Today’s blog post is written by one of the students in the study abroad course.
Name: Crispin Ojwang
Hometown: Kisumu, Kenya
Year and Program of study: I am a third year PhD student in the Teaching and Curriculum program.
I am participating in the Kenya study abroad experience because I wanted to experience education in Kenya through a different lens. Prior to joining the PhD program in Teaching and Curriculum at Syracuse University, I taught English and Literature in a public high school in Kenya and therefore had quite some insider experience while embarking on the study abroad experience. But having learned a lot on education from my program, I was interested in experiencing the education system in Kenya again and comparing what was going on with how I had experienced and understood it before, especially with different perspectives from course mates of different nationalities A new curriculum, the Competency-Based Curriculum, had also been introduced and I was interested in seeing how it pans out.
Some things I have observed thus far are the inequality that still seems to play a big role in education in Kenya, the significant challenges in education for students with disability and the gradual progress of technology integration. Having observed both a small rural day school and a large urban boarding school, the differences seem so pronounced in terms of facilities and human resources and the gap does not seem to be narrowing fast enough. I have also observed that there is still a long way to go in providing quality education for students with disabilities especially in high school. Technology integration is also still in the early stages despite being widely acknowledged as a feasible way of improving student learning.
I find it interesting that some of the things I observed or did in the past, that looked so usual when I learned and worked in the Kenya education system, look a little different today with my new educational lens coupled with the experiences and perspectives of my course mates from different countries, as well as the number of years that have gone by. For example, while in the past I viewed the small rural under-resourced schools as a ‘good enough’ option of providing some basic education for those with almost no access, the perspectives of my course mates have made me begin to think about these students as losing out on quality education compared to their peers in better resourced institutions.
I am looking forward to learning more about the experience of my course mates from different countries, of education in Kenya and everything else including the people, vegetation, climate and the food among other things. I also look forward to learning from their perspectives and I am curious to see what suggestions and input they may have for rural and urban education in Kenya.
Recap of Today’s Activities:
After a nice and refreshing weekend vacation, today seven out of ten members of the SU study abroad team including our leaders Profs. Joanna Masingila and Jeff Mangram returned to Kangaru School for the Day 2 visit. Three members, Ptahra, Carly and Isabel returned to ACK St. Monica Embu Special School to observe and work with teachers and students with disabilities.
We arrived quite early at Kangaru and waited in the bus for the morning assembly to end. As soon as it ended, members of the team went to the staffroom to meet the teachers and embarked right away on various activities with the teachers and students. Some members of the team went into the classrooms to observe or teach while others interviewed teachers on various aspects of education that were of interest to them. I had the opportunity to teach two Form 4 English classes and a Form 1 English class.
These activities went on until the tea break when together with the teachers, we enjoyed tea and some tasty mandazi. Members of the team continued teaching, observing and discussing with the teachers until the lunch break at 12:40 pm. The three members who had been at ACK St. Monica joined the rest of the team at Kangaru. We were treated to a sumptuous lunch of rice, beef stew and cabbage. The SU team left Kangaru school at 1:30 pm to return to their base at Izaak Walton Inn in Embu town. I was left behind to teach an English class between 1:30 pm and 2:50 pm before later joining the rest of the team at Izaak Walton Inn. It was a busy and interesting day as members went on with their activities and also began to consolidate ideas on what they had observed during their time in Kenya and in the schools as we approach the end of the study abroad experience.
We enjoyed dinner at the Izaak Walton Inn, where we hosted Mrs. Njeru, one of the Kangaru teachers, and her husband, Mr. Njeru, who is a teacher at another secondary school.
