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Introduction
Welcome to topic two.
In this topic, we discuss the foundations of secondary school curriculum. This combines both the
Historical and Philosophical foundations.
Historical foundations are influences on curriculum derived from the developments in the past
events that have affected the secondary school curriculum.
The Philosophical foundations constitute the values and beliefs that make up the philosophies of
life and of education which influence the curriculum.
Topic Time
Compulsory online reading, activities, self-assessments & practice exercises
[3 hours]
Optional further reading [1 hour]
Total student input [4 hours]
Learning Outcomes
Topic Content
"Transforming Lives through Quality Education"
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2.1 H i s t o r i c a l a n d p h i l o s o p h i c a l f o u n d a t i o n s o f s e c o n d a r y s c h o o l
curriculum
i. H i s t o r i c a l
ii. Philosophical iii.
Sociological iv.
Psychological
We will consider the historical, philosophical and touch on the sociological
foundation when looking at the social context of the secondary school curriculum in a later topic.
These are influences on curriculum derived from the developments in the past. Developments in the
past continue to influence the present practices in secondary school programmes. Aspects of
relevance that may need your attention include:
Indigenous African Education – Here we ask ourselves, is there anything in the aims, methods and
content of African indigenous education that has influenced the current secondary school
curriculum? You may need to note what these things are in the activity section.
Early Christian Education – A blend of Greek, Roman, and Hebrew Ideals. These
ideals can be seen in the secondary school curriculum especially the symbols used in mathematics
and the sciences. The reformation that came with Martin Luther. This involved the Jesuit Schools.
Jesuit schools had the secular purpose of improving civil society by educating boys to earn a living
and to fill leadership positions. We will note that religion as a subject is still taught in all secondary
schools. we will also discuss the Renaissance. The humanistic schools and Traditional Roman
grammar schools also have an influence in the curriculum. Scientific movement in Education under
the philosophy of realism developed with three areas namely
Humanistic realism – this stressed content mastery and use of classic
literature.
Social realism – which stressed class-consciousness, aristocrats as opposed to
Bourgeoisie (middle class)
Sense realism – Stressed sense perception as a basis
We also need to look at the Progressive movement in education – This advocated for;
Teacher and pupils planning together curricular activities
Flexible curriculum and individualized instruction
Non-formal curriculum –games, sports, hobbies, clubs.
Learners – centered methodology
Content selected in line with interest and needs of the learners.
Philosophical foundations
As you notice from the term philosophy, Philosophical foundations constitute the values and
beliefs that make up the philosophies of life and of education.
a) Tradition schools
b) Progressive schools
These schools were supported by the following positions;
Idealism
Realism
Pragmatism
These positions gave rise to philosophical schools in relation to theories of content in a
curriculum, namely
We now look at the history of Kenya’s education and how it has affected the secondary school
curriculum. This can be divided into three distinct stages/periods.
During this period, no foreign education systems had been established. This means that education
was mainly in the indigenous state.
Curriculum of African Education was implemented by fathers through organized groups of Elders
or villagers. The curriculum content included
Initiation rites
Religion
Hunting
Farming Including raising cattle
Community responsibilities
Oral number work
Language and Values
Tribal laws
Speech behavior and respect
Nature study which included naming of trees, plants animals and insects.
Dancing and Music
Teaching which relates to Astronomy and Geography
It is worth noting that the concepts were taught both formally and informally. In addition, at the
coast Koranic Schools were built by the first Arabs for their
This period is characterized by the formation of various education commissions. These include:
This marked the beginning of the colonial government involvement in education in Kenya. It was
headed by Professor J. Nelson Fraser. He was appointed as Educational Advisor to the governments
of British East Africa in 1908. He had long experience in Educational matters in India.
Accepted the principles of different systems of education for Europeans, Indians and
Africans.
Advocated for technical education for the Africans. According to him, Africans had
talent which could be harnessed through provision of technical education.
Observed the need to use African Skilled labour as opposed to Asian Labour since it was
cheaper.
Outcomes of Fraser Report
It was supported by a fund availed by Lady Caroline Phelps – Stokes for the education of negroes
in America. She visited East Africa in 1924. The visit was as a result of the concern by major
protestant missionary societies on their educational work in Africa. The report emphasized the
following.
The expansion of education continued but at a low pace. The government took more responsibility
for the African Education. The turning point was in 1949
After the 2nd World War there were major forces that led to the expansion of
African Education. These were:
Having witnessed the Nazi Tyranny, the British liberal forced demanded that colonies be
prepared towards eventual self-government through provision of education.
