Pre-service Teachers’ Perceptions on Focus discussion Groups as a Model of Context-based learning Primary Teacher education. A case of Meru and Egoji Teachers Colleges

Abstract

Abstract

Research and policy documents in Kenya and in many other African countries have decried low quality primary education which they attribute to low quality teacher education (Government of Kenya-GoK- (2012) , GoK (2005), the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme document of 2005-2010(2005), Feiman-Nemser (2001), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-UNESCO (2005) Dembele and Miaro-II (2003) and Wanzare (2002). This inhibits the vision of provision of an all-inclusive relevant and quality education particularly in Kenya as envisioned by the Vision 2030 and the MoEST (2015) National Education Sector Plan 2013-2018. Low quality teacher education as pointed out by Dembele and Miaro-II (2003), MoEST (2003) and GoK (2012) is mainly due to the use of the traditional content-based pedagogical primary teacher education model that lacks adequate learner involvement, splits learning into separate subjects and has little connection between theory and practice. This study sought to identify the experiences and perceptions of pre-service teachers on focus discussions groups as a model of context-based learning. A quasi experimental research design in form of pre-test/post test longitudinal panel control group was used. This involved a stratified random sample of 80 first year pre-service teachers from Meru and Egoji colleges (40 for experimental and 40 for control groups). The experimental group was sub-divided into groups of ten of equal gender proportions that held discussions under the facilitation of the researcher once per week during teaching practice sessions. A focus group discussion schedule, a reflective diary and a questionnaire were used to collect data. The findings obtained revealed that the experimental group that used the focus discussion groups as a component of context-based learning model performed better than the control group. The findings also showed that pre-service teachers found focus discussion groups (Cooperative learning) useful in their professional career development though they felt the discussion groups needed more time and fewer members.