Teachers’ Use of Life Themes Pedagogy and Its Influence on Performance in CRE in Bungoma County, Kenya

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to examine the teachers’ preparedness in the use of the life
themes pedagogy in selected public secondary schools in Bungoma County. The theoretical
framework that guided the study was Situated Cognition, which is also referred to as the
Situated Learning Theory (SLT) by Lave and Wenger (1991). The participants in the study
included teachers of CRE in selected public secondary schools in Bungoma County as well as
form 3 students taking CRE subject. The sample constituted of 425 students, 241(56.71%)
were male respondents, 184(43.29%) were female respondents and 29 teachers. Instruments
for data collection were self-administered questionnaire and document analysis. Sampling
techniques used were simple random sampling and stratified sampling. Construct validity was
checked by teaching faculty who proposed some adjustments. Reliability was checked using
Cronbach's alpha coefficient which was 0.78 and above for the key constructs of the study,
and thus was reliable enough. A Pilot study was conducted in secondary schools in the
neighbouring Trans Nzoia County. The study adopted descriptive research design. The results
indicated that indeed a good number of students agreed that their teachers were well prepared
to teach the course with 408(96%) saying “yes” while 17(4%) said “no”. The views of the
students were in line with responses given by teachers who, by a majority of 62.07%, agreed
that they were prepared in the use of life themes pedagogy. Among the steps taken to ensure
preparedness were attending workshops, seminars as well as in-service training.