Teachers' & Students' Attitudes Towards Christian Religious Education

Abstract

The investigations were ex post facto in design. They explored teachers and students' attitudes to Kenya secondary Christian Religious Education in order to draw conclusions which could be used in improving the subject's status. It was undertaken in 37 Kenya secondary schools among 49 teachers and 909 students. They were selected using a random stratified procedure to allow a national representation. The study employed a combination of methods: an open and closed questionnaire, interview and observation of CRE documents. This was effected through: preparation of the questionnaire; validation of the questionnaire; administering the revised questionnaire, interviews, analysing the documents and in-depth analysis of one school. The attitude scores were analysed using factor analysis, descriptive statistics, chi-square tests and analyses of variance. The open responses were subjected to content analysis and some Chi-square tests. The qualitative and quantitative procedures complemented and illuminated each other. The scale had a high alpha of 0.94. The attitude scores were standardised to a convenient measure of scores ranging from 0 to 100. 0 represented the weakest attitude, while 100 indicated strong favourable attitude. The scale's mean was 72, while teachers' mean was 73 and the students' was 72. There were no significant differences among different sample categories. However, the respondents' conception of the nature ofCRE resulted in two groups. The positive-oriented group contended that CRE is useful in personal development, vocational training and improving the final grade. The other group viewed CRE as not functional. Both groups seemed 'misinformed' of CRE's objectives in Kenya secondary curriculum. These findings imply that any recommendation for improving the subject has to be directed towards clarifying CRE's objectives. Thus, the key recommendation pointed to a need to have CRE as part of an integrated Religious Education programme whose main aim would be to lead students towards being religiously educated. s reserved.