| dc.description.abstract | Education at preschool forms the basis of later education and therefore it is very important to provide favourable environment and pedagogy to enhance effective teaching and learning that results to having quality educational foundation. Mavoko Municipality has recently been experiencing mushrooming of preschools which has called for the study to investigate the influence of environmental and pedagogical factors on the effectiveness of teaching and learning in preschools in Mavoko Municipality, Machakos County. The target population was preschools in Mavoko Municipality, a structured questionnaire were issued and filled by the preschools' teachers and the researcher undertook an observation of all the components of schools and an assessment was done on the learning areas.
The data collected was analyzed by use of statistical package for social science (SPSS) to examine influence of environmental and pedagogical factors on the effectiveness of teaching and learning in preschools. Findings were presented by the use of descriptive statistics that included tables, frequencies and percent. From the assessment of the performance in the learning areas it found out that the majority of children obtained good and fair in the learning area tested, majority of preschools had inadequate facilities that resulted into limited learning opportunities, classroom conditions were fairly adequate that did not provide inspiration to learning, majority of the preschools had over crowded class that limited individual attendance to childreri learning needs and children had problems to maintain focus for long periods, there was inadequacy of teaching and learning resources which caused pressure to the little available resources that learners did not fully benefit from it, the teachers also had in adequate resources that' resulted to inappropriate planning and execution of the lessons.
The majority of the teachers were professional qualified though other preschools had untrained teachers' .From the assessment of the lesson, there were inadequate class organization and limited children participation that limited effective learning. From the findings it was concluded that the school facilities and teaching and learning resources are instrumental in provision of learning opportunities and stimulating learning as it ensured effective teaching and learning. Proper classroom atmosphere also ensured children keep focus and are aspired to learn and finally professional qualifications of teachers was accredited to be fundamental as it equipped them with knowledge and skills and with regular seminars they are updated on early childhood education that enabled effective teaching and learning of the preschools children. The study drew recommendations on its findings as well as suggested areas for further research. | en_US |
