THEMATIC CURRICULUM

BACK GROUNG OF THEMATIC CURRUCULUM

Thematic curriculum is the type of curriculum taught in lower primary classes (P.1-P.3) It consists of
disciplines such as mathematics, English, local language, Literacy one, Literacy two, Physical
Education, Religious education, Library, Art and Craft, Music and oral Literature and it began in 2009.

The failure by a high proportion of children to attain acceptable levels of proficiency in reading and
writing at primary three level is considered to be a barrier to the children’s full enjoyment of their
right to education sector. Wide reflection on this phenomenon has led to identification of
challenges which need urgent attention to make school more beneficial and interesting to the
children.

The ministry commissioned a study in 2008 which carried out a situational analysis which showed
that one of the factors causing poor / learner performance in literacy, numeracy and life skills were
the structure of the primary school curriculum.

The curriculum emphasis on the acquisition of facts in various subjects studied at primary schools
influenced teaching to focus mainly on recall and other low order cognitive skills. This orientation
was further reinforced by learner assessment techniques that aimed at grading learners rather than
discovering variety in talents to be nurtured and weakness to be remedied.

KEY FEATURES OF THE THEMATIC CURRICULUM

Thematic curriculum has got mainly three characteristics and these are:

1. The need to focus on rapid development of literacy, numeracy and life skills at lower
primary.

2. The treatment of concepts holistically, under terms of immediate meaning and relevance to
the learner

3. The presentation of learning experiences through the media, especially languages in which
the learners were already proficient.

PURPOSE OF THEMATIC CURRICULUM

In the study that was made which resulted into thematic curriculum, the majority outlined five aims
and these include.

1. To enable the learners to have an early breakthrough to literacy.

2. To make the learners have mastery of numeracy skills.

 To help learners to have empowerment in the use of life skills.

1. To provide learners a head start to acquisition of higher order thinking skills, and

2. To make the learners have the development of basic language skills for lifelong learning.
BENEFITS OF THE THEMATIC CURRICULUM

The study went further to reveal the following benefits.

1. Learners are equipped with lifelong skills at an early stage like numeracy, literacy etc.

2. Learners have permanent mastery of language one depending on the locality.

 Culture is promoted amongst the learners

1. Makes learning process interesting becomes easier to go from complex or unknown to

known.

2. Thematic curriculum advocates for the the local environment and thus protecting it as well.

CHALLENGES OF THEMATIC CURRICULUM

1. The government through its ministry of education is not funding the programme to the
expectations.

2. Center co-ordering tutors (CCTs) have not carried out seminars and refresher courses to
equip the teachers with skills to teach thematic curriculum.

3. Teachers are restricted to teach in their home area, because of language one to teach
thematic curriculum.

4. Thematic curriculum is not carried out in first world primary schools which tend to minimize
it.

5. Textbooks are not available in abundance.

6. There is lack of enough connection between thematic curriculum and transitional curriculum
of primary four.

AMPLICATIONS FOR THEMATIC CURRICULUM

1. Learners are 60 per cent taught in language one so this smoothens understanding and
acquisition of knowledge and skills.

2. There is permanent mastery of skills.

3. There is an awareness of the local environments and its implications.

CONCLUSION

Thematic curriculum is of much benefit in lower primary if well facilitated in order to prepare the
learner for the transitional curriculum which is more complex. The ministry of education and sports
should make a proper follow up like through training teachers so as to effect the curriculum.

