Influence Of Dualism On Implementation Of Islamic Integrated Curriculum In Muslim Pre-Schools In Nairobi County

Abstract

The most crucial crisis faced by the contemporary Muslim world is rooted from the problem of educational dualism i.e. the existence of two systems of education, namely the national, modern secular system and the traditional, Islamic religious system .Both systems of education have considerably failed to produce an integrated Islamic personality. Moreover, there is a misconception in almost all contemporary Islamic Integrated Schools which offer Islamic studies, Arabic and Quran alongside secular studies and they claim it is an integrated education. Therefore, this study investigated the influence of dualism on implementation of Islamic Integrated Curriculum in Muslim Preschools in Nairobi County. Four research questions were formulated to guide the study. The objectives included establishing the influence of content in dual curriculum on implementation of Islamic Integrated Curriculum , examining the influence of teachers‟ professional qualifications in dual curriculum on implementation of Islamic Integrated Curriculum , determining how the availability of teaching learning resources in dual curriculum influence implementation of Islamic Integrated Curriculum and assessing the effects of dual curriculum on preschool children in the implementation of Islamic Integrated Curriculum. The study adopted the descriptive survey design and a census was used for the sample which comprised of 40 head teachers and 120 preschool teachers. Thus, a total number of 160 respondents participated in the study. The main instruments of data collection were questionnaires and observation checklists. Data was analyzed by use of qualitative and quantitative techniques. Findings revealed that content in dual curriculum has a negative influence on implementation of Islamic Integrated Curriculum, teachers‟ professional qualifications in dual curriculum negatively influence implementation of Islamic Integrated curriculum , availability of teaching learning resources in dual curriculum has a negative influence on implementation of Islamic Integrated Curriculum .For example, the availability of separate secular and separate Islamic materials hinders production of Islamic integrated materials which synthesize both. The study also revealed that dual curriculum negatively influences preschool children in the implementation of Islamic Integrated Curriculum. For example, the overloaded curriculum exhausts the children. The study therefore, concluded that: content in dual curriculum, teachers‟ professional qualifications in dual curriculum, availability of teaching learning resources in dual curriculum have negative influence in implementation of Islamic Integrated Curriculum. The study recommended that the dual curriculum to be abolished and hence implement the Islamic Integrated Curriculum. This does not indicate that we do away with the secular subjects; it only means to fuse Islamic concepts in the secular subjects. For this to be effective, a uniform Islamic Integrated Curriculum to be developed. The training of teachers to be based on Islamic Integrated Curriculum, more Muslims to be encouraged to join the teaching profession as the implementation of the Islamic Integrated Curriculum will always remain a dream if we do not have Muslim teachers on the ground, Islamic Integrated teaching materials to be developed and Some Islamic subjects and secular subjects to be fused together in order to eliminate the overloaded curriculum