Effect of pupil-teacher ratio on curriculum implementation practices in public primary schools in Mwingi north sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of pupil-teacher ratio on curriculum implementation practices in public primary schools in Mwingi North Sub County. The specific objectives of the study were: to assess the effect of Pupil Teacher Ratio on teacher workload in public primary schools in Mwingi North Sub-County; to investigate the effect of Pupil Teacher Ratio on formative evaluation practices in public primary schools in Mwingi North Sub-County; to examine the effect of Pupil Teacher Ratio on teacher lesson attendance and to establish the effect of individual subject performance in public primary schools in Mwingi North Sub-County. The study sample consisted of 135 respondents comprising of 44 head teachers, 88 teachers and 3 education officers. The head teachers and teachers were selected using simple random sampling while the Teachers Service Commission Sub-County Director, Sub-County Quality Assurance and Standards Officer and Chief Education Officer were purposively selected. The study used questionnaires for head teachers and teachers and a common interview schedule for the three education officials: the Teachers Service Commission Sub-County Director, Sub County Quality Assurance and Standards Officer and Chief Education Officer. Validity of the instruments was ascertained through expert judgment at the school of education while reliability was determined using Pearson’s Product Moment correlation coefficient. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented in percentages, frequencies, means and standard deviation. The null hypotheses were tested using Chi square analysis at the .05 level of significance. Qualitative data was analyzed based on the themes emanating from the study objectives. The findings of the study revealed that, at the 5% level of significance, Pupil Teacher Ratio had a statistically significant effect on teaching workload at 0.05 and that Pupil Teacher Ratio had a significant effect on formative evaluation process at 0.085. Similarly, it emerged that Pupil Teacher Ratio had a significant effect on teacher lesson attendance and that Pupil Teacher Ratio had a statistically significant effect on the performance in individual subjects. Likewise, Pupil Teacher Ratio had a statistically significant effect on the rate of formative evaluation and affected the way schools conducted their formative assessment and its thorough supervision. This study concluded that schools in the area under study had a higher pupil to teacher ratio which had a significant negative effect on academic performance. The study recommends, among other things, that the Teachers Service Commission should employ more teachers in the study area in order to solve the problem of teacher shortage currently experienced and that schools should employ more teachers on Board of Management teams.