School of Education and Social sciences

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    Effectiveness of Counselors in Managing Discipline in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya: Case of Mt. Kenya East Selected Counties
    (African Journal of Education, Science and Technology, 2019-09) Njoka, N. Johannes; Kimotho, W. Flora; Gitumu, W. Margaret
    Various innovative approaches to shaping of students’ discipline have been introduced in schools since the banning of corporal punishment; one such strategy is the involvement of school counselors as an alternative to corporal punishments, unfortunately the effectiveness of such strategies have not been clearly documented. This study sought to analyze the effectiveness of school counselors in promoting learners’ discipline in public secondary schools in three Mt. Kenya East counties. The study was guided by the following research objectives, to analyze the prevalence of students’ indiscipline and evaluate the effectiveness of involvement of counselors in shaping discipline in public secondary schools. The hypothesis was that there was no relationship between the involvement of counselors and level of discipline. The target population comprised of 421 heads of counseling from all the 421 secondary schools from which a sample of 42 counselors were selected using the stratified random sampling. Questionnaires were used in data collection. Analysis of data was conducted using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results of the study indicated that counseling was minimally used to promote student discipline in secondary schools. The findings from the test of hypothesis revealed that there was no statistically significant difference in the involvement of counselors shaping students’ discipline in public secondary schools. In order to establish whether a significant statistical relationship existed between prevalence of indiscipline and use of counseling in controlling misbehavior among learners in secondary schools, Pearson r correlation was computed which yielded r = + .097, n = 42, p < .0005. The null hypothesis was thus accepted and it was concluded on the need to strengthen counseling to enhance discipline. The study recommends enhancement of counseling with a view to integrating counselors in school management and decisionmaking organs such as Boards of Management.
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    Challenges facing Juvenile Delinquents Rehabilitation Centres in Kenya: A Case Study of Othaya Rehabilitation Centre, Nyeri, Kenya
    (African Journal of Education, Science and Technology, 2019) Njoka, N. Johannes; Kariuki, W. Rosalind; Ndegwa, W. Lucy
    Incidences of juvenile delinquency have been escalating at an alarming rate. The government has established rehabilitation centres for admitting adolescents who for some reason have had contraventions to the legal system. Rehabilitation of these children is a key component in ensuring that they are successfully empowered to live amicably in the social order. This study sought to assess the challenges facing Othaya Rehabilitation Centre, Nyeri County, Kenya. The research objective was, to assess the challenges encountered by tutors and learners in Othaya Rehabilitation Centre in Nyeri, Kenya. The research design was essentially descriptive with qualitative and quantitative approaches and was guided by B.F. Skinner’s Theory of Operant Conditioning. The target population of the study consisted of all learners and teachers in Othaya Rehabilitation Centre. There were 103 learners and 9 teachers. The study employed census survey and thus the entire population was included in the sample because it was a manageable number. The research instruments included two sets of questionnaires, one for teachers and the other for the learners. A pilot study was conducted in a neighbouring rehabilitation centre in Kirinyaga County and the data collected used to compute the reliability of the instruments using Chronbach alpha which yielded a coefficient of .810, which indicated that the instruments were reliable. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as means, frequencies and percentages and the findings were presented in form of tables and narrations. The findings of the study revealed that teachers had not received any in-service training on handling juvenile delinquents, were not motivated, there were no incentives for good performance and the teachers received no parental support in molding the learners. The research established that the counseling programmes existing in the rehabilitation centre were perceived as generally effective, pupils were exposed to sporadic bullying by their colleagues, teachers were occasionally absent and missed classes and pupils had inadequate breaks to play a part in co-curricular activities. Lastly, the study revealed that there existed poor hygiene conditions and there was frequent theft of personal items. The study recommends the need to sensitize parents to provide for the physical and the psychological needs of the learners, provision of training opportunities for teachers and improvement of safety and living conditions for the learners.
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    Assessment of Decision Making Skills among Adolescents from Rural and Urban Contexts in Kenya: A Comparative Study of Learners in Public Secondary Schools in Nyeri and Nairobi Counties
    (African Journal of Education, Science and Technology, 2018) Perminus, Githui; Njoka, N. Johannes; Mwenje, Margaret
    Human beings are confronted by situations that require them to make decisions every day in their lives. The natural processes of adjustment to situations in life that human beings are part of demands acts of decision making. Decision making is hence a natural consequence of existence by human beings. The purpose of this study was to assess the decision making skills among adolescents from rural contexts and those from urban environments. The study was guided by the following objectives which was to; assess the status of decision making skills among adolescents from rural and urban contexts in Kenya, evaluate the variables that influence adolescents during decision making processes from rural and urban environments in Kenya and analyze the challenges that face adolescents while making decisions from rural and urban contexts in Kenya. Descriptive research design was used in this study. Social cognitive theory developed by Bandura guided the study. The target population comprised of adolescents selected from schools from Nyeri and Nairobi Counties. A sample of schools from the two counties was selected using Kothari’s sampling formula which gave 30 (10%) schools from both counties. The sampled schools were as follows; 2 boys’ schools from each county, 3 and 2 girls’, 4 and 17 co-educational schools from Nyeri and Nairobi Counties respectively. Data was collected using a questionnaire administered to the sampled adolescents. The study used a sampling formula by Kathuri and Pals to determine the sample size which yielded 391 respondents. Analyzed data revealed that adolescents from urban areas had relatively better decision making skills compared to their counterparts from rural environments. The first hypothesis stated that there was no statistically significant difference in decision making abilities among adolescents from rural and urban contexts. To test this hypothesis, t-test was calculated which gave a level of significance .000 which was less than the pvalue (.05). Therefore the null hypothesis was rejected. It was concluded that the decision making skills among adolescents from rural and urban contexts was dissimilar. The second research hypothesis sought to establish whether there was any statistically significant difference in decision making skills between gender from rural and urban contexts. The results of data analysis presented revealed that the level of significance .163 was more than the p-value (.05). Therefore the null hypothesis was accepted. It was concluded that there was no statistically significant difference in decision making skills among male and female adolescents. The study recommended that there is need to strengthen the process of nurturing decision making skills among adolescents in secondary schools in Kenya.
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