Perceptions of early childhood education quality in Kenya: a case study of community preschools in Lurambi division, Kakamega district, Kenya

Abstract

This study investigated the perceptions of parents, teachers and headteachers towards the quality of early childhood education provided by preschools sponsored by parents and the communities in Lurambi Division of Kakamega District, Kenya. The quality of education was described according to the assessment depicted by the respondents’ perceptions and discussed in relation to past findings. A total of 162 randomly selected respondents participated in the study. The participants, 30 headteachers, 32 teachers and 100 parents were obtained from 32 preschools. A questionnaire was used to collect the perceptions of teachers, headteachers and parents concerning established structural and contextual variables of quality on a Likert-type scale. The data was analyzed quantitatively. Descriptive statistics facilitated an examination of perceived quality. Inferential statistics determined significant differences in the group perceptions of early childhood education quality. Perceptions of the three groups of respondents were tested for significant differences simultaneously using the Kruskal Wallis test, while, pair-wise testing was accomplished by the Mann Whitney U test. Overall, a significant difference existed between the perceptions of teachers, headteachers and parents towards early childhood education quality. The difference was dominant when the three groups were compared simultaneously and was mainly attributable to the significantly different perceptions of quality held by the teachers and parents. However, the perceptions of teachers and headteachers, as well as, the perceptions of parents and headteachers were largely convergent. In addition, group perceptions tended to be consistent with respect to the structural and space and furnishings dimensions of quality whereas perceptions towards the internal operations of the institutions remained significant different. The respondents upheld universal standards of early childhood education quality and acknowledged the fact that the education provided by the community preschools failed to meet these standards. Although parents and headteachers perceived the education provided as poor in quality while the preschool teachers maintained that the education provided was fair, the perceptions of the headteachers were in support of the teachers. The pattern of group perceptions indicated that the perceptions of teachers and headteachers were influenced by expert knowledge. The parents assessed the quality of early childhood education more accurately than did the teachers and headteachers that held a more personal stake in the early childhood education program. On the basis of these findings, it was concluded that the teachers and headteachers did not take the due responsibility for the problem of quality in the preschools. Besides, significant differences in the perceptions of teachers, headteachers and parents towards early childhood education quality inhibited a unified pursuit for quality care and education services for the children enrolled in the rural community preschools in Kenya.