THEMATIC CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION IN LOWER PRIMARY CLASSES IN NAMAYINGO DISTRICT,

UGANDA BY OUMA GEOFFREY REG NO: MED/39986/151/DU-TR A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO
THE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, OPEN DISTANCE AND E-LEARNING IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTERS DEGREE ON EDUCATION MANAGEMENT AND
ADMINISTRATION OF KAMPALA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY JULY 2018 ii DECLARATION I Ouma
Geoffrey certify that this research work of challenges of thematic curriculum implementation in
lower primary classes in Namayingo District Uganda was conducted, written and compiled by me. I
also certify the best of my knowledge that this research work has not been written partially or
wholly presented for the award of any form of degree or for publication elsewhere. iii APPROVAL
This research report that is a result of study undertaken by Ouma Geoffrey has been under my
supervision and is now ready for submission to the academic board of Kampala International
University. iv DEDICATION I dedicate this piece of work to my beloved Mother Lyaka Margret for the
support and advice that she rendered me to this research proposal successful. V
ACKNOWLDGEMENTS The researcher thanks the Almighty Allah for the mercy and grace upon the
successful completion of this thesis. His debt of gratitude goes to his supervisor Dr. Yakub Ibrahim
Wunti and the entire management of Kampala International University towards the achievement of
this Thesis. The researcher also extends his much thanks and .support to the lecturers of Kampala
International University specifically Madam Akamputira Patience, Dr. Kamulegeya, Dr. Yakubu.
Ibrahim Wunti, Dr. Olio and Dr. Tamale Above all, the researcher extends his gratitude to the
panelists for the assistance during his Viva voice i.e. Dr. Kamulegeya and others for the incredible
guidance and perfection of this work. The researcher also extends his appreciation to his dear
mother Lyaka Margret for the love and support by his brothers, sisters and friends. The researcher
also extends his sincere thanks to head teachers and staff of the selected primary schools in
Buhemba Sub - county Namayingo District. The researcher also acknowledges the efforts of his
beloved wife Akumu Evelyn and the children especially Kyaterekera Lynda for their constant
encouragement and financial support during the hard times. May the Almighty be with you all. vi
LIST OF TABLES Table 4. 1: Demographic characteristics of the teachers
.........................................................39 Table 4. 2: Teaching phonemic
sounds....................................................................................41 Table 4. 3: Provide materials for
creative expressions............................................................41 Table 4. 4: Teaching learners the use of
varied syntactic structures .......................................42 Table 4. 5: Teaching how to write short
stories.......................................................................42 Table 4. 6: Carrying out shared reading with
the pupils..........................................................43 Table 4. 7: Teachers do give learners spelling
exercises.........................................................43 Table 4. 8: Class environments arranged into centers
of learning and play ............................44 Table 4. 9: Learners are taught picture description and
writing ..............................................44 Table 4. 10: Teachers do engage learners in role play
activities.............................................45 Table 4. 11: Teachers do teach their pupils’ familiar
sounds..................................................45 Table 4. 12:
..............................................................................................................................46 Table 4. 13:
Arrangement of the classroom environment into centers for learning and play..49 Table 4. 14:
Encourage learners to spell words.......................................................................49 Table 4. 15: Carry
out shared reading with pupils...................................................................50 Table 4. 16: Encourage
learners to write full sentences ..........................................................50 Table 4. 17: Give learners
reading games................................................................................51 Table 4. 18: Respond and interact
with learners in their mother tongue .................................51 Table 4. 19: Teach learners phonemic
sounds.........................................................................52 Table 4. 20: Encourage learners to use varied
syntactic structures .........................................52 Table 4. 21: Engage learners in imaginative writing
...............................................................53 Table 4. 22: Ask learners to narrate and write interesting
stories...........................................53 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION..................................................................................................................... ii APPROVAL
........................................................................................................................... iii
DEDICATION.........................................................................................................................iv
ACKNOWLDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................V LIST OF
TABLES..................................................................................................................vi TABLE OF
CONTENTS ..................................................................................................... vii
ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................................x CHAPTER
ONE ......................................................................................................................1 GENERAL
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................1 1.0
Introduction:.....................................................................................................................1 1.1
Background of the study ..................................................................................................1 1.1.1
Historical perspective....................................................................................................2 1.1.2 The
Contextual Perspective:..........................................................................................4 1.1.3 Conceptual
Perspective .................................................................................................5 1.1.3.1 Definitions of the
Key Terms.....................................................................................6 1.1.4 Theoretical Perspective
.................................................................................................7 1.2 Statement of the problem
.................................................................................................7 1.3 Main
objective..................................................................................................................7 1.3.1 Specific
Objectives........................................................................................................8 1.3.2 Research
Questions.......................................................................................................8 1.4. Scope of the study
...........................................................................................................8 1.4.1. Geographical
Scope......................................................................................................8 1.4.2. Content Scope
..............................................................................................................8 1.5. Significance of the
study.................................................................................................9 CHAPTER TWO
...................................................................................................................10 LITERATURE REVIEW
.....................................................................................................10 2.0 Introduction
....................................................................................................................10 2.1 Theoretical
Framework ..................................................................................................10 2.2. Conceptual Frame
Work ...............................................................................................11 viii 2.3 THEMATIC
CURRICULUM........................................................................................12 2.3.1 KEY FEATURES OF THE
THEMATIC CURRICULUM .......................................12 2.4 Thematic Approach to Teaching and
Learning..............................................................13 2.5 Variation in the Implementation of Thematic
Curriculum in Lower Primary
Classrooms:..........................................................................................................................17 2.6
Challenges of thematic curriculum implementation in lower primary classes: .............20 2.6.1
SAMPLE OF OPINION OF SOME STAKEHOLDERS ON THE CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING THEMATIC
CURRICULUM IN UGANDA FROM ‘VISION DAILY NEWS PAPER KAMPALA UGANDA
................................................................22 2.7 Possible ways of enhancing thematic curriculum in
lower primary classes..................24 2.7.1 Teacher’s Role in Lower
Classes................................................................................24 2.7.2 Children’s ability in acquiring
language .....................................................................26 2.7.3 Literacy promotion in lower primary
classes..............................................................28 2.7.4 SUGESTIONS OF ENHANCING THEMATIC
CURRICULUM ............................32 CHAPTER
THREE...............................................................................................................33 METHODOLOGY
................................................................................................................33 3.0 Introduction
....................................................................................................................33 3.1 Research
design..............................................................................................................33 3.2 Target population
of the study .......................................................................................33 3.3 Sample
size.....................................................................................................................33 3.4 Sampling
strategy...........................................................................................................34 3.5 Source of
data.................................................................................................................35 3.5.1 Primary data
................................................................................................................35 3.5.2 Secondary data
............................................................................................................35 3.6 Instruments of the study
.................................................................................................35 3.6.1 Questionnaire
..............................................................................................................35 3.6.2 Structured Interview
Guide .........................................................................................35 3.6.3 Experimental
test.........................................................................................................36 3.7 Validity of the
instruments.............................................................................................36 3.8 Reliability of the
instruments.........................................................................................36 3.9 Documentary
analysis....................................................................................................37 3.10 Procedure for data
collection........................................................................................37 3.11 Ethical considerations
..................................................................................................37 ix 3.12 Limitations of the
study................................................................................................37 3.13
Delimitations................................................................................................................37 CHAPTER
FOUR..................................................................................................................39 PRESENTATION,
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF FINDINGS .................39 4.0 Introduction
....................................................................................................................39 4.1 Demographic
characteristics of the teachers..................................................................39 4.2
Analysis:.........................................................................................................................40 4.3 Research
question one:...................................................................................................40 4.4 RESEARCH
QUESTION TWO:...................................................................................48 4.5 RESEARCH QUESTION
THREE:...............................................................................49 CHAPTER FIVE
...................................................................................................................55 DISCUSSIONS,
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS..................................55 5.1
Findings..........................................................................................................................55 5.1.1 To
determine the extent to which thematic curriculum is implemented.....................55 5.2 Challenges of
thematic curriculum implementation in lower primary classes ..............57 5.3 Possible ways of
enhancing the implementation of thematic curriculum......................59 5.4
CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................................61 5.6 Area for
further research ................................................................................................62 REFERENCES:
.......................................................................................................................63 APPENDIX A:
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS .........................................................66 APPENDIX B: STRUCTURED
INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR HEAD TEACHERS...............69 APPENDIX C: EXPERIMENTAL TEST QUESTIONS
FOR THE PUPILS........................70 APPENDIX D: CHECKLIST FOR THE
LEARNERS...........................................................72 APPENDIX E: FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION FOR
