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

Inclusive education for Internally Displaced Children in Kenya::Children perceptions of their learning and development needs in post-conflict schooling

Abstract The Kenyan society has been characterised by tribal-political-instigated violence since the declaration of multiparty democracy in 1991. The 2007/8 post-election violence (PEV) particularly saw the scattering of families where some children lost months or years of schooling; others were permanently excluded from education, while the participation and achievement of those arriving in school were characterised by complex needs and experiences. This paper aims to analyse literature and report on findings from creative activities with 16 conflict-affected children (9–12 years) regarding their experiences and understandings of inclusive education during their post-conflict school-life. I conducted an intrinsic case study with aspects of ethnography in a post-conflict community primary school in Kenya whose majority (71%) pupil population was attributed to internal displacement following the 2007/8 PEV. Children perceived inclusive education in regard to their own learning and development needs as involving access and acceptance in the new school community, social-emotional development, ‘peer-keeping’ and community-consciousness. Whilst valuing their teachers’ pursuit for inclusion-sensitive practices, children’s understanding of their own circumstances resulted in group-made strategies like ‘peer-keeping’ and peer-constructed rules of interaction, helping them negotiate systemic constrains and distortion of values. This study underscores the fundamental role of children in social integration in post-conflict circumstances

Features of Resource Based View Theory: An Effective Strategy in Outsourcing

In Resource Based viewpoint theory (RBV), the resources possessed by a firm are the primary determinants of its performance. The resources may remain latent until the firm deploy its capabilities, with these may contribute to a sustainable competitive advantage. RBV in Human resource management aims in providing justification for attaching importance to especially talent management and aid in enhancing the value of the HR contribution in achieving competitive advantage by strategically fitting and bundling as HR best practices. Outsourcing is built from an organization that lacks Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, Organized resources and capabilities thus seeks for an external provider in order to overcome that weakness. In outsourcing, Firm’s performance in the marketplace depends on the different characteristics of the industry in which it compete and through innovation, persistent improvement and management of relationship with external entities may lead to sustain competitive advantage and be above average performance

Kenya Towards Mobile Virtue Network Operator: Opportunities and Challenges

This paper points to the necessity to conduct research on Kenya towards Mobile Virtue Network Operator in regard to Opportunities and challenges. The telecommunication and financial business model is shifting away from full vertical integration of the operator’s value chain towards a higher level of specialization. Thus the threshold of becoming a mobile operator is dramatically reduced with the introduction of the MVNO’s concept. It is possible to be an operator without having to invest in frequency spectrum license or in wireless network infrastructure and without having to build up competence in wireless technologies. The regulators have applauded the new players because they want to enhance competition for the benefit of the customers. MNOs use underutilized spectrum in various service provisions bringing in specialization in areas such as data and mobile money. Business competition makes the consumers enjoy benefits from low fees in mobile money, text and voice services. Kenya lack of legal provision for infrastructure sharing, leaving the operators to consent to autonomous agreements with interested parties. Issues raised by MNO include Cannibalization of the MNOs market share by MVNOs, Hostile response from poor MVNO performance, unfriendly choice of MVNOs for partnering purpose. The purpose of the regulator should be increased competition in the mobile communications market, financial and quickening the improvement and the development of new services and technical innovations. Therefore, the entry of MVNOs into the market should be seen as an opportunity that will increase the uptake of mobile services in key segments such as mobile commerce, finance, voice and data

An Appraisal of Financial Management Practices on the Growth of Micro Enterprise in Kenya

Governments in different parts of the world are increasingly promoting and supporting the growth of Micro and Small enterprises as part of their overall national development strategy. The sector plays an important role in economic development and act as vehicle for low-income people to escape poverty through market-driven, productive activities for growth of the economy. Consequently because of their role and significance to the economic development they have become a major research area in developing countries. Studies have been conducted highlighting the constraints which affect the growth of micro-enterprises with a view to bring to the solutions but with no in-depth. Most the enterprises growth still stagnate and eventually fail. Their failure rates are always attributed to lack of management skills by most owner managers. As a result, there is need to carry out studies on the management practices of micro enterprises in regard to financial practices. The objective of this study was to appraise the financial management practices on growth of Jua Kali enterprises in Kenya. The study adopted the descriptive research design to assess the growth in regards to financial practices. The target population was 150 owner managers of micro enterprises registered under Jua Kali enterprises. Considering the population was not a homogeneous, stratified random sampling technique was used as the most appropriate to determine the study sample of 50 respondents. The primary data was collected through structured questionnaires. The data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Linear regression analysis was employed to determine the degree of relationship between the financial management practices and growth. The result showed that financial management practices had a strong positive relationship on the growth of Jua Kali enterprises with a Pearson correlations coefficient of 0.629 at 95 percent significance level (p=0.001). The study concluded that financial management practices have an influence on the growth of micro enterprise hence the need for owner managers to embrace appropriate management practices to grow their businesses that help spur economic development and create more employment, in line with Kenya’s vision 2030

