KENYA INSTITUTE OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

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KENYA INSTITUTE OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

REPORT ON NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR ECDE SCHOOL CURRICULUM REFORM IN

KENYA

KENYA INSTITUTE OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT P.O BOX 30231- 00100 NAIROBI TEL: 3749900-9 Email info@kicd.ac.ke kicd.ac.ke

2016

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FOREWORD

Kenya effected the last curriculum reform in 1985, when there was a shift from the 7-4-2-3 System to the 8-4-4 system. The purpose of this move was to provide a curriculum that would help learners to gain practical skills and competences to enable them become selfreliant. The curriculum was reformed from one that geared the learners towards white collar jobs, to a more practical oriented curriculum that would enable gradaunts of the system to generate jobs. An evaluation of the curriculum in 1995 revealed that the curriculum had a heavy workload across the various subjects in primary and secondary education. Based on the Report on "Total Integration of Quality Education and training" of 1999, a needs assessment was undertaken. The national curriculum for primary and secondary education was then reviewed in 2002, followed by Teacher Education Curriculum in 2004.

Over the years, education in Kenya has been guided by the prevailing national goals identified through the establishment of various Education Commissions and situational analyses of the educational needs of the country. Currently, the sector seeks to align education to the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and the Kenya Vision 2030 guided by national education policies and international agreements. These include the Sessional paper No 2 of 2015, National Education Sector Plan (NESP), Education for All (EFA) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This Needs Assessment was carried out in order to ascertain the fundamental expectations of Kenyans as the basis for designing relevant and quality curricula for the levels of basic and tertiary education in tandem with the aspirations of the nation.

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Specifically this needs assessment study provides the basis on which the Ministry of Education Science and Technology and policymakers will make critical decisions to set the various learning areas as well as the relevant pathways. This will drive the education sector reforms that should lead the country to achieving the tenets of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and the Kenya Vision 2030. ERASTUS P. KINYANJUI CHAIRMAN KIC COUNCIL

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT On behalf of the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, l wish to acknowledge the generous contributions of many people in making possible this Needs Assessment for Curriculum reform. Special mention goes to the Ministry of Education Science and Technology fo their direction and support in facilitating access to the schools, Development parterners who were instrumental in providing the necessary technical and financial support for this undertaking.

We gratefully acknowledge the teams of experts from universities and other research Institutions who contributed immensely to shaping the process of this Needs Assessment since its inception and the many stateholders who attended the many meetings towards shaping and focusing the direction of this activity. We also extend our sincere gratitudes to the respondents who were willing to collaborate, give and arrange for access to information needed for this study. Special mention goes to all those who took their time to write and send Memoranda towards this noble task.

We further appreciate the officers who participated in data collection exercise from various institutions including; Ministry of Education, Kenya Institute of Special Education, Kenya Education Management Institute, Teachers Service Commission, CEMASTEA and Universities.Special thanks go to the teams who tirelsy worked to analse the data and write the report.

DR. JWAN DIRECTOR KENYA INSTITUTE OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

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ABSTRACT

This was a Needs Assessment Study for ECDE Curriculum reform. The specific objectives of the study were to: establish the desired general needs for curriculum reform in ECDE, determine the desired competencies for ECDE level of learning, determine the talent identification and nurturing strategies to be adopted at ECDE level of the curriculum, establish desired content/activity areas/pathways for competency based curriculum, identify resources suitable for competency based curriculum, determine desired pedagogical approaches for competency based curriculum and, establish formative and summative assessment modes for competency based curriculum. Relevant literature was reviewed that operationalized the key concepts, grounded the study within the discipline of curriculum studies, reviewed relevant theories and previous researches and provided a rationale for the study.

The study adopted the pragmatist research philosophy which draws its tenets from the realist ? positivist /positivist paradigm on one hand, and the relativist ? interpretivist/constructivist paradigm, on the other hand. This study therefore used a mixed methods design which involved both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The study was conceptualised as a survey therefore both questionnaires, observation schedules, interviews and submitted memoranda were used as data instruments. The study targeted all Early Childhood Development and Educational (ECDE) centres in Kenya, various Education Field officers and other stakeholders. Within the institutions, the study targeted all ECDE teachers in the ECDE centres. The target population size was 37,312 ECDE centres (Ministry of Education, 2011). The study employed a multi-stage sampling technique, which involved random selection of the respondents. The sample size determination formula was applied to compute the sample size at 1081 ECDE centres (Survey System, 2012). This represented the sample size at 5% level of significance, with an error of 2.5%. Sampling for the qualitative phase was done using purposive techniques leading to identification of several participants, institutions and key informants. A total of 1400 participants took part in the study. The participants included ECDE teachers, workers in the informal sector and industry, education field officers and other stakeholders.

