Prof Fatuma Chege | Kenyatta University, Nairobi (original) (raw)

Papers by Prof Fatuma Chege

Reason and emotion with special reference to music education and creativity

Kenyatta University, Mar 1, 1990

This is part of the TESF Briefing Note Series. TESF has identified three cross-cutting inequaliti... more This is part of the TESF Briefing Note Series. TESF has identified three cross-cutting inequalities which we will address through all activities within the network. These inequalities relate to gender, poverty and the devaluation of indigenous knowledge as an ongoing legacy of European colonialism.

☆ Formalization of the Network (Statutes, UNU-UNESCO UNITWIN) ☆ Expansion of the scope of activit... more ☆ Formalization of the Network (Statutes, UNU-UNESCO UNITWIN) ☆ Expansion of the scope of activities to include academic staff and student exchange ☆ Comparative study on educational development in Africa and Asia

This paper focuses on perceptions of teachers and parents on the constructions of masculinities a... more This paper focuses on perceptions of teachers and parents on the constructions of masculinities among schoolboys visa -vis schoolgirls in Kirinyaga and Nairobi counties. The paper is derived from a study conducted 2011 and 2012 titled "Girl-specific education focus and boys' participation, performance and construction of masculinities in selected Kenyan schools". The guiding objective of the research was to interrogate how boys engaged with schooling as they constructed masculinities during their transition to adulthood within the gendered contexts of schooling. The basic feminist standpoint theories that present men as a group as benefactors of a power structure that oppressed women as a group was challenged through this study. This study departed from the traditional Kenyan gender research which often foregrounds girls' education without problematising the schooling of their male peers-the boys. Our findings revealed that the family and community contexts bore considerable influence on the way that masculine identities were constructed among schoolboys and schoolgirls. While construction of femininities emerged as benefitting from an implicit and sometime explicit complementarity between home and school cultures. For many parents and teachers, schooling tended to offer less practical frameworks for construction of masculine identities compared with frameworks available for girls and femininities.

Embedding Gender Equality in Research, Policy & Practice

Education for All? Parents' and Teachers' Perceptions of the Process of Schoolboys Becoming Men in Kirinyaga and Nirobi Counties, Kenya (SPECIAL ISSUE : Equality and Equity in Education)

This paper focuses on findings based on analysis of perceptions of teachers and parents on how sc... more This paper focuses on findings based on analysis of perceptions of teachers and parents on how schoolboys in Kirinyaga and Nairobi counties constructed masculinities as they negotiated manhood in the midst of a clearly defined race towards attaining Education for All (EFA) goals in Kenya, by end of 2015, which is around the corner –metaphorically speaking. The paper is based on a FAWE 1 -sponsored study conducted in 2012 and 2013 titled “Girl-specific education focus and boys’ participation, performance and construction of masculinities in selected Kenyan schools”. The study posted major school-based findings that were shared through the CICE Research Paper Series No.5 whereby, boys emerged as relatively underperforming in the schooling project compared with their female peers. It was, however, not feasible to include fi ndings of the interplay of parents (fathers and mothers) and teachers and the role and interpretations of constructions of masculinities in their respective school ...

This initiative is both innovative and creative in the use of a visual mode of educative entertai... more This initiative is both innovative and creative in the use of a visual mode of educative entertainment. This is a cost-effective project, which can easily be scaled up and replicated in other countries. 4.2 Building self-confidence through Voice-TUSEME (speak out)-A girls' empowerment project 6.0 PROMOTING GIRL'S EDUCATION THROUGH IMPROVED ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION, RETENTION AND ACHIEVEMENT: A STRATEGY FOR CLOSING GENDER GAPS IN KENYA. 6.1 Girls' Access to Quality Education, Retention and Achievement in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas in Kenya formal and the early childhood education centres. Summary statement This initiative is innovative, especially, from the approach point of view, in that it tries to address a variety of factors that interplay and militate against girl-child education. There are, however, a number of lessons that can be learnt from this project. Social mobilisation and advocacy create a sense of ownership among community members. However, it is always important to include men and boys as critical allies in the effective implementation of interventions, for closing all aspects of gender gaps. The project is cost-effective and sustainable, especially on the process of the training component, which empowers the people to own the process and perpetuate its activities. This project can be replicated successfully in other districts in Kenya. 6.2 Child Friendly Schools (CFS) Initiative for Girls in Marginalised Communities in Kenya-Ministry of Education-UNICEF Initiative

