ABSTRACT
Community resources when used in teaching and learning enhance understanding and retention. This study examined the availability and use of community resources in teaching Business Studies in secondary schools in Ruiru District Kiambu County Kenya. A descriptive research method was adopted. A sample of 10 principals, 10 Business Studies teachers and 100 students was drawn from a target population of 1222 respondents. Data was collected using interview schedule for Principals and questionnaires were used to collect data from teachers and students. Information was collected from twenty two secondary schools in Kiambu District. Descriptive statistics in form of percentages, frequencies, tables and ranks were used to analyse data. Major finding of this study were that community resources were not regularly used in Kenyan secondary schools due to constraints of time, finance etc. The study also revealed that the respondents were conversant with community resources in their District. From the findings teachers should try as much as possible to use community resources in teaching Business Studies. This will improve the quality of instruction in schools and ensure student active involvement in life-like learning activities.
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction.
This chapter looks at the background to the problem,Statement of the problem, Purpose of the study, research objectives andquestions, significance of the study, Delimitations and limitations of the study, assumptions of the study, theoretical and Conceptualframework andoperational of terms of this study have been defined.
Background to the Study
It is generally agreed that learners learn best by observing and analysing life experiences. One of the educational reformers John Commenius who believed in universal education, was certain that the old restrictions of time and place and narrowly conceived curriculum concepts should be broken down into content, teaching and learning resources and activities,Whittich (1967).
Commenius further statedthat breaking down concepts would be best done by giving students opportunities to voice their own interests, enthusiasms, and curiosities by seeking answers. This meant observing for themselves the activities of people, visiting places and manipulating things. Clearly instructional materials add element of reality by providing such concrete examples.
Instructional materials include print and non-print items that are designed to impart information to students in the educational process (Bradley, Sankar and Raju 2005). Among these items are textbooks charts community resources and many more.
The use of instructional materials in secondary schools has been widely researched and findings indicate that the benefits of using them are immense. The integration of instructional materials in classroom practice is believed to booster the quality of instruction by fostering student cantered pedagogies (Abdo and Semela 2010). Furthermore according to Mateer et al (2012), the use of relevant instructional media in the classroom is invaluable since it engages students, aids their retention of knowledge, motivates interest in the subject matter and helps to illustrate many concepts taught.
Ciffone (1998) defines community resources as people, places or things that can be found in all sectors of the community and can provide teachers with teaching materials (borrowed or donated), project ideas, guest speakers, field trips, and community service projects.
Community resources are part of instructional media which can be used in teaching. When well used community resources can enliven a class, encourage student participation and help students grasp difficult concepts. The outdoors can be effective avenue for learners to develop an understanding for basic concepts. These basic concepts extend far beyond the acquisition of simple facts by including relationship building, values formation, and increasing sensitivity and awareness of the environment surrounding the individual, (Ewert, 2006).
Dale (1969), states that full and well-rounded learning should be moved beyond our school walls and into the community. This is a laboratory which can help to bridge the gap between what we know and what we do in education. Utilizing the community and its resources expand the notion of the classroom to include the entire world of the student, (Sebolt 1972).
Olsen (1954) observed that a school cannot be realistic if it is confined to the four walls of the classroom, library or laboratory. If young people are to develop understanding, concerns and skills essential in the real improvement of human living, they must have every opportunity to learn through extensive first hand, problem solving experience. Books and visual materials are all important, but alone are not sufficient. That is why the community opens doors for experience between the school and the community. This can be achieved through the use of resource persons, field trips, community surveys, work experiences and service projects, and visits to factories, firms,social agencies and museums.
Dewey (1966) argued that it is the business of the school to set up an environment in which play and work shall be conducted with reference to facilitating desirable mental and moral growth. The problem of education is to engage pupils in the activities in such a way that manual skill and technical efficiency are gained and immediate satisfaction found in the work. Together with preparation for later usefulness those things shall be subordinated to education- that is, to intellectual results and the forming of a socialised disposition.
Brown, Lewis and Harcleroad (1969) called for more planned contacts with adults of the community since such elderly people open new worlds of experience for learners. They give an example of Michigan state university which organised a community resource workshop. It involved more than fifty teachers in a cooperative effort with twelve local industries and chamber of commerce in learning about the socioeconomic environment in which they worked. An outgrowth of the workshop was a booklet describing full details of potential field trip sites in the area. Participants contacted more than a thousand community leaders (citizens with special
talents and skills). Thus many community contacts were made and community resources explored that were of interest for future use.
