Teachers' perceptions on relevance of the methods they used to teach Christian values among ages 2-5 at Africa Inland Church Kenya

Abstract

This study was aimed at evaluating the relevance of the teaching methods employed by Sunday school teachers in teaching Christian values among children of ages 2-5 years in Africa Inland Church Kenya. This research served two purposes; first, to ascertain the methods teachers use and second to test the relevance of those methods for the purpose of ensuring that the pre-school children comprehend and internalize the word of God in their lives. This was a descriptive study in which a survey was carried out in order to detect teachers' opinions concerning the relevance of the methods they use to teach pre-school children. Data collection involved the use of open-ended and closed-ended questionnaires. The questionnaires were administered to 30 Sunday school teachers who minister to pre-schoolers in nine Africa Inland Churches around Nairobi. Since the study sought to find out the relationship between perception of relevance and factors such as teachers' age, gender, class size, length of ministry experience and teachers' educational levels, the statistical instrument used to determine this relationship was chi-square test of independence. Findings revealed that teachers perceived story telling, music and visuals to be the most commonly used teaching methods in communicating Bible truths among preschool children. In addition, teachers perceived prayer, music and stories to be the most relevant teaching methods in their endeavor. It was also found out that age, gender, educational level, length of ministry experience and class size were not factors to consider when determining perception of relevance of teaching methods.