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How teachers understand, respond to, and implement values education in Kenyan schools

Thesis (PhD (Education Policy Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2007.

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Other Authors: Vandeyar, Saloshna
Format: Thesis
Published: University of Pretoria 2013
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Vandeyar, Saloshna
author_browse Vandeyar, Saloshna
author_facet Vandeyar, Saloshna
collection Thesis
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description Thesis (PhD (Education Policy Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2007.
format Thesis
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:40:06.524Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2013
publishDateRange 2013
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spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/28038 How teachers understand, respond to, and implement values education in Kenyan schools Vandeyar, Saloshna okore@mweb.co.zw Okore, Margaret Practise Interpretation Understanding Curriculum Values Education Kenya Teachers Morals Beliefs UCTD Thesis (PhD (Education Policy Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2007. My study brings to the fore the individualistic and contextual nature of values and values education. The variance, as is largely argued in this study, is embedded in deep-rooted beliefs and experiences, and the environment that the respective teachers find themselves in. Values and values education has been a sticky issue since time immemorial. The challenge continues to surround the questions of definition, whose values, which values, and how best to promote them. This study specifically investigates the seemingly sensitive political/religious, but critical question of how teachers, in the midst of a complex and non-homogenous society, respond to values. The study, through a retrospective analysis of the development curve of values education in Kenya, unearths the dilemma that teachers and policy makers experience as they attempt to get to grips with the concept of values and appropriate pedagogical methods to apply in the promotion of such values. Through a broad based literature review combined with primary data collected in Kenya, I attempt to explain the intricacies of the stark and stubborn disparity that exists between policy stated aims and actual practice. This disparity, I argue, is largely because issues that affect teachers’ personal lives have not featured adequately in the policy arena. The findings suggest that such issues are considered “messy” and inappropriate for scientific analysis. Secondly, they are delicate convictions, belonging to the private realm, and thus a challenge to unravel as scholars fear intruding on the personal lives of teachers. In order to unearth the intricacies of teacher beliefs and practices, I adopted a participatory approach in this study. The direct contact and discussions with teachers enabled me to untangle the web surrounding the meanings teachers attach to values as a concept. Through observation sessions, I began to appreciate how teachers negotiate these meanings simultaneously with their hectic classroom practice. This study contributes to the discourse on values education by confirming a subtle framework used by teachers. Previous studies have identified two mindsets that teachers use in their professional practice; i.e. rational and emotional. In this study, I add that there is a subtle consideration that teachers constantly refer too, which I call the “survival framework”. I found that teachers, due to the loss in the paternalistic pattern of home, school and church with regards to values, have less confidence in deciding what values to promote. Due to the volatile emotions that values can elucidate, teachers have devised individual ways of interpreting values whilst ensuring that their professional assignment is not jeopardised. It is due to this individualistic approach, that experiences in values education were manifold. I conclude the study by stating that the “survival” interpretive framework confirms three basic principals. Firstly, values will constantly be in a state of construction and reconstruction. Secondly, there is no direct correlation between holding a value and acting upon it; and lastly, values education efforts can only hope to reduce the gap in interpretation and implementation, but will never accomplish a standardised democratic system across the board. Education Management and Policy Studies PhD unrestricted 2013-09-07T12:45:45Z 2007-11-22 2013-09-07T12:45:45Z 2007-09-06 2007-11-22 2007-09-19 Thesis Okore, M 2007, How teachers understand, respond to, and implement values education in Kenyan schools, PhD Thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/28038> Pretoria http://hdl.handle.net/2263/28038 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-09192007-131230/ © University of Pretor application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle Practise
Interpretation
Understanding
Curriculum
Values
Education
Kenya
Teachers
Morals
Beliefs
UCTD
How teachers understand, respond to, and implement values education in Kenyan schools
title How teachers understand, respond to, and implement values education in Kenyan schools
title_full How teachers understand, respond to, and implement values education in Kenyan schools
title_fullStr How teachers understand, respond to, and implement values education in Kenyan schools
title_full_unstemmed How teachers understand, respond to, and implement values education in Kenyan schools
title_short How teachers understand, respond to, and implement values education in Kenyan schools
title_sort how teachers understand respond to and implement values education in kenyan schools
topic Practise
Interpretation
Understanding
Curriculum
Values
Education
Kenya
Teachers
Morals
Beliefs
UCTD
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/28038
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-09192007-131230/