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In order for children to acquire meaningful education, families are advised to participate in learning activities at home. Such activities range from monitoring homework, problem-solving to reading with children during leisure time. But home-learning was claimed to receive little attention from key stakeholders among primary schools in Kenya's Kakamega County. This study therefore, was meant to explore the home-learning practices in the sampled schools. A review of the literature relevant to...

In order for children to acquire meaningful education, families are advised to participate in learning activities at home. Such activities range from monitoring homework, problem-solving to reading with children during leisure time. But home-learning was claimed to receive little attention from key stakeholders among primary schools in Kenya's Kakamega County. This study therefore, was meant to explore the home-learning practices in the sampled schools. A review of the literature relevant to...

This paper is an overview of the writing skill in the lower levels of learning in the contemporary society. The following areas of writing are highlighted: the writing programme and its goals, the basic methodology for writing tasks, broad groups of writing skills, the teaching of the writing skills in pre-primary and primary schools where controlled and guided composition writing are seen as the main types of composition and lastly the punctuation, testing and marking of written tasks.

This paper is an overview of the writing skill in the lower levels of learning in the contemporary society. The following areas of writing are highlighted: the writing programme and its goals, the basic methodology for writing tasks, broad groups of writing skills, the teaching of the writing skills in pre-primary and primary schools where controlled and guided composition writing are seen as the main types of composition and lastly the punctuation, testing and marking of written tasks.

If children do not learn how to read in the first few years of primary school, they at greater risk of dropping out. It is therefore crucial to identify and test interventions that have the potential of making a large impact, can be implemented quickly, and are affordable to be taken to scale by the Kenyan government. This paper presents the findings of three randomized controlled trials designed to improve student literacy outcomes in Kenya. Two of the studies have multiple data points, two...

Despite rapid growth in literacy-related programmes and evaluation in sub-Saharan Africa, little critical attention has been paid to the relevance of assumptions that underlie existing assessment methods. This study focuses on the issue of timing in the assessment of oral reading fluency, a critical component of successful reading (Chard, Vaughn, & Tyler, 2002; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), 2000; Pikulski & Chard, 2005). Within the context of the Primary...

Despite rapid growth in literacy-related programmes and evaluation in sub-Saharan Africa, little critical attention has been paid to the relevance of assumptions that underlie existing assessment methods. This study focuses on the issue of timing in the assessment of oral reading fluency, a critical component of successful reading (Chard, Vaughn, & Tyler, 2002; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), 2000; Pikulski & Chard, 2005). Within the context of the Primary...

This paper describes the development and intended uses of the Early Grades Mathematics Assessment (EGMA), which measures essential early mathematical knowledge and skills that are foundational to more sophisticated mathematical abilities, predictive of later achievement, and teachable. Administering the EGMA can provide policy makers, practitioners, and researchers with information about whether existing educational policies, curricular reforms or programs, and instructional interventions...

This was a descriptive survey study design which sought to establish the school based factors that affect the learning of Kenyan Sign Language in primary schools for learners with hearing impairment in Embu and Isiolo counties in Kenya. The target population was all teachers teaching in primary schools for learners with hearing impairment in the two counties. From the selected schools, the study purposively and randomly sampled 2 head teachers and 8 teachers respectively. Interview guides...

The differential patterns of grade progression have direct implications for the calculation of learning profiles. Researchers measure learning in primary school using survey data on reading and math skills of a nationally representative, population-based sample of children in India, Pakistan, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Research demonstrates that learning levels among primary and secondary students in much of the developing world are extremely low and lag far behind the rich world,...

In the face of transmission-oriented national curricula, this study explores possibilities for claiming space for imagination, as 'the most powerful and energetic of learning tools' (Egan 1986), in early childhood education in mainstream Kenyan schools. Drawing from Egan's work on imagination and Cummins' Nested Pedagogical Orientations framework, this study interrogates the indispensable role of imagination in transformative education, as well as its utility in the 'transmission' of the...

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been touted as being potentially powerful tools that can be used to facilitate the implied educational change and reform. Implementation of ICT in higher education learning environments is a complex task. Teachers and students, but also management, administration and ICT support are affected by and affect the implementation. To facilitate the change processes better the first step is to actually understand what problems and challenges...

The major goal of every learning institution is deliver good quality education to its students just like every other organization aims to offer better quality products to it’s customers to gain a competitive advantage. Secondary schools are critical

The objective of the paper is to re-examine the mother–child education achievement hypothesis, by re-examining the effect of mother's education, on math and literacy test scores of children in Kenya. Data come from the classroom Education Research Programme at the African Population and Health Research Centre which was collected between January and March 2012. Since pupils are nested within schools, we fitted a two-level random intercept model. Our findings show that mothers' and fathers'...

This study examines the relationship between informal science and indigenous innovations in local communities in which students matured. The discussion considers methods for bridging the gap that exists between parents' understanding of informal science ("Ubunifu") and what students learn in secondary schools in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. In an effort to reconcile the difference between students' lived experiences and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) taught in...

In the Republic of Kenya, song is widely used to enhance the whole curriculum in lower primary classes. Song is used especially to aid recall and therefore teachers adapt tunes that children already know, inserting relevant words from the subject at hand. Despite this widespread practice, this form of singing in schools is not recognised by the same teachers as music training in the classroom, and so little, if any, effort is put into the actual music production. Teachers do not attend to...

In the Republic of Kenya, song is widely used to enhance the whole curriculum in lower primary classes. Song is used especially to aid recall and therefore teachers adapt tunes that children already know, inserting relevant words from the subject at hand. Despite this widespread practice, this form of singing in schools is not recognised by the same teachers as music training in the classroom, and so little, if any, effort is put into the actual music production. Teachers do not attend to...

In the Republic of Kenya, song is widely used to enhance the whole curriculum in lower primary classes. Song is used especially to aid recall and therefore teachers adapt tunes that children already know, inserting relevant words from the subject at hand. Despite this widespread practice, this form of singing in schools is not recognised by the same teachers as music training in the classroom, and so little, if any, effort is put into the actual music production. Teachers do not attend to...

Coming from Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Kenya, the papers in this Special Issue on Music Education in Africa cannot portray a definitive story of music education in all 54 sovereign states in the Continent, but as a first step towards understanding what matters in this region of the world, the range of topics in this issue provides us with a focal point for dialogue.