Constraints To Implementation Of The School Based Teacher Development (SbTD) Programme In Primary Schools In Siaya District, Kenya

ABSTRACT

School based Teacher Development Programme (SbTD) is an in-service course for primary school teachers that aims at improving the quality of Primary School Education. In Siaya District SbTD was implemented in 2003 and by the time of this study, 486 out of 2785 teachers had undergone through the training in 8 zones under study out of 22 zones in the district in June,2006. Formative assessment of the programme in Siaya in 2006 revealed that out of 230 SbTD trained teachers assessed, only 86(37.4%) were practising intended SbTD skills in the classrooms. The report indicated that SbTD faced constraints such as inadequate teaching/learning resources/time, lack of support by MoE as well as poor attitude of headteachers. There had not been any study carried out to investigate and document the constraints of SbTD implementation. To this end, the researcher investigated the constraints to implementation of SbTD programme in primary schools in Siaya District. The study had four objectives: First, to identify the level of application of SbTD skills, second, to investigate factors constraining applications of skills, third, to find out whether MoE and Head teachers supported SbTD and fourth to devise strategies for SbTD revitalizations. In order to achieve the above outlined objectives, the researcher used descriptive survey design. From a target population of 486 SbTD trained teachers, a sample size of 80 teachers forming 16.5% of target population was selected for study by purposive and stratified sampling of male and female teachers in upper primary classes. Questionnaires were used with 80 teachers,10 headteachers and 8 TAC Tutors to identify perceptions, attitudes and facts, class observation schedule was used to assess skills in 6 live lessons and interview schedule was used with DEO for data collection. This brought the total respondents to 105. Piloting was carried out to pre-test instruments to establish their validity and reliability. Validity was established through discussion with experts including university supervisors while reliability was established by use of test-retest method and Spearman Brown prophesy formula to compute reliability of instruments. Quantitative data were collected according to research objectives, analyzed and presented in percentages, charts and tables. Qualitative data were examined for accuracy, condensed and presented in form of written narratives. The study found that the level of application of SbTD in schools was high. It was accepted by teachers and education officials as a good method of in-servicing teachers to improve teaching and learning. It enhanced learners‟ interest and improved academic performances. However; the programme faced a number of constraints which affected its implementation which included lack of clear policy for promotion of trained SbTD teachers, inadequate teaching/ learning resources/time, lack of support by MoE and heavy workload for teachers as well as poor attitude of headteachers towards the programme. The study recommended that, the programme could be revitalized if the Ministry of Education could put in place a clear policy for promotion of teachers on successful completion of the course, provides suitable and adequate teaching/learning resources, train all stakeholders on attitude change and promote reading culture among teachers. TSC should stabilize staffing of teachers in schools and headteachers should be trained on SbTD skills. Stakeholders should be involved to take active part on the programme implementation.