Challenges Encountered In the Historical Development of Education for Persons with Visual Impairments in Kenya (1945-2013)

The purpose of this study was to identify challenges encountered in the historical development of... more The purpose of this study was to identify challenges encountered in the historical development of education for Persons with Visual Impairments in Kenya between 1945 and 2013. The study sampled three counties of Kenya namely; Nairobi city, Kiambu and Meru. Historical method was the main research approach. A historical method reconstructs the happenings of past in a particular context. Purposive sampling was used to select 11 participants who were interviewed. Documentary analysis and interviews were used to collect the raw data. The documents from which data were gathered were evaluated through external and internal criticisms to establish their genuineness and accuracy. The collected data were manually analyzed through a historical sequencing style of word narratives through comparisons and judgment. The study noted that the main challenge in the historical development of education for Persons with Visual Impairments was the financing of the relatively expensive instructional mater...

The author demonstrates that collaborating with children using a gender-sensitive life-cycle appr... more The author demonstrates that collaborating with children using a gender-sensitive life-cycle approach yields social and health dividends. The paper focuses upon young people and children engaged in HIV/AIDS education, not only as consumers of information but also as generators of knowledge pertinent to their needs, aspirations, anxieties, fears, hopes and dreams. This subject-centred approach to education is facilitated by innovative methodologies that allow young people to talk frankly with adults and amongst themselves, to participate in community theatre designed to help different types of people address issues of common interest, and to work with experienced adult researchers in generating relevant data. Correspondence: Dr Fatuma Nyaguthii Chege, Department of Educational Foundations, Kenyatta University, PO Box 43844, Nairobi, Kenya. Email: fatumasee@wananchi.com 1 This paper will be published in Shailaja Fennell and Madeleine Arnot (eds.) (2007) Gender, Education and Equality ...

Poor , disabled and unemployed: linking education to labour market outcomes for persons with physical disabilities in Nyeri, Kenya

A widely-held belief is that education affects people's economic status by facilitating acces... more A widely-held belief is that education affects people's economic status by facilitating access to the labour market and raising their earnings. This paper explores the linkage between education and its labour market outcomes for young persons with physical disabilities in the context of poverty. Specifically, the paper analyses the strength of education as an enabler of access to job markets, 'and how this varies at different exit points in the education system. Data were collected from Nyeri District in Kenya, from a total of 30 participants in 2 different sites (urban and rural). The study utilized the qualitative interview, while the data were analysed using Atlas.ti. The analysis establishes that education levels notwithstanding, young persons with physical disabilities are evidently closed out of the skilled and formal labour markets. It concludes that disability and poverty interact to create a string of inhibitions to job markets, and that any high level of schooling ...

The issue of women under-representation in management positions in all sectors including educatio... more The issue of women under-representation in management positions in all sectors including education has aroused scholarly interest globally in recent times. Statistics from the Teachers Service Commission of Kenya (2010) revealed that only 1,178 (24.5%) of the 4,800 public secondary schools in Kenya were headed by female principals. This is way below the minimum of 30% allowed by the Constitution of Kenya of 2010. The purpose of the research on which this paper is based was to identify the organizational barriers and coping strategies that influenced female mobility to principalship in Meru, Machakos and Isiolo counties. The key objective of the study was to identify the organizational barriers faced by secondary school female principals in these counties. The study employed descriptive survey design. The target population for the study was 825 persons. A sample size of 400 respondents was used for the study. Data were collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically while quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS. The major finding of this study was that organizational practices, culture, lack of mentoring, tokenism and "old boys" networks that locked out female counterparts were the main organizational barriers that secondary school female principals encountered as they ascended to principalship in the three counties. Further the study further found that additional training and female principals remaining focused on their work were among the coping strategies that were embraced to overcome the barriers encountered. The study recommends embracing the policy of gender mainstreaming to counter organizational cultures that are characterized by male dominance and discrimination against women so as to increase women visibility in top level positions in school management in Kenya.

