Effect of Teachers’ Reflective Teaching Approach on Preschool Children’s Social Emotional Competences in Molo Sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of teachers’ reflective teaching approach on children’s social emotional competences in Molo Sub-County, Kenya. A review of related literature focused on the nature and the importance of reflective teaching approach and children’s social emotional competences in the implementation and delivery of the competence-based curriculum. This was done for teachers, through reflective teaching approach/features of reflective teaching approach, to provide preschool children with explicit lessons on social emotional competences. They were also to find opportunities for learners to reinforce their use in course of the day. Six objectives guided the study and dealt on whether the features of reflective teaching approach namely, action research, reflective journals, peer review, theoretical literature, and use of learners’ feedback would have an effect on children’s social emotional competences either separately or when combined. The study methodology was a quasi-experimental design with a pretest-posttest model. Stratified random sampling and simple random sampling procedures were used to obtain the study sample. The sample comprised 16 preschools with 32 teachers and 558 children from a population of 167 preschools. Sixteen teachers with 269 children were in the intervention groups while 16 teachers with 289 children were in the control groups. Data was collected using a training module for preschool teachers, Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) for preschool children, preschool teachers’ semi-structured interview schedule, and a documentary analysis form for preschool teachers. Training on reflective teaching approach/features of reflective teaching approach was done in the treatment groups. The training on each feature of reflective teaching was done in 5 preschools paired with 5 control preschools while training on combined features of reflective teaching approach was done in 3 preschools paired with 3 control preschools. DESSA pre-test and post-test were administered to preschool children in the treatment and control groups to obtain children’s scores in social emotional competences before and 3 months after teachers’ training. The scores were converted to Standard T-score for data analysis in the statistical package for social sciences version 25.0 for Windows. ANCOVA test at alpha=0.05 level of significance was used to determine whether statistically significant differences existed between the treatment groups and control groups mean scores. Data from semi-structured interview schedules and documentary analysis forms were analysed by hand and made meaning of statistical differences obtained from the DESSA mean scores. There were statistically significant differences in children’s mean scores between the treatment groups and control groups. DESSA domains mean strengths were also tabulated based on reflective teaching approach/features of reflective teaching approach. The findings indicated that reflective teaching approach could be effective on teaching preschool children’s social emotional competences in CBC. This would happen through the professional growth and development of teachers and children’s social emotional cognitive schema. It is recommended that preschool teachers in Molo Sub-County should be trained on reflective teaching approach/features of reflective teaching approach for preschool children’s social emotional competences. This would be done through regular in-service courses, workshops and seminars through the Departments of Basic Education and Early Learning in the Ministries of Education both in the Central and Nakuru County Governments. Further, the Molo Sub-County local resource centers should be stocked with recent research findings on reflective teaching approach, preschool children’s social emotional competences, and related literature. Further research studies should also be conducted on: the effectiveness of reflective teaching approach for children’s social emotional competences using larger samples to enable results generalization in Kenya, other preschool learning areas, and vulnerable/at risk preschool children.