Teaching of Science

In an effort to explore more about the teaching of HE in each of the schools sampled, the researcher observed actual teaching of Science subject as well as the learning resources used for teaching science which was the carrier subject for HE. Observations included the various resources such as learning aids, apparatus, pupils note books, assignments, class activities and other materials used during teaching in terms of their physical condition and usability, adequacy against large population of pupils in the class, legibility of the content in the blackboard in light of overcrowded classes, physical sizes of chalkboards that contained lesson content, number, storage, evidence of regular use and maintenance among other issues. This was important to enable the researcher to examine the teaching approaches in HE in primary schools in relation to enabling learners to realize positive healthy lifestyles to prevent NCLSDs. The physical condition of learning resources and science equipments determined their usefulness in practical teaching activities, which affected the quality of learning outcomes since pupils have to interact with them as

they acquire socially desirable knowledge and skills. The findings are presented in the subsequent sections.

i. The condition of teaching facilities in the classrooms

The researcher noted that some chalkboards were small and rarely painted in black colour. Some of the observations of faintly painted are presented in the Figure 4.13 in appendix XXVI.

The findings indicated in the Figure 4.13 in appendix XXVI show that some of chalkboards that were faintly painted and had faded. This made writings not to be legible for pupils who were at the back of the overcrowded classrooms. It was also noted that some chalkboards in MPS and BPS were quite small. The researcher noted that teachers used to keep on rubbing frequently before pupils finished writing. Pupils who sat behind the class were more affected. The researcher noted that most pupils used to leave many blank spaces in their notes. Teachers informed the researcher they had a lot to write but the chalkboards were small. This may imply that teachers may not be effective in providing enough content. It also implies that pupils may not get much in learning new concepts, spellings and other key information that can enhance better learning outcomes.

ii. Why Teachers rarely make Learning Aids

The researcher went further to explore the use of learning resources in teaching and learning process. In an interview in BPS, Museveni, a female teacher said, “we do not have time to make learning aids because we have many lessons to teach”. Similar views were shared by Kazini, a male teacher in JPS who said, “we have a lot of marking to do due to the large number of pupils and we have no time to make learning aids”; on further probing he revealed that “materials like manila papers, felt pens and writing inks are not available in school”; While, Mutete, a female teacher from MPS said, “making learning aids is hectic and time-consuming”. These observations reveal that learning aids are not in frequent use in teaching and learning.

The researcher went further to observe actual teaching and learning on daily basis during the data collection period in all schools sampled for the study. On all occasions, the researcher used a detailed and exhaustive schedule when observing the lessons from the beginning to the end. In all the three schools, the researcher observed, that the three HE teachers frequently used didactic, teacher-centred approaches, talk and chalk and even at times dictating notes. At times they also used lecture method, rote learning and memorization of facts and sometimes question and answer method. It was also noted that teacher-centred experiments and occasional use of teacher-made charts were used. Additionally, teachers rarely involved learners in the use of demonstrations, projects, nature walks, visits, discussions and collaborative methods when teaching. Use of these teaching pedagogies may likely lead to a scenario where action-competence

among pupils will be elusive because teaching in schools does not socialize and promote active listening, dialogue and action which makes uses of learning cycle of ‘active listening-dialogue-action (Freire, 1973:70) which is different from teacher-focused or didactic model. Interestingly, many teachers spared no time to evaluate their lessons through planned questions unless occasionally by “use of past exam papers” due to what they referred to as “lack of time” and the desire to cover syllabus ahead of time and revise it several times to improve class performance. These findings show that teaching is geared towards improving marks scored by pupils which are taken as indicator of how knowledgeable one is, that is, more marks meant more knowledge while, few marks implied less knowledge and perhaps less ability. This may create unhealthy pressure and competition among pupils, which may be counterproductive. Mwanga (2004:200) in a study involving community-integrated and action-oriented HE intervention in Mwanza Tanzania observed that if pupils learn just to get marks or to please their teachers and parents, the reward would be appreciation from other people. Mwanga further noted that knowledge gained through this form of learning is seldom lasting and, if pupils work like scientists discovering things and produce new knowledge themselves, the reward will be an inner satisfaction and knowledge will last longer because pupils themselves are constructors of knowledge. This makes pupils to actively construct knowledge and understanding rather than being passive recipients.

The researcher observed that some classroom walls did not have any learning aids. In some classes, however, the walls did have nails or soft board to hang any wall hanging. One of the observations is shown in the Figure 4.14 in appendix XXVI.

