TITLE:
The Management of KG Schools: The Case of Dilla University Community School
AUTHORS:
Dejene Deme Megersa
KEYWORDS:
Kindergarten, Learning Environment, Pedagogy
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.2 No.5,
May
25,
2015
ABSTRACT:
The purpose of this paper was to explore the management of kindergarten
school of Dilla University with reference to the learning environment and the
kind of pedagogy employed. To examine the issue under consideration, the study
was guided by qualitative case study. Semi-structured interview was the dominant
data collection tool. On the basis of their contributions to the study six
participants were selected purposefully. The central research questions were, “To
what extent the learning environment of Dilla University KG school is conducive
to serve its purpose? What pedagogical challenges and opportunities are in
place in the management of the school?” The study found that the learning
environment is not child friendly. Besides, the play-oriented child driven
pedagogy is not yet adequately materialized. More specifically, the study revealed
that there was unfavorable learning environment; poor commitment; lack of
supervisory support; absence of trainings and retrainings; and inappropriate
mode of assessment. In light of the findings there is a need for adequate
preservice and ongoing trainings to the practitioners. Besides, the supervisory
practices should be handled by professionally competent supervisors. Finally,
the creation and development of a playful and child-oriented learning
environment have been proposed, along with suggestions for further empirical
exploration.