Your search

Issues affecting pre-school education in a rural area of Kenya are highlighted in a study of a mother tongue education (MTE) programme in one indigenous language group, the Pokomo. Factors supporting the introduction of MTE include official support for MTE, the welcoming of non-government stakeholder involvement in education, the presence of individuals and organisations committed to MTE and the willingness of local education authorities to partner with organisations in the establishment of...

This paper explores the experiences of pre- and in-service teachers through intentionally created narrative inquiry (Connelly Clandinin, 2006) spaces within three different service-learning engagements in Canada, Kenya, and Turkey. Because the contexts where our studies were situated were culturally different from participants' backgrounds, narrative inquiry spaces shaped windows in which participants could restory their understandings of others different from themselves. We argue thinking...

The role of African languages in formal and nonformal learning is the subject of increasing local, national and international interests. Cognitive and pedagogical reasons abound for using the language best understood by the learner. However, many nonpedagogical factors related to politics, economics, language attitudes and colonial history are also extremely influential as decisions are made regarding language of instruction. Among the various stakeholders in this issue of language choice...

The New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) is a combination Project of the United Nations and World Bank aimed at developing an integrated socio-economic framework for Africa's renewal. Its three main areas of operation included economics, educational and social dimensions. NEPAD's aim was to have Africans develop homegrown solutions to the continents problems of poverty, illiteracy and disease. The infrastructure, especially Information and Communication Technology (ICT) were...

Abstract: Successful adult literacy and basic education programs are notoriously difficult to achieve. One reason for this has to do with how the question, “literacy for what?” is answered for a given program. All too frequently, the answer to that question is shaped more by the goals of the literacy provider than it is by learners’ own goals and desires. Accurate assessment of people''s motivations for participating in literacy programs can uncover motivations beyond the economic or...

In this study the authors employed a multilevel analysis procedure in order to examine the pupil and school levels factors that contributed to variation in reading achievement among Grade 6 primary school pupils in 14 southern African school systems (Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zanzibar). The data for this study were collected in 2002 as part of a major project known as the Southern and...

In this study the authors employed a multilevel analysis procedure in order to examine the pupil and school levels factors that contributed to variation in reading achievement among Grade 6 primary school pupils in 14 southern African school systems (Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zanzibar). The data for this study were collected in 2002 as part of a major project known as the Southern and...

Kenya has 41 Deaf schools that serve children from Class 1 through secondary school. These schools are all characterised by the fact that they have very few teachers who are fluent in Kenyan sign language. In order to meet the needs of schools and to provide employment opportunities for Deaf Kenyan adults, a small non-governmental organisation identified Deaf secondary school students for training. They received two years of teacher training free of charge. Most have since been awarded...

Kenya has 41 Deaf schools that serve children from Class 1 through secondary school. These schools are all characterised by the fact that they have very few teachers who are fluent in Kenyan sign language. In order to meet the needs of schools and to provide employment opportunities for Deaf Kenyan adults, a small non-governmental organisation identified Deaf secondary school students for training. They received two years of teacher training free of charge. Most have since been awarded...

Since 1948, various UN conventions have recognised basic education as a human right. Yet this right continues to be denied to many child labourers across the world. This articles draws on the results of a study examining how children in domestic labour in Kenya access and participate in education. Three issues were explored: (1) the correlates of child domestic labourers; (2) their working conditions and contexts; and (3) the right to education. Interviews and group discussions held in one...

This paper reports on a survey of 358 respondents across 25 African countries into their usage of learning management systems. It concludes that while there are some enthusiastic advocates of such systems, the reality is that most African educators as yet have little knowledge about, or interest in, their usage. There remain very considerable infrastructural constraints to be overcome before they can be widely adopted for open and distance learning across the continent, and there is still...

The author comments on the CONFINTEA VI adult education conference organized by UNESCO. Presentations were given by Director-General Of UNESCO, Irina Bokova and Princess Laurentien, UNESCO's Special Envoy on Literacy for Development. John Gates of Wales and Magdalene Motsi of Kenya stressed the importance of listening to what learners want from their learning. According to the author, the outcomes of the event are important.

An economics-driven discourse about early literacy (Trudell, 2009) in sub-Saharan African settings often includes a list of reasons for poor levels of literacy that remain mired in deficit thinking or a deficiencies model in which the problem lies within the non-literate people themselves. Meanwhile, the established post-colonial educational structure is held largely blameless and unexamined. This study includes a critical inquiry into literacy education that takes into account constraints...

The purpose of this study was to find out the effect of embossed picture technique when used in teaching reading to the pupils with hearing impairment. The study was guided by Piaget's theory of human mental development. The study adopted an experimental design. The study was carried out at Kambui School for the hearing impaired located on Githunguri-Ruiru road in Kiambu District, Githunguri Division, Ngewa zone, 3 kilometers off Kwa-Maiko centre. The school was chosen since it caters for...

The study aimed at finding out whether teachers can identify the courses of reading disabilities in learners. It intended to establish whether teachers have adequate knowledge of identifying learners with reading disabilities, determine the proportion of non-readers in grade five. It also investigated the existing methods and materials teachers use in teaching and remediating reading including the difficulties teachers encounter when teaching. Finally, the study aimed at finding out whether...