Instructional materials provision on learners’ participation in early childhood development and education in public primary schools in Embu County, Kenya

Oct 15, 2026

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Early Childhood Development and Education progress is linked to children’s emotional, intellectual, social, and physical well-being. The study established how instructional materials are provided to support learner participation in ECDE within public primary schools in Embu County, Kenya. It assessed acquisition, material quality, sharing practices, and the influence of the book/pupil ratio on learning progression. Using stratified random sampling and questionnaires, results showed the county government supplies materials, but adequacy remains limited, quality is generally rated high, sharing occurs selectively, and an unfavorable book/pupil ratio reduces children’s homework ability.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

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Abstract

Introduction

African Educational Research Journal Vol. 8(2), pp. 248-257, June 2020 DOI: 10. 30918/AERJ.82.20.056 ISSN: 2354-2160 Full Length Research Paper Instructional materials provision on learners’participation in early childhood development and education in public primary schools in Embu County, Kenya Kamwitha Anastasia Muthanje*, Ibrahim Khatete and Andrew Riechi Department of Educational Administration and Planning, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 12345, Nairobi, Kenya. Accepted 28 May, 2020 | ABSTRACT
Early Childhood Development and Education advancement is aligned to the global consensus that helps in development of children’s emotional, intellectual, social and physical well-being. It is with this background that the study sought to establish the instructional material provision on learner participation in Early Childhood Development and Education in public primary schools in Embu County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to: establish acquisition of instructional materials; assess the quality of instructional materials; determine the sharing of instructional materials; establish the effect of book/pupil ratio on progression. The study targeted head, ECDE, lower and upper primary teachers in 381 primary and 380 ECD schools. Stratified random sampling was used to select schools from the five sub counties. Purposive random sampling was used to select teachers. Descriptive survey design was used to collect the data by the use of questionnaires. Collected data was analyzed using SPSS. Results were presented in form of frequency tables, graphs. From the findings, 70.3% of the primary teachers showed that the schools get instructional materials from the county government though not adequate, 55% of the ECD teachers said that materials were of high quality since they prepared them, 67.5% of ECD teachers agreed they share materials with Grade 1 and 33.3% ECD teachers stated that book/pupil ratio negatively affects children ability to do homework. The study recommends that the county government in partnership with other stakeholders should provide adequate instructional materials in ECD schools in the county.
Keywords: ECDE instructional materials, ECDE pupil-textbook ratio, ECD participation, ECDE school resources, ECDE in Embu, education quality. | | --- | | *Corresponding author. E-mail: [anastasiakamwitha@gmail.com](anastasiakamwitha@gmail.com). | INTRODUCTION According to Fredrick Froebel, a German educator who lived in the year 1782 to 1852, a child’s experiences in early years is critical to their educational achievement, health and development of the society (Nance, 2009) . Anchored on this insight , the World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education which was held in Moscow in Russia on September 27-29, 2010, provision of high quality education to all children was given great importance (UNESCO, 2013) . High quality education is realized when Early Childhood Care and Education is provided with school instructional resources particularly with instructional materials (OECD, 2012) . Republic of Kenya, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), (2015) shows that Early Childhood Education has been mainstreamed from grassroots level to promote a healthy mind and body of the targeted child. Early childhood education and care is therefore a programmatic service that broadly combines education and care in one seamless experience for young children. Thus investing in children especially in their early years is a priority. Shonkoff and Richmond (2009) noted that investment in early childhood Development lays foundation for a prosperous and sustainable society. Thus, development of human capital in later years is determined by various factors that influence ECD interactions to produce success. This is measured by readiness of the child to learn when entering primary school (Dodge, 2007) . Recent studies of early childhood investments as observed by Heckman and Schultz (2007) shows remar

FAQs

What does the study examine about instructional materials in ECDE?

It examines instructional material provision for learner participation, including acquisition, quality, sharing of materials, and how the book/pupil ratio affects learning progression.

How were participants selected and data collected?

Schools were selected using stratified random sampling across five sub-counties, and teachers were selected using purposive random sampling. Data were collected through questionnaires and analyzed with SPSS.

What key findings relate to participation and material access?

Primary teachers reported that the county government provides instructional materials, though not adequately. ECD teachers indicated materials were of high quality, sharing occurred with Grade 1 in some cases, and a negative book/pupil ratio affected children’s ability to do homework.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford