| dc.description.abstract | Life Skills Education was introduced in the Kenyan School Curriculum to foster
the development of all round individuals upon graduating from secondary school.
LSE aims at promoting behavior change by developing the attitudes, knowledge
and skills which enable the individual to deal effectively with the demands and
challenges of everyday life. As shown in the background, the poor academic
performance and the reported many cases of students’ unrest in Murang’a County
seem to suggest that, the objectives of Life Skills education have not been
achieved. This study therefore sought to assess the factors influencing the
implementation of life skills education in secondary schools in Kigumo District,
Murang’a County. The study was guided by the following objectives: to assess the
attitudes of teachers and principals towards implementation of life skills education
in secondary schools, in Kigumo District; to assess whether the teaching methods
used by teachers influence implementation of life skills education; to establish
whether availability of learning resources influence implementation of the life
skills education; and to determine whether teachers’ characteristics in terms of
professional qualification and in -service training influence implementation of Life
skills education in secondary schools in Kigumo district. The study used a
descriptive survey design targeting all the principals, life skill teachers and form
three and four students in Kigumo District. Simple random sampling was used to
select 444 students while purposive sampling was used to select 53 teachers and
35 principals. Three different questionnaires designed for principals, teachers and
students were used to collect data for the study. Before collecting the actual data, a
pilot study was conducted in two schools in Kigumo District. The aim of the pilot
study was to ascertain the reliability and validity of the data collection tools. Data
was both qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative data collected was coded and
entered into an SPSS programme for analysis. Qualitative data was put under
themes consistent with the research objectives. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
was also used to analyze the data. The study established that the negative attitude
among teachers and principals undermined implementation of life skill education
in school curriculum; most of the teachers’ utilized LSE lesson to teach other
subjects since the subject was not examinable. It was established that teaching
methods also influenced the implementation of LSE. The findings revealed that
role plays, discussions, drama and use of resource persons were effective on
implementation of life skill education in schools. However, case study, story
telling, songs/dances, debates, miming and field visits did not have any significant
influence on implementation. The study further established that shortage of
teaching and learning materials negatively influences realization of life skill
education in the schools curriculum. The study recommends that the government
should commit itself and budget for financial support to schools in terms of
provision of teaching and learning materials needed for programme
implementation; school principals should ensure that teachers don’t utilize LSE
lesson to teach other subjects; among other recommendations. | en |
