This study investigated the factors that shaped students' choices of training programs in two technical colleges in Kenya. The purpose of the study was to determine the nature of the students reasoning with regards to their decisions about enrolling in particular training programs. It also highlights how the students deal with the pressures from their parents, peers, and the community at large, to conform to their 'gender expected' program choices. The expectations of Kenyan society have been that female students would choose programs within the female dominated fields of secretarial, food and beverage, and clothing technology. The expected programs for male students have been in the male dominated fields of engineering and building trades. The study showed that program choices for girls differed from those of boys irrespective of the type of school the students attended. The study utilized both qualitative and quantitative methodology. Ethnographic techniques were used to analyze the participants experiences obtained through conversation like interviews. Chi square tests and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the enrollment records obtained from the participating colleges. The participants included 39 students and 4 Heads of Departments from the two participating colleges, College A and College B. There were 14 female and 7 male students enrolled in traditionally female programs, and 9 male and 9 female students enrolled in traditionally male programs. For each college, one head of a department with predominantly female programs and one from a department with predominantly male programs participated in the study. All the participants were interviewed within their college. The interviews focused on the participants' individual experiences related to their choices of training programs. The interviews with the Heads of Departments also looked at the relationship between the government guidelines on student enrollment and the actual criteria used by the colleges to select the students for different programs within each college. All the interviews were audio taped. The students indicated that their choices were moderated by factors within the homes they came from, the schools they attended, the society at large, and the world of work. Factors within the homes included gender related socialization, and parental pressure for the students to choose the programs that the parents wanted them to choose. The major factors within the schools the students attended included lack of career guidance, the school facilities, and lack of role models for the students to emulate. The main factors that were related to the society at large were the general expectations that the students would choose "gender appropriate programs. It was interesting to note that the students placed an emphasis on their perception of the expectations of their potential future spouses. The main factors related to the world of work were the availability of employment in particular careers, and the students' perception of the gender biases that the employers might have when recruiting workers for different types of jobs.

The prevalence of low back pain has assumed an upsurge trend in the last five decades despite the many interventional strategies. One interventional strategy that has been unsuccessful has been patient education. Lack of positive results from many of the existing patient education programmes is probably due to the type of health information that has been presented and the method that has been used. Many of the health education programmes have been planned according to what the medical professionals assumed the individuals needed to know, assumptions that could have ignored some crucial aspects. This study explored the perceived health education needs of individuals with low back pain at the Nairobi Hospital Rehabilitation Unit in Kenya, the method used to educate the individuals, the appropriateness of the method according to the individuals in addition to identifying the source of the health education that the individuals had.

The prevalence of low back pain has assumed an upsurge trend in the last five decades despite the many interventional strategies. One interventional strategy that has been unsuccessful has been patient education. Lack of positive results from many of the existing patient education programmes is probably due to the type of health information that has been presented and the method that has been used. Many of the health education programmes have been planned according to what the medical professionals assumed the individuals needed to know, assumptions that could have ignored some crucial aspects. This study explored the perceived health education needs of individuals with low back pain at the Nairobi Hospital Rehabilitation Unit in Kenya, the method used to educate the individuals, the appropriateness of the method according to the individuals in addition to identifying the source of the health education that the individuals had.

