Open AccessRelationship between Teachers’ Attitudes and Utilization of Instructional Materials in Pre-Primary Schools in Kenya
Author(s) -
Joseph K Waigera,
Maureen Mweru,
Lucy W. Ngige
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
east african journal of education studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2707-3947
pISSN - 2707-3939
DOI - 10.37284/eajes.2.1.189
Subject(s) - psychology , positive attitude , positive relationship , school teachers , test (biology) , sample (material) , regression analysis , medical education , mathematics education , medicine , social psychology , chemistry , mathematics , ecology , biology , statistics , chromatography
The purpose of this research was to establish whether there was a significant relationship between teachers’ attitudes and levels of utilization of instructional materials (IM) in Pre-Primary Schools in Kenya. The study adopted the Ecological Systems Theory by Urie Bronfenbrenner. The study used a cross-sectional survey research design and data were collected through self-administered questionnaires. A sample of 164 teachers comprising of 76.2% females and 23.8% males participated in the study. Results established that 86.4% of the teachers had positive attitudes towards the instructional practice. In terms of utilization of instructional materials, the researchers determined that 62.1% of the respondents achieved high levels while 37.9% attained low levels of utilization of instructional materials across the Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) activity areas. The Chi-Square results revealed that there was a statistically significant relationship between teachers’ attitudes and utilization of instructional materials (χ2 = 4.094; d.f.= 2; p = 0.043). Further analysis using the regression test revealed that there was a statistically significant relationship between teachers’ positive attitudes and levels of utilization of instructional materials (β =0.516; p = 0.001). These findings established that teachers who had positive attitudes attained higher levels of utilization of instructional materials in their classrooms compared to their counterparts who had negative attitudes. Therefore, it was concluded that teachers’ attitudes were a significant factor in promoting the utilization of instructional materials in ECDE activities. This implies that a positive attitude is an important attribute of a pre-primary school teacher. Therefore, there is a need to inculcate positive attitudes towards the utilization of instructional materials among teachers during pre-service and in-service training sessions to promote the best practices in instruction at the pre-primary school level.