The Kenyan government banned corporal punishment in Kenyan schools in 2001 and enacted the Children's Act (Government of Kenya, 2001) which entitles children to protection from all forms of abuse and violence. Kenya is also a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1990) which states that discipline involving violence is unacceptable. In spite of this, the use of corporal punishment continues in Kenyan schools. This study therefore sought to identify the reasons behind the use of corporal punishment by Kenyan teachers and teachers' awareness of existing laws on the use of violence on children. Data collected through focus group discussions showed that teachers were aware of existing laws prohibiting the use of corporal punishment in schools. Their reasons for using corporal punishment included the belief that it was the most effective way to discipline children and that parents had authorised its use. This study has shown that, although the Kenyan government has introduced laws to protect children, teachers will readily break them if they believe it is for the children's good. This paper therefore recommends the involvement of the Kenyan government in training teachers on non‐violent ways of disciplining children. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Globalization and demand for twenty first century skills has led countries to adapt Competency Based Curriculum (CBC). Kenya embarked on curriculum reforms from content based to CBC in 2018. Studies have reported minimal use of CBC teaching-learning approaches in pre-primary schools in Nairobi City County. Teachers are the key implementers of the Curriculum, yet their preparedness to implement the Curriculum in public pre-primary schools remains unknown. Therefore, this study purposed to establish the preparedness of pre-primary school teachers in implementing the CBC in public pre-primary schools in the County. The Concern-Based Adoption Model by Hall, Hord and Rutherford (2006) was used in this study.  The study targeted a population of 900 comprising of 450 pre-primary school teachers, 225 ECD Center Managers and 225 head teachers in all the 225 public pre-primary schools in Nairobi City County. Twenty percent of the target population was sampled to participate in the study; therefore the study had a sample size of 180, which comprised of 45 head teachers, 45 center managers and 90 pre-primary school teachers. A Questionnaire, interview schedules, observation checklist and a document analysis guide were used to collect data. Pilot study was conducted in two public pre-primary schools in the County, validity of the research instruments was determined through expert judgment whereas reliability of the questionnaires was determined through split-half method and a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.799 was obtained. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically whereas quantitative data was summarized using percentages and frequencies and Chi-square test was used to test the hypotheses. This was facilitated by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version 21. Findings showed that majority (65.9%) of the teachers had not received any training on CBC, whereas 34.1% of the teachers were trained. The study established a significant relationship between the teachers’ extent of training in CBC and their ability to implement the curriculum with a significance value of p=0.000<0.05. The study concluded that the teachers were not adequately prepared to implement the Curriculum. Thus, recommended that the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Nairobi City County Government should adequately create a regular in-service training program to equip teachers with necessary knowledge and skills that will help them implement the curriculum effectively.

The purpose of this research was to establish whether there was a significant relationship between teachers’ attitudes and levels of utilization of instructional materials (IM) in Pre-Primary Schools in Kenya. The study adopted the Ecological Systems Theory by Urie Bronfenbrenner. The study used a cross-sectional survey research design and data were collected through self-administered questionnaires. A sample of 164 teachers comprising of 76.2% females and 23.8% males participated in the study. Results established that 86.4% of the teachers had positive attitudes towards the instructional practice. In terms of utilization of instructional materials, the researchers determined that 62.1% of the respondents achieved high levels while 37.9% attained low levels of utilization of instructional materials across the Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) activity areas. The Chi-Square results revealed that there was a statistically significant relationship between teachers’ attitudes and utilization of instructional materials (χ2 = 4.094; d.f.= 2; p = 0.043). Further analysis using the regression test revealed that there was a statistically significant relationship between teachers’ positive attitudes and levels of utilization of instructional materials (β =0.516; p = 0.001). These findings established that teachers who had positive attitudes attained higher levels of utilization of instructional materials in their classrooms compared to their counterparts who had negative attitudes. Therefore, it was concluded that teachers’ attitudes were a significant factor in promoting the utilization of instructional materials in ECDE activities. This implies that a positive attitude is an important attribute of a pre-primary school teacher. Therefore, there is a need to inculcate positive attitudes towards the utilization of instructional materials among teachers during pre-service and in-service training sessions to promote the best practices in instruction at the pre-primary school level.

This study sought to investigate determinants of pre-school teachers' attitudes towards teaching in Thika Municipality, Kenya. The concern to stakeholders was the negative attitudes of the preschool teachers towards teaching. Such a concern called for investigation. IntroductionThis paper presents the findings of a research study carried out in Thika, Kenya to find out the determinants of preschool teachers' attitudes towards teaching young children. In the paper the term preschool refers to institutions that care for and provide education for young children up to the age of six years. Such facilities are also referred to as nursery schools, kindergartens, day care centres, crèches, pre-primary school units, and Montessori schools. The term attitude refers to the opinions or feelings the teachers have towards teaching. This was shown in their responses to questions in the questionnaire. The word determinant means factors that influence a teacher's attitude towards teaching.

Gender socialization has an impact on children and any gender stereotyped verbal comments or