Promoting effective early grade reading: the case study of primary teachers’ preparation programmes in Kenya

Abstract

This study explores how the primary school teacher preparation curriculum prepares pre‐service teachers to teach reading in lower primary schools in Kenya. High‐quality reading teacher preparation is among the critical aspects that need to be addressed in order to curb the literacy challenges faced by early grade students living in low‐resource contexts. In this article, a case study of the Kenyan Primary Teacher Preparation programme is presented using data from the primary teacher education syllabus [PTES] and interviews of pre‐service and in‐service teachers from Western Kenya. Findings suggest that the pre‐service teaching programmes curriculum has limited content and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) critical to equip teachers to teach emergent readers from multilingual contexts. The curriculum content needs to be revamped to include more core literacy components and early literacy PCK, practicum apprenticeship specific for the needs of early grade literacy instructors, and content on early literacy formative and summative assessment. Suggestions and recommendations are offered on how to restructure the Kenya primary teacher programmes to ensure high‐quality reading teachers’ preparation.