The 8-4-4 School Curriculum: Is it still relevant for the Kenyan Child?

The 8-4-4 School Curriculum: Is it still relevant for the Kenyan Child?

¹ Dr. Kimiti, Richard Peter, PhD

¹Machakos University

Abstract

The relevance of a school curriculum is pegged on how it addresses the immediate needs of the consumer (learner). Since the inception of the 8-4-4 curriculum in Kenya in mid-1980s, the quality of its graduates has ever been questionable. This concern about the caliber and competences of the 8-4-4 school graduates has persisted for three decades, despite the several reviews and reforms made in the school curriculum. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate the relevance of the 8-4-4 secondary school curriculum in Kenya. It was guided by two research objectives, that is, to examine the content of the 8-4-4 secondary school curriculum and to establish whether the 8-4-4 school curriculum equips learners with values and competences that are useful in their daily life. This study adopted qualitative research design. It was carried out in 30 secondary schools in Machakos and Nairobi counties, Kenya. The sample of study was 30 principals, 75 teachers and 160 students yielding a total of 265 respondents. The findings of the study revealed that although the content of the 8-4-4 secondary school curriculum was adequate in terms of its scope, it generally focused on the acquisition of the cognitive learning outcomes at the expense of the other two domains; psychomotor and affective. The study further revealed that the 8-4-4 secondary school curriculum gives little attention to the local needs of the learner. Similarly, 73.3 % principal, 75% teacher and 87% student respondents reported that much of the teaching was more examination oriented rather than developing values and capabilities of the learner. It was therefore concluded that content of the 8-4-4 secondary school curriculum was not focused on developing skills, values and capabilities among the youth. In addition, the teaching was more focused on drilling students on how to pass examinations rather than equipping them with appropriate competences and life values. The study recommends that the 8-4-4 secondary school curriculum should be further reviewed or overhauled to make it relevant to the needs of the Kenyan child.

Key words: Capabilities, curriculum, learner, skills and values.

Introduction

The teaching of values and ethics has gone through different meta-phases as documented by various educational commissions and reports since Kenya got her independence in 1963. For instance, immediately after independence in 1963, the government appointed the first post independent commission of education (The Ominde Commission) to align the school curriculum to the needs of the African child. Among the objectives of the Ominde commission were; advise the government on the formulation and implementation of national policies for education and address problems inherited from colonial government to make education more responsive to the needs of the country. In attempt to address these objectives and specifically on moral values, the following recommendations were adopted by the Ominde Commission; science education, training of life skills, integration of contemporary issues in the curriculum to make it more relevant to societal needs and, guidance and counselling be established in all learning institutions. A critical analysis of this curriculum revealed that it acknowledged the need to equip learners with living values. However, due to the limited opportunities for higher education, informally teachers shifted their efforts towards drilling learners to pass examinations. The teaching of morals, norms and values was left to the religious education teachers and school chaplains during pastoral programmes.

The adoption of the recommendations of the Mackay Report (1981) led to the introduction of 8-4-4 system of education in 1985. The introduction of the 8-4-4 system of education intended to achieve the following to goals, to; foster a sense of nationhood and promotes national unity, promote individual and self-fulfillment, promote positive attitudes towards good health and environmental protection and, promote sound moral and religious values among others. However, the achievement of these noble goals was hindered by several challenges; an imbalance between curriculum content and time allocated for coverage of the syllabus, a mismatch between curriculum content and the level of the learners necessitated very many curriculum reviews rendering the whole process and obscuring the original intention of the 8-4-4 system of education and, increased prominence on certification as the highly competitive nature of the system shifted emphasis towards learner’s academic achievement rather than the learning of values and life skills.

