Impartation of students’ moral reasoning through secondary school Christian religious education curriculum in Nakuru County, Kenya

Abstract

Moral reasoning is important as it equips students with knowledge and skills to distinguish between right and wrong. Moral reasoning taught in Kenyan secondary schools through Christian Religious Education (CRE) and other carrier subjects. Despite exposure to moral reasoning content, moral judgement of students is generally unsatisfactory as demonstrated in the acts of lawlessness in schools. This suggests that moral education imparted through the carrier subjects has not achieved its objectives. This study investigated the impartation of secondary school students‟ moral reasoning through the Christian Religious Education Curriculum in Nakuru County, Kenya. The study adopted the ex- post facto research design, correlational type. The target population comprised all secondary school teachers and their students while accessible population composed of 332 CRE teachers and 10,603 Form Four students who were studying the subject. A sample of 186 CRE teachers and 386 students was selected using stratified, proportionate and simple random sampling techniques. Four instruments namely; CRE Teachers‟ Curriculum Perceptions Questionnaire (CRETCPQ), CRE Students‟ Moral Reasoning Test (CRESMRAT), Moral Reasoning Methods Observation Schedule (MRIMOS) and Curriculum Content Analysis Matrix (CCAM) were used to gather data. The face and content validity of the four instruments were examined by five research experts from the Department of Curriculum Instruction and Educational Management of Egerton University. CRETCPQ, MRIMOS, CCAM and CRESMRAT were piloted for reliability. Their coefficients were estimated using the Cronbach‟s, Krippendorff‟s Alpha method; and the Kuder Richardson‟s formula (KR20) respectively. The reliability coefficients of the three tools were 0.897, 0.803, 0.831 and 0.801 respectively. Data was analysed with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Qualitative data was analysed and described using frequencies and percentages. The study hypotheses were tested using simple linear and multiple regression at α = ≤ .05.The results of the study indicated that moral reasoning content coverage in the CRE curriculum and students‟ moral reasoning level were average. The results also indicated that the instructional methods used by CRE teachers to enhance moral reasoning knowledge and skills to students significantly imparted their moral reasoning. The results further indicated that teachers‟ perceptions of CRE curriculum do not impart students‟ moral reasoning. The results of the study can be used by Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) to enhance moral reasoning content of the CRE curriculum while teacher training institutions can use them to strengthen moral education and methodologies in their programmes. The results can also be used by teachers to enhance moral education content delivery. Lastly, the results can be used by the other religions such as Islam and Hindu among other and; the society at large to mould young youths into responsible citizens.