| dc.description.abstract | The research problem addressed in this project was factors influencing primary school teachers' enrolment in higher education institutions through distance education mode: the case of primary school teachers in Kakamega South District, Kenya. In spite of the available opportunity and the enormous gains that accrue from education and training at a higher level, primary school teachers did not enroll in large numbers for university education. The researcher set out to examine the major factors that influence primary school teachers' enrolment in higher education with a view to promoting distance education among practicing primary school teachers.
The objectives of the study were to: find out the influence of socio-cultural environment on enrolment in higher education, determine the extent to which the teachers' economic conditions influence enrolment in higher education, establish the influence of teachers' demographic factors on enrolment in higher education; and determine how the institutional operations influence teachers' enrolment in higher education.
The research design employed was descriptive survey, where respondents were subjected to a questionnaire which had open and closed ended questions. The target population was 628 serving primary school teachers, from which a sample size of 189 comprising 95 male and 94 female teachers was extracted. Sampling procedure entailed assigning numbers 1 to 12 on pieces of paper for choice of schools in the North Division and numbers 1 to 11 for choice of schools in the South Division. The schools were then picked at random up to a total of 23.
The teachers in the selected schools were the respondents to whom the questionnaire was issued. The research instrument used to collect data was structured questionnaire with mainly closedended questions and an open- ended question. It was divided into two sections; A and B with section A containing general information on the respondents and section B containing information on the factors influencing enrolment.
Data collection procedures involved the respondents filling sections A and B on the questionnaire by responding to statements that related to the factors under study by indicating whether they strongly disagreed, disagreed, agreed or strongly agreed. At the end of the questionnaire the respondents were asked to give any other information they considered relevant and important to this study.
After collecting data, the filled questionnaires were sorted out and classified according to age, gender, level of training and working experience of the respondents.
Data was then tallied and collated. The categorized data was organized and analyzed by use of descriptive statistics with the assistance of computer technology software programme, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study analyzed factors that influence enrolment, mainly; socio-culture, economic, personal demographic characteristics and institutional operations. It was informed by the literature review and guided by a conceptual framework which indicated the relationship between variables. The information was presented in tables using frequencies and percentages. It was then interpreted and conclusions made.
The research findings indicated that three of the four factors in this study; economic, teachers' personal demographic characteristics and institutional operations influenced teachers enrollment to a great extent, whereas socio - cultural factors did not have much influence. Other factors relating to employer of teachers (TSC) such as leave and sponsorship were also found to be important in influencing teachers' enrolment.
It was therefore recommended that; teachers be given adequate time by the employer to study, Distance Education should be made affordable through subsidies and loans from Higher Education Loans Board (HELB),and information on Distance Education should be available and accessible to all the teachers in primary schools. For further research it was suggested it would be necessary to: research into the Teachers Service Commission's policy and its effect on higher education and training for its employees (teachers) at Primary level and to carry out frequent researches on technological developments and innovation and how they affect employment of teachers at primary school level. | en_US |