Global consensus on the importance of gender equity in education is perhaps one of the greatest agreements reached in the twentieth century. However, for countries in the sub Saharan African region where disparities of gender are wide and primary education takes priority, secondary education continues to remain in the periphery. As countries make progress towards the attainment of Universal Primary Education (UPE), the concerns for gender equity and equality have become associated with school access and pupil retention. Yet, patterns and trends in school enrollment suggest that disparities of gender are more complex. As lessons are learned from the achievements and challenges of attaining UPE, it is increasingly apparent that gender disparities within education occur in, within and beyond access to schooling. In other words, the challenge of making education gender equal goes beyond school access and school enrollment. Kenya is a signatory to the 1990 Jomtein Declaration on Education For All (EFA). It is also among the few countries in the sub Saharan Africa region with a significantly reduced gender gap in primary and secondary education. This is in tandem with the third of the eight Millennium Development Goals whose aims bear a broad social and economic development agenda. While education equity is important in Kenya and tremendous progress has been made in primary education, beyond the attainment of Universal Primary Education (UPE) there is an even more significant target; gender equity in education both in primary and secondary education by 2015. The attainment of this target requires more than access to schooling and for this reason it poses great challenges to governments and schools. In light of the progress made in Kenya and the need for more equitable education beyond primary education, this study conceives a need for an incisive examination of education equity priority areas in Kenya. The study argues on the need for a shift of concern and debate from primary education to secondary education because the gains of UPE only become meaningful when education equity is secured in secondary education. The study underscores that beyond school access and retention, education output and outcomes need to become prominent variables because they gauge trends and patterns and the quality of gains made where education is claimed to be both accessible and equitable. Using case study method, the study makes a critical interpretation of the schooling experiences, educational choices, preferences and aspirations of girls taking secondary education in single-sex schools in Murang’a district, Kenya. The study shows that girls schooling experiences are not homogenous and that there are contradictions in the ways that girls experience their schooling and make educational choices. It also shows that girls do not necessarily stand good chances with their education simply because they are enrolled in single-sex schools. The study reveals individual subjectivities and schooling culture to be at the centre of the differences between schools and the schooling experiences that girls have. The two have impact on how girls perceive themselves and their abilities, the preferences they nurture and the educational choices they make. The study draws attention to nuances in access and equity within girls’ education. It draws out issues and nuances linked to gender access, equity and equality with respect to school, teacher and subject access. Though the study is not generaliseable, it shows that in contexts where female access and survival is secured, there is need for attention to be paid to the environments that nurture educational choices and preferences so that the high rates in school access become translated into equally high educational output and outcomes.

D.Phil. / Being Kenyan means belonging to a number of levels, the national, the local, one’s tribe or ethnic group and supra-state. It means living in a world beyond the Kenyan nation in which absolutism, whether of the ethnic or national civic state, is no longer operative. While encouraging Kenyans to regionalize and globalize, the state in Kenya has also simultaneously sought to construct a nation and develop among Kenyans a sense of national identity. State pronouncements point out that Kenyans need to strengthen their self-identity in the midst of growing globalization and regionalization. They suggest that Kenya needs to teach History in schools to produce a new breed of citizens, imbued with a new vision, characterized by the Kenyan personality, that is individuals who are driven by a deep sense of patriotism and nationalism that transcends ethnic and traditional ties. To achieve this purpose, History teachers must enable students to apply historical knowledge to the analysis of contemporary issues and to deploy the appropriate skills of critical thinking. They teachers need to develop a critical pedagogy in which knowledge, habits, and skills of critical citizenship are taught and learnt. The study adopted a basic interpretive qualitative research design to understand the strategies that the teachers used to develop the attitudes and skills of critical thinking that enable learners to transcend their ethnic and national ties when thinking about issues that are Kenyan. Classroom observations and interviews were employed. The study involved seven provincial secondary schools situated in the Nairobi Province, Kenya. The finding is that to learn history, learners should not be simply inducted into an already existing identity. They have to be assisted to engage in open-ended debates over the nature of this identity as a way of introducing them to historical thinking that links the teaching and learning of history with its disciplined inquiry and core values and make it possible for them to understand their national identity part of a Kenyan culture that is interconnected with others at regional and global levels.