Although, several curriculum reviews and reforms have been witnessed in Kenya, since the inception of the 8-4-4 system, these efforts seem not to have yielded the desired objectives. This argument is supported by the many dysfunctional families, increased drug abuse among the youth, escalated suicides and homicides and failing social institutions (schools and religious organizations). The effect of social media has further complicated the moral spectrum in the society today. Similarly, today many parents have also have pushed the moral obligation to teachers and administrators.

Objectives of the Study

This study was guided by two objectives: to examine the content of value development in the 8-4-4 secondary school curriculum and to establish whether the 8-4-4 school curriculum equips learners with values and competences that are useful in their daily life.

Significance of the Study

The findings of this study would be of immediate benefit to curriculum developers at Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development when reviewing the 8-4-4 secondary school curriculum in order to make it relevant to holistic development of the learner. In addition, the results of study would also provide teachers with new knowledge about the values that they should equip learners with in addition to focusing on quality academic performance. Similarly, the stakeholders and in particular parents would also get current information on the values and norms offered to their children in the 8-4-4 secondary school curriculum. Finally, the results of this study would enhance the information to the present literature on content of about the values in the current school curriculum at in Kenya.

Limitations of the Study

This study was limited by a number of variables. First literature on holistic development in the 8-4-4 school curriculum in Kenya was scanty. For this reason, the literature review was drawn from primary sources such as syllabuses, educational commissions and government policy documents. Secondly, it was also limited by respondents’ personal attitudes towards the value oriented curriculum versa vs. modernization or influence by social media. Due to financial constraints, the study was limited a small sample of only 265 respondents.

Delimitation of the Study

This study delimited itself to the content of value education at the secondary school level in the 8-4-4 system of education in Kenya. This decision was taken due time and financial constraints.

Methodology of Research

The study was qualitative in nature and it was conducted in 30 secondary schools in Machakos and Nairobi counties in Kenya. The respondents of the study were 30 principals, 75 teachers and 160 students yielding a total of 265 respondents. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the subjects of the study. Data was collected through a document analysis of primary data; secondary school syllabuses and Working Party reports. This data was complimented by interviews with the principal respondents.

Results of the Study

The first objective of the study was to examine the content of the 8-4-4 secondary school curriculum. A documentary analysis of the of the 8-4-4 secondary school curriculum revealed that the curriculum covers five major areas: Languages (English, Kiswahili and foreign languages), Mathematics, Science (physics, chemistry and biology), Humanities (geography, history& government and religious education) Applied Sciences (agriculture, industrial education, wood technology, metal technology, power mechanics, electrical technology, business education, accounts, commerce, typing and office practice, home science, clothing and textiles, food and nutrition, arts, and music). The study found out that information about values and norms was integrated in languages in the topics on effective communication and emerging trends in communication such as the influence of social media among secondary school students. The other subjects which gave a lot of emphasis to formation of values and in particular the acquisition of virtues was in religious education (Christian Religious education, Islamic, Hindu). Apart from documentary analysis, 68.2% teacher respondents also reported that the content on formation of desired living values was also mainstreamed in History and Government as a way on enhancing national integration and cohesion.

According to 71.7% principal interviewees, moral development was also covered under applied sciences which comprises of the following subjects; Home science, Business Studies, Agriculture, Computer science and Industrial Education. The results of the study on the adequacy of the subject matter in the specific subjects varied from one subject to the other. For instance 43.5% teacher respondents who taught agriculture revealed that subject matter on value formation was inadequate as reported by 67.7% whereas it was found to be sufficient in Christian Religious Education and Islamic Religious Education subjects according to 81.5% and 79% student respondents respectively. Other 56.7% teacher respondents stated that it was satisfactory in the biology, whereas 18.4% stated that it was very shallow in the Physics subject.

