| dc.description.abstract | The study undertook to investigate the utilization of community resources in teaching and learning by Primary Schools with the view of establishing the constrains that hinder the effective utilization of such resources, a case study of Nairobi district public primary schools. Specifically the study sought to fulfill the following objectives: Identify and classify community resources found around the schools of study that could be used in teaching and learning, determine the extent to which community resources are being used by primary schools, determine the factors which hinder effective utilization of community resources, find out the teaching methods teachers use in teaching and determine the frequency of consultation and guidance provided by primary school administrators to their staff regarding utilization of community resources in teaching and find out the adequacy of teacher training education of the would-be teachers in the development of competency in the utilization of community resources in teaching.
Related literature was reviewed under four parts: basis of utilization of community resources in teaching and learning, call for utilization of community resources in other countries, background study in utilization of community resources by Kenya primary schools and constrains that hinder effective utilization of community resources by primary schools. Simple random sampling technique was used to select divisions of the study and simple random sampling technique was used to select schools for the study and the respondents. The research instruments used were a questionnaire for classroom teachers, a questionnaire for school administrators, a questionnaire for class six pupils and a proforma for collecting observed data from the schools and their surrounding communities. The collected data was analyzed using tables and frequencies.
The following were the findings of the study: that every community has sufficient resources that can be used in teaching and learning, fourteen specific types of resources found in the communities surrounding the schools of study were identified and classified. Also the study established the following constrains that hinder effective utilization of community recourses in Teaching: lack of articulation of the need for utilization of community resources in the educational objectives and policies at national, curricular and instructional levels, adoption of expository teaching methods such as lectures, demonstrations by teachers which do not lent themselves to the use of community resources in teaching and learning, lack of funds to purchase the resources, examination pressure especially the national examination KCPE, lack of parental support for learning activities that do not seem to prepare pupils for better performance in examination, inflexibility of teaching time tables where time allocated for lessons are considered too short to incorporate community oriented teaching and learning methods like field trips, surveys or nature walks, inadequate training of teachers in utilization of community resources during teacher training.
Outstanding recommendations from the study were that: all the suitable community resources in the environment of the primary schools should be identified by school subject panels, catalogued in detail and recorded for use in teaching and learning, guidelines and criteria for selection of suitable community resources for primary schools should be developed and an education policy should be developed to encourage the utilization of community resources. | en_US |
