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Western conceptions of child development and the models of early education they engender predominantly shape services for young children in the first eight years of life all over Africa. This chapter brings a reconceptualist perspective to the critique of Kenya's continuing failure to ground early childhood programs and services in local cultural conceptions, developmental values, childrearing practices, and the practical day-to-day realities of children's learning through participation and apprenticeship in the contexts of family routines, community experiences, and economic survival activities. The chapter draws on work I have conducted in nomadic pastoralist communities in Kenya. That research reveals the disconcerting reality that (a) early childhood education programs privilege Western pedagogical practices over equally effective and locally more relevant ones, and (b) local communities are increasingly resentful of an educational system that alienates their children from their cultural roots in the name of modernization. Asserting the educational value of indigenous knowledge, I present a framework for integrating that knowledge and the naturalistic learning processes in local contexts into instructional programs in formal ECE settings.

This paper analyses teacher training in science education in early childhood development and primary grades in Kenya. The paper argues that even though the Kenya Government emphasises science as a subject critical for technological advancement and for achieving Vision 2030, the training of science teachers in early childhood and primary colleges nationally triggers a lot of quality questions. The author visited primary teacher training colleges and early childhood development training institutions in Nairobi, Kiambu and Thika Counties and observed the training activities and resources for science education. The article questions science teachers' adaptability in ensuring science instruction captures the diverse cultures of Kenya in science classrooms. The author raises methodological questions in science instruction as it appears that the tutors training teachers at the colleges did not directly undergo training at the universities in Kenya that prepare them to train primary level teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]