Extending and Embedding Tessa Open Education Resources (Oers) in Teaching at Primary School Level in Laikipia County, Kenya.
- February 16, 2022
- Posted by: rsispostadmin
- Categories: Education, IJRISS, Social Science
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue I, January 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186
Rose Nyambura, Isaac Gitogo
Department of Curriculum and Educational Management- Laikipia University, Kenya
Abstract
This study investigated extending and embedding Tessa Open Education Resources in Teaching at Primary School Level in Laikipia County, Kenya. The study was qualitative and survey designs. Two primary schools within Laikipia County were purposively sampled and all the twenty teachers participated using multistage sampling technique. The project was in three phases; introduction phase where a 2 day workshop was organised and experts well versed with TESSA OERs facilitated round table sessions on how to teach practical/creative thinking skills to primary school learners using TESSA methods. The training aimed at improving teachers probing skills, cooperative learning and forming a community of good practice. The second phase was implementation while the third phase involved collecting feedback from teachers. 400 pupils from the two participating primary schools were expected to benefit once the teachers embraced TESSA methods which advocate for active learning. Project outcomes included changes that teachers made in their lesson presentations in line with the CBC curriculum and completion of 2019 TESSA MOOC ,hence enthusiasm for online learning and continuous professional teacher development. The outcomes of the project may inform the Ministry of Education in Kenya in effective implementation of the new CBC as far as online Teaching/learning is concerned. Recommendations made by the project include: need for continuous ICT support for the primary school teachers and engaging the teachers in continuous teacher development courses especially those offered online.
Key words: Competencies, covid-19 pandemic, online learning, TESSA methods
Introduction
Teachers in Kenya are trained in traditional teaching methods which do not meet the demands of the new competencies based curriculum (CBC). There is need to teach differently in order to equip students with cognitive and psychomotor skills alongside competencies which will be required for success in life for post covid-19 pandemic, such as creativity, resilience, and the ability to use ICT effectively. TESSA small grant project (sponsor) aimed at equipping teachers with pedagogical skills to enable students to apply practical and creative thinking skills in solving day-to-day problems and to raise awareness of digital resources. Vision 2030 is an economic blueprint developed by Kenyan government and aims at transforming the country into an industrialized, middle income economy by the year 2030 (GOK, 2007). The blueprint envisions intensified application of Science Technology and Innovation (STI) to raise productivity and efficiency levels in the economic, social and political pillars (Wambugu and Keraro, 2020). To this effect there was need to overhaul curriculum 8-4-4 education system and replace it with a curriculum that would prepare highly skilled citizens ready to go head to head with other competing nations. This led to development of competence based curriculum (CBC) which is currently being implemented in phases- Already Grades 1-4 are in the new education system in Kenya.
Access and the quality of education especially in Sub-Saharan Africa is wanting and securing good educational outcomes depends on effective teacher education programmes (UNDP, 2014) that can produce teachers with adequate skills to effectively facilitate active participatory learning. To this end, Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA) consortium has developed Open Educational Resources (OERs) to support teacher training. TESSA methods are applicable both at primary and secondary school levels ,though they are quite adaptable for use even at higher institutions of learning. This is because TESSA methods are imaginative, creative and stresses the value of raising standards through international co-operation. TESSA vouches for collaboratively developed open educational resources (OERs) for teachers to use in their own classroom to support active learning methods and reflective practice. Thus OERs are created in such a way that they are adaptable for use by learning community members regardless of where the learning community happens. Because OERs are essentially a philosophy and practice for framing documents and texts and how they can be used, OERs can be created, shared, and found in any community that wants to use them. This was the main concern in this project.
