The Impact of Investment in Sports Teachers Training on Pupils’ Participation in Sporting Activities in Public Primary Schools in Kenya

Abstract

The introduction of the ‘Competence Based Curriculum’ (CBC) in Kenya’s basic education system in 2017 was meant to promote early identification of talents along with arts and sports among other talents. The realization of these can be best achieved through deliberate investment in talent development. One of the key investment and development areas is the training of sports teachers. However, the extent to which primary schools in the country invested in professional or ‘specialist’ training of sports teachers and its effects on pupils’ participation in sports was not well understood. Therefore, the main objective of the study was to establish the impact of investment in sports teachers’ training and its influence on pupils’ participation in sporting activities in Nairobi County, Kenya. Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences theory guided the study. Concurrent triangulation design was used for the study which targeted 68 school heads and teachers in charge of games in 68 public primary schools within Nairobi County using systematic random sampling and purposive sampling techniques. Data was collected using questionnaires and was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical methods with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) software version 22.0. The results revealed that school investment in teachers’ training for talent management could significantly influence pupils’ participation in sports in primary schools in Nairobi County. However, presently there was a low investment in specialist sports teachers’ training. The study, therefore, recommends that; there is a need to emphasize that the sports teachers get at least one specialist training once posted as teachers apart from the general training they receive in the teacher training colleges.