Evaluation of the Relationship between Subject Content in the Kiswahili Curricula used in Kenyan Public Universities and Kiswahili Curriculum used in Kenyan Secondary Schools

Abstract

This study aimed at critically evaluating the relationship between Kiswahili curricula in Public Universities with the Curriculum prepared by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) to be implemented in secondary schools in Kenya. The research set out to find whether the subject content student teachers of Kiswahili learn at university is relevant to what they are expected to teach at secondary school level upon graduation. The study was motivated by the fact that different public universities in Kenya use diverse Kiswahili curricula yet they all prepare teachers who are expected to implement one formal curriculum used in all secondary schools in Kenya. The main objective of the study was to identify the subject content of curricula used to teach Kiswahili in public universities and the one in the curriculum implemented in secondary schools in Kenya. This study is important because it identifies the subject matter of Kiswahili curricula used in public universities and that developed by the KICD to be implemented in secondary schools in Kenya. The study used the Model of Curriculum Development as propounded by Ralph Tyler (1949) in which Tyler & proponents of his model espoused the need and the relationship between curriculum aspects. Their main aim of assessing curricula was to discover strategies that can be used in teaching institutions to improve any teaching curricula. This study was carried out in five public universities in Kenya. Respondents were Kiswahili lecturers in those public universities, chairpersons of Kiswahili Departments in the universities together with teachers of Kiswahili from secondary schools in Bungoma County. The study design was descriptive survey. Data was collected using questionnaires, transcription, document analysis and interview schedules and was analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. Study findings revealed that there is no direct relationship between subject content in Kiswahili curricula used in public universities with that in Kiswahili curriculum approved to be used in Kenyan secondary school. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that public universities which train professional Kiswahili teachers liaise with the KICD to develop, review and reform the Kiswahili curriculum used to teach in secondary schools.

Keywords: Curriculum, Implementation, Subject Content.

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-8-07

Publication date:March 31^st 2022