Use of life themes Pedagogy and its influence on performance in christian religious education (CRE) in secondary schools in Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the teachers’ use of life themes pedagogy and its influence on performance in Christian Religious Education (CRE) in Secondary Schools in Kenya. The objectives of the study were: to find out how each of the four steps of life themes pedagogy (Human experience, Biblical Experience, Explanation & Application & Response) influence performance in CRE, and, to investigate the challenges in the use of life themes pedagogy in the implementation of CRE curriculum in Secondary schoolsin Kenya. The study was guided by Social Development Theory by Vygotsky, constructivist Theory by Brunner and Situated Learning Theory by Lev. The study employed descriptive survey design. The study used stratified sampling to select the schools and purposive sampling to select both students and teachers of CRE. Questionnaires, interview guide and document analysis were used for data collection. The total number of respondents was 454. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. Reliability of research instruments was checked using Cronbach's alpha which was 0.85 and above thus was reliable enough, whereas construct and content validity was checked by the teaching faculty. Data was summarized using means and standard deviation and presented using frequency tables and charts. The study revealed that teachers of CRE used life themes pedagogy and the steps had an influence on performance in spite of the challenges they faced. Some of the challenges were that the pedagogy was time consuming and the syllabus was very wide. The findings of the study are hoped to benefit Ministry of Education in designing plans that would ensure that CRE teachers are adequately prepared to embrace life themes pedagogy. In the field of education, it will add literature to what already exists as well as create gaps for further research. For the teachers of CRE the study will help them to improve their skills in the use of the pedagogy and on the need for making students’ real life experiences the basis for teaching Christian Religious Education hence lead to improved performance in the subject. The study therefore concludes that use of life themes pedagogy is crucial in ensuring better performance of CRE and hence it is strongly encouraged in the teaching of the subject.