PARENTS.........................................73 APPENDIX F: PUPILS TEST MARKS
.................................................................................74 x ABSTRACT The study’s investigation was
“challenges of thematic curriculum implementation in lower primary classes in Namayingo District,
Uganda? The study objectives were to establish the extent of the implementation of thematic
learning in lower primary classes from primary one to three to find out the challenges facing the
implementation of thematic curriculum in lower primary classes in Namayingo district and to
determine the possible ways of enhancing thematic learning in lower primary classes in Namayingo
district. The total population of 225 pupils with 60 teachers was used to determine the study. Only
144 was sampled from the total number of pupils and only 60 which comprised of both teachers ,
head teachers and parents were used as respondents to fill the self - designed questionnaires. Both
quantitative and qualitative data was collected. In addition, a structured questionnaire was
administered to the teachers, head teachers and parents to obtain their opinions about the
challenges affecting the implementation of Buhemba sub - county, Namayingo district. Data
obtained was analyzed using the statistical package for social services (SPSS) and presented in tables.
The study sampled 40 teachers, 20 parents who gave their views according to the questions asked.
The study found out that due to multilingualism, inter marriage and the location of the district, it
was to take time to implement the thematic curriculum implementation in lower primary classes in
Namayingo district. Findings showed that some teachers were trying to implement the policy but on
still on a small scale. The findings also showed that even the few who were implementing face
challenges like letter and word sounds, scheming and lesson planning and even assessment is quite
hard for them. The researcher concluded that if teachers emphasizes team scheming, attend
refresher courses, develop competition reading among pupils and other classroom activities, there
would be improvement in the pupils’ performance in lower primary classes in Namayingo district. 1
CHAPTER ONE GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1.0 Introduction: The ministry of Education and sports
(MOEs) in 2003-2004 embarked on the review of the primary curriculum to address the gaps
identified in pupils in literacy and numeracy skills in both English and local languages at the end of
the primary cycle. This followed studies carried out by some educational agencies in Uganda in 1999
and 2003, which revealed that the majority of the school pupils at the end of the primary level did
not have adequate literacy and numeracy skills in their local language and English. The studies
recommended the review of the primary curriculum using the thematic approach which puts greater
concentration on the development of key skills in Lower Classes especially literacy and numeracy
skills valued by the community. Therefore thematic curriculum is a curriculum whose content is
organized around themes that are familiar to the child’s environment. This is based on the fact that a
child learns from the immediate environment, progressing from known to unknown, from the simple
to complex in developing his/her personality. (MoES, 2008) 1.1 Background of the study Although
literacy skills among primary school pupils continue to be registered, many studies have been
conducted in examining children’s developmental progress while attending lower classes which
indicate that pre-school education in a variety of forms can play a significant role in helping children
develop essential language and literacy skills (Krogh 2008). If such programs appear to be influenced
by a variety of factors including the child environment, teacher training and effectiveness, social
economic status of the family, level of parental involvement, and amount of time spent during the
program. In recent years, several efforts have been attempted in research bordering on children’s
emergent literacy development with the aim of providing educators and parents with research
based instructional strategies for enhancing children’s literacy experience during their lower primary
class level. Strategies that have been shown to be effective at promoting children’s early literacy
development include reading in children’s early literacy development style, fostering children’s
understanding of print concepts (IRA/NAEYC,1998) arranging the classroom environment so that
children have an opportunity to interact with books and other print materials providing 2
opportunities for children to experiment with writing, familiarizing children with letter of alphabets
and their corresponding sounds and involving children in activities that promote children’s
phonological skills development (Eva L. Essa 1999) The vehicle of many kinds of learning is language.
Children’s ability to communicate helps them to relate and reflect upon their daily educational
experiences in order to extend their learning. Omara the UNEB statistician, in the daily monitor of
Thursday 23rd April 2015, noted that, only 38.8 percent of the pupils were rated proficient in literacy
and English. He lamented further that, a learner is what a teacher is and his study is a reflection of
who teaches them. The background of the study is divided into four sections; historical perspective,
contextual perspective, conceptual perspective and theoretical perspective 1.1.1 Historical
perspective Early childhood play is an activity that benefits young children by encouraging growth in
the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain dedicated to the development of higher mental
functions. Children beginning their formal education at a later age maintain the ability to learn
important skills, such as literacy, at the same rate as their peers. Children beginning their formal
education later also maintain a more positive attitude toward learning and towards the educational
experience. In the past, teachers attempted as much as possible to give knowledge to pupils and
these pupils learnt with a lot of difficulties. The method and the system of learning did not
encourage pupil’s participation. It left the child as a mere spectator, however, the teachers put much
commitment because of their interest for teaching. They were just following the curriculum, which
was very narrow in scope, and hence knowledge was expected to flow from the teacher to the child
and not vice-versa. Also, the curriculum then did not have the basis to give the ideal and holistic way
of learning the steps in learning then did not cater for thematic instructions. Thematic learning thus,
is a new concept in pedagogy; it is provided to be the instrumental instructional method for
integrating various concepts in the curriculum, using the local language. For example, the study of
social studies had been traditionally known as the study of man and his surroundings. The
integrative nature of the surroundings was not well elaborated. In the elaborative nature of the
surroundings. Okoro (2005) argued that, social studies is an inter-disciplinary approach to the study
of human beings in group inter action. Hence, social studies, aims at providing citizens with skills,
competence, moral values and reasonable 3 judgments to affectively interact and contribute
positively to the development of the society on a broader perspective, this new learning approach
was applicable to all disciplines. Moving away from the traditional teacher- centered methods of
teaching, the learner is supposed to be the dominant participant during the learning process. In the
child centered method, Pupils are expected to carry out a lot of activities using the learning aids to
conceptualize the topic of the study. The major aim is that the learner should be able to discover the
reality of life by himself or herself. This implies that conventional methods of teaching cannot bring
the needed change in the learner. For example, Okam, (2014) opined that, social studies represents
one of the curriculum arrangements which capitalize largely on the use of methods to sustain the
reason for its existence as an important subject in the school system where there was need to
broaden this in order for the learners to achieve an integrated concept of the subject. This could
apply to any learning discipline. To achieve this, Mezieobi (2013) posits that, an effective and
committed teacher prepares thoroughly in advance for teaching and learning interaction. In
particular this study is about challenges of thematic curriculum implementation in lower primary
classes in Namayingo District Uganda. It has been observed that education professionals in the area
of early childhood are today increasingly emphasizing on early literacy and numeracy in planning of
early childhood instructional programmes. Research also supports that language and writing play as
a vital role in children’s development. Reutzed (1977) explains that, research conducted over the
past two decades on emergent literacy describes several assumptions of early literacy as follow; 
Reading and writing are closely related processes and should not be artificially isolated for
instruction  Learn to read and write is essentially a social process and is influenced by a search for
meaning.  Most pre-school children already know a great deal about printed language without
exposure to formal instruction.  Becoming literate is a continuous development process  Children
need to act like reactors and writers to become readers and writers  Children need to read
authentic and natural texts  Children need to write for personal reasons Reutzel (1977) advises that,
teachers must establish print rich environments to provide children opportunities for language
learning and development which stimulate and support literacy 4 learning. He further explains that
by integrating reading and writing with other curriculum process using theme–based unit’s teachers
can help children find meaningful reading and writing. On the other hand, Lefeure (2000) explains in
his review of several research studies on early literacy and numeracy, states that there is limited
research on early numeracy compared to that on early literacy. Furthermore, research has shown
that transition between pre–school numeracy which is basically arithmetic has received very little
attention in literature. One of the reasons given for this negligence is that traditionally literacy
(language–listening, speaking, reading and writing) has seems to be more important than numeracy
(mathematics). The author further explains that lack of attention to each numeracy may have been
as a result of perspective that children‘s quantitative abilities before the age of 6 and 7 are
rudimentary and therefore have little interest. However, the author points out that neglects in
research on numeracy is beginning to change both experimental and developmental processes
which are important in children’s numeracy skills. 1.1.2 The Contextual Perspective: Thematic
instruction is the organization of a curriculum around macro “themes.” Thematic instruction
integrates basic disciplines like reading, math, and science with the exploration of a broad subject,
such as communities, rain forests, river basins, the use of energy, and so on. Basic Elements.
Thematic instruction is based on the idea that people acquire knowledge best when learning in the
context of a coherent “whole,” and when they can connect what they’re learning to the real world.
Thematic instruction seeks to put the teaching of cognitive skills such as reading, mathematics,
science, and writing in the context of a real-world subject that is both specific enough to be practical,
and broad enough to allow creative exploration. Thematic instruction usually occurs within an entire
grade level of students. Teachers of all the different subjects taught in that particular grade work
together as a team to design curriculum, instruction methods, and assessment around a preselected
theme. (Rogan, J.M., Grayson, D.J., 2003). Thematic learning is based on the idea that knowledge
acquisition is efficient among students when they learn in the context of a coherent and holistic way
and when they can associate whatever they learn in their surrounding and real examples, learning of
pupils through thematic approach can still be a mere dream in Namayingo District. Namayingo
district is faced with a lot of challenges ranging from the teacher’s capability, children’s ability and
sustainability to the learning environment. In addition Namayingo is a new district which was formed
in 2010, 5 is a rural district in which education system and activities are facing a lot of challenges,
some of these challenges are; Lack of qualified teachers, poor rural infrastructure, distance from one
school to another, among other things. Since Namayingo became a district, there has been little
achievement in obtaining first grades in some schools at primary seven level within the district. Also,
multilingualism is yet another challenge where the district accommodate many people from
different ethnic groups. These has greatly affected the implementation of the thematic curriculum. It
seems to be a challenge to the District Academic Board when setting examinations and the district is
in Bologna region, Lusoga text books are supplied to schools but majority of the teachers and
learners in Samias, thus becoming a challenge to manage the teaching effectively. The situation in
Namayingo district might therefore be very challenging for the determinants of thematic learning.
1.1.3 Conceptual Perspective Thematic learning (often synonymous with thematic instruction) is an
instructional method of teaching in which emphasis is given on choosing a specific theme for
teaching one or many concepts. Thematic learning takes place when different disciplines are all
centered towards one definite concept. This is a creative and exciting form for learners, enabling
them to notice the inter-relatedness of various subjects. It is based on integrating variety of
information and using it to demonstrate the topic. Pedagogy of thematic learning is based on its
exploration of broad areas in one theme together with topic-based learning, which is similar but
with a focus on a specific event or topic, it is a form of phenomenon-based learning. (Robin, Fogarty,
1997). Thematic learning is based on the idea that knowledge acquisition is efficient among students
when they learn in the context of a coherent and holistic way and when they can associate whatever
they learn to their surrounding and real life examples. Thematic instruction seeks to put the
cognitive skills such as reading, thinking, memorizing, and writing in the context of a real-life
situation under the broad aim to allow creative exploration. (David Booth, 1998). Differentiating
thematic learning from child-centered learning might seems to be difficult to the teachers and
learners in primary schools in Namayingo district. This assumption might be a reality because of the
