Response to Education Setback in Kenya Through Indigenous African Teaching Approaches and Resources

Abstract

This study traces the methods of indigenous pedagogy alongside the development of formal education in Kenya. By showing indigenous education was successfully training generations of youth to assume their roles in society through active, participatory methods, the authors establish that the 21st century learner-centred teaching approaches are not a new concept introduced by Western pedagogues. Instead, they have roots in indigenous practices which were squeezed out by Western colonialism. To give context for understanding the current problems in Kenyan education, this chapter surveys the literature of Kenyan educational development. Then, the authors present a qualitative research study of the effectiveness of an in-service professional development model focusing on teachers in three counties in Kenya. This study established that open educational resources could be used in quality professional development to support teachers to adopt learner-centred pedagogy that reflects the indigenous African learning practices and addresses the dynamic 21st century learning needs.