Youth citizenship is now on the international agenda. This paper explores what that concept might... more Youth citizenship is now on the international agenda. This paper explores what that concept might mean in the context of two African nations: Kenya and Ghana. Post independence, both countries focused on rethinking the colonial concept of citizenship in line with their political-cultural traditions, providing education for all youth and to encouraging new notions of national citizenship. Programmes for civic education were established that have been reshaped over the last fifty years. These citizenship education programmes display the tension between different political goals of national unity, economic progress and the promotion of human rights, working with diversity, and encouraging collective responsibility and individual development. The aim is to use the education of the citizen to encourage civic engagement although there is evidence that these programmes might not, for a variety of reasons, engage all young people into the nation building project. The paper considers evidenc...

Journal of international cooperation in education, 2007

Violence may be defined generally as the mechanism by which unequal power relations are maintaine... more Violence may be defined generally as the mechanism by which unequal power relations are maintained through the infliction of physical or emotional pain on one person by another. However, gender violence takes on a more specific nature that is mainly sexual and which hinges on patriarchal cultures whereby men seek to control, not just the social institutions but also, women’s bodies as objects of male sexual gratification. Schools as agents of socialisations may perpetuate such cultures. Using research findings from selected settings of the Eastern and Southern Africa Region (ESAR), the author demonstrates how gender violence among young people (female and male) in African formal educational contexts interacts with schooling to produce disempowering experiences for girls compared with their male schoolmates. The thrust of the argument is that, by acting out their gendered and sexual identities in explicitly sensitive, reflexive and gender friendly ways, female and male teachers have ...

This brief draws lessons from the Youth, Gender and Citizenship (YGC) project in Kenya, which inv... more This brief draws lessons from the Youth, Gender and Citizenship (YGC) project in Kenya, which investigated, from the perspective of impoverished youth, their parents and their communities, the nature of what could be considered social and human development outcomes of education 1 . Such outcomes, broadly defined, relate to a person’s well-being, human dignity, health, physical and psychological empowerment as well as to the sense of belonging as active citizens to a community and nation (Chege and Wainaina, 2008; Kinyanjui, 2008). Equally central is the interest in youth as citizens and the need to elicit their voices as articulate stakeholders of national and community issues. This study suggests that youth living in poverty require considerably more support to become fully participatory citizens. They should be consulted for the contribution that they can make to the debates around poverty alleviation.

Policy Brief No. 14. Improving Educational Outcomes: Youth as Poverty Experts

Communities defining their identities of poverty – “we are poor but we are notsopoor…”

Factors that predispose young people to HIV infection in Kenya Schools

Journal of international cooperation in education, 2015

This paper focuses on findings based on analysis of perceptions of teachers and parents on how sc... more This paper focuses on findings based on analysis of perceptions of teachers and parents on how schoolboys in Kirinyaga and Nairobi counties constructed masculinities as they negotiated manhood in the midst of a clearly defined race towards attaining Education for All (EFA) goals in Kenya, by end of 2015, which is around the corner –metaphorically speaking. The paper is based on a FAWE 1 -sponsored study conducted in 2012 and 2013 titled “Girl-specific education focus and boys’ participation, performance and construction of masculinities in selected Kenyan schools”. The study posted major school-based findings that were shared through the CICE Research Paper Series No.5 whereby, boys emerged as relatively underperforming in the schooling project compared with their female peers. It was, however, not feasible to include findings of the interplay of parents (fathers and mothers) and teachers and the role and interpretations of constructions of masculinities in their respective school c...

