Issues Affecting Curriculum Support Centres In Enhancing Teacher Professional Development In Nyeri County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Education is a very important tool of development in any given society. It is also widely recognized that teacher education is an essential part in professional development of a teacher. This study sought to investigate the issues facing curriculum support Centre’s (CSCs) in enhancing teacher professional development in Nyeri County. Specifically, the study had five objectives. The first objective was to determine how insufficient resources affect the role of CSCs in providing professional teacher development in primary schools in Nyeri County. The second objective was to investigate the extent to which CSCs officers visit schools and the frequency of in-service courses for teachers. The third objective was to establish the relationship between experience and professional qualification of CSC officer and their service delivery. The fourth objective was to establish the challenges that CSC officers face in their effort to enhance professionalism among the teachers, with the fifth objective being to find suggestions from the CSC officers and teachers on possible solutions for improving the performance of CSCs. Simple random sampling was used to sample teachers who participated in the study, with a total of 75 teachers selected. On the other hand, the entire population (five) of CSC officers in five sub-counties of Nyeri County participated in the study. Descriptive and correlational research design was adopted in this study, with data analysis comprising descriptive analysis and correlation analysis. Specifically, pie charts, and bar charts were used in descriptive analysis while correlational analysis involved the use of cross-tabulation and Kendall’s tau-b. In addition, significance tests were carried out in order to establish if the association between the variables was significant. The analysis results indicated that all the CSCs in Nyeri County had inadequate resources or in some cases poorly maintained resources. Also, the study found that majority of the teachers interviewed believed that professional qualification and experience of CSC officers was important in service delivery. The cross-tabulation between number of visits and number of in-service courses for teachers indicated that there was a positive correlation between the two variables, implying that CSC officers are likely to conduct more in service courses for teachers when they visit schools regularly. Also, correlation between the rating of CSCs in terms of dissemination of educational information by teachers and the perception of applicability of this information was computed. The results of correlation analysis suggested that a strong positive relationship existed between the two categorical variables. In this respect, a higher rating of CSCs by teachers was associated by a feeling that the educational information from CSCs was applicable in classroom and vice versa. However, most of the respondents rated CSCs as fair. The utilization of CSCs by teachers was found to be low. The study recommends adequate resourcing of the CSCs and facilitation of school visits by the tutors. In addition, the in-service training should be relevant in order to cater for the needs of the teachers. The CSC tutors should also be given opportunities for enhancing their skills. Also, there is a need to act on the challenges cited in the study in order to improve the in-service training in Nyeri County.