administrators in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and other government agencies should provide specialized in-service training to help teachers master the best methods for effectively teaching life skills education.
Keywords: Appropriateness, Implementation, Life Skills Education Curriculum, Teaching Methodologies