situations on the ground and putting into considerations the basic for determinants of thematic
learning. Hence the conceptualization of thematic learning and its determinants might not be
concentrated only in Namayingo district but the entire Uganda. To be sincere, for thematic learning
to be successful among learners, a curriculum that is integrated is important. Thematic learning as
an integrated learning method, implies that it needs to have certain objectives in framing curriculum
and plan of proceedings. This requires 6 vast technical preparations involving a well versed people to
spearhead the process to enable board and efficient understanding of thematic learning. Theme
base integrated learning approach aims at preparing children for lifelong learning. According to (n.d)
schools are expected to look at education as a process for developing abilities required for life in
twenty first century rather than discrete, departmentalized subject matter. It is further explains that
this brings various aspects of the curriculum together in a meaningful association to focus on broad
areas of study. Furthermore, theme based integrated approach views learning and teaching in a
holistic way that reflects the real world, which is interactive according to the author then based
integrated curriculum has the characteristic that include a combination of subjects, an emphasis on
projects sources that go beyond text books, relationship among concepts, thematic, units as
organizing principals, flexible schedules and flexible students groups. Lipson et al cited in Ritter
(1990) tried the idea of curriculum integration to Dewey’s 1930’s reforms on meaningful learning.
Ritter views integration as the interrelatedness of the four language skills and mentions that
integration may also be understood as inclusion of other subjects’ content areas into the already
integrated language curriculum. Lipson provided support for the rationale for thematic teaching and
they include providing valuable focus to learners, they help students understand why they are doing
what they are doing, demonstrating coherent connections among disciplines that allow a transfer of
learning from one content to another, helping students to group the relation of content process and
facilitating the acquisition of an integrated knowledge based. This study finds theme–based
integrated learning well described by Humphreys (1981) cited by Lake (nd) who says that “an
integrated study is one in which children explore knowledge in various subjects related to aspects of
their environment. 1.1.3.1 Definitions of the Key Terms.  Thematic Curriculum is a curriculum
whose content is organized around themes that are familiar to the child’s environment. It is also an
approach that has been used to organize principals for arranging the competences and knowledge
content in primary one to primary three.  Teaching is an act of imparting knowledge and skills to a
learner or an individual for a change. It is also the process of creating awareness to the learner or an
individual. 7  Learning is the acquisition and application of knowledge and skills. Learning is also
relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experiencer, potentiality which occurs as a
result of reinforced practice. 1.1.4 Theoretical Perspective Thematic learning is a pedagogical model
based on the selection of a theme or topic of the study from which the pupils explore them and
understand the world around them through integration of disciplines, this study can be explained by
a variety of theories. One of the theories can be Nel Nuddings theory of value. This study can also be
guided by Jean Piagetis theory of cognitive development. And as Montessori (1870-1952) noted,
never help a child with a tack at which he feels he can succeed. This observation has got strong
relevance with child centered learning and more so with thematic learning approaches. 1.2
Statement of the problem Districts such as Namayingo and Bullisa that are composed of multilingual
communities are facing a unique challenge to the implementation of the thematic curriculum. In
Namayingo for instance, Lusoga has been designated as the local language in the district and yet
many teachers cannot even construct a sentence in Lusoga. Many people in the district cannot
understand the language. The District Academic Board in Namayingo cannot even set examinations
in Lusoga, English is the medium used to set examination. There is also an issue of multilingual
families because of intermarriages between tribes and ethnicity. There is also an observed mass
failure in Primary School Leaving Examination by pupils as reported by the District Academic Board
as a result of the system. The observed issues highlighted above motivated the researcher to
conduct an investigation on some of these challenges facing thematic curriculum implementation in
lower classes from Primary 1 (P.1) to Primary 3 (P.3) in Namayingo District. 1.3 Main objective The
main objective of the study was to investigate the implementation of ‘thematic curriculum’ and the
challenges facing thematic curriculum implementation in lower classes in Namayingo District Uganda
and proffer possible enhancement measures. 8 1.3.1 Specific Objectives 1. To find out if thematic
curriculum is implemented in lower primary classes in Namayingo district. 2. To assess the
challenges facing the implementation of thematic curriculum implementation in lower primary
classes in Namayingo district. 3. To determine the possible ways of enhancing thematic learning in
lower primary classes in Namayingo district 1.3.2 Research Questions 1. Is thematic curriculum
implemented in lower primary classes in Namayingo district? 2. Is there any challenge facing the
implementation of thematic curriculum in lower classes in Namayingo District? 3. What are the
possible ways of enhancing thematic curriculum implementation in lower primary classes in
Namayingo District? 1.4. Scope of the study The scope of the study is divided into Geographical
scope, content scope. 1.4.1. Geographical Scope Namayingo district is about 120 km south-East of
Kampala, the capital City of Uganda. It is boarded by Busia district in the North-East, North-West by
Bugiri district and to the south is bordered by Lake Victoria. Namayingo district is made up of nine
Sub-Counties. The study is carried out in Buhemba Sub-County. 1.4.2. Content Scope The study
focused the implementation of thematic learning and its challenges in lower primary classes (P1 –
P3) as well as exploring the possible ways of enhancing thematic curriculum implementation in
Namayingo district. The study is therefore concerned with lower primary schools (P1-P3) in public
schools that is government controlled and managed in the district. 9 1.5. Significance of the study
The findings of this study will be useful to the government educational policy makers at all levels
towards the implementation of relevant policies that will advance knowledge and skills in Uganda,
the entire East Africa region and the world over. Generally, most rural schools in Uganda have not
been performing well in primary leaving examinations. One of the reasons which have been
established is that children do not know how to read and write even by the time they reach primary
seven. This further meant that the foundation of learning at the lower primary and upper primary is
very poor, yet the teaching of handwriting, and reading in upper primary is antagonistic. The study
on the challenges of thematic curriculum implementing and the possible ways of enhancing it would
assist the parents and students in lower primary classes in Namayingo district. 10 CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 Introduction This section reviewed literature concerning thematic
curriculum implementation in lower primary classes. It presents a review of related literature on
thematic learning, challenges of thematic curriculum implementation in lower primary classes and
possible ways of enhancing thematic learning in lower primary classes. 2.1 Theoretical Framework
This study is guided by two major theories, the theory of value by Nel Noddings and the theory of
cognitive development of Jean Piaget (1896-1980). Nel Noddings born in 1929, in New Jersey-USA
who contended that, knowledge and skills are worthwhile learning. He emphasized that students
should learn knowledge and skills necessary to help them navigate the world around them; this
theory of value is relevant to thematic learning; on the other hand Jean Piaget (1896-1980), in his
theory of cognitive development, which emphasis is put on how the child constructs a mental model
of the world. In other words how knowledge grows. Specifically, Piaget’s theory of cognitive
development is more relevant in guiding this study because the idea of cognitive development is
very much linked to young children in lower primary classes. Children are good adaptors such that
whatever is taught to them in this early stage shapes their future destiny. They learn once and for all
and keep on practicing what they have learnt at the infant stage. This process of cognitive
development can either make or contribute towards the determinants of thematic learning.
According to Nel Nodding’s theory of value, the knowledge and skills that the child learns could
make the foundation of his future academic progress, and hence thematic learning in lower primary
classes is very important. In general terms these theories can explain further why there is poor
academic performance at primary leaving examinations. It could be so because children in lower
primary classes in Namayingo district lack strong and good foundation at lower primary classes 11
2.2. Conceptual Frame Work For the conceptual frame work, the researcher attempt to relate the
variables that were used in the study Independent Variable Dependent Variable SOURCE: Researcher
ma Source: Researcher’s Design 2018 From the conceptual framework above, the researcher
identified the challenges of thematic curriculum implementations as multilingualism, multi-lingual
families will always be there because of intermarriages between communities that are posing a
unique challenge to the implementation of the thematic curriculum. ique challenge to the
implementation of the thematic curriculum. Teachers capability depends on ability of the teacher to
implement the program in the classroom effectively, learning environment may not be conducive,
teacher’s knowledge about the language (mother tongue) may be lacking because may not know
how to speak the language. children’s ability depends on how well they can assimilate, understand
and learn effectively, approach to pupil‘s assessment depends on how well the teacher program and
assess the pupils during the program and parents attitude toward the implementation of thematic
curriculum is negative. Theme based integrated learning approach as dependents Thematic
implementation  Theme based integrated learning approach  Text book supply in Lusoga  Setting
examinations in Lusoga language  Teachers’ Professional Development.  Thematically organized
ppcurriculum  Knowledge content Challenges facing thematic curriculum implementation 
Multilingualism  Teachers capability  Children‘s ability  Learning environment  Knowledge about
the language (mother tongue)  Parents attitude  Approach to people’s approach Intervening
Variables  Intermarriages  The location of the district 12 variables are adequate text book supply in
Lusoga, setting examinations in Lusoga language, teachers’ professional development and training in
thematic curriculum and its implementation; thematically organized programs/instructions is a well-
planned structure of thematic implementation. The researcher also identified the interviewing
variables as intermarriages between ethnicity and the location of the district as it bordered to
another country having a different languages. 2.3 THEMATIC CURRICULUM Thematic curriculum is
the type of curriculum taught in lower primary classes (P.1-P.3) It consists of disciplines such as
mathematics, English, local language, Literacy one, Literacy two, Physical Education, Religious
education, Library, Art and Craft, Music and oral Literature and it began in 2009. The failure by a high
proportion of children to attain acceptable levels of proficiency in reading and writing at primary
three level is considered to be a barrier to the children’s full enjoyment of their right to education
sector. Wide reflection on this phenomenon has led to identification of challenges which need
urgent attention to make school more beneficial and interesting to the children. The ministry
commissioned a study in 2008 which carried out a situational analysis which showed that one of the
factors causing poor / learner performance in literacy, numeracy and life skills were the structure of
the primary school curriculum. (Altinyelken, 2010) The curriculum emphasis on the acquisition of
facts in various subjects studied at primary schools influenced teaching to focus mainly on recall and
other low order cognitive skills. This orientation was further reinforced by learner assessment
techniques that aimed at grading learners rather than discovering variety in talents to be nurtured
and weakness to be remedied. 2.3.1 KEY FEATURES OF THE THEMATIC CURRICULUM Altinyelken,
2010 highlighted some of the key features, purposes and benefits of thematic curriculum as follows:
CHARACTERISTICS: 1. The need to focus on rapid development of literacy, numeracy and life skills at
lower primary. 2. The treatment of concepts holistically, under terms of immediate meaning and
relevance to the learner 13 3. The presentation of learning experiences through the media,
especially languages in which the learners were already proficient. PURPOSE OF THEMATIC
CURRICULUM 1. To enable the learners to have an early breakthrough to literacy. 2. To make the
learners have mastery of numeracy skills. 3. To help learners to have empowerment in the use of life
skills. 4. To provide learners a head start to acquisition of higher order thinking skills, and 5. To make
the learners have the development of basic language skills for lifelong learning. BENEFITS OF THE
THEMATIC CURRICULUM 1. Learners are equipped with lifelong skills at an early stage like numeracy,
literacy etc. 2. Learners have permanent mastery of language one depending on the locality. 3.
Culture is promoted amongst the learners 4. Makes learning process interesting becomes easier to
go from complex or unknown to known. 5. Thematic curriculum advocates for the local environment
and thus protecting it as well. 2.4 Thematic Approach to Teaching and Learning A thematic approach
to teaching and learning is an approach where many different areas of the required curriculum are
connected using a common theme. For example, a kindergarten class focusing on a beach theme
might learn vocabulary for common objects on the beach, read books about the beach and do beach
themed artwork. One advantage of this system is that it allows teachers to teach multiple things at
one time. By constantly making connections in the classroom, students learn how to make
connections and understand how things they experience at school relate to the real world. Because
