Sampling Procedure
Sampling Procedures and Participants
Primary data was collected from students in pre-primary, primary, and secondary schools (mixed gender day schools) (primary grade 6, and secondary form 2), in-service teachers, headteachers and principals, pre-service teachers, teacher training tutors/lecturers, county/national education curriculum support officers, and quality assurance officers, and officials at the Ministry of Education and the Teacher Service Commission. We targeted 250 schools (125 primary and 125 secondary) spread in 10 counties in Kenya with the highest rates of child poverty - above 60% (KNBS, 2018). The counties include (Busia, Garissa, Mandera, Marsabit, Tana River, Turkana, Samburu, Wajir, Nairobi, and West Pokot). We chose these counties because children, girls in particular girls in these areas, encounter some form of marginalization, due to child poverty levels. Additionally, vulnerable boys and girls have diminished chances of access to inclusive education because they belong to schools that serve poor households in a low-resource context. Hence may require targeted actions in mainstreaming gender issues in education.
Our overall sampling strategy took into consideration school performance in the most recent national examinations - the Kenya Certificate for Primary Education (KCPE) for primary schools and Kenya Certificate for Secondary Education (KCSE) for secondary schools. In particular, we grouped schools into three categories based on their performance - low, medium, and high performing. In each of the 10 counties, primary, and secondary schools were listed according to the league tables (best performing to worst performer). Thereafter, we created quintiles with schools falling in the lower two (40%) quintiles constituting low performing schools; those in the 3rd quintile forming the middle performing schools; while those in the upper two quintiles (top 40%) forming the best performing category. A similar procedure was followed to identify day secondary schools - day secondary schools admit the majority of students and are located in almost all parts of the country/county). After our sample size was identified, they were proportionately distributed in the three groupings taking the number of schools in a county into consideration.
Out of the 250 schools sampled for the study, 125 schools were sampled for classroom observations, that is, 62 primary and 63 secondary schools. At the primary school level, 21 observations in mathematics, 21 in science, and 20 in English were done. An equal distribution of 21 observations for mathematics, English, and science were done for secondary schools. We observed a total of 147 teachers. A further random selection was employed to distribute the science classroom observations at the secondary school level, translating to 7 observations each for physics, chemistry, and biology. An illustration of the classroom observation distribution is provided below. The grade to be observed in a subject was randomly selected, such that we had only one subject observed per school. In the case of secondary school where there are several science subjects, we focused on physics, biology, and chemistry. The subject observeded in a particular school was randomly selected. Once a subject was observeded in a selected school, it was not observeded in a subsequently selected school until all the other subjects in question were observed. It is worth noting that in Kenya, traditionally, girls perform better in English while boys perform better in Math). KNEC assessment data was collected from the school head teacher/principal for each of the observed grades. All head teachers and principals of selected schools responded to an institutional questionnaire. The questionnaire collected information on the school background, facilities, enrollment, schooling charges, staffing, and governance. Twenty (20) students from all selected schools and from the targeted grade (except in PP2) completed a student questionnaire that gathers information on individual student's background, homework engagement, school background, and subject choices
We conducted qualitative interviews that shed light on how the teacher-training curriculum responded to gender mainstreaming policies, gender-inclusive teaching practices inside the classroom, and strategies implemented by the Government and private sector to mainstream and promote gender issues in the curriculum. The KIIs targeted a total of 40 in-service teachers - 4 teachers in each county - categorized by type of school (public, private, day, boarding, primary, secondary, single/mixed gender; 6 pre-service tutors from 4 teacher training colleges (TTCs) and 2 Universities; 10 curriculum support officers and 10 quality assurance officers from each county; 2 officials from the Ministry of Education (Directorate for basic education and gender officer); and 1 official from the Teacher Service Commission (in-charge of teacher training). In addition, we conducted 6 FGDs with pre-service teachers from 4 TTCs. 10 FGDs were conducted with students - one in each county; five in primary schools (3 with girls and 2 with boys), and five in secondary schools (3 with boys and 2 with girls). Each FGD was held with 6 participants. The KII guides and FGD guides were pilot tested and revised accordingly to ensure the reliability and clarity of the tools. The KII and FGD guides were sent to the selected respondents before the interviews for familiarity purposes and adequate preparation for the actual interviews. The KIIs lasted a duration of up to 1 hour whereas the FGDs up to 2 hours.