| dc.description.abstract | Life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behaviours that enable individuals deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. In Kenya, Nyamira North District, secondary school youth have problems in handling challenges as they pursue education such as bullying, absenteeism, dropping out of school due to early pregnancies and 'drug abuse. The purpose of this study is to investigate factors influencing implementation of life skills education in public secondary schools in Nyamira North District.
The objectives of the study included to determine the influence of teacher training on implementation of life skills education in public secondary schools; to establish availability of resources on implementation of life skills education in public secondary schools; to investigate the extent to which support from education authority influence implementation of life skills education in public secondary schools; to assess the extent to which programme supervision influence implementation of life skills education in public secondary schools and to examine influence of non examinable status of the subject on implementation of life skills education in public secondary schools in Nyamira North District.
This study therefore provided information on the importance of implementing life skills education in our entire schools. This study was conducted through descriptive survey research design. Target population was 38 schools and therefore population census of 38 principals and 570 teachers was randomly selected. The questionnaire was used as the main instrument of data collection. Piloting of the research instrument was done by the researcher to enhance the reliability of the instrument, that is, as a consistent measure of the concept being studied.
The researcher analyzed and interpreted the data qualitatively and quantitatively. Data analysis outputs included descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) and inferential statistics (Chi Square Distribution). The data was organized, edited and summarized using computer data analysis software such as the Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS). The findings were presented in the form of tables for easier interpretation. The study showed that teacher training significantly influenced implementation of life skills education in schools, availability of resources significantly influenced on implementation of life skills education, education authority support significantly influenced on implementation of life skills education, programme supervision had no significant influence on implementation of life skills education and finally non examinable status of subject also significantly influenced implementation of life skills education. Following the findings, the study recommended that Life skills education teachers should be trained in the methodology and teaching of life skills so that they are adequately skilled and knowledgeable in handling students.
The Ministry of Education through District Education Office should regularly supervise schools by making frequent visits to establish implementation of life skills education. The principals should give moral and material support to the teacher through facilitating training and also in the acquisition of teaching and learning resources in life ski lls education. It is hoped that the findings of the study may provide insightful information to teachers in schools; the government, parents and other stakeholders in the education sector to enable them change the negative behaviours in students so that they become better and responsible citizens. For further research, it is recommended that a study should be undertaken to evaluate teacher effectiveness in the teaching of life skills education, on the role of school administration in the support of life skills education in schools and finally on the perception and acceptability of life skills education by parents, teachers and students. | en_US |
