Values Development in Teacher Trainees: Implications for Lecturers in Primary Teacher Training Colleges in Kenya

Abstract

Teachers are key to provision of quality education and as noted by Mompoint-Gaillard (2011), they have a great opportunity to facilitate development of values in learners. However, it is not clear whether lecturers in Primary Teacher Training Colleges (PTTCs) in Kenya are prepared for training teacher trainees in development of values. Instilling values and forming character are important education goals (Malinda, Mwania, & Maithya, 2017). Consequently, developing values in teacher trainees is critical, because it is not only the aim of national educational goals, but also the mission to prepare students to become responsible citizens. It is therefore critical that education planners take into account the place of values in preparing self-regulated citizens. The purpose of this paper is to explore the preparation of lecturers in facilitating the development of values in teacher trainees in PTTCs in Kenya. This paper is based on reviews of critical analyses of existing literature on values education in training of teachers. The analyses point at the importance of values education for both teachers and pupils as they plan to help one to relate values to corresponding actions in life based on informed and reasoned positions. The paper argues that lecturers, who are adequately and intentionally prepared for values education, effectively prepare teacher trainees for facilitation of development of values in pupils. This effort calls for purposeful planning. This paper hopes to shed new light on how lecturers model and demonstrate the behaviour and values they expect teacher trainees to practice. The paper concludes with a call to rethink the pedagogy in teacher education courses with a view of re-focusing on the practical aspect of development of values for lecturers in PTTCs including planning for specific value-based objectives. Lecturers’ knowledge, perception and pedagogical approaches have implications on values development in teacher trainees.