Search results

Transition of pre-primary learners with visual impairment from integrated pre-primary to primary schools in Narok County has been low. Thus, the study assessed school dynamics influencing transition of learners with visual impairment from integrated pre-primary to primary schools in Narok County, Kenya. The study was based on the Ecological Systems Theory and Transition Theory. The study employed mixed methods approach and in turn used concurrent triangulation research design. The target population consisted of 16 headteachers, 3 Educational Assessment and Resource Centre (EARC) officers and 208 teachers and 160 learners with visual impairment all totalling to 387. The study adopted the Krejcie and Morgan (1970) sample size determination formula where a sample size of 266 respondents was sampled. The study used purposive and stratified sampling method to select the sample. 15 headteachers and three EARC Officers were sampled using purposive sampling. Stratified random sampling method was used to select 135 teachers while 113 learners were selected using simple random sampling. Questionnaires were used to collect data from teachers, interview guides were used to collect data from headteachers and EARC Officers while an observation checklist was used to collect data from the learners. Pilot testing of the instrument was done on 2 headteachers, one EARC officer, 12 teachers and 5 learners with visual impairment from the neighbouring Bomet County. Validity was established through expert judgement. Reliability was established using test re-test technique and reliability index, r = 0.867 was determined using Cronbach Alpha Method. The study established that learners' readiness and physical facilities influence transition of learners with visual impairment from integrated pre-primary to primary schools. The study recommends that Ministry of Education should redesign the teacher training curriculum to encompass components of special needs education to equip them with skills to handle and teach learners in integrated school microsystems. I would recommend that Ministry of Education should also allocate more funds to schools to enable the school management to provide adequate, but suitable physical facilities for learners with visual impairment.

Disability is a natural part of the human experience and therefore should not affect the rights of individuals to live independently, contribute to society, enjoy full inclusion in education and pursue a meaningful career. However, youth with disabilities (YWDs) in Elgeyo Marakwet Kenya face socio-economic discrimination communally. Exclusion, isolation, abuse and lack of educational opportunities exist in Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya. They do not enjoy the same human rights or equal access to goods and services as their peers without disabilities. The main objective of this study was to assess the influence of employment on personal development of youth with disabilities in Elgeyo-Marakwet County Kenya. Two theories, Catherine Sanderson's (2010) theory of socio-cultural perspective and Adams Stacy's (1965) equity theory were studied to enable an understanding of the influence of the socio-cultural support services on personal development of youth with disabilities. A mixed methodology, using a triangulation design with both quantitative and qualitative research was employed in this study to realize the objectives. The study targeted a total population of 492 of youth with disabilities, 320 parents of youth with disabilities in and out of school and 19 government officers. Sample size determination formula by Krejcie and Morgan (1970) was used to obtain the required sample of the youth with disabilities and their parents. Simple random sampling was used to select youth with disabilities and parents while purposive sampling was used to select government officers (key informants). A sample of 289 youth with disabilities, 175 parents and 19 government officers were picked for the study. Data was collected using questionnaires, interview schedule and an observation checklist. To determine content validity of the instruments, the supervisors were presented with the research instruments prior to the actual study. Their comments were adopted in modifying the instruments. The reliability of the instruments was ...

Studies of the media in Africa, incorporating both African and international perspectives, are few. The thirty papers collected here were presented at a seminar organised and hosted by the Kenya-based Twaweza Communications and the International African Institute in Nairobi in 2004. They demonstrate how media outlets are used to perpetuate, question or modify the unequal power relations between the North and the South. Focusing on east Africa, the papers include discussions of the construction of old and new social entities, as defined by class, gender, ethnicity, political and economic differences, wealth, poverty, cultural behaviour, language and religion. The authors illustrate how there is increasing control by local people of traditional and modern forms of media. Globalization is being countered by local responses, within the context of social and cultural identities. Essentially, the book describes the tensions between the global and the local, tensions not often discussed in media studies, thus pioneering new debates