students may switch between activities centered on a theme or even switch between themes, this
type of curriculum provides variety and keeps students engaged. This teaching style is more student-
centered than teacher-centered, and the students collectively have some choice of what they learn,
which fosters community among students. (Rogan, et al 2005) 14 Rogan, et al (2005) opined that,
One disadvantage of this approach is that students may not be interested in the subject and may
refuse to participate in the classroom community. In addition, if students miss a day they may find it
very hard to make the connections that they missed. Finally, connections may be difficult to make
for some students based on different cultural or academic ability. For example a child from Kampala
who has never seen snow will have a hard time relating to a snow-themed unit. The ‘child-centered’
approach of thematic curriculum is further emphasized in teaching and learning methodologies. By
child-centered, the new curriculum particularly refers to the following (NCDC, 2006b): Children
should have a chance to interact with each other and with the teacher during the lesson; Class
activities should be organized so that children learn by doing. They should be able to move around
from time to time, and to use their hands; Activities should be organized around a variety of learning
materials, and children should be able to handle the materials. Children should have an opportunity,
from time to time, to have influence in the direction that the lesson (or day) takes. Allow the lesson
to reflect the interests, abilities and concerns of the children. The recommended teaching
methodology focuses on the child’s activities rather than the activities of teachers. It encourages the
participation and performance of children, including those with special needs. Rather than being
passive receivers and doing only what they are told, children are expected to be active participants
in their learning by way of exploring, observing, experimenting and practicing. It suggests activities
that are enjoyable for children, such as songs, games, acting and drawing. Teachers are encouraged
to organize a variety of activities that keep all children involved. Moreover, the new curriculum aims
at providing children with a rich and varied literate environment. For this purpose, utilization of a
range of learning resources is recommended, including flash cards, sentence cards, wall charts, work
cards, simple readers and the children’s own written work. In addition, group or pair work is
advocated by thematic curriculum as it is considered to provide opportunities for children to learn
cooperatively, to direct their own learning rather than depending on the teacher all the time, and to
allow for a variety of learning experiences and styles (NCDC, 2006a). Furthermore, the new
curriculum adopts continuous assessment and requires teachers to assess their students on a daily
basis. The purpose of such assessment is considered to be diagnostic 15 and remedial. It is assumed
that frequent assessment would facilitate appropriate feedback and corrective action on the part of
teachers. For instance, it would enable teachers to identify individual problems and provide
adequate help so that the child would catch up with the rest of the class. Likewise, high achievers
can be identified and given more challenging tasks to stimulate their learning (NCDC, 2006a). H.K.
Altinyelken / International Journal of Educational Development 30 (2010) 151–161154. The new
curriculum was introduced into each grade level one year at a time. It was first piloted at P1 in 90
selected schools in 11 districts staring from February 2006. After the pilot phase, thematic
curriculum was launched nationwide in February 2007. In the same year, it was piloted at P2 at the
same 90 schools. The implementation of the new curriculum will be completed through P1 to P7 in
2013 over a period of seven years (Read, Enyutu, 2005). This approach helps frame teacher and
student thinking while offering a helpful “glue” to bond all of the learning activities. Lower Primary /
Thematic Curriculum Below is the curriculum used for P1-P3 classes which is culled from National
Curriculum Development Centre, Kampala Uganda. It is called Thematic Curriculum because its
content is arranged around themes that are familiar to the learners. The recommended medium of
instruction is Local Language for the learners whose first language is not English. English, however, is
taught in English, and as a strand right from Primary One. Thematic Curriculum is hinged on five
pillars namely: 1. The use of themes that interest children 2. Use of local language as a medium of
instruction 3. The class-teacher system 4. Use of non-text book materials 5. Continuous assessment
of learners’ achievements 16 There are twelve themes per class, namely: Primary One Primary Two
Primary Three 1. Our School 1. Our School and Neighbourhood 1. Our Sub-County/Division 2. Our
Home 2. Our Home and Community 2. Livelihood in Our Sub-County/Division 3. Our Community 3.
Human Body and Health 3. Our Environment in Our SubCounty/Division 4. The Human Body and
Health 4. Food and Nutrition 4. Environment and Weather in Our SubCounty/Division 5. Weather 5.
Our Environment 5. Living Things: Plants in Our SubCounty/Division 6. Accidents and Safety 6. Things
we Make 6. Living Things: Animals in Our SubCounty/Division 7. Living Together 7. Transport in Our
Community 7. Managing Resources in Our SubCounty/Division 8. Food and Nutrition 8. Accidents
and Safety 8. Keeping Peace in Our SubCounty/Division 9. Transport 9. Peace and Security 9. Culture
and Gender in Our SubCounty/Division 10. Things we Make 10. Child Protection 10. Health in Our
Sub-County/Division 11. Our Environment 11. Measures 11. Basic Technology in Our
SubCounty/Division 12. Peace and Security 12. Recreation, Festivals and Holidays 12. Energy in Our
Sub-County/Division Source: National Curriculum Development Centre, Uganda Kampala 2018 17 2.5
Variation in the Implementation of Thematic Curriculum in Lower Primary Classrooms: The need to
promote the development of literacy, numeracy and life skills in lower primary classes motivated the
introduction of mother tongue education in Uganda in 2006/2007 (Kateeba 2009) NCDC 2006b),
Read and Enyutu (2004) reviewed the quality of education in Uganda and made recommendations,
which, inter alia, required the revision of the curriculum and changing the LoLT particularly in the
early primary school years. Following Read Enyutu’s (2004) recommendations, the subject
curriculum for the lower classes was revised by NCDC and replaced with a thematically–organized
curriculum (NCDC 2006a, 2006b), The new curriculum is supposed to be delivered through MT for
the first three years in rural (government and private) schools. Kateeba (2009) posits that, a
thematically organized curriculum was preferred to subject-based curriculum because children at an
early age cannot differentiate one subject from another and that through thematic curriculum
children learn all the content in a holistic manner. Nevertheless, this curriculum has been contested
by teachers who argue that it is shallow, overloaded, poorly structured and that they received
hurried and superficial training prior to its implementation (Altinyelken, 2010; Ssentanda, 2013) The
curriculum guidelines also stipulate that children should have an hour each day in which reading and
writing is taught (for P1 to P3). This hour is divided up into two strands; “Literacy hour 1 and Literacy
hour II” (NCDC 2007:31). The guidelines for implementing these literacy hours are as follow; “The
first hour focuses on reading, with presentations, practice, pre-reading activities and an emphasis on
the sight words. The second –half focuses on pre writing activities drawing, labeling and developing
handwriting”. Teachers are asked to ensure that the last 20 minutes of every literacy hour is devoted
to writing or what NCDC (2007:31) calls” pattern practice” NCDC (2007:31-38) recommends six
strategies or teaching procedures (TPs) for literacy development. The researcher focused just on the
teaching procedure for reading. This strategy aims at helping learners to recognize sounds, letters
and pictures. Children can do this by matching shapes or letters that are the same, finding the odd
ones, and recognizing and describing pictures and shapes. Learners are also expected to match
letters to words starting, for example, with the letter , writing that letter on a chalkboard, and saying
the sound, then writing it out on their slates and drawing a picture of an object whose name starts
with that letter. It is assumed that all these activities can enable learners to become fluent in reading
in 18 three years. The researcher provides some examples of how guidelines are actually translated
into practice in different kinds of schools and classrooms. Pre-primary education in Uganda is not
compulsory (Ejuu 2012; Uganda Child Rights NGO Network 2006), but the elective nature of pre-
school education has made the process of introducing children to reading rather complex.
Government schools in rural areas do not have pre-primary classes while their counterpart in private
schools do have. Children join government schools in P1 at the age of six (the official age for entry to
P1) and they learn through mother tongue for the first three years while those who attend private
schools join school at the age of three or four in pre-primary. Children in private schools attend
preprimary for two or three years before they join P1 at the age of six. Learning in private schools is
introduced in English in many pre-primary classes, while those in government schools are introduced
to reading in P1, in their mother tongue and they learn English as subject. Private schools teach
mother tongue as subject in P1 to P3 and in these three years, reading in mother tongue is also
included. In short, there is considerable variation, across in respect to the timing for the introduction
of early grade reading and with respect to the language used for teaching and learning at this crucial
stage in a child’s education. Piper (2010) reported on EGRA assessments (Early Grade Reading
Assessment) involving both mother tongue and English. The assessment covered, letter naming
fluency, letter sound fluency, syllable reading fluency, phonological awareness, oral reading, familiar
word fluency, connected text oral reading, familiar word fluency, connected text oral reading fluency
and reading comprehension in connected text. This report shows that children in the central region
are quicker at identifying sounds in their mother tongue than in English. However, when placed in an
international context, the level of performance of learners’ in Uganda was below the regional level
for East Africa and below international levels. In addition, comprehension levels were reported to be
close to zero in English. Two reports produced by a private NGO (Uwezo 2010, 2011) presented a
review of the English literacy skills of children in East Africa. It also revealed low levels of literacy in
the Ugandan context; “Overall at least one out of every five (21%) of all the class P3 children
sampled across the country could not even recognize letters of the English alphabet; and only 7%
could read and understand an English story text of class P2 level was difficulty. Almost one out of
every five (17%) of all the class P7 children could not read and understand an English story text of
class P2 level difficulty” (Uwezo 2011:14). Another report by UNEB (Uganda National Examinations
Board 2010) also confirmed the low levels of literacy acquisition among primary school children, not
only in local languages but 19 also in English. Similar findings were reported by the (Mango Tree
Lano literacy project (Mango Tree Lano literacy Project 2010) this study was carried out in the Lano
sub–region (Northern part of Uganda) in both urban and rural schools. The study found that, by end
of P1, pupils were not able to identify the alphabet and neither could they read a simple text with
minimal fluency. Looking at this situation, Uwezo (2011). Queried that, “Are our children learning?”
Clearly, these communicate that, there is a problem with the teaching of reading in Uganda. It also
appears that the situation is not getting better, even after introducing mother tongue education. It is
based on the report that emphasis was placed on children’s reading and counting skills presumably
because “reading and mathematics are normally considered the most fundamental of the basic skills
to be taught and mastered in early basis education” (Walter & Dekker 2011). Wren (2000:7) stresses
that “If children are still struggling with reading skills in the third grade, odds are, they will be
struggling the rest of their lives” He goes on to refer to the “Mathew effect; in reading (this term is
adapted from The bible, Mathew 25:29) which , when loosely paraphrased, means “the rich get
richer and the poor get poorer” (Wren 2000:8). As is the case elsewhere, some children in Uganda
join school with already developed skills depending on their parental socio-economic and/or
educational status while others, particularly those from rural areas, do not have any, Wren (2000:8)
argues that; “Children who lack the foundational skills do not develop those skills early on, their
peers leave them behind. At kindergarten and first grade, the gap is surmountable, and teachers can
help all children gain foundational skills for reading success. Beyond the first grade, however, the
gap becomes increasingly larger. By fourth grade, helping children to gain these foundational skills is
time–consuming and usually very frustrating for the child. Worse than that, however, it is also
usually unsuccessful”. Wren’s challenging remarks have particular resonance in the case of some
rural children in Uganda who attend government schools and who do not have a chance to attend
pre-school. Bridging the two year gap of their counterparts in private schools is very challenging and
in many cases impossible. The assessments alluded to above usually indicate that children from
private schools perform better than those in government schools. The challenges related to reading
are not only faced by learners but also by some teachers. In 2011 assessment by the Uganda
National Examinations found that “pupils” weak performance in literacy could have been due to the
deficiency in the teachers’ skills to teach, particularly reading, reflected by the teachers’ weak
performance in Oral Reading; implying that they themselves might not have been taught reading
skills. “This remark implies that there are 20 teachers in Uganda who are not fully prepared to
handle the challenges involved in the teaching of reading (cf. kyeyune 2012). As the UNEB report
suggests, it is difficult for the teachers to properly manage reading when they themselves have some
difficulties with reading tests. 2.6 Challenges of thematic curriculum implementation in lower
primary classes: Implementation of thematic curriculum requires a lot of endeavors and a thorough
