The Kenya Literacy Programme: A View from Below. Report of an IIEP Research Review Workshop (Nairobi, Kenya, November 27-29, 1989).

Research conducted in Kenya had two purposes: to describe the literacy program and literacy learners and to determine the literacy skill levels of participants and to what use they are putting those skills. Researchers collected data from 5 districts in Kenya, including information about the characteristics and functioning of the literacy centers, and interviewed 388 of the 660 learners who had earned literacy certification and 64 teachers. Some of the findings of the study were the following: (1) the majority of the learners (67.5%) in the literacy programs are women; (2) enrollments in the program have been declining after enthusiastic growth resulting from a massive campaign in the 1970s; (3) facilities and equipment were found to be in relatively good shape; (4) teachers had been trained by 2-week courses or by 2-year correspondence courses; (5) learning motivation of more than 65 percent of the participants involves simply the desire to read and write; (6) large proportions of learners continue attending literacy classes after they have attained their certificates; and (7) numeracy skills are used more often than literacy skills. The study concluded that the main problem with the literacy program was that learners lacked motivation to attend, partially because of poor teaching. The findings of the study were reviewed at a workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, with 42 participants, and policy implications were formulated. (Appendixes include a list of workshop participants and the workshop program.) (KC)

an: ED342957; docTypes: Collected Works - Proceedings; pubTypes: Conference Proceedings;