The study found that Kenyans would prefer societal needs like environmental protection, patriotism and social development to be fully embedded in the curriculum from the foundation level. Holistic development of learners and contemporary issues should also be addressed. Learners in ECDE should acquire the 21st century skills like communication skills, basic literacy, life skills as well as basic health and hygiene practices. Talents should be identified at the formative years of learners in different settings by parents, teachers and other professionals using an assessment tool that needs to be developed. Some of the learning areas preferred by Kenyans to be covered in the ECDE curriculum were language, life skills, creative arts, communication skills, numeracy and literacy skills; environmental awareness; health and nutrition, self-awareness, self-esteem, selfconfidence, personal safety (security), emotional awareness and physical education. Child centred methods are the most appropriate pedagogical methods for delivery of the competence based curriculum. The resources required to implement ECDE competency based curriculum include print materials, quality teachers, enough classrooms, play materials and play fields. The study found that the most appropriate method for assessment in ECDE competency based learning was observation. Some of the suggested pertinent issues that should be addressed in the envisaged curriculum were drug and substance abuse, HIV and AIDs, religion, use and misuse of ICT, sexuality, environmental conservation, insecurity, gender issues, violence at family, health and nutrition. In addition, respondents proposed a curriculum structure that considers the ages and developmental stages

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of the learners at all levels, that allows transition of all pupils from one level of learning to another.

Some of the major recommendations of the study were; education should promote holistic development of the learner physically, socially, psychologically, spiritually, intellectually, morally and in character formation; learners in ECD should acquire competencies like communication, health and good personal hygiene; numeracy and literacy skills; ECDE teachers should be trained on how to identify and nurture learners' talents; the National ECDE curriculum should have learning areas such as languages, mathematics, life skills, creative arts, communication skills, numeracy, literacy, nutrition and health; the ECD teachers should adopt learner centred methods for curriculum delivery and they should be provided with diverse resources; ECDE teachers should use observation method for assessing learners in competence based learning. Finally, the competence based ECDE curriculum should address pertinent issues like drug and substance abuse, HIV and AIDs, use and misuse of ICT, insecurity, violence at family level, health and nutrition.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD ........................................................................................... 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................ 4 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................. 13 LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................ 14 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................Error! Bookmark not defined. ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ................................................ 15 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY ....................................................... 17 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................ 17 1.2 Context of the study .................................................................... 17 1.3 Statement of the problem ............................................................ 24 1.4 Research Objectives .................................................................... 26 1.5 Scope of the study....................................................................... 27 1.6 Rationale for the study based on the Context ............................... 27 1.7 Summary .................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER TWO ................................................................................... 29 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ............................................... 29 2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................... 29 2.2 Definition of Key Concepts.............................................................. 29 2.2.1. Curriculum.............................................................................. 29 2.2.2. Leaning areas .......................................................................... 31 2.2.3. Competencies.......................................................................... 31 2.2.4. Values and attitudes ................................................................ 32 2.2.4 Pedagogy ................................................................................ 33 2.2.5 Resources................................................................................ 34 2.2.6 Assessment ............................................................................. 35 2.2.7 Contemporary and Emerging issues......................................... 35

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2.2.8 Talents .................................................................................... 36 2.3 Situating the study within the Field of Education and Discipline of Curriculum Studies................................................................................. 37 2.4 Review of Relevant Theories ...................................................... 40 2.4.1. Curriculum theories................................................................. 40 2.4.2. Curriculum Reform Theories ................................................... 42 2.5 Review of Relevant Policy Documents........................................ 45 2.5.1 Documents on Societal Needs ................................................. 45 2.5.2 Documents on Competencies................................................... 49 2.5.3 Documents on Values and attitudes ......................................... 50 2.5.4 Documents on Learning areas.................................................. 51 2.5.5. Documents on Assessment ...................................................... 53 2.5.6. Documents on Resources ........................................................ 54 2.5.7. Documents on Contemporary and Emerging issues.................. 55 2.5.8. Documents on Talent Nurturing and Development .................. 57 2.5.9. Documents on Special Needs Education ...Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.6 Review of Curriculum in other Contexts ..................................... 57 2.6.1 Societal needs ......................................................................... 58 2.6.2 Competencies.......................................................................... 60 2.6.3. Global views on values and attitudes in education ................... 63 2.6.4. Learning areas......................................................................... 66 2.6.5. Assessment ............................................................................. 70 2.6.6. Pedagogy ................................................................................ 73 2.6.7 Resources................................................................................ 74 2.7 Review of Relevant Previous Research ....................................... 75 2.7.1 Societal needs ......................................................................... 75 2.7.2 Competencies.......................................................................... 77

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