survey before it is done, unlike other methods of teaching and learning whereby technical experts is
required. Among other things required include teachers with sufficient knowledge, instructional
materials, and classroom or school environment. Nevertheless the problems in Uganda may not be
planning educational programs or reforming the existing ones but effective implementation to
achieve desired income. Effective implementation of the curriculum and competent teachers who
understand the inter-disciplinary and thematic arrangements of the subject and moreover the
pedagogies to include desirable learning outcomes. Research indicates that, the challenges related
to reading hinged on two critical issues; one is that of not making pre-primary schooling compulsory
as pointed out earlier, and secondly, the language in education policy which is unevenly
implemented. As indicated earlier, the mother tongue policy of 2006/7 allowed rural school to select
a dominant local language in the community to be used as language of learning and teaching (LoLT).
However, since then, private schools have faced a problem of “complex multilingualism” within the
educational system, in that they teach through English and teach mother tongue as a subject, while
government schools teach and use mother tongue in the first three years of primary schooling as
required by the national policy (Ssentanda, 2013) schools have found ways of manipulating policy by
switching between languages (mother tongues and English). This variation in practice poses a
considerable challenge for learners, also possible that this challenge can spill over when it comes to
reading words, sentences and, later on, whole texts. One of the first steps to reading is letter and
sound identification and naming, (cf. I Hoover & Gough 2000), this is the point at which the
challenge of teaching reading in Uganda starts. Traditionally, letters and sounds have been taught
differently in Luganda and English. Luganda shares an alphabet with English except for two letters,
which Luganda employs in its orthography. In English, sounds, letters have names e.g. bi, for, b, em,
for m, ke, for, k, etc. in etc. In sum, all letter names in Luganda have, a, added on to every
consonant. Therefore, as teachers teach Luganda and English, names, even though the letter looks
the same in the orthography. The government handbook on NCDC (2016) pages 5, 6, 7 and 8 gives
an over view on some of the challenges that may affect the implementation of the thematic
curriculum. Comments by 21 stakeholders (especially parents) in the curriculum Review
recommended prioritizing literacy and mathematics skills and rejected the use of local language.
These basic skills have therefore been brought out within the thematic approach in the lower
primary curriculum. The content arrangement in a matrix form where the themes are presented
horizontally and crucial learning areas are presented as vertical strands. The matrix also shows how
the competences relate and learners, learn more from one another. These becomes a challenge to
some teachers to implement such a curriculum. Since the content to cover is too big and wide. The
first or familiar language. Wherever possible, the learner should learn in his or her home language or
at least a language that is familiar to the pupil. But with the case of Namayingo District, there are
people of different ethnicity so they speak different languages and as a result, it affects the thematic
curriculum implementation. The thematic curriculum is based on evidence that literacy is achieved
at a much faster speed when it is acquired in a language in which the pupil already has a strong oral
command. For learners with hearing impairment, this should be in sign language. The approach to
assessment is one of the most challenges to the implementation of the thematic curriculum. Most
teachers have not yet learnt how to assess pupils. Assessment is built into the thematic curriculum.
Since the thematic curriculum is based on competences, it is essential that all competences,
whatever oral, written or practical, are assessed. This assessment is primary for the teacher and
other stakeholders to know whether pupils are generally learning and what action needs to be taken
to support the pupils. The approach to assessment is “Continuous” and pupils should have as much
opportunity as possible to show that they have achieved the competences which is quite tiresome
for teachers to carry out continuous assessment. In comparison of assessment with children’s ability
both are narrow based and limited to the original definition of literacy which was meant to be just
the ability of knowing to read yet thematic curriculum requires a lot beyond this in broader sense.
The national primary school curriculum for Uganda (Teacher’s guide–primary 1 pg25 defines literacy
to be the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, use printed and written
interest. The handbook further asserts that children should be fully involved in the learning process
than is intended to develop nor only their ability to read but also their cognitive and social abilities.
This clearly implies integration with other content areas such as science, mathematics, social studies,
life skills and values. In addition literacy includes developing a strong command of the language,
children will only become fluent readers if they have first become fluent language 22 users. This,
where a school uses English as the medium, children need to develop story of English before they
can start learning to read in English. In view of choice of language it has not been the practice that
the most effective language in the area be used in teaching and learning yet this is very important as
it is part of environment. In an area where there is multi–ethnicity there is also multi linguistic. It
would then be a thorough scrutiny of different language used in the area be carried out and choice
of most popular language be done. It is also out of this that the role of the children is to make choice
of the language to be used in the learning which could be given a chance. It is therefore a big
challenge on the size of children as well as teachers. 2.6.1 SAMPLE OF OPINION OF SOME
STAKEHOLDERS ON THE CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING THEMATIC CURRICULUM IN UGANDA
FROM ‘VISION DAILY NEWS PAPER KAMPALA UGANDA Opportunities Opinion Special Edition Paper
Home Education Multilingualism: “A challenge in implementing the thematic curriculum
Multilingualism: A challenge in implementing the thematic curriculum By Billy Rwothungeyo Added
that many districts are home to people who speak different languages. Wambui Munge, addressing
participants during the workshop. Ten years ago, stipulated that, Ministry of Education introduced
the thematic curriculum to enhance learning in lower primary school (P1 to P3). This curriculum
provides for the use of local indigenous languages. Public primary schools in urban settings such as
Kampala however, are allowed to use English as a medium of instruction because of such areas
attract people from different ethnicities and tribes. Districts such as Kiryandongo, Namayingo, Buliisa
that are composed of multilingual communities are however posing a unique challenge to the
implementation of the thematic curriculum. Buliisa district, for example, is home to people who
speak Lugungu, Alur, Lunyoro, Lunyarwanda among others. In Namayingo, he lamented that “Lusoga
has been designated as the local language in Namayingo district and yet many teachers cannot even
construct a sentence in Lusoga. Many pupils in the district also do not understand the language,”
laments Kibira Amisi, the head teacher of Kifuyo Primary School in Namayingo district. Kibiri was
speaking last week at workshop on how to improve early learning outcomes for primary and pre-
primary pupils organized by the Center for Education Innovations, an initiative of Results For
Development Institute. “The district academic board in Namayingo cannot even set exams in the
lusoga, so they end up setting the exams in English.” Elizabeth Bakahuuna, a language tutor at
Nakasero Core Primary Teachers’ College shared a similar experience. “When Luruuli had not yet
been 23 approved as a language in Nakasongola, we went and tried to teach the children in Luganda.
When I went to a school near the lake in Zengebe, I stood to teach and the children could not
understand me.” “Do not give up” Stella Tumwebaze, the executive director, Literacy and Adult Basic
Education (LABE) argued that despite a community having different language speakers, there is
usually that one language spoken amongst children in a particular school. It may not necessarily be
the mother tongue of a particular child, but the most commonly spoken local language. “When
children get out of class, and they are interacting with each other, what language do they use? That
should be used (in teaching pupils),” she advised. Tumwebaza urged participants to think of
solutions to the issue. “There is the issue of multi-lingual families will always be there because of
intermarriages between tribes and ethnicities, but parents still have to promote the use of at least
one local language.” Bakahuuna concurred on the issue of children have a common language during
play-time. “I once went to Murchison Bay Primary School, a school that is made up of mainly
children of Luzira prison’s staff. The staff members are from different tribes, but I noticed that
during break time, the children communicated with each other in Luganda. At Bombo Barracks
Primary School, the children of the soldiers speak Kiswahili amongst themselves,” she explained. “It
is not a matter of forcing people to use a language, but we should have a common understanding. If
we the implementers have that attitude of feeling this is difficult, then we are doomed.” Why use of
local languages is important? At the workshop, participants were given firsthand experience on an
early learning tool kit, which has resources that can be used to aid pupils learn in their local
languages. Wambui Munge, the communications officer at the Results for Development explained
why the use of local languages was adopted in the early learning tool kits. “The early learning toolkit
was developed because we recognized that children are in school but they are not learning. There is
a push in the developing world to get more children in school, but are children getting quality
education?” she said during an early learning toolkit workshop organized in Kampala. Research and
studies indicate that children learn best in their mother tongue as a prelude to and complement of
bilingual and multilingual education. “As measured by test scores and selfesteem, children who learn
in their mother tongue when they are 6 to 8 years old perform better than those instructed in the
official language earlier or exclusively. Once a child can read and write in his or her mother tongue,
the skills are transferable to other languages.” says a UNICEF report titled “School Readiness and
Transit”. (New Vision, 2018) 24 2.7 Possible ways of enhancing thematic curriculum in lower primary
classes 2.7.1 Teacher’s Role in Lower Classes What educators know about children and how they
learn to read and write has changed drastically over the last few years. Educators consider children
to be “blank slates” when they came to school, knowing nothing about reading or writing. They
understand that children know a great deal about literacy and have had numerous experiences with
literacy events long before they come to school. (Wortham (1998) has, in fact included among the
four roles she delineates a functions of teachers of young children; caretaking, providing emotional
support and guidance, instructing and facilitating the care giving role, similar in many ways to the
role of the mother, this diminishes as the child gets older. Teachers’ possess advanced knowledge in
child development and lower primary classes that they apply when they have to make judgment
decisions on a moment. A moment by moment basis and at same time they also share with other
professionals the commitment to maintain the high standards set by professionals through its
organizations. Clearly, how well you teach children in lower primary classes to read and write in their
mother tongue and how you communicate to parents what you’re doing in terms of literacy
development of their children in mother tongue will be critical to your success as a teacher. The
teacher’s responsibility is to determine what the child knows and then choose the experience that
will help the child move along the continuum towards becoming on ever more skilled reader. Several
studies have found that adding selected materials to the play environment and guiding their use can
encourage children to participate in more literacy activities in their play. Teachers must also
intervene to promote literacy activities. Perhaps thinking about what literacy materials could be
added to play areas, encouraging children to lay in theme centers where literacy is a natural
response to a theme or modeling literacy behaviour in play areas. Anderson (2009) recommended
using real literacy objects rather than presented objects, the materials selected should be familiar to
the children from their real world experiences. Morrow et al (1991) suggest that literacy materials
should be kept in clearly marked place that they be changed frequently to keep children’s interest in
them high, that teachers model the uses of materials as needed or suggest possible uses when
appropriate, and that all levels of development be accepted for the most positive results. The
teacher who wanted children to feel successful as literacy learners would provide many
opportunities for them to choose their own literacy activities and will help individual children choose
tasks that are appropriate. 25 The key was to find the interest of each child and build literacy
experiences in mother tongue around it for example if the child is interested in playing trucks in the
sand box but shows no interest in words or books, the teacher should choose some books about
trucks construction, vehicles and sand to share with that child and make available for browsing in
the mother tongue. Another option was for the teacher to take dictation as the child tells what he
had done that day with the blocks. The teacher should be sure to read narrative back to the child so
he can agree that it says what he said. Teachers should also include this dictation experience in
notes to the child’s parent or in completions of class activities in the mother tongue or local
language. It was also important that the teacher should not treat reading and writing as the only
important activities in which children are involved. Children need to be involved in play, art and
music, dance and drama, in the language they know, the teachers must value this experiences for
themselves without always taking on a reading or writing component to legitimize the experience.
Shared reading as an instructional strategy in which teacher takes primary responsibility for the
reading but involves the children actively in the process of using the local language is another