The observations indicated in the Figure 4.14 in appendix XXVI suggest that teachers rarely use learning aids during the teaching and learning process. It was also notable that some class walls had no hooks and soft boards which may further indicate that learning aids may not have been used. This undermines their teaching efficacy and effectiveness since what is learnt may be easily forgotten as pupils may lack touch with reality. It may also make pupils fail to see the immediate benefit of knowledge apart from learning “factual knowledge to pass examinations”.. In such a scenario, emerging problems like lifestyle diseases may become a big challenge due to lack of preventive and practical knowledge gained from school.

iii. Why teachers use teacher-centred teaching methods in teaching science

Using incisive interviews with teachers, the researcher probed why teachers used the teacher-centred approaches when teaching. In all the three schools, 90% [33] of the teachers’ informant shared similar

views; some said that they have many lessons, which do not “allow them enough time for effective planning”; while others said, “free primary education has seen increase in enrolment of pupils beyond the carrying capacity of the classes and teacher-centred methods were more convenient”. Zyongo, from BPS observed:

The lesson time is too short for pupils’ activities and the class size is too big…learner- centred methods are time-consuming in terms of preparations and actual teaching...we have a lot of lessons to plan and teach in a day which leaves us with only limited time for preparations hence we go for the better option of teacher-centred methods of teaching… (Lady Teacher, BPS 002L, 2012).

On how their pupils took the teacher centred-approaches, Sadaka, another female teacher from BPS was more emphatic in saying that “pupils are only keen on important points that can enable them to pass well in the examinations which make teacher-centred methods an ideal choice”. While in JPS, Mueni felt:

The school term is short and over-loaded with other activities which consume class time and one has to use the time economically so that one covers the syllabus in time to start serious revisions for examinations which are a critical issue…that is why teacher-centred methods becomes a good option…(Lady Teacher, JPS 002L, 2012).

Another science teacher, Nzugo, from JPS complained that finances for buying materials for practical work and learning resources were not adequate from FPE funds. Nzugo noted:

Resources for learning activities/experiments are expensive and FPE provides limited funds which mainly cater for a few text books which are also not enough since one is shared among 1-2 pupils in small classes and 4-6 pupils in big classes…hence a temptation to use teacher- centred methods that do no necessitate use of resources that are unavailable … (Male Teacher, JPS 004M, 2012).

While in a FGD in MPS, teacher Charu who teaches science reported that:

being effective in class does not necessarily require too much of learning resources but in being organized and using simple language

and examples which are obvious to children...and being resourceful by having good knowledge of the subject to identify key points and ideas in every topic.. (Male Teacher, MPS 002M, 2012).

The researcher and his assistants probed further on how teachers could be effective without use of learning resources and Teacher Charu went on to reveal that:

Even in teachers college, effective tutors whose subjects were always done well rarely used learning resources but used to give a variety of examples, which were familiar to us, and we passed very well in national examinations... (Male Teacher, MPS 002M, 2012).

Interestingly, teacher Zedeki who noted supported Teacher Charu reported:

Since Educational inspectors, administrators and parents are keen on improving mean scores for better performance…one has to teach key points and major facts to improve performance to boost pupils morale for better results which may not necessarily require use of learning resources… (Teacher, MPS 001M, 2012).

Teachers gave the preceding explanations to justify over-reliance on teacher-centred teaching methods where, they used few if any learning aids due to the reasons given. These findings perhaps confirm that use of teacher-centred methods is learnt quite early through formal socialization during teacher training in colleges and, perfected later through practice by use of syllabus that requires specific learning outcomes based on theory-based examinations to meet the expectations of the society. This implies that pupils are unlikely to be empowered to be assertive, practical and realistic in taking own initiatives, be independent and self-reliant and responsible. Further, these findings also confirm that bad practices and negative attitudes develop quite early in teaching profession which may be perhaps why explain some habits are difficult to change. This may be a critical challenge in modelling a democratic learning environment for the pupils since they are not actively involved to become ‘knowledge experts by developing self-hood and critical awareness’ through the learning process (Freire, 1973:68). This is necessary for action-

competence, which is important for healthy living in the wake of NCLSDs.

These findings concurs with those of Mwanga (2004:192) in a study involving community-integrated and action-oriented HE intervention in Mwanza Tanzania, where it was noted many teachers use teacher- centred instructional methods that are ineffective in meeting the goals of HE. He further noted there was a connection between the lack of teaching aids and the dominant use of “chalk and talk” classroom instructions. In absence of visual aids, teachers were inclined to resort to what has worked in the past…further, he observed that teachers were viewed as the source of knowledge regarding important health information and pupils were passive recipients. The teaching strategies widely used questions, where pupil-teacher interaction emphasized repeating back correct answers collectively (chorus method) with often a sing word rather than problem-inquiry/problem-solving interaction. Classroom teaching was a form of one-way communication, from teacher to pupils. These findings agree with those of a study done by Wawire (2006:108) who found out that some teachers (5%) were “unfriendly and abrasive to pupils”. The researcher further observed, “some teachers had bad practices” that featured in the lessons observed; such practices include “long monotonous lessons involving the same activity where pupils were observed to lose interest, get restless and doze off during the last stages of an activity”; another such practice was “the prolonged use of chorus answers to teach numeric and literacy concepts”; similarly, pupils were asked “to repeat after the teacher or answer questions in a group”. These practices ignore individual learning needs and abilities of the pupils which reduces efficacy in teaching and learning processes.

