Assessment of Curriculum Supervision Training Needs of Public Primary School Head Teachers in Bungoma West Sub - County, Kenya

Abstract

Effective internal supervision of curriculum is necessary for educational institutions to offer quality education to learners. Thus head teachers should possess requisite knowledge, skills and attitude in curriculum supervision. In Bungoma West Sub-County low academic achievement is an issue in most public primary schools. This is attributed to various factors, with inefficiency in internal curriculum supervision often mentioned by stakeholders in the Sub-County as one of the factors. In Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam, mean scores for the year 2012 to 2014 have been below average performance indices of 237.22, 239.63 and 232.30 respectively out of possible 500 marks. In-Service Education and Training (INSET) courses have previously been organized based on the whims of course organizers and not actual curriculum supervision needs of head teachers. The purpose of the study was to assess curriculum supervision training needs of public primary school head teachers in Bungoma West Sub-County. Specific objectives were to determine the discrepancy between the ideal and actual curriculum supervision knowledge, skills and attitudes of the head teachers with regard to: capacity building, professional documents preparation, instructional resources mobilization, classroom observation and learners‟ assessment. The study used descriptive survey research design. A conceptual framework comparing the ideal and actual outcome was used to guide the study. The study population was 81 primary school head teachers, 1 Sub-County Director of Education (SCDE) and 1 TSC Sub-County Director (TSC SCD). The research instruments comprised of head teachers questionnaires, interview schedule and document analysis guide. To ascertain reliability of the instruments, a pilot study was carried out involving 10% of the study population. Curriculum studies experts at Maseno University were consulted to ascertain content validity. Test re-test was used to determine an acceptable reliability Pearson coefficient of 0.9. Quantitative data was analyzed by descriptive statistics of frequencies, percentages and means. Qualitative data was grouped based on objectives and analysis based on emerging themes. The study found very low discrepancy between ideal and actual curriculum supervision knowledge, skills and attitudes of head teachers with regard to capacity building (m= 4.14).Very low discrepancy also existed between the ideal and actual knowledge and skills on: preparation of professional documents (m=4.05), instructional resources mobilization (m=4.26), classroom observation (m=4.23) and learners‟ assessment (m=4.02). The study equally observed very low discrepancy in the attitude of head teachers towards classroom observation (m=4.22). However, there was a discrepancy between ideal and actual curriculum supervision attitudes of head teachers on: Preparation of professional documents (m=3.87) instructional resources mobilization (m=3.69) and learner‟s assessment (m=3.75). The study concludes that head teachers have training needs with regard to curriculum supervision attitude in line with: preparation of professional documents, instruction resources mobilization and learners‟ assessment. The researcher recommends that future INSET courses for head teachers should target attitude change for them to supervise curriculum effectively. The study would be of significance to the Sub-County MoE officials in the organization of INSET courses for head teachers. Besides that, the study findings would contribute significantly to the knowledge in the field of teacher education and training.