The ex-war veterans who survived had just returned having been abroad and seen the
importance of ‘Western Education’ therefore, they put pressure that education facilities be
expanded in Kenya. These brought about expansion in both primary education and primary
teacher education. A large number of untrained teachers were recruited leading to concerns
being raised on the quality of education. Especially in primary school. These problems together
with the concerns raised by Africans that the education provided then failed to meet the real
goals for the community led to the colonial governor in 1949 appointing a select committee
under Bishop Leornard Beecher.
iii. African Education Commission Report of 1949 (Beecher Report). The select committee
under Beecher was mandated to look at the scope, content and methods of African Educational
provisions, its administration and financing. The committee listened to a variety of public evidence
on the nature of education in colonial Kenya. Various concerns were raised, these include:
- The quality of the various grades of teachers.
- The high proportion of untrained teachers of doubtful value in the unaided schools.
- Recruitment of teachers who are tools did or too staid (impassive or too young and
unstable)
Advocated for the 4-4-4 structure of Education i.e. 4 years of primary 4 years of intermediate
and 4 years of Secondary Education.
Curriculum should aim at developing a sense of public responsibility and democracy besides
literacy and technical skills.
Kenya Teacher One (KT1) be awarded to teacher trainees who have completed 2
years of training after form four.
The K1T1 curriculum to include practical teaching and blackboard work, methods of
teaching, principles of education, school management, subjects of the primary school
curriculum.
Note: The main aim of the 4-4-4 structure was to present each stage/segment of education as a
complete course in itself (Summative), so that those who leave at whatever stage possess
competent skills for active roles in the society.
Recommended that a small, selected group of African children be allowed to taste secondary
education after which they would go back to the rural areas to help their fellow Africans or be
given junior clerical jobs in office.
The Africans resisted the recommendations of the Beecher Report and consequently it
was hardly implemented.
Three years after the Beecher report, there followed the African Education Commission (The
Binns Report of 1952). This report was a precursor to the Cambridge conference (1952) held to
survey the ‘whole groundwork’ of education in colonial territories. The colonial office in
Britain sent out a group of experts to Britain’s African Territories to examine the state of
education in these territories and their report were used for discussions at the Cambridge
conference.
The group that came to East and Central Africa was led by A. L. Binns, formerly Chief
Education Officer for the County of Lancashire. The committee had no African representative.
The main task of the commission was to address the problem of the low quality of teaching
prevailing in schools then. The objectives were to ensure priority on producing new teachers
with a higher level of general education and improved quality of instruction through new
methods with a high level of general education and improved quality of instruction through new
methods and techniques.
- Teachers to be trained on new methods and techniques of instruction i.e. activity method.
- Learner centred learning and use of real-life experiences.
- Use of Demonstration schools that would lead to a gradual change from passive to active
education, then spreading to other schools.
- Preperation of the teacher for the then impending child development research
- Eliminate Kiswahili except where it is a local vernacular. the reason was that Kiswahili
impaired the learning of both the vernacular languages and English.
- Primary Schools to be used as a focus for Agricultural training. The main reasons were:
ii) Very few students progressed beyond the primary level to benefit from more advanced
training
- Boarding Schools
- Technical Education
- Adult Education
Let us now look at a Comparison between Beecham Report and Binns Report. Look at the table
below.
Advocated for the 4-4-4 system Advocated for the 4-4-4 system of
of Education control of enrollment at Education control of enrollment at every level
every level
Use of teacher training college as the main focus for improving the quality of the primary and
intermediate schools.
Need to Africanize teacher training institutions through i) Hiring
more African Instructors
ii) Fitting the curriculum more closely to the practical realities of the
African Environment.
Around 1955 new ideas emerged. There was need for qualitative improvement in the teaching of
English, Science and Mathematics and coordination of teacher Education. Special centres for those
subjects were established in Nairobi beginning with the English Centre in 1957. In 1962, two other
centres for Science and Mathematics were established. Major curriculum innovations at this time
include: -
Modern mathematics and inquiry science all within the new primary approach
(NPA).
With time, it became evident that even other curricular areas required similar attention. This led to
the three centres being amalgamated to form the curriculum development and Research Centre
(CDRC in 1964). The centre was situated at the then central Teacher Training College (the present
K.I.E.).
c. Post-Independence Period.
