Tusome Teacher's Guide: Improving Literacy Outcomes in Lower Primary in Kenya

Significant resources have been invested in improving access, relevance, equity, and quality in education, resulting in improved infrastructure and increased enrollment in all sub-sectors of education and training. The government aims to produce citizens who are innovative, capable of lifelong learning, and able to perform complex tasks. To achieve this goal, the education system should produce individuals who are problem-solvers, decision-makers, and capable of assuming responsibility. They should also possess better reading, quantitative reasoning, and expository skills. Sustainable development demands that every human being acquires 21st-century knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values necessary to shape a sustainable future. Emphasis is on education for developing competencies in literacy and numeracy. Kenya has made progress in improving the quality of education, particularly in the area of literacy in lower primary. The Tusome national literacy program aims to improve literacy outcomes in Classes 1 and 2. The program, supported by USAID and DFID, focuses on improving teacher capacity for effective delivery methods of classroom instruction, improving access to appropriate textbooks and supplementary materials in literacy, and enhancing instructional support supervision of teachers. The program also aims to establish an effective and efficient monitoring and evaluation system, which links instructional practice and learning outcomes in literacy. Additionally, it will enhance the use of ICT to support literacy outcomes and enhance the capacity of the education sector to sustainably improve literacy outcomes. The Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology has an increasing focus on the quality of education in lower primary, particularly in the areas of literacy and numeracy. The Tusome program will improve teacher capacity, access to textbooks and supplementary materials, instructional support supervision, and monitoring and evaluation systems. It will also enhance the use of ICT to support literacy outcomes and improve the capacity of the education sector to sustainably improve literacy outcomes. The program is supported by USAID and DFID and aims to improve literacy outcomes in Classes 1 and 2. The Teacher's Guide is based on a Direct Instruction approach, which helps teachers instruct learners in the fundamental skills in reading necessary for improving fluency in reading and comprehension. The teacher utilizes more balanced strategies to teaching and presents a more diverse set of activities within classrooms. While the approach gives room for the teacher's creativity, teacher's preparation remains key to the success of the lesson in this guide. Teachers are encouraged to device and use relevant and contextually applicable teaching and learning resources that will enhance mastery of the content taught. Such resources may include, but not limited to, a dictionary, pictures, murals, and realias. While blackboard usage is important and encouraged in this guide, the approach lays emphasis on learners having their own individual textbooks, where they track letters and words to increase their exposure to text.