important experience that supports young children developing literacy. Shared reading is often done
with books in a large format and print, which all the group can see in shared reading, the teacher
introduces the book by reading the title , showing the children the front of the book and asking them
to predict what the story will be about. Ideally, all children would learn to read in their first
languages and then to be taught to extend their skills in English. Hadaway et al (2004) urges teachers
to be very careful when planning step by step instruction in literacy for bilingual speakers. The
concerned teacher will also learn enough about a child’s native language to recognize where the
child might have particular difficulties with English. According to Krogh Suzan Suzanne (2008)
creativity in lower classes is a major aspect teachers should process. He further asserts that it takes
creativity to teach in a physical environment that is less than ideal or when resources are limited. It
takes creativity to teach children from diverse back grounds that might not approach education in
the same way. And most of all, it takes creativity to make learning fun. Creativity is a hall mark of an
effective lower class teacher. 26 It is the teacher’s role to facilitate and encourage pro-social
behaviours, provide necessary assistance and develop social network that supports children in their
efforts. Teachers must provide activities that help them understand why the skill is needed
(wortham 2000) Teachers should help children make choices and deal with the consequences of
their decisions, the teacher’s role is to plan activities that help children think through a problem. It is
also necessary to repeat the learning activity or similar activity several times. Through this repeated
step–by = step process; children can learn how to identify the different choices, apply reasoning to
the process, and formulate a decision. Teachers need to help children develop negotiating skills to
handle conflict situations. Children must use social problem solving skills to resolve issues in a matter
that benefits them and is acceptable to others. Peer mediation is another strategy used by teachers
to negotiate conflicts. Peer leaders are seen by other children as being credible and serve as role
models in an enabling environment, children can engage in health literacy activities like regular
interaction with information through reading and writing, and through recitation and other forms of
expression, in doing so they will pick healthy literacy habits from adult modals to whom they are
always apprenticed. 2.7.2 Children’s ability in acquiring language Although we do not have all the
answers about language acquisition, there are many theories that help explain how babies learn to
speak. Knowing how language is acquired has strong implications for providing environments that
promote language and writing skills development. The behaviourist assisted us in understanding
how language is acquired. Although behaviourism does not present the total picture, it still offers
ideas about language acquisition that ought to be considered for instruction. B. F. Skinner (1957)
defined language as the observed and produced speech that occurs in the interaction of speaker and
listeners. Thinking, he said, is the internal process of language, both language and thought are
initiated through interactions in the environment, such interactions a between parent which provide
a language model that children learn through imitation. The child’s acquisition of language is
enhanced and encouraged by the positive reinforcement of an adult. As a child builds an oral
vocabulary, he or she tries words more frequently; children will point to a toy and name it. While
playing with a “ball”, a child may say the word ball over 27 and over again. The attentive parent now
reinforces the child’s words by extending and expanding the original language. According to Piaget,
Children develop through their activity. Children realization of the word is tried to their actions or
their sensory experiences in the environment. According to this theory, children’s first words are
egocentric or centered in their own actions. Children talk about themselves and about what they do,
their early languages as well as their general development relates to action, objects and events they
have experienced through touching, hearing, seeing, tasting and smelling. Research indicates that
reading to a child benefits the child’s acquisition of reading ability. It aids development of literacy
skills, increases interest in books and in learning to read, enhances background information sense of
story structure, and familiarizes children with language of books as opposed to oral language. In
recent time, a greater improvement of language development has been achieved. Children who
demonstrate most of the development traits are ready for language acquisition in instructional
settings. They should continue to hear good models of language. They need continued opportunities
to use language in social situations with adults and other children. Their oral language production
must be reinforced positively. They must be actively involved in meaningful experiences that will
expand their knowledge and interest in the world around them. Lower primary school teachers
should provide an environment in which language will flourished. They should organize centers of
learning for each content area that include materials for encouraging language as a science center,
for instance, can include animals, plants and many others activities for fun to children watch and
handle, Children need opportunities to use such areas for interacting with each other and the
teacher should give them enough time to touch, smell, taste, listen, talk about what they are doing.
Exploring and experimenting with the materials in the centers are creative, imaginative, problem
solving and decision making experiences in which children use language development of different
content provide sources for language use and development. The literacy center is devoted primarily
to language development. Each new unit of instruction offers specific language experiences that
extend vocabulary, syntax, pronunciation, and ability to understand others and to be understood.
The suggestions that follow each time a new unit of instruction is initiated reflect or describe
activities designed to aid language growth in early childhood classrooms. The teacher acts as
facilitators, instructor and model for language development, the teacher facilitates 28 language
development through setting up the indoor and outdoor environments to support children’s play.
Opportunities to develop oral and written literacy are encouraged through the availability of
materials for creative expression, construction play, motor play and dramatic play and these
opportunities to extend play and language are afforded through observation of children’s language
during play. The teacher suggests ways to extend dramatic play themes, and the teacher models
how to increase language and written literacy experiences into play episodes. 2.7.3 Literacy
promotion in lower primary classes Literacy has been defined as the ability to use language in
written as opposed to Roal Mode Parry 2000 (0:59). The term emergent literacy acknowledges, that
learning to read and write (in other words, to become literate) is a dynamic, ongoing, emerging
process. Children develop this understanding of reading and writing through a supportive literate
environment, starting at home and furthered in the classroom programme. For decades, many
researchers, educators and parents operate under the assumption that learning to read and write
were processes that began with formal school –based instruction, in kindergarten or first grade
(Hammon L. et al (1997), today however, there is broad consensus among researchers that the
development precursors of formal reading and writing (i.e. emergent literacy) emerge during the
preschool years, Unfortunately, millions of children grow up in home environment which fail to
provide the support needed to foster children’s early literacy development (Brewer 2004). Children
who do not receive adequate support from parents and other adults in the home environment must
depend on outside sources as lower primary classes to fill the gap. Emergent literacy skills are early
skills developed before a child enters formal schooling which are precursors to the development of
conventional literacy skills; emergent literacy in gradual process that takes place over time from
birth until a child can read and write. Numerous short and long term studies examining children’s
developmental progress while attending lessons in lower classes indicates that preschool education
in a variety of forms can in fact play a significant role in helping children develop essential language
and literacy skills. However the impact of such programmes appears to be influenced by a variety of
factors including the quality of the child care environment, teacher training, effectiveness,
socioeconomic status of the child’s family, level of parental involvement, amount of time 29 spent
each day and week in the programme and overall length of enrollment in the programme. The
centers are arranged with materials that permit children to work on projects which express well as in
dramatic play including puppetry and story reenactment. Some of the activities that can be
experienced in learning centers are selected by children in their own, planned by the teacher and
may involve the teacher’s direction or indirect facilitation. When considering use of the environment
for language development, steps are taken to make the total area “print rich” According to Leu et al
(1999) , the term print rich environment implies that print should be everywhere in the form of
labels, lists, signs, charts and posters, print materials are avail. Literacy like oral language emerges in
a natural way that does not require formal teaching to prompt interests. What it needs is a language
rich in the environment to encourage its development. Literacy is best promoted in the context of a
whole language approach, one in which high quality oral and print language surrounds children.
Children can observe others using literacy skills and they are encouraged to experience with forms of
language. Such an approach integrates all forms of communication including speaking, listening,
writing, reading, art, music and math. (International Reading Association, 1986) In recent years,
several efforts have been undertaken to synthesize important research on children’s emergent
literacy development, with the goal of providing educators and parents with research based
instructional strategies for enhancing children’s literacy experiences during their preschool years.
Two of the most comprehensive syntheses were released in 1998 that is, the National Research
council’s in 1998 presenting Reading Difficulties in young children (SNOW Burns and Graffin, 1998)
and the Joint Position Statement of IRA and the NAEY on early literacy. In both of the above
syntheses, the authors recommended that educators employ a range of strategies to facilitate
children’s early literacy development strategies that have been shown to be effective at promoting
children’s early literacy development which include reading aloud to children in an interactive style
(Brewer 2001) fostering children’s understanding of print concepts. While all of the above strategies
have been shown to be effective, many experts contend that the simple most important teaching
strategy for promoting children’s early literacy development across multiple domains (e.g.
vocabulary growth, print awareness) is reading aloud to children in an interactive style that engages
them as active learners when children are encouraged to become active participants rather than
passive listeners, they are more 30 likely to experience improvements in their vocabularies and
comprehension abilities (Karen Menke 2012) Despite the availability of the learning framework,
teachers of nursery do not use it. The researcher expects that each learning center to use the
general learning framework. In addition, the learning environment is not conducive for promoting
literacy development. That is, teachers are required to design and make the learning centers that
enhance literacy development with an interaction of pupils with learning materials like textbooks,
print media and any other non-text book reading materials which aid learning. The contribution of
thematic learning towards broad achievement of knowledge and skills depends on the advantages it
has over other learning methods. For example, the interdependency of disciplines and their roles in
bringing about the understanding of life and the real world. Borrowing from Vygotsky’s theory of
cognitive development, the adults or other parents in a child’s world provide scaffolding to help
children learn new information and develop more complex abilities. For example a child who cannot
solve a mathematical problem might do it with little help or guidance from his teacher. The zone of
proximal development is the distance between a child being able to do it all by himself and doing it
with some scaffolding or help from outside. Thematic learning bridges the gap as they work in
groups and at the same time learning from one another. The zone of proximal development, which is
the distance between a child being able to do it all by himself can also come about as the result of
anxiety, hence having negative attitude, and (Hembere, 1990) observed that children with negative
attitudes towards mathematics have performance problems because they develop anxiety. The
same can happen with any other subject. Fear and negative attitudes towards subject occur in
learning process because children are not part and parcel of what is being learnt and entirely the
learning environment. As for thematic learning, a child owns the learning process as what is to be
learnt is developed or generated by them. It then follows that curriculum should be flexible enough
in order to meet the need of the individual child, however, the existing practice of preparation of
curriculum does not allow teachers to involve and participate in the preparation. In every class there
must be a need for high degree of flexibility in order to adapt the learning environment to all pupils’
level of mastery, learning possibilities and barriers (Johnsen, 2001). The thematic learning is not like
the old fashioned method of teaching which was teacher centered, that is teachers are expected to
explain, demonstrate, illustrate, give detailed notes 31 and the students have minimal participation
in the teaching and learning process (Dean, 1982). Whereas thematic learning engages children in
the learning process. Engagement and motivation are critical elements in student success and
learning. Engaged pupils learn more and retain more, and enjoy learning activities more than pupils
who are not engaged (Akey, 2006). Thematic learning gives extraordinary training to children, not
only academically but also how to become good public speakers. Old fashioned of teaching and
