Teachers’ Perceptions on the Relationship Between Teachers’ Working Conditions and Pupils’ Reading Ability in Pre-Primary Schools in Nakuru County, Kenya

One of the most important factors in realizing reading as a subject in pre-primary schools is teacher working conditions. Literature suggests that working conditions are crucial in teaching of reading and pupils’ reading ability. However, empirical studies that have examined pupils’ reading ability have not focused on the relationship between teacher working conditions and reading ability. Further, the few empirical studies that have examined the relationships have been conducted in primary and secondary schools. Whereas most pre-primary school teachers in Kenya work under unfavourable conditions, past studies have not examined the relationship between working conditions and reading ability of pre-primary school pupils in Kenya. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teacher working conditions and pupils’ reading ability. The study was based on Herzberg’s two factor theory. The study adopted a correlational research design. The target population for the study was 79 head teachers and 79 pre-primary 2 class teachers in public schools in Rongai Sub-County Nakuru. A stratified sample of pre-primary schools in the four zones in Rongai Sub-county was used for the study. The sample size comprised of 66 head teachers and 66 pre-primary 2 teachers. The questionnaires were used to collect data from respondents.. Data was summarized using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, means and standard deviations. To test the hypotheses, Pearson’s Product-moment correlation coefficient was used. The results revealed that there was a relationship between teacher workload, school leadership and pupils’ reading ability. The study concludes that teacher workload and school leadership affect the reading ability of pre-primary school pupils. The study recommends that to improve reading ability, school management should provide effective school leadership and ensure that pre-primary school classes are of reasonable sizes so that teachers do not have a heavy workload. Keywords: Working Conditions, Teacher Workload, School Leadership, Reading Ability; Pre-primary School Pupils DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-18-23 Publication date:June 30th 201

Teachers’ Influence on Children’s Selection and Use of Play Materials in Kenya

Gender socialization has an impact on children and any gender stereotyped verbal comments or activities assigned to children by those in charge are bound to influence the attitudes children have of themselves. This exploratory study therefore set out to investigate among 36 Kenyan preschool teachers if they hold gender-stereotyped views and if they communicate these views to children during selection and use of play materials. To collect data, an observation schedule was used. T-tests were then performed to find specific intergroup differences. Teachers were found to influence children in a gender stereotyped manner with more influence being exerted on boys than on girls. This influence on the children may encourage the children to adopt gender roles that are not always fair to both genders. This study therefore advocates for the encouragement and training of teachers to adopt an androgynous gender role attitude. In this way teachers may also encourage this same attitude in preschool children

Determinants of Preschool Teachers' Attitudes towards Teaching

This study sought to investigate determinants of pre-school teachers’ attitudes towards teaching in Thika Municipality, Kenya. The concern to stakeholders was the negative attitudes of the pre-school teachers towards teaching. Such a concern called for investigation. To accomplish this task, a descriptive survey design and Ex-post facto design were used. A total of 53 pre-school teachers and 12 administrators participated in the study. A simple random technique and purposive sampling were employed to identify study samples. In addition, questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. The statistical procedures were carried out using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). Qualitative and quantitative techniques were employed in order to analyse the obtained data. The study revealed there were still low levels of training among pre-school teachers, teachers with few years of teaching experience were the ones involved in teaching in the pre-schools and teachers in public pre-schools were more positive towards their job than their colleagues in private schools. Among the recommendations were that pre-school teachers work under the Ministry of Education and an attempt be made to improve the retention level of teachers. Administrators should also work on modalities of motivating their teachers