Influence of selected teacher demographic characteristics on diversity management in teaching of agriculture in secondary schools in Homabay County, Kenya

Abstract

With gradual recognition of diversity among learners by teachers and school administrators‘ world over; diversity in education remains key in managing learners. Although policy guidelines on elimination of discrimination in schools are available, implementation of diversity management in practically oriented subjects across Africa and particularly in Kenya is not well researched and documented. The purpose of this study was to examine how selected demographic characteristics of teachers of Agriculture influence their ability to effectively manage diversity among learners in their classes. The objectives of the study were to find out the influence of the gender, level of training of teachers, years of teaching experience and age of teachers of Agriculture on their classroom diversity management in secondary schools in Homa Bay County. The study was modelled after Social Learning Theory as proposed by Lev Vygotsky (Lev Vygotsky, (1978). The theory is effective in diversity management in the classroom as the teachers have to identify the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) of each of their students and execute effective teaching strategies and intervention measures that would effectively meet the unique needs of each student during the Agriculture lessons. The study had a target population of 2190 of which a sample of 486 respondents was involved in the study. Questionnaires were used as main tool of collecting data. A Lesson observation schedule was used to do classroom observations. Face and content validity of the research instruments were ascertained by my supervisors from Egerton University. Both teachers and students‘ questionnaires were also piloted for reliability and yielded an acceptable Cronbach‘s coefficient Alpha of 0.79. Data was analysed using descriptive as well as inferential statistics. The findings of this study indicate that there is a statistically significant difference in influence of gender of teachers as it is evident that there was statistically significant difference in scores for males (mean =2.788, SD=.586) and females [mean=3.104, SD=.525; t (87) = -2.636, p=.010<.05], and statistically significant F [(2, 86) = 10.188, p=.000 <.05, difference in influence in classroom diversity management with different levels of training amongst teachers of agriculture in secondary schools in Homa Bay County. However, it was also established that differences exist on how teachers of Agriculture support diversity in their classroom in the terms of years of teaching experience supported by F (3, 85) = .620, p=.604 >.05) and F (2, 86) = .764, p=.469>.05, these variables do not significantly influence their diversity management skills. It was concluded that there is no statistically significant difference in classroom diversity management among teachers of Agriculture with different levels of teaching experience and age respectively in secondary schools in Homa Bay County. These findings may be of significance to the Quality Assurance and Standards Department of the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders in education as it will provide empirical evidence on how teachers, who are diverse themselves, handle diversity within their classrooms. This information may be useful in executing stopgap measures aimed at ensuring inclusivity in the teaching of agriculture in secondary schools.