Studies on gender and education in Kenya have portrayed girls and women as passive victims of the... more Studies on gender and education in Kenya have portrayed girls and women as passive victims of the patriarchal structures of family and school that reflect gender relations within a macro-system that defines femininity and masculinity as exclusive of each other. Analyses of the Kenyan educational scene reveal gender gaps characterised by relatively low rates of female enrolment, participation, transition, and achievement. Though gender equality has become a major focus in Kenyan education policy, the practice and outcomes of schooling have yet to reflect such intentions. Kenyan studies have tended to describe and explain the persistent educational inequalities. However, little attention is given to the way young people actively respond to social positioning in the family, school, and community while constructing their own definitions of femininity and masculinity. This thesis addresses this knowledge gap by focusing on primary school pupils aged between 13 and 14 years and the ways in which they navigate the `journey' to adult status. These Kenyan pupils often have to cope, not just with the physical, psychological and emotion-related stress and tensions related to the biological transition from childhood, but also with the academic pressure and uncertainty associated with the transition from primary school to secondary level, or leaving the educational system altogether. This research was conducted in two state primary schools in the city of Nairobi that are distinguished by geographical locations, pupil catchments, parental socioeconomic status, as well as different histories and ethnic composition. The aim is to investigate the role of gender in the family and school and the consequences for the schooling of young people as they negotiate gender values and identities in the context of both their rural extended and urban families, and their communities. The research questions focus on young girls' and boys' perceptions, interpretations, and constructions of girlhood and womanhood as well as boyhood and manhood visa -vis the dominant socio-cultural definitions and expectations of education and adulthood. Post-structuralism guides this study theoretically and methodologically, helping to underscore the active relationship between agency, subjectivity, and social structures, and challenging the presupposed structural determinisms in society, while at the same time acknowledging the perspective of fluid and shifting positioning of young people in the various social processes that either empower or dis-empower them. The case study approach, which facilitates the combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies in the solicitation, triangulation, and analyses of data from multiple sources, allows the participants to share in various decision-making processes during the exploration of their own experiences of contemporary phenomena within real-life contexts

Reason and emotion with special reference to music education and creativity

Kenyatta University, Mar 1, 1990

Embedding Gender Equality in Research, Policy & Practice

Education for All? Parents' and Teachers' Perceptions of the Process of Schoolboys Becoming Men in Kirinyaga and Nirobi Counties, Kenya (SPECIAL ISSUE : Equality and Equity in Education)

Challenges Encountered In the Historical Development of Education for Persons with Visual Impairments in Kenya (1945-2013)

Poor , disabled and unemployed: linking education to labour market outcomes for persons with physical disabilities in Nyeri, Kenya

Journal of international cooperation in education, 2007

Policy Brief No. 14. Improving Educational Outcomes: Youth as Poverty Experts

Communities defining their identities of poverty – “we are poor but we are notsopoor…”

Factors that predispose young people to HIV infection in Kenya Schools

Journal of international cooperation in education, 2015

This paper focuses on findings based on analysis of perceptions of teachers and parents on how sc... more This paper focuses on findings based on analysis of perceptions of teachers and parents on how schoolboys in Kirinyaga and Nairobi counties constructed masculinities as they negotiated manhood in the midst of a clearly defined race towards attaining Education for All (EFA) goals in Kenya, by end of 2015, which is around the corner –metaphorically speaking. The paper is based on a FAWE 1 -sponsored study conducted in 2012 and 2013 titled “Girl-specific education focus and boys’ participation, performance and construction of masculinities in selected Kenyan schools”. The study posted major school-based findings that were shared through the CICE Research Paper Series No.5 whereby, boys emerged as relatively underperforming in the schooling project compared with their female peers. It was, however, not feasible to include findings of the interplay of parents (fathers and mothers) and teachers and the role and interpretations of constructions of masculinities in their respective school c...