Factors Influencing Production Of Educational Television Programmes By The Kenya Institute Of Curriculum Development

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors influencing production of educational television programmes by the Kenya institute of curriculum development (KICD). For effective and efficient production of educational television programmes, there must be harmonious interaction of production equipment, finances, target audience, educational policies and skilled production personnel as the basic components of the production process. The study sought to ascertain the influence of technological and economic (financial) factors on production of educational television programmes. It also set out to determine how the audience and market factors influenced production of educational television programmes. The other objective was to establish how educational policies influence production of educational television programmes. It also embarked on determining how the availability of skilled production personnel and transmission channel influence production of educational television programmes. It was also essential to find out the future plans for the production and live broadcasting of educational television programmes by KICD. The study used a cross-sectional survey design. Survey designs are concerned with collecting information by interviewing or administering a questionnaire (Orodho, 2006). The data collected are analyzed and reported for the purpose of describing conditions that currently exist. The target population involved the KICD. The study targeted television section workers within the institute who included non-technical personnel and technical personnel (Zettl, 2012). The study used census survey in an effort to acquire data from the directors and curriculum developers. The study also used purposive sampling to select television section workers. Data was collected using questionnaires and interviews as the main instruments. The information obtained was supplemented with analysis of documents. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis techniques. The study found that KICD has modern production equipments which are wellmaintained for the production of educational television programmes. The study further established that audience and educational policies are considered in the production of educational television programmes. It was also established that availability of EDU Channel has improved effective production of educational television programmes where most of the broadcasted programmes are locally produced by KICD. Also, the findings seemed to indicate that there were inadequate skilled production personnel and insufficient funding. The study recommends that KICD need to seek out for „Friends of Education‟ (FOE) who will sponsor various educational television programmes without any attached conditions. In addition the Government of Kenya should set aside television frequencies for the EDU Channel throughout the country so as to lower the cost of production of educational television programmes. The government needs to liberalize production of educational television programmes under the supervision of KICD so as to bring on board private investors to support KICD for faster growth of production of educational television programmes. It is also essential for the national broadcaster, Kenya broadcasting co-operation, to offer some airtime to broadcast some of the educational television programmes from KICD.