Obey God, obey your teacher : Teaching and learning methods experienced in three Kenyan schools

Abstract: One of our interests, as future teachers, is which role different educational strategies and methods have in the everyday teaching and how that contributes to pupil’s social and cognitive development. Every pedagogical system and culture is time bound. Pedagogical ideas used in prevailing schools are changing continuously because of social and economic changes and are always influenced by the actual social, political and economic ideology in respective country. The purpose of this qualitative study is to find out how education is taking part and how it is outlined in three schools in Kenya. We are interested in teachers’ and pupils’ opinion and reflections about the existing education, everyday teaching and the role school plays in the Kenyan society. Based on our interviews and observation we have made we can state that the education in Kenya is more behaviouristic and collectivistic focusing on fact knowledge and because of the widespread use of rewards and punishments and the role of the teacher as a model, a mediator of knowledge and an authority for the pupils. Besides the dominant behaviouristic pedagogy, we have even seen some elements of cognitive and interaction pedagogy.