Factors influencing teachers attitudes towards the content and teaching of social education and ethics in Kiambu district
Ndani, Mary Nyokabi
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Social Education and Ethics (SEE) is a subject which was introduced in the Kenya Secondary School curriculum in 1986. Its introduction was based on the observation of the Education Commissions and in particular in National Committee on Educational objectives and Policies (Gachathi Report) of 1976 , and the presidential working party on the secondary university (Mackay Report) of 1981, that our education system was not efficient in developing socially oriented goals. The subject is specifically aimed at producing morally educated persons, able to make moral decisions based on sound rationality, and hopefully wiling to act on those decisions. Since its introduction, no empirical research has been done to find out how it is viewed by teachers who implement it. The attitudes of teachers towards subject may enhance or higher its implementation depending on whether they are positive or negative. It was this realization that prompted the study reported herein. The study was intended to establish whether or not SEE teachers' attitudes correspond to those implicitly expected of them in the syllabus. The researcher also hoped to establish whether some factors which may be expected to have an influence on the teachers' attitudes towards the subject, do in fact have an influence. Those factors include-: 1. Teachers' perception of the status of SEE. 2. The presence of a supportive environment for teaching the subject. 3. The facilitativeness of the methods the teacher uses. 4. The teacher's examination orientation. 5. The religious inclination of the teachers. Problems faced by SEE teachers in the teaching of the subject were also sought. The study revealed that: 1. More than half of the SEE teachers have the attitudes implicitly expected by its syllabus. 2. Among the investigated factors only examination orientation and the religious inclination of the teachers showed a significant influence on the teachers' attitudes towards the teaching and content of SEE. 3. The SEE teachers do face problems in implementing it, among which are:- (i) Shallowness of the textbooks, (ii) inadequacy of the allocated time (iii) examination orientation in pupils (iv) lack of books (v) lack of training for teachers and (iv) lack support from the ministry of Education.