Analysis of peace education content covered in the upper primary school social studies curriculum in Kenya

Abstract

Peace Education in Kenya is one of the programmes in the primary school curriculum initiated by the Ministry of Education in February 2008. Peace Education is aimed at preparing learners to deal with contemporary social challenges in society. Peace Education Programme (PEP) is integrated into a comprehensive programme of substantive peace education content and pedagogy. PEP consists of basic principles and their application to real life. Peace Education aims at empowering learners with problem solving skills, ability to address conflicts peacefully, and thus promote tolerance for diversity, cultural differences and human dignity. Although pupils in Kenyan primary schools are expected to receive their Peace Education through primary school social studies curriculum but the approach seems not to provide pupils with necessary knowledge, skills and development of attitude and values conducive for social transformation. This implies that promoting peace is a major challenge in Kenyan primary schools through the carrier subjects such as social studies. This study therefore sought to analyse Peace Education content covered through the School Social Studies Curriculum (SSC) in terms of objectives of Peace Education and Citizenship Skills in order to find its status. The study adopted exploratory research design. Data was collected through content analysis using two tools, namely Peace Education objective analysis matrix (PEOAM) and citizenship skills analysis matrix (CSAM). Experts from Faculty of Education and Community Studies (FEDCOS) of Egerton University validated the instruments. Reliability of data analysis was done through inter-coder agreement by different research experts. Their comments were incorporated by the researcher after sufficient coding consistency was achieved. Descriptive Statistics such as frequency mean and percentage were used to analyse data with the help of Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The study revealed that Peace Education content covered through the primary school SSC in terms of objectives of peace education and citizenship skills for peace education is of average status. The findings of the study will be of great value to all stakeholders in the education sector namely; the school administrators and teachers since they will be aware of how much peace education are covered in the curriculum. It will also benefit curriculum developers at Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) in ensuring Peace Education contents are adequate and well infused in Social Studies Curriculum. Eventually, pupils having been imparted with adequate peace education knowledge and citizenship skills will become peaceful members of the society.