Building centres of excellence: Investigating the contribution of physical facilities to teaching and learning processes in Kenya

Physical facilities are the planned facilities provided in a school in order to facilitate teaching and learning processes. It includes school building, availability of adequate rooms, proper lighting and ventilation, seating and furniture, provision of pure and safe drinking water, availability of play grounds, laboratories and writing boards and enough washrooms. This study investigated the contribution of physical facilities to teaching learning process and highlighted the importance of physical facilities in improving teaching learning process. The study targeted one secondary school in Nairobi County, Kenya, where the government had provided USD 350,000 for school infrastructure. A total of six teachers and twelve students formed the sample of respondents for the study. The two sample sets were involved in interviews and focus group discussions respectively. In addition, documents were analysed and observations done to complement data from the research participants. The data was analysed qualitatively. The outcome of the study was that there was a strong need for creating an excellent and suitable learning environment. Effective teaching and learning would not be possible without adequate physical facilities for the students and teachers. Furthermore, this study showed that provision of physical facilities is one of the strategies for improving access to education as well as transition from primary to secondary education. In addition, provision of physical facilities to secondary schools plays a major role in the motivation of teachers and students which in turn promotes teaching and learning processes. The study shows what policy and practice can do to help students learn better, teachers to teach better, and a school to operate more effectively. Therefore, in order to improve current status of schools so as to make them a better place for effective teaching and learning, this study recommends sustained commitment of funds by the government to secondary schools for development of physical facilities. Further, the study recommends proper targeting of beneficiary secondary schools to ensure equitable access to education for the less privileged parts of the country