Influence of Head Teachers’ Support Strategies for Slow Learners on Children’s Learning Outcomes at the Early Childhood Centres in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Adoption of appropriate strategies to support slow learners will not only help the pupils to progress in education, but lead to attainment of higher learning outcomes and increase confidence in the early childhood learning year. This study aimed at investigating the influence of head teachers’ strategies for supporting slow learners on children’s learning outcomes in the public early childhood centres in Nairobi City County in Kenya. The objectives of the study were to establish the strategies applied by the head teachers to support the slow learners and to determine the extent to which the strategies that were applied influenced children’s learning outcomes at the early childhood education centres. Some indicators of the pupils’ learning outcomes include: their ability to write their names in correct spelling, writing most sounds of the alphabet and singing simple songs. This study was inspired by revelations from empirical studies that some pupils at lower primary grades scored below what is expected and this was attributed to their early education experiences. The study used a descriptive survey design that targeted 21 stand-alone public early childhood centres in Nairobi City County, 2243 pupils aged 3-5 years, 21 head teachers and 65 teachers. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected using structured interview schedules for head teachers, questionnaires for teachers and document analysis tool for pupils’ performance. The study involved 42 PP1 and PP2 classes and 50 teachers simple randomly sampled. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were employed. From the findings, head teachers applied varied strategies to support the slow learners from which the strategy that influenced the PP1 pupils’ learning outcomes most was to invite parents to assist while, for the PP2, teachers paying more attention was most influential.