INFLUENCE OF SELECTED FACTORS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC PRESCHOOL LEARNERS IN NYERI CENTRAL SUB-COUNTY, NYERI COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Early childhood education has increasingly become the foci of many governments around the world as they work towards the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number four (SDG4) of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all. In Kenya, despite the government effort to ensure provision of quality Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) in order to give children a head start for later formal education, there are certain factors that hamper the progress. The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of adequacy of instructional materials, teachers’ attitude in use of instructional materials, and the head teachers’ support of preschool teacher professional development on learners’ academic performance in public preschools in Nyeri Central Sub County, Kenya. The study was guided by Perry’s Cognitive Constructivism learning theory which advances that the role of the teacher of facilitating discovery by providing the necessary resources and by guiding learners as they attempt to assimilate new knowledge to old and to modify the old to accommodate the new. The study employed both descriptive survey and correlation research designs. Ten head teachers and 35 preschool teachers took part in the study. Data was collected through preschool teachers’ questionnaire, head teachers’ interview guide, preschool learners test and preschool instructional materials observation schedule. Content validity of research instruments was ascertained through pilot testing and review by a panel of University lecturers. Using test-retest method a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.78 was obtained for teachers’ questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The study three formulated null hypotheses were tested using Pearson correlation analysis. Qualitative data was thematically analyzed. The study found that adequacy of teaching and learning resources had a strong positive influence on learners’ academic performance (r = 0.74, p < 0.05). Similarly, head teachers’ support of preschool teachers’ professional development had a positive strong influence on learners’ academic performance (r = 0.674, p < 0.05). However, preschool teachers’ attitude towards the use of teaching and learning activities had a very weak and insignificant influence on learners’ academic performance (r = 0.025, p > 0.05). Since Early Childhood Education (ECE) is a fundamental right to every child, and an indispensable element for learning at the subsequent levels as the child goes through the education system, this study recommends that the County government should have a vote head in its budgetary allocation to not only remunerate and in service teachers, but also to provide teaching and learning materials.