Curriculum Content Relevancy in Integration of ICTs in Kenya TVET Institutions in Readiness to Industry Needs

The development of curricula content and their implementation is one of the key competences of instructors in the area of educational planning and practical training for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions in Kenya. While much attention is being given to the development technologies that drive ICT integration in TVET, one of the most critical issues remains the curriculum content. The TVET sub-sector continues to be challenged by inflexible and outdated TVET curriculum, Mismatch between the skills learned and the skills demanded by industries, inadequate mechanism for quality assurance, Low participation of private sector in the curriculum design and development. The objective of the study was to evaluate the relevancy of the curricula content in achieving integration of ICTs in TVET institutions in Kenya with specific reference to Michuki and Thika Technical Training Institute in Murang’a and Kiambu County respectively. The research adopted quantitative research approach and use probability sampling which is commonly associated with Survey-based research. The study’s main data collection tool was a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used, correlation and regression analysis to test the relationship and strength of association between curriculum content and integration of ICTs in Kenya TVET. From regression analysis, since the p-value is 0, the relationship between effectively integration and Curriculum Content is significant, the correlation coefficient, R, is 0.776. Therefore, Effective Integration is positively correlated with Curriculum Content and the relationship is very strong. The study recommended that; ICT should be integrated in curriculum courses available in TVET institutions in Kenya. TVET Authority and Kenya Institute of curriculum development (KICD) with involvement of stakeholders should promote access and relevance of TVET training courses. The review should be within the framework of the overall national socio-economic development plans and policies that reflects the needs of industry and the labor market

Growth, Productivity, Biomass and Carbon Stock in Eucalyptus saligna and Grevillea robusta Plantations in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Initiated by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) more than a decade ago in North Kivu, single-species plantations of Eucalyptus saligna and Grevillea robusta constitute, with other village plantations, the current legal source of wood-energy for the communities bordering the Virunga National Park (PNVi). This study assesses the growth and productivity of these plantations in two sites with different soil and climatic conditions to predict their production over time. The study also assesses the carbon stock and long-term CO2 fixation in the biomass of the studied plantations to deduce their contribution to climate change mitigation. Non-destructive inventories were carried out during three consecutive years in 20 E. saligna and 12 G. robusta plantations in Sake and Kirumba. Analysis of the data revealed that both species have similar diametric growth while height growth and productivity were significantly higher in the E. saligna plantations. The productivity of E. saligna was also higher in Kirumba than in Sake, while that of G. robusta was higher in Sake than in Kirumba. The differences observed were mainly related to species, silviculture, altitude and concentration of bioavailable elements in the soils. The analysis of productivity evolution over time allowed us to determine optimal rotations at 8 and 12 years, respectively, for E. saligna and G. robusta plantations. The relationships between biomass or carbon stock and tree diameter were not different between the studied species but were significantly different at the stand level. If silviculture was standardized and plantations carefully monitored, carbon stock and long-term CO2 fixation would be higher in G. robusta plantations than in E. saligna plantations. These results indicate that while for productivity reasons E. saligna is the favoured species in wood-energy plantations to quickly meet the demand of the growing and disadvantaged population living in the vicinity of PNVi, carefully monitored G. robusta plantations could be more interesting in terms of carbon credits. To simultaneously optimise wood-energy production and carbon storage in the plantations initiated in North Kivu, E. saligna and G. robusta should be planted in mixture. In addition, species and site characteristics adapted silvicultural management practices must be applied to these plantations, which are very important for the region, its population and its park. Finally, the economic profitability as well as the sustainability of the plantations should be assessed in the longer term in North Kivu