Thompson (1981) argues that the community should be a laboratory for study in order that the content of the curriculum might be more relevant to the lives learners led and would continue to lead in their community. Some of the earliest community schools in Africa recognised the need for their teaching staff to be augmented by local people possessing skills in craft and farming and also traditional history and custom which the teachers, often draw from distant communities might well possess. Also present was the idea that children should learn that not all knowledge which was of value was to be found in textbooks but might also be learned from a storehouse of community experience.
Julius Nyerere’s policy ‘education for self-reliance’ called for inclusion of practical activity and productive work into the educational curriculum, not as a punishment but as an integral part of learning. Linkages between the school and the community were made by inviting local intellectuals, elders and others to share their knowledge and experience with the students, (Mbilinyi, 2003).
One of the first advocates for outdoor education we know today was L. B. Sharp in Ewert(2006) felt that which ought and can be best be taught inside the classrooms should there be taught, and that which can be best learned through experience dealing directly with native materials and life situations outside the school should there be learned.
The nature of business studies offers unique opportunities for resources within the school community around the environment to be used to enrich students learning. It is a subject that is concerned with the immediate and the larger environment.
Community institutions, people and businesses are rich reservoir of instructional materials for business studies teachers. The use of community resources in teaching can make students appreciate the local and international relevance of what they learn in school while affording them the opportunity to apply business studies theory and context. This is supported by Chew (2008) who in her study on the development of localised instructional materials in Hong Kong, came to conclusion that teaching and learning in business studies could be enhanced to a great extent by using instructional resources based on local contexts, because such resources would be more authentic and more relevant to student‟s needs.
Business studies is an applied or vocational subject tailored towards enhancing the learner‟s capacity and ability for employment in the different sectors of the economy, both formal and informal. Business studies also aims at equipping the students with entrepreneurial skills that can consequently encourage and lead to the realisation of self-employment (GOK Kenya, 2004). Many of these skills can be achieved by use of community resources.
Every town, whether rural or urban, has placesandopportunities that exist for the benefit of the community learning. Britain has identified Libraries, parks, hospitals, town halls that offer potential for exciting learning. Use of Community resources enables the learners to develop skills in creative thinking, independent enquiry, team work and effective participation, (Ellis 2009). There are Places in Kenya that offer opportunities for community teaching which include museums, railway stations, and factories and so on.
Business studies subject prepares future entrepreneurs who play a big role in development of the economy.Ouma (2011) observed that Business Studies is an
important subject to be taught only in secondary schools colleges and universities alone. Kenya ought to reverse this trend and start teaching right from primary schools. We need to teach Business Studiesright from primary school. By using community resources, schools shall achieve the goals they have set for themselves.
Wanza (2008) in her a study on implementation of the Business Studies curriculum in public secondary schools in Machakos District, Machakos County, Kenya found that teaching and learning resources were inadequate for effective implementation of Business Studies curriculum.
Business Studies is an elective to be selected from a cluster that includes Agriculture, Computer Studies and Home Science. With the use of community resources learners will be motivated and may have a positive attitude towards the subject. When students have interest, they tend to learn the subject materials better. Heightened student interest in class can lead to more students opting for the subject.
1.3. Statement of the Problem
In spite of the wide recognition of what can be achieved when using community resources/experiences, research shows that they have not become an integral part of instruction as one would have hoped. Teachers use only textbooks to provide instruction and rarely use teaching resources.
Azeb (1975) in her study on use of community resources in elementary schools in Ethiopia showed that most teachers assigned text books to the class as the main source from which they obtained their instructional materials.Also a study conducted on teaching Business Studies in Botswana secondary schools, Sithole (2010) discovered that out of the total teachers sampled, (68%) had never used local people as guest
speakers or resource persons. In a similar study, Mitiale (2011), observed that social studies teachers in Botswana make insufficient use of instructional materials
The similar finding was observed by Mwangi, (2001) in his study on selection and utilization of instructional resources by teachers of English in Muranga District. He found out that most teachers did not recognise the potential of community based resources such as guest speakers and study tours and that Majority of teachers depended on textbooks as the main source of information. Some teachers unquestionably accept the orderly, systematic curriculum plan handed to them by higher authority, in their classroom teaching.
A lot of research has been done on community resources and their effect on teaching and learning. Their potential to motivate and engage students may be limited. However, little has been done to find out the extent community resources have been used in teaching and learning.
1.4 Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study was to establish availability, use of community resources and challenges faced by teachers when using community resources in teaching Business Studies in Secondary schools in Ruiru District in Kiambu County.
1.5. Research Objectives
The following research objectives guided this study.
- To find out the different types of community resources in usewhen teaching Business Studies in secondary schools.
- To ascertain how often community resources are used by Business Studies
teachers while teaching.
