A study of students' democratization through administrative and pedagogical practices in secondary schools in Bungoma district.

Abstract

The study sought to establish how schools' administrative and pedagogical practices influence the students' development of democratic abilities. The practices covered were pedagogy, culture of dialogue, system of justice, areas of achievement and flow of information. The democratic abilities covered were influence, self-administration, self steering, group dynamism and perseverance. The basic assumption of this study was that democratic or child-friendly school practices develop into child liberal abilities. The practices were therefore investigated for democratization and it was then determined whether they had any influence on the development of liberal abilities among students. The study had five objectives: in order to achieve these objectives, five hypotheses were formulated. The literature reviewed for the study centered around education and democracy. It traced the history of the school democratization movement, outlined democratic abilities, discussed democratized administrative and pedagogical school practices, as well as highlighting the studies on the influences on acquisition of democratic attitudes and valued among students. The literature was critical in defining the scope of the study, key concepts and the content of questionnaires items. It was particularly useful in formulating exhaustive questionnaires. The research was ex post facto. The target population was all the secondary schools in Bungoma district. Out of the one hundred and seventeen schools in the district, a sample of ninety-two was used for the study. Questionnaires on school practices and liberal abilities were administered to students and teachers in the schools respectively. The responses were standardized and analysed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). All the hypotheses were tested using the chi-square. The study found out that indeed there is a close relationship between democratic school administrative and pedagogical practices and liberal abilities among students. Child centered pedagogy, diversified areas of achievement, system of justice and culture of dialogue have a strong influence on the students' development of democratic abilities. Thus, the study recommends that schools be made more child friendly, and that teachers and managers be trained on child friendly teaching and management practices. Further, this study only examined how school practices influence student's acquisition of democratic abilities. It is necessary to carry out studies to determine if the number of years in school makes a difference in the development of democratic abilities. There is also need to identify other factors that influence the acquisition of democratic abilities among students. Finally, it is important to find out if democratization of school practices has any influence on discipline and achievements of the school.