This commission was appointed at Independence and was chaired by Prof. Simeon Ominde of the
University College, Nairobi. It is also referred to as the first Kenya Education Commission. They
came up with the famous goals of Education. They came up with the following goals:
This was later referred to as the study of curriculum development in Kenya and preceded the
restructuring of Kenya Institute Education.
Curriculum n e g l e c t e d p r a c t i c a l a n d c r e a t i v e a c t i v i t i e s e s p e c i a l l y i n
Agricultural and basic Manual Skills.
Recommendations were
Recommendations were;
Recommendations were;
Recommendations were;
To have the 8–4–4 system of Education and the curriculum content to lay more emphasis on
vocational education.
Recommendations were;
Review of the 4 years secondary education to ensure effective coverage of its content and
to assist in career orientation.
Provision of adequate facilities and equipment for proper teaching of science subjects.
Expansion of teacher training programmes to produce more university graduates
professionally trained.
emphasized inspection of schools. Inspectors to be trained and upgraded depending on their
academic and professional qualifications.
Establishment and decentralization to district level of guidance and counseling.
Student to sit for a Scholastic assessment and evaluation examination leading to an award of a
general certificate of secondary education (G.C.S.E) at the end of form four.
The exams aim was to assess students’ talents and academic ability and was to be given twice
every year.
a. Sessional Paper No.1 of 2005 on A Policy Framework for Education, Training and
Research
Focused on the challenges of the low participation rates, low transition rates from primary to
secondary and from secondary to tertiary (particularly to universities), as well as gender and
regional disparities.
In order to address these challenges, the Government was to implement the following
policies:
(In the long-term, work towards integrating secondary education as part of basic education;
Promote the development of day schools as a means of expanding access and reducing the
cost to parents;
Provide targeted instructional materials to needy public secondary schools, while
encouraging parents and communities to provide infrastructure and operational costs
Restructure the secondary school teacher training programme to require that teacher
trainees attain basic qualifications in their respective subject areas and subsequently
undertake post-graduate training in pedagogy or extend the Bachelor of Education degree
programme to be five years like other professions
Establish a National Assessment System to monitor learning competencies in secondary
schools in order to enhance the capacity of schools to undertake school-based continuous
assessment
Work towards the establishment of two centres of excellence, one for boys and one for
girls, at district levels to serve as role models and to increase national schools in the country.
To implement the above policies, the Government was to employ the following strategies:
Provide support to poor and disadvantaged students through secondary school bursaries;
Provide targeted support for the development of infrastructure in areas where parents are
not able to provide such support;
This paper focused on education as part of the social pillar of vision 2030. We will look at the
section on the secondary school curriculum, but I would advice you ensure you look at the entire
social pillar. This is because education and training of all Kenyans is fundamental to the success of
the Vision. the challenges Kenya is facing is
how to meet the human resource requirements for a rapidly changing and more diverse
economy
to ensure that the education provided meets high quality standards, and that its contents are
relevant to the needs of the economy and society.
move rapidly in raising the standards of the regions that lag behind in enrolment to
bring then to par with other areas
improving the overall transition rates, particularly from secondary to tertiary levels.
Education and training sector will be charged with the responsibility of creating a knowledge-based
society. The interventions include:
Topic Summary
In this topic we have learned that foundations are values, traditions, factors, forces which influence
the kind, quantity and quality of the experience the school offers its learners. We have looked at
historical foundations as developments in the past that continue to influence the present practices in
secondary school curriculum. The philosophical foundations which constitutes the values and
beliefs that make up the philosophies of life and of education. We have also looked at the
recommendations from the following education reports and commissions; namely Fraser
Report (1908), Phelps – Stokes Report (1922), Beecher Report (1949), Binns Report (1952), The
Ominde Commission (1964), Bessey (1971), Gachathi (1976), Mackay (1982), Kamunge (1985),
Koech Report (2000) and the sessional papers of 2005 and 2012. This means therefore that we
must have in mind these influences as we design, develop and implement the secondary
school curriculum.
Glossary
Further Reading
http://www.knqa.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/sessional-paper-sept.-
2005-final.pdf
TOPIC ACTIVITIES
Activity
Click and watch this video on integrating indigenous knowledge alongside classroom
science.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuLP5DfaSzc&t=41s
Feedback/Hint/Tip [optional]
Assignment
Discuss the influence of philosophical foundations on secondary school curriculum. Look at the
sessional paper no 1 of 2005, discuss any three recommendations that the Kenyan government has
put in place in the secondary school education
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