Infact 90% of the teachers interviewed, who happened to prefer use of teacher-centred approaches, felt that use of that approach enabled a teacher to “teach accurate facts in a summarized fashion”. They further said that it enabled pupils to learn and “memorize accurate facts” with ease as it does not require learning aids which they said “poor schools” could hardly afford. Teacher interviewees went further to reveal that “pupils are mainly keen only keen to learn what can enable them to improve their performance” and they are not interested in “too much reading” and “book work”. Charu, a senior teacher from MPS observed:

The mean score syndrome is such a serious issue and the syllabus is broad and even if teachers spent so much time with practical work, use of learning resources and experiment without general improvement of the mean score, school administrators, parents and education officers would be too harsh or too

hard on them…(Male Teacher, MPS 002M, 2012).

This finding implies that many teachers use teacher-centred methods for their convenience to cover the work and revise so to improve MSS. The findings also demonstrate that learning is not interactive which may make learners not to acquire action-competence and practice what is taught through acquisition of new lifestyles. This is due to overemphasise on theoretical knowledge to pass examinations.

Interestingly, interviews with head-teachers of the three schools sampled revealed that as administrators, they appreciated the use of learner-centred approaches in teaching but asserted that “a lot of emphasis was given to improving the mean scores and that teachers were at liberty to use all ways to improve performance”. They alleged that quality assurances education officers, parents and entire society were particular on “improvement of performance and the teachers have to use all means possible to achieve that, lest they suffer the consequences”.

Indeed, in an interview, Jemini, the Head mistress of BPS, said, “MoE has categorically stipulated that improvement of mean scores is a critical determinant in performance contracting of head teachers”. This confirmed the views of teachers, which perhaps explains why they use “teacher-centred approaches to maximize on time and resources at their disposal to keep pupils in class most of the time”, and teach to “improve MSS to safeguard their jobs, secure promotions” and other awards like “teacher of the year award” which are based on best MSS per subject.

In two separate interviews, Moose, a long serving senior teacher from JPS and Soma, female teacher from MPS who had applied for promotion on merit claimed that they were not promoted due to “low MSS in their science subjects in KCPE”. These revelations were confirmed by their head teacher who went on to say that, “improvement of performance can only be shown through increase in MSS that are used to determine whether a teacher is to be promoted on merit based on his or her good work in class.”

In spite of these observations, the three schools had a good learning atmosphere and teacher-pupils relationships were good though the pupils were mainly kept busy in class writing “important points for the examinations”. It was also notable that no pupils’ work was displayed in class room apart from JPS where pupils claimed that their previous teacher used to do it, but the displayed work was pulled down by “bad and jealous pupils”. In addition, the class had “no window panes and lockable door which made wall hangings to fade or disappear altogether before pupils could benefit from their contents”. The teachers used “strong lockable cupboards to keep textbooks to prevent

them from being stolen by pupils”, which limited the use of textbooks by pupils.

The researcher observed each class in JPS had a strong lockable cupboard that was in-built to secure textbooks and other stationery that were shared by pupils during lessons. In fact during FGDs and interviews, pupils revealed “they had few text books in science which used to be shared during the lessons” and “locked by their teachers after use to minimize losses, tear and wear”. They said, “it limited their exposure to HE”. Moose, of JPS noted:

In our school we discourage pupils to carry books home since many pupils are poor and use either polythene paper bags, small bags and others carried books by hand…and the few text books available are worn out easily… moreover many of our pupils tend to drop out of school and disappear with textbooks which made the school to adapt the policy of locking books in school… (Male Teacher, JPS 007M, 2012).

Further, teachers in JPS confirmed, “nearly all parents were very poor and, could hardly afford to pay for books if their children lost them” which made them to lock them in cupboards after use.

These findings agree with those of a study by Mwanga (2004:206) in a study involving community-integrated and action-oriented HE intervention in Mwanza Tanzania. Mwanga observed pupils in the study schools were found to have content problems in some areas of HE partly because they lacked access to texts that would give them information on diseases in question. Lack or shortage of teaching resources was started by the teachers and observed to be one of the biggest constraints to the effective teaching of HE curriculum in the study schools. This was true of both teacher’s references and pupil’s text. Since in all the schools involved in the study, textbooks and teachers were the main and sometimes the only means of curriculum delivery to the pupils, it is essential that pupils have adequate access to texts not only to save lesson time spent on dictating notes but also to make lessons more interesting, allow access to the illustration of the texts in the books and all promote understanding of texts and allow pupils to study and refer to texts outside the classroom.