Integrating philosophy of education and the goals of education practice at Kenyan high schools

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to explore the subject of integrating philosophy of education and the goals of education in education practice at the high schools in Kenya. It is stated that the impact of education practice is hinged in the statement of philosophy of education and the goals of education which has been neglected by researchers and scholars in Kenya. An intensive literature review which was undertaken revealed that philosophy of education and the goals of education are flouted in education practice. The sources of literature review were books, journals, policy documents, dissertations, theses, newspapers, and websites. In this qualitative research, phenomenology was selected as suitable theoretical framework to situate education practice as a human activity which is shaped by philosophy of education and the goals of education. A qualitative design was used, and purposive sampling was identified to select the schools and the respondents. The respondents in this research included the school principals, teachers, education officers, board of governors, and the parents-teachers’ representatives. The main qualitative research methods involved literature review and interviews. In this study, ideograms were utilized in the process of analysing the responses acquired from the respondents. According to the respondents, the statement of philosophy of education is foreign in the high schools, but the goals of education are printed in the syllabi, and this explains why the study focused on the goals as the familiar items. The views obtained from the respondents emphasized on what is envisioned to occur at the high schools, and this explains that the students are estranged from philosophy of education. It was concluded that high school pedagogy is exposed to conflicts in relation to integrating philosophy of education and the goals of education. In this case, the study recommended the following insights to improve the process of integrating philosophy of education, the goals of education, and education practice in Kenya: The necessity of revising the content and material resources of high school syllabi to comprise the attributes of philosophy of education in pedagogical activities.  Another suggestion emphasized on restructuring evaluation strategies to integrate the attributes of social cohesion, human progress and economic development.  The final recommendation is that the teaching and learning activities are necessary to intensify knowledge transfer which articulates the attributes of philosophy of education and the goals of education.