Tutor competence and its effect on quality of teacher preparation in emerging private primary teacher training colleges in Bungoma county-Kenya

Abstract

Teacher quality is critical in the provision of quality education. Teachers are a country’s determinant of competitiveness and capacity to create more jobs and growth. They are important means of passing on values, skills, knowledge and attitudes required for democracy, citizenship, intercultural dialogue and personal development. Research has shown that teacher effect is much larger than the effect of school organization, leadership and financial conditions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the competence of tutors as a resource in effective teacher preparation. The research was carried out in eight private teacher training colleges in Western Province in Kenya. The study sample was selected through simple random and purposive sampling techniques. The sample size comprised of eight college principals and 43 tutors. Data was collected through questionnaires, interview and document analysis. The Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) was utilized in the analysis of descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages. The research established that incompetent teaching staff in the emerging private primary teacher training colleges had a negative impact on quality of teacher preparation. This factor continues to have negative effect on the quality of graduates produced. The study therefore recommended that, regular monitoring and evaluation audits should be conducted to ensure that these colleges conform to the set standards all the time. Furthermore there is need to constantly review and improve the quality of teacher training to be in tandem with the global trends. This will ultimately enhance preparation of teachers’ and minimize the quality inconsistencies in the private primary teacher training colleges.