Department of Education Foundation
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Item Assessment of Student Leaders’ Skills Critical in Managing Student Affairs in Public Universities in Kenya(Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD, 2018) Murage, Lucy Muthoni; Njoka, Johannes Njagi; Gachahi, Michael WambuguThe need to prevent eruption of unrests among students in universities continues to exercise the minds of higher education managers and policy makers in the world. Innovative approaches in the management of higher education designed to preclude students’ riots continue to face immense challenges and ineffectiveness in universities in Kenya. One of the widely adopted approaches is that of involving democratically elected student leaders in the management of students’ affairs in universities in Kenya. Despite the involvement of student leaders in the management of students’ affairs in public universities, students’ protests and riots continue to characterize higher education in Kenya. Consequently, there is need to examine the leadership skills that student leaders are expected to possess in order to perform their functions effectively so as to avert upsurge of strikes. This study sought to assess the student leaders’ skills that are critical in managing student affairs in selected public universities in Kenya. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. Stratified random sampling was used to select student leaders from four public universities. The sample comprised 19 members of student governing councils, 50 class representatives and 79 clubs and society leaders, making a total of 142 respondents. Data was collected using questionnaires. Data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that 66.3% of student leaders had leadership competence to organize welfare activities to address students’ concerns in their institutions while 33.7% lacked capability. Further, the study established that leadership skills significantly contributed to effective provision of student affairs services. It is concluded that institutions of higher learning have not fully empowered student leaders to effectively perform their leadership tasks. The study recommends that student leaders should be exposed to regular leadership trainings during their tenure designed to equip them with necessary leadership competencies which would promote their effectiveness in enhancing university stability, peace and mutually accepted governance.Item Relationship between Psychosocial Dynamics and Academic Performance of Secondary School Students: A Comparative Study between Murang'a and Kirinyaga Counties, Kenya(Journal of Arts and Humanities, 2019-09-19) Njega, Stephen Weru; Njoka, Johannes Njagi; Ndung’u, Catherine WaitheraNumerous psychosocial variables influence students’ academic performance in secondary schools in the world and Kenya in particular. The psychosocial dynamics such as family supportiveness, school conduciveness and self-efficacy influence the learners’ life and consequently academic performance. Empirical evidence is lacking on the combined influence of family supportiveness, school conduciveness and self-efficacy on academic performance. The purpose of this study was to assess the perceived psychosocial dynamics and their influence on academic performance in secondary schools in Murang'a and Kirinyaga counties. The study was based on the systems theory and adopted correlational research design. Target population of the study was 5879 consisting of all form three students in extra-county and national schools in Murang'a and Kirinyaga counties. A stratified simple random sampling was used get a sample size of 412 respondents. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results indicated that students in Kirinyaga county were more endowed psychosocially with a mean of 63.44% compared to their Murang'a counterparts with 59.74%, with a significant difference. The psychosocial dynamics correlated positively with academic performance with a calculated Pearson’s correlation coefficient r=0.339, with p-value=0.000<0.05. There was a positive association between family supportiveness, school conduciveness, self-efficacy and the overall psychosocial dynamics. However, the relationship between school conduciveness and academic performance was absolutely zero. The study recommended that the government should invest in further in the formation programs for teachers and cascade them to learners targeting to boost learners’ mindset, personal perception and psychosocial dynamics in the students.Item Home Based Variables Influencing Effective Implementation of Inclusive Education in Kirinyaga West Sub-County, Kenya(Journal of Arts & Humanities, 2018) Maingi, Atanasia Wambui; Njoka, Johannes Njagi; Murage, Josiah KinyuaInclusive education is a strategy designed to facilitate learning success for all children. Despite many efforts being put forth, many students with learning disabilities find it difficult to fit into the normal school environment. The study sought to find out the home-based variables that influence effective application of inclusive education in public primary schools in Kirinyaga West Sub-County. The study used the descriptive investigation research design and was directed by mainstreaming model propounded by Bandura’s. Purposive sampling was used to identify 10 public primary schools that offer inclusive education while simple random sampling using Gay formula (10-20%) was applied to select 10 students and 5 teachers in the selected schools. Pilot study was carried out to test the reliability of the instruments in a neighboring school in Kirinyaga Central Sub-County. The research instruments included two sets of questionnaires, one for teachers and the other for the students and an interview guide for the Sub-County Director of Education. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics such as means, frequencies and percentages. Data collected was presented in form of graphs and tables. The results showed that majority of the parents (75.6%) are not able to support the learners with basic needs in the school though they attend school meetings. The study also revealed that cultural practices have a negative influence towards effective implementation of inclusive education. The study recommends the need to sensitize and create more awareness to strengthen implementation of inclusive education in public primary schools in Kirinyaga West SubCounty.Item Evaluation of Creative Thinking Skills amongst Students in Kenya: A Case Study of Public Secondary Schools in Nyeri and Nairobi Counties.(African Journal of Education, Science and Technology, 2018-06) Githui, Perminus; Njoka, Johannes Njagi; Mwenje, MargaretCreative thinking skills are vital competencies in the life of every individual. Therefore, people with creative thinking skills are able to innovate and come up with novel solutions to problems that confront them in life. In this way, they become innovators and problem solvers. Creative thinking is competences that enable learners to apply their imagination in generating ideas, hypotheses, and experiment with alternatives to generate new products and processes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the creative thinking skills among students in boys’, girls’ and co-education public secondary schools (PSC) in Nyeri and Nairobi Counties. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design guided by the social cognitive theory as its theoretical framework. The target population consisted of 69,220 learners in 300 PSC in Nairobi and Nyeri Counties. The schools in the two counties were stratified into boys, girls and mixed-sex schools. Therefore, 4 boys’, 5 girls’ and 21 co-education secondary schools were selected to form a sample of ten percent of the schools from each stratum. Data was collected using a questionnaire administered to the sampled students. A total of 391 respondents were sampled in both counties. Analyzed data indicated that the students in Nairobi County had moderately higher creative thinking skills than their fellow students from Nyeri. The computed mean score for students’ creative thinking skills per county were; Nairobi ( 3.06) and Nyeri with ( 3.03). Independent Sample t-test of creative thinking skills of learners in both gave a pvalue 0.584 which was above 0.05 significance level, this indicated that there was no significant difference in creative thinking among students in Nairobi and Nyeri Counties. Additionally, the study sought to find out the creative thinking skills among learners in single sex and co-education public secondary schools in the two counties. Data analysis revealed that girls schools posted the highest level of creative thinking abilities ( = 3.08), followed by boys schools ( =3.07) while mixed-sex secondary schools had a mean score of 3.01. The computed ANOVA for boys, girls and mixed- sex secondary schools, yielded a p values of 0.478 which was above 0.05 significance level, indicating that there was no significant difference in creative thinking skills among students in single sex and coeducation secondary schools at 95% limit. Therefore the null hypothesis was accepted and concluded that the creative thinking abilities among students in the three categories of schools were relatively the same. The study concluded that there is need to strengthen creative thinking skills among learners in the three school categories in both counties in Kenya.