Teacher Related Determinants Influencing The Provision Of Quality Early Childhood Education In Njoro Division, Nakuru County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

The benefits associated with quality education have been acknowledged globally. Quality early childhood education programmes have been found to help to build a strong foundation for the child’s physical, mental, emotional, and social development that prepare them for a lifetime. In regard to this early childhood education was believed to prepare children for primary school. The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher related determinants factors influencing the provision of quality early childhood education. The study was set to establish whether factors such as teacher motivation, qualification, financial resource and parental involvement influences provision of quality Early Childhood Education. This study was guided by Bronfernbrenner’s ecological theory. Descriptive survey research design was used. The target population for the study was pre-school teachers and head teachers in Njoro Division, Nakuru County. The division has 84 ECE centres. The respondents comprised of 84 Head teachers, 168 ECDE teachers forming a target population of 252 respondents. Stratified sampling method and simple random sampling was used to select the sample size for the study. The sample size was 50% of 168 teachers (84) and 84 pre-school teachers (42) were selected giving a total of 126 respondents. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used to obtain data from the field. Questionnaires were piloted at to the ECDE centres in Njoro Division comprising of nine respondents which were not included in the final study to test validity and reliability of the instrument. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics which included mean, frequencies and percentages and presented in terms of tables, graphs and charts. Qualitative data was coded and analysed thematically based on the study objectives. The study established that teacher motivation, teacher qualification and financial resources positively and significantly influenced the provision of quality early childhood education. The study concludes that teacher motivation is critical to the success in enhancing quality ECDE education. This because teachers are the most important implementers, since they interface with the learners who have special education needs. There is a positive statistically significant relationship between teacher qualification and the provision of quality early childhood education. This means that higher teacher qualifications are related to improvements in supporting children’s development, including supporting language-reasoning experience, supervision and the scheduling of activities, organization and arrangement of the room, providing varied social experiences for children, and creating a warm and friendly environment for interactions. ECDE had suffered financial constraints due to lack of government funding. This led to lack of sufficient teaching classes and provision of required teaching and learning materials. The study recommends that special motivational strategies that target ECDE teachers on ECDE programs education should be implemented. All teachers who work in an inclusive setting should be given a special allowance. It is important to have teachers with qualification higher than certificate level of education in ECDE centres because quality is closely linked to the level of staff qualification. Financial resources should be taken into first consideration for ECDE support. Clear sources of ECDE financing should be identified, proper channels of distributing the money sought for and the amounts should be raised to the standards required.