Strategies for fostering character development education by teachers in Kenyan schools

Abstract

For a long time since the banning of corporal punishment, character education is back on the agenda in Kenyan education policy. However, there is much uncertainty on how it should be implemented in schools and there is no one definition of what it means. This is not surprising since there has clearly been a long history of ill-conceived, ineffective and failed efforts at character education in Kenya and elsewhere in the world. The kinds of character goals that teachers and educational thinkers espouse and the teaching methods they use vary enormously. Although character education is seen as part of citizenship education by the government, there is no clear way on how this could be achieved. Even now, questions as to whether the current 8-4-4 educational system serves the purpose of education linger in people’s minds. With the banning of corporal punishment, research has shown that there are currently no viable alternatives offered by the government to the various pedagogical methods used for maintaining discipline and teaching character education in Kenyan schools. Unfortunately, these gaps may well have prevented the emergence of a clear definition and working consensus on character education for schools. This perhaps sets the basis for the development of this paper. The aim of this paper is therefore to explore the role of teachers in character education development. It explores ways in which the teacher can enhance character education in the classroom. The paper utilizes desktop review of literature concerning the character education and how it can be inculcated in the school context. It draws on literature that depicts the implications of teaching content and skills on character education. Further, the paper addresses the implications of these aspects for the school curriculum and draws out some conclusions.