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The article traces the policy history of Kenya over more than 40 years (1963-2006) in order to tease out the tensions between the key themes of its own national agenda and the priorities of its principal development partners. The national concerns with the education-and-employment connection and with the orientation of schooling towards skills for work in the formal and informal economies can be contrasted with the aid agency priorities on quality and on education-for-poverty reduction....

Issue Title: Curriculum Change and Competency-based Approaches: A Worldwide Perspective Taking place in a context where national policy is concerned about Education for All (EFA), where the educational provision to satisfy political, economic and social demands for a changing world falls well below the minimal requirements, and where international organizations demand signs of more significant progress, this article presents in an analytical manner the contribution made by the...

THIS INTEGRATIVE review on the teaching of reading in Kenyan primary schools provides a foundation for the growing movement there to improve reading education. In gathering sources for this review, we took an inclusive historical stance. Thus, we did not dismiss research reports that lacked traditional indicators of quality such as being published in peer-reviewed journals. We used multiple methods to find relevant research and associated documents, including two trips to Kenya. The review...

Homework is assigned on the assumption that parents or other elder members have the capacity to assist the pupils and that home environment is conducive for the pupil to do homework. A cross-sectional survey using structured and semi-structured interviews was conducted among pupils and parents in Kengeleni division in Mombasa district to explore socio-cultural and economic factors that influence parental participation in pupils' homework and, consequently, propose recommendations for...

Homework is assigned on the assumption that parents or other elder members have the capacity to assist the pupils and that home environment is conducive for the pupil to do homework. A cross-sectional survey using structured and semi-structured interviews was conducted among pupils and parents in Kengeleni division in Mombasa district to explore socio-cultural and economic factors that influence parental participation in pupils' homework and, consequently, propose recommendations for...

This paper explores the discourse of whole class teaching in Kenyan and Nigerian primary school English lessons. Twenty lessons were analysed using a system of discourse analysis focusing on the teacher-led three-part exchange sequence of Initiation -- Response -- Feedback (IRF). The focus of the analysis was on the first and third part of the IRF sequence as it is here that research suggests teachers can enhance pupil learning through questions and follow-up which asks pupils to expand on...

This paper explores the discourse of whole class teaching in Kenyan and Nigerian primary school English lessons. Twenty lessons were analysed using a system of discourse analysis focusing on the teacher-led three-part exchange sequence of Initiation-Response-Feedback (IRF). The focus of the analysis was on the first and third part of the IRF sequence as it is here that research suggests teachers can enhance pupil learning through questions and follow-up which asks pupils to expand on their...

This integrative review on the teaching of reading in Kenyan primary schools provides a foundation for the growing movement there to improve reading education. In gathering sources for this review, we took an inclusive historical stance. Thus, we did not dismiss research reports that lacked traditional indicators of quality such as being published in peer-reviewed journals. We used multiple methods to find relevant research and associated documents, including two trips to Kenya. The review...

This report describes the Forum on Flexible Education: Reaching Nomadic Populations in Africa, which was held in Garissa, Kenya, from 20-23 June 2006. The objectives of the Forum were to share experiences and best practices, create linkages and encourage collaboration in order to make education more accessible to nomadic communities. Representatives from the Kenyan MOE, COL, ComSec and UNICEF provided remarks at the Opening Session of the Forum. They stressed the need to find ways to include...

This article reviews the evolution of education policies in the East African region in a historical context. The focus is on the formulation of policies for access to primary and secondary education in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania since their independence in the 1960s. The three countries have common characteristics and historical backgrounds. For example, few of their population had access to education at all levels in the past, and hence, each faced similar educational and literacy...

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the Strengthening of Mathematics and Science in Secondary Education (SMASSE) and the School-based Teacher Development (SbTD) programmes on classroom interaction in secondary and primary schools in Kenya. It was a case study which focused on four districts, and included holding interviews with 185 teachers, observing lessons and holding focus group discussions with pupils and students. It was established that, while teachers...

This article assesses the impact of education reform and the new public management (NPM) on the discretion of school teachers. The focal point of the study is Michael Lipsky's theory of discretion which casts public service professionals and others involved in service delivery as `street-level bureaucrats' because their high degree of discretionary rule-making power enabled them to effectively make policy as well as implement it. The article considers the relationship between education...

In his keynote speech at the 16th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in South Africa, renowned African scholar Mahmood Mamdani called for the creation of regional research institutions for clusters of countries to be made a developmental focus for the Commonwealth. Noting that only African countries with a dense network of universities seemed able to pay for research universities, Mamdani argued that smaller countries, such as Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, should collaborate to create a regional research university.

This paper uses the SACMEQ II data to carry out an analysis of classroom context factors that accounted for student scores in reading and mathematics as well as a review of methods used to derive policies in Kenya in order to emphasise the need for evidence-based research for the derivation of policies for the leadership and management of primary education in Kenya. The paper goes further to explain the advantages of the approach as well as some of the impediments. Some suggestions of...

To identify diverse student strengths and to learn how teachers can build instruction on those strengths, the author and his colleagues have conducted multiple studies among students in Alaska, the mainland United States, Kenya, and other countries. In a series of studies in Alaska and Kenya, the researchers measured the adaptive cultural knowledge and skills of native Alaskan students and rural Kenyan students and demonstrated that instruction geared to these cultural skills improved...

This article describes the adaptation and validation of the Constructivist OnLine Learning Environment Survey (COLLES) for use in the transnational higher education context. As higher education becomes a more global phenomenon, ‘borderless’ education, either online or by distance education, is becoming a reality and there is a need for remote evaluation of course delivery and student learning. Curtin University of Technology is managing supported online delivery of Business Studies Degree...

In Northwest Cameroon, the emergence of literacy in the mother tongue is providing minority language communities with new alternatives for learning and communication. To some extent, these alternatives are shaped by existing literacy practices in English, as English is the language of formal education. However, new spaces are also emerging in society for the use of literacy in the mother tongue. This paper examines the impact of mother-tongue literacy on attitudes towards, and uses of,...