The second objective of the study sought to establish whether the 8-4-4 school curriculum equips learners with values and competences that are useful in their daily life. The findings of the study according to 89.0% teacher respondents who taught science subjects showed that majority of the teachers focused more on preparing students on the examinable topics instead of “wasting” time on the non-examinable ones such as the teaching of moral values and life skills in their subjects (Physics, Chemistry and Biology). This finding was supported by 92.2% student respondents who noted that the teaching of moral values was rarely done in their schools. However, according to 78.6% teacher respondents who taught Home science, the teaching of holistic development was given a lot of emphasis as the subject focused more on improving people’s health and their well-being. A similar observation was made by 87.6% teacher respondents who taught Religious Education.

The study findings further revealed the teaching of holistic development and in particular good morals was also emphasized in the languages (English and Kiswahili). The concepts were covered in the teaching of effective communication skills. This finding was supported by observations made by 84.5% of the principal respondents, who reported to have witnessed teachers covering issues about moral development in their schools. According to 75% teacher respondents, the topic was frequently examined and hence the need to give it a lot of emphasis. Apart from covering the topic on value development in class, this topic was also frequently covered during the non-formal curriculum in activities such as class meetings, school assemblies, games and sports among others. Similar observations were as reported 87.5% of the student respondents.

Discussions

The results of the study as presented in the previous section revealed that although the content of the 8-4-4 secondary school curriculum was adequate in terms of its scope, it generally focused on the acquisition of the cognitive learning outcomes at the expense of the other two domains; psychomotor and affective. These findings were in agreement with the principles of a good school curriculum (KICD, 2016). The findings on the other hand, were contrary to those of Kimiti (2011) who noted that although issues of moral development were integrated in the secondary school curriculum its scope was shallow and hence a need for its improvement. According to KICD (2014) the 8-4-4 curriculum had gone through several reviews but not specifically tailored to the focus on moral values as a subject. A Similar study carried out by Adhiambo (2004) also concurred with the findings of this study.

The study further revealed that the 8-4-4 secondary school curriculum gives little attention to the local needs of the learner. Similarly, 73.3 % principal, 75% teacher and 87% student respondents reported that much of the teaching was more examination oriented rather than developing values and capabilities of the learner. This finding seemed to concur with that of Kithyo (2002) when he reported that in most of the syllabuses for vocational education though standard, the actual teaching did not focus on inculcation of life values. However, research findings of a study carried out in Kenya on the quality of the secondary school curriculum agreed with the findings of the current study when it reported that not all topics are usually sufficient in terms of their content validity due to haste ways in which the school curriculum is prepared in Kenya. Thus the findings of the current study suggest that the scope of the value education in the secondary school curriculum is inadequate with respect to the set learning objectives.

The importance of proper curriculum planning had been captured in earlier studies (Otunga, 2010). In this study, documentary analysis revealed that 76.3% of the teacher interviewees who taught the at the secondary school level reported that its scope was broad and shallow. This finding seemed accurate since the process of syllabus development at Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development has been criticized for being too academic (Kavagi, 2002)

Moses (2004) pointed out that there are several challenges of curriculum design, among these; its scope may be either too broad or too shallow, which is associated with incompetence among the curriculum developers. These sentiments were supported by Narman, (1985) when he noted that any curriculum change, review or reform needs not to be done in a hurry. According to this researcher, such a situation is triggered by the desire to meet set deadlines at the expense of quality of the curriculum development process. Accordingly, this probably explains the reasons why the content on moral education was found to be shallow by many respondents. This finding was supported by the historical circumstances in which the 8-4-4 curriculum was introduced in Kenya when the country was not ready for its implementation.

Conclusion

Based on the findings and discussions of the study, two conclusions were drawn. First the content of the 8-4-4 secondary school curriculum was not focused on developing skills, values and capabilities among the youth. Finally, teaching in the 8-4-4 secondary school curriculum was focused a lot on drilling students on how to pass examinations rather than equipping them with appropriate competences and life values

Recommendations

The study made the following two recommendations;

The content of 8-4-4 secondary school curriculum should be reviewed to make it relevant to holistic development of the learner.
The teachers should ensure that they strike a balance between academic performance and inculcation of values.

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