| dc.description.abstract | The main purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of reflective teaching on pre - school children’s socio - emotional skills. The objectives of the study were: To establish how different ways of reflective teaching, training on reflective teaching, the teachers’ attitude on reflective teaching and areas of reflection by the teacher influence children’s socio-emotional skills in Kasarani District. The researcher combined stratified random sampling and puiposefl.il approaches in selecting the respondents. In order to get the sample size, the researcher used Mugenda and Mugenda (2003) thumb rule of 10% of the sample size comprising 60 preschoolers’, 20 teachers and 60 parents. The study targeted 10 public pre-schools and 10 private pre-schools in Kasarani District. The total number of pre- school children targeted was 600 and 20 pre- school teachers who were also involved in the study, 20 head teachers from the selected preschools were also targeted and 600 parents for all the preschoolers. Data was collected through documentary analysis, interview schedules, observation schedules and questionnaires. Pretest was administered on both control and experimental group before the experiment and at the end of experiment, the same test was re-administered on both the groups. Research data have been analyzed by means of descriptive statistics such as the percentages. The data was also analyzed using description and explanation of what was observed on the ground. The study established that many teachers at Kasarani Division seem to confuse some reflective practice as non-reflective practices. Cases of several socio-emotional skills were present in the children including respect for teachers, maintaining eye contact and listening skills, learning and completion of tasks without excuse, low level of absenteeism, asking questions and teamwork. Teachers’ attitudes directly affect students’ attitudes. Teachers’ attitudes are in turn, influenced by their culture and belief systems. This study has also revealed a significant relation between sorts of emotional intelligence of teachers and reflective thinking skills of teacher. Findings also showed significant change in the behavior of preschool children after being taught through reflective practices. In the light of findings, it was recommended that to make teachers aware of reflective practices and its importance, orientation may be given to pre-service and in-service teachers. Moreover, reflective teaching course may be included in teacher training courses. | |