This study investigated the factors that shaped students' choices of training programs in two technical colleges in Kenya. The purpose of the study was to determine the nature of the students reasoning with regards to their decisions about enrolling in particular training programs. It also highlights how the students deal with the pressures from their parents, peers, and the community at large, to conform to their 'gender expected' program choices. The expectations of Kenyan society have been that female students would choose programs within the female dominated fields of secretarial, food and beverage, and clothing technology. The expected programs for male students have been in the male dominated fields of engineering and building trades. The study showed that program choices for girls differed from those of boys irrespective of the type of school the students attended. The study utilized both qualitative and quantitative methodology. Ethnographic techniques were used to analyze the participants experiences obtained through conversation like interviews. Chi square tests and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the enrollment records obtained from the participating colleges. The participants included 39 students and 4 Heads of Departments from the two participating colleges, College A and College B. There were 14 female and 7 male students enrolled in traditionally female programs, and 9 male and 9 female students enrolled in traditionally male programs. For each college, one head of a department with predominantly female programs and one from a department with predominantly male programs participated in the study. All the participants were interviewed within their college. The interviews focused on the participants' individual experiences related to their choices of training programs. The interviews with the Heads of Departments also looked at the relationship between the government guidelines on student enrollment and the actual criteria used by the colleges to select the students for different programs within each college. All the interviews were audio taped. The students indicated that their choices were moderated by factors within the homes they came from, the schools they attended, the society at large, and the world of work. Factors within the homes included gender related socialization, and parental pressure for the students to choose the programs that the parents wanted them to choose. The major factors within the schools the students attended included lack of career guidance, the school facilities, and lack of role models for the students to emulate. The main factors that were related to the society at large were the general expectations that the students would choose "gender appropriate programs. It was interesting to note that the students placed an emphasis on their perception of the expectations of their potential future spouses. The main factors related to the world of work were the availability of employment in particular careers, and the students' perception of the gender biases that the employers might have when recruiting workers for different types of jobs. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

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In recent years, a number of secondary schools in the Kirinyaga district of Central Province of Kenya have experienced riots and boycotts. The major objective of this study was to understand why students disrupt the normal processes of schooling. Students' perceptions were obtained by examining their attitudes, ideas, opinions, morals, and myths about these uprisings. The study was phenomenological in nature and was informed by the symbolic interactionism (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992). Data were collected from six diverse secondary schools: three all boys schools, two all girls schools, and one co-educational school. Multiple sources of data and methods of collection allowed for triangulation. In-depth interviews were conducted with 29 ex-students, nine staff members, and one central office administrator. Interviews were open-ended, interactive, and designed to encourage the respondents to share their stories, beliefs, and standpoints. Written case histories, school-level and district-level documents, and students' records helped contextualize the interviews and past events. Data were analyzed using constant comparative analysis (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Respondents spoke to causes, dimensions, conditions, types, processes, and consequences of the disruptions. It was found that some disruptions were spontaneous and fueled by students' established cultural norms which dictated fights for power and status. Other disruptions were carefully planned to draw the attention of school administrators and teachers to perceived grievances and issues that students cared about. The data also indicated that some of the disruptions were instigated by adult members of the community who were motivated by financial and power gains. Furthermore, respondents narrated experiences of physical hurt and psychological harm, plus damage to school property and financial losses incurred during riots and boycotts. It was observed that the secondary students were not motivated about their schooling experiences. For many students schools lacked relevance given the rapid changes and dislocations experienced by their culture, and the uncertainties of employment. The study acknowledges it is difficult for schools to respond adequately to deep-seated stresses of modernization processes. The study concludes by recommending fundamental changes in educational structure and certification in order to overcome archaic vestiges of the British system in formerly colonized Kenya.

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Kenya, as a developing nation, is undergoing dynamic political, economic and social cultural transitions. The educational system is experiencing curricular, administrative and cultural change as well. The guidance and counseling program was recently introduced in the secondary schools as a component of the curriculum to respond to changing needs of the population. The major purpose of this study was to describe the role and functions of the guidance and counseling program in selected Kenyan secondary schools. The study involved a survey of secondary school students, counselors and headteachers regarding their perception of aspects of the guidance and counseling program. The sample for this study consisted of 520 secondary school students, 108 counselors and 108 headteachers randomly selected from secondary schools in eight districts in the Rift Valley and Western Provinces of Kenya. Data were collected and analyzed by use of percentage tabulation, cross tabulation, analysis of variance and factor analysis. The results of the study indicated that students, counselors and headteachers perceived selected roles and functions of guidance personnel and counseling programs, as presented by AACD (American Association for Counseling and Development) as being fulfilled, with the exception of career development role. Career guidance services were perceived as inadequately provided by the program. Awareness and utilization of the guidance program in the schools were found to be at a high level. / Ed. D.