Determinants of implementation of life skills education programme in public secondary schools in Kakamega east district

Abstract

Youth are considered as the most productive members of the society, due to their physical and intellectual capacity. But it is sad to recognize the fact that most of the youth are unable to utilize their potential in an appropriate way due to lack of guidance and motivation. Life skills education was seen as the stop gap measure. The purpose of this study was to investigate the determinants of implementation of life skills education curriculum in public secondary schools in Kakamega East District.The study had the following objectives: to examine how teachers' educational level determines the implementation of life skills education curriculum, to assess how the teachers' level of training determines the implementation of life skills education curriculum in public secondary schools in Kakamega East district; to assess the extent to which teachers' attitudes determines the implementation of the life skills education curriculum in public secondary schools in Kakamega East District; establish how school culture determines the implementation of the life skills education curriculum in public secondary schools in Kakamega East District and to determine how school heads determine the implementation of life skills education curriculum in public secondary schools in Kakamega East District.The study employed descriptive survey research design as it provides descriptions of some part of the population and also a large sample is investigated in a short time. The target population was all the 140 teachers teaching life skills and the 34 principals. A sample size of29 principals and 87 teachers were selected to participate in the study .The respondents were selected through stratified random sampling, simple random sampling, proportionate and purposive sampling techniques. The research instruments were the questionnaires. The reliability of research instruments was calculated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient which was found to be 0.796. The researcher analysed the data using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that teachers' education and training level determine implementation of life skills education curriculum in public secondary schools in Kakamega East District. It was also demonstrated by this study that that teachers' attitudes determine implementation of life skills education curriculum in public secondary schools in Kakamega East District. This study established that school culture determines implementation of life skills education curriculum in public secondary schools in Kakamega East District and that school principals determine the level of implementation of life skills education curriculum in public secondary schools in Kakamega East District. The findings of this study will be useful to the Ministry of Education, academicians and researchers in their improvement of policies and practices on life skills education in Kenya. It was recommended from this study that teachers who are highly educated and trained be employed to facilitate the implementation of life skills education in public secondary schools. Teachers need to develop and maintain a positive attitude that is supportive of full implementation of life skills education curriculum in public secondary schools. The school management should also cultivate and maintain a culture that promotes curriculum implementation of life skills education. It was also recommended that the principals should deploy staff, allocate time to life skills education, provide teaching and learning materials and create a conducive atmosphere for effective teaching and learning. A similar study may be undertaken using comparative analysis among private secondary schools in Kakamega county and results compared with those of this study.