Implementation Of Geography Curriculum In Public Secondary Schools In Gatundu South District In Kiambu County, Kenya

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to establish the effectiveness of geography curriculum implementation in public secondary schools in Gatundu South District. The study was guided by the following objectives: to find out the extent of Geography teachers involvement in the curriculum development process in public secondary schools in Gatundu South District, to identify the availability and use of teaching and learning resources and the teaching methods used by Geography teachers, to determine the level of the support of the school administration and QASOs in enhancing Geography curriculum implementation process through supervision, and professional development and to establish the challenges facing Geography teachers in the process of implementing curriculum. Descriptive survey design was used for the study. The study was carried out in Gatundu South District in central Province, Kenya. The target population for the study were 416 qualified secondary school teachers from 31 public schools within Gatundu South district and employed by the T.S.C. A total of 17 schools were randomly sampled for the study. Systematic sampling procedure was used to sample 15 schools for the actual study while two schools were used for piloting. Purposive sampling technique was used to sample the respondents for the study. The technique has been chosen because only a specific group of people were sampled for the study. The researcher sampled averagely 3 Geography teachers from each of the schools studied and the school principal. A total of 60 respondents were targeted by the study (constituting 45 teachers and 15 principals). A total of 54 respondents (42 teachers and 12 Principals) giving a response rate of 90%. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used as instruments for data collection. Questionnaires was used to get data from teachers while interview schedules was used to collect data from the school principals. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations were used to describe the data; this was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The analyzed data were presented in form of frequency tables, bar graphs and pie charts. The study found that teachers were not involved in the development of the curriculum besides their crucial role in the development of the curriculum being the implementers of the same. The study also found that resources such as text books, teachers‟ guides, photographs, maps and charts were available but inadequate. On the other hand, resources such as weather stations, computers, slides, statistical tables and films were not available in many of the schools and that those which had such resources, they were inadequate. Regarding the use of the resources for teaching and learning, the study found that the available resources were put in use. Lecture, exposition and discussion methods were used to a large extent (mean score between 1.1 to 2.0). Other methods of teaching included: experimentation on soils, group work, peer teaching, assignments, use of resource persons, symposiums between schools, K.I.E CDs, peer teaching, group presentation and questions and answer methods. The administration of the schools were found to support the teachers to go for in-service trainings and that QASOs visited the schools twice to help teachers to improve their classroom teaching. The major challenges facing teachers in the implementation of Geography curriculum in secondary schools included were incomplete syllabus coverage and inadequacy of teaching and learning resources. The study recommended that schools should be well equipped with teaching and learning resources and that teachers should adopt more effective methods of teaching to ensure effective curriculum implementation in schools.