TITLE:
Transformative Pedagogy as a Way of Mitigating School Violence in Public Secondary Schools in Nairobi, Kenya
AUTHORS:
Olivia A. Opere, Isabella Kamere, Violet Wawire
KEYWORDS:
Transformative Pedagogy, School Violence, Peaceful Coexistence
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.8 No.7,
July
9,
2020
ABSTRACT: The prevalence of school violence (SV) in public secondary schools in
Kenya has resulted into injuries, loss of
property and sometimes death. Penalties meted out on students ranging
from fines on students, suspension or expulsion of students from school has
been introduced in vain. Several commissions of inquiry have also been put in place to address this issue but not much
has been achieved. Violence negatively affects students hence the need
to identify ways of mitigating school violence. This study argues that to a
large extent, school violence in public secondary schools is due to either the
absence or limited use of transformative pedagogy (TP) which provides the
learners with an opportunity for critical thinking, enables behavioural change
and the inculcation of values hence the attainment of peaceful coexistence
amongst students. Using Mezirow’s Transformative
learning theory, the study adopted a Mixed Method Research methodology in which
data was drawn from 426 respondents comprising 341 students and 85 teachers in
22 public secondary schools in Nairobi County, 28 Key informants and 7 Focus
Group Discussions (FGDs). Data analysis was done using SPSS and N-vivo analysis
techniques. The study found out that
discussion groups and role play were the major learner centred teaching approaches used in the schools. The paper
concluded that effective use of
transformative pedagogical approaches positively influences behaviour change in students hence the attainment of a non-violent school
community. The study recommended a review of the secondary school curriculum to adopt transformative teaching approaches
as opposed to teacher centred learning.