learning does not attract students. Now as leaders through thematic curriculum, can implement a
combination or various teaching styles to attract their students and make them understand the
subject with interest. Contrary to this, teacher in general place heavy reliance on the books and
regular testing, which makes the pupils value only those activities that would contribute to their end
of year grade (Barne, 2001) The major theme in learning is planning and choosing activity. It has
been established that when children plan to curry out and review their non-learning activities, their
behaviour is more purposeful and they perform better on language and other intellectual measures
(Sylva, 1992 and them Rodered, and leserran, 2000) planning and carrying out the review of learning
by children themselves, has been found to be an effective strategy for conflict resolution hence
clearing the doubts about what has been learnt and what has not been learnt. The children become
judges of their own and can suggest ways forward. Engaging children in planning and reflection
makes them more actors following prescribed roles which turns them more than mere artists and
scientists who make things happen and create meaning for themselves and others. As you
implement the strategies suggested here, you will discover that the complexity of children’s planning
and reflection parallels the development of their play. Young children play in simple ways for short
periods of time. As the school year progress, the play become more elaborative in its use of
materials, the language and range of social interactions it also last longer and is more likely to be
resumed at a later point. Similarly children’s plans reflect the growing depth and range of their
interactions. In fact sometimes just telling the story of what they intend to do is as satisfying as
actually carrying it out. Likewise children’s’ ability to remember and explain what happened during
play becomes increasing intricate. Their speculation may not even be limited to what occurred
during class but may extend to related events on people at home or in other settings. Observing and
tracking these changes allows teachers a window into how children think about their 32
surroundings. The impact of their actions and the implications of the past and present for their
subsequent behavior (Beyoing the Journal, 2003) Planning and reflection thus involves decision
making and problem solving. They encourage children to take the initiative in pursuing their
interests’ causing a sense of control over the environment and one’s ability to transform it. As
children make plans and review the experiences they enhance their predictive and analytical
abilities, harness, selfregulatory mechanisms and develop a sense of responsibility for themselves
and the choice they make. By encouraging these twin process expressing intentions and evaluating
actions can equip young children with the thinking skills they need for later schooling and adult life.
2.7.4 SUGESTIONS OF ENHANCING THEMATIC CURRICULUM “Do not give up” Stella Tumwebaze, the
executive director, Literacy and Adult Basic Education (LABE) argued that despite a community
having different language speakers, there is usually that one language spoken amongst children in a
particular school. It may not necessarily be the mother tongue of a particular child, but the most
commonly spoken local language. “When children get out of class, and they are interacting with
each other, what language do they use? That should be used (in teaching pupils),” she advised.
Tumwebaza urged participants to think of solutions to the issue. “There is the issue of multi-lingual
families will always be there because of intermarriages between tribes and ethnicities, but parents
still have to promote the use of at least one local language.” Bakahuuna concurred on the issue of
children have a common language during play-time. “I once went to Murchison Bay Primary School,
a school that is made up of mainly children of Luzira prison’s staff. The staff members are from
different tribes, but I noticed that during break time, the children communicated with each other in
Luganda. At Bombo Barracks Primary School, the children of the soldiers speak Kiswahili amongst
themselves,” she explained.“It is not a matter of forcing people to use a language, but we should
have a common understanding. If we the implementers have that attitude of feeling this is difficult,
then we are doomed.” (New Vision, 2018) The above suggestions proper by the stakeholders if
adopted can enhance thematic curriculum implementation in the lower primary schools in Uganda.
33 CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY 3.0 Introduction This chapter presents the methodology of the
study which includes; research design, population of the study, sampling strategy, sample size, study
instruments, data processing and analysis among others. 3.1 Research design The research design
used in this study was Descriptive Survey involving both qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Qualitative and quantitative approaches deal with facts, figures and measurements and produce
data that can readily be analyzed. The facts and figures were entirely illustrating the challenges of
the thematic curriculum implementation in lower primary classes. 3.2 Target population of the study
The population of the study was 355 comprising of 225 pupils, 100 teachers, 10 head teachers and
20 parents from Buhemba Sub County, Namayingo district. 3.3 Sample size To determine the sample
size the researcher used slovin’s formula that is cited by Altares (2003) in his book, Elementary
Statistics: A modern approach as shown below: n = Where N = study population n = sample size (e) 2
= constant figure (0.05)2 Hence, n = 355 1+355 (0.05)2 n = 355 1+355 (0.0025) N 1 + N (e) 2 34 n =
355 1+0.888 n = 355 1.888 n = 188 Thus, the sample size of the study was 188 respondents. To
obtain the sample size proportion for the study, the formula below was used: Xn N N n 1 1  n1=
sample size proportion N1= population size proportion N= population size n= sample size 1-
225/355x188= 119 2- 100/355x188 = 53 3- 10/355x188 = 5 4- 20/355x188 = 11 Thus, the sample size
proportions of the study were 119 pupils, 53 teachers, 5 Head teachers and 11 parents. 3.4 Sampling
strategy In order to do away with bias, the Systematic Random Sampling was used to select pupils
and teachers for the study from a list obtained from the school authorities while the Purposive
sampling technique was also used to select the head teachers and parents who participated in the
study. Purposive was used because for any parent to participate in the study he or she had to have a
child attending schools while the head teachers were selected purposely because of their positions
as heads of their schools. 35 3.5 Source of data The researcher employed both primary and
secondary data sources 3.5.1 Primary data Primary data is data gathered for the first time by the
researcher; or is originated and is collected specifically for the problem under investigation.
According to Roston (2001), primary data is that kind of data that has been gathered for the first
time, it has never been reported anywhere. Primary data for this study was collected using
questionnaires. 3.5.2 Secondary data Secondary data is data taken by the researcher from secondary
sources, internal or external. Roston (2001) defines secondary data as that kind of data that is
available, already reported by some other scholars. Secondary sources of data for this study were
textbooks and articles in which other similar researchers reported the results of their research based
on their primary data. Secondary data was collected from existing literature by authors who have
written about the variables of the as well as policy documents, abstracts of various scholars and
archived reports. 3.6 Instruments of the study Self-designed closed ended questionnaire, Structured
Interview Guide as well as experimental tests were the instruments for data collection used for the
study. 3.6.1 Questionnaire Self-designed closed ended questionnaire involving Likert’s scale of
Strongly Agree (SA) value 4, Agree (A) value 3, Disagree (D) value 2 and Strongly Disagree (SD) having
the value of 1 as well options of Always, Sometimes and Never was used to gather quantitative data
from the teachers. The questionnaire questions concentrated on the extent to which thematic
curriculum was implemented (see appendix A). 3.6.2 Structured Interview Guide One on One
interview using the Structured Interview Guide designed was conducted with some selected
teachers, parents and head teachers. The interviews concentrated mainly on the challenges facing
the implementation of thematic curriculum in schools. This tool was used because of its advantages
over the other instruments especially to probe for particular 36 responses, on-spot clarification, and
gathering deeper and personal information from the respondents (see appendix B). 3.6.3
Experimental test Experimental test was also conducted on the pupils in order to determine the
extent of their comprehension of thematic lessons. The test was comprised of questions designed
mainly for the study (see appendix C). 3.7 Validity of the instruments To ensure validity of the
research instruments, Content Validity was used where by the questionnaire was subjected to
scrutiny by 3 academics in the field to rate the validity of the questions after which the Content
Validity Index (CVI) was calculated as follows: Total number of questions declared valid Total number
of questions in the questionnaire 16/20= 0.8 Hence the CVI was 0.8 According to Amin (2005), CVI of
up to 0.7 and above are considered valid thus, the questionnaire was considered valid. Similarly, all
the experimental test questions were also subjected to scrutiny by academics in the field before
implementation. 3.8 Reliability of the instruments In order to ensure reliability of the research
instruments, the Test Retest method was used. For the study questionnaires, 20 sets were
administered on 20 teachers and the responses were recorded. After 10 days, 20 sets of the
questionnaire were administered for the second time on the same teachers whose responses were
also recorded. Comparison of the responses showed significant similarities hence, the instrument
was considered reliable. In case of the experiment test questions, the test was administered on 40
pupils prior to the actual study exercise whose marks were recorded. Same pupils were tested for
the second after two weeks with the same questions and their marks recorded which on comparison
with the marks recorded during the 37 first test were found to very much similar thus, the test
questions were considered to be reliable. 3.9 Documentary analysis Relevant documents with the
study were reviewed purposely to collect additional information to help beef-up the findings of the
study. Such documents can be newspapers, university magazines and journals, researched
information and published 3.10 Procedure for data collection All questionnaires, One on One
interview, Experimental tests as well as focus group discussions were self-administered. To
administer the experimental test, the pupils were divided into four different groups in order to
ensure a valid examination. Some members of staff assisted in the administration of the tests and
invigilation. 3.11 Ethical considerations To ensure ethical conduct, the letter of introduction
obtained from the University was presented at all places necessary. Consents of all respondent who
participated in the study were sought first and data collected was used only for the purpose of the
study. Similarly, to avoid plagiarism, all quoted works were properly cited and well referenced. 3.12
Limitations of the study It was anticipated that the study may be affected by some problems. Hence
being a new phenomenon. Also in rural schools, children in lower primary do not have any
foundation to be able to suggest what topic to study about. In addition, the language to be used may
also be a problem. Learning in local language have not yield any results as in primary seven children
write the Primary Leaving Examination in English. Other limitations of this study included the costs of
movement and hardships in location for reaching the respondents; among others 3.13 Delimitations
The success of the study depended on the structure of the questionnaire and the interview guide as
instruments of the study. It also depended on the approach that will be applied by the researchers
and his assistants. As a foundation to establish good primary classes, in the future, the government
is concerned and other interested parties were advised to establish nursery 38 schools in rural areas.
With the costs of the research the researcher made prior budget before commencing the research
from one school to the other and the change of the environment when it rains, the researcher made
sure that he carries out research activity during the dry season. 39 CHAPTER FOUR PRESENTATION,
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF FINDINGS 4.0 Introduction This chapter presents an analysis of
the data gathered from both qualitative and quantitative approaches using questionnaire,
interviews, experimental test and focus group discussions. 4.1 Demographic characteristics of the
teachers These findings were described in terms of age, gender, marital status, level of education
and working experience as shown below: Table 4. 1: Demographic characteristics of the teachers
Age of respondents Responses Frequency Percent 20-29yrs 10 18.9 30-39yrs 20 37.7 40-49yrs 15
28.3 50yrs and above 8 Total 53 100.0 Sex of respondents Male 31 58.5 Female 22 41.5 Total 53
100.0 Marital status of the respondents Single 19 35.8 Divorced 29 54.7 Divorced 5 9.4 Total 53
100.0 Educational Level of respondents Certificate 11 20.8 Diploma 13 24.5 40 Degree 20 37.3
Masters 9 17.0 Total 53 100.0 Level of experience of the respondents 1-5 yrs. 8 15.1 6-10 yrs. 11 20.8
11-15 yrs. 17 30.1 16-20 yrs. 9 17.0 Above 20 yrs. 8 15.1 Total 53 100.0 The findings in the table
above indicates the age of respondents, sex of respondents, Marital status of the respondents,
Educational level of the respondents and level of experience of respondents given in frequency and
percentage 4.2 Analysis: In line with the objectives of the study, the analysis will be presented in
three parts and according to the research questions viz; thematic curriculum implemented in lower
primary classes in Namayingo district, challenges facing the implementation of thematic curriculum
in lower classes in Namayingo District and possible ways of enhancing thematic curriculum
implementation in lower primary classes in Namayingo District. 4.3 Research question one: Is
thematic curriculum implemented in lower primary classes in Namayingo district? To find out if
thematic curriculum is implemented in lower primary classes in Namayingo district. The first
objective was to establish if thematic curriculum is implemented in lower primary classes from P.1 –
P.3 in Namayingo district. To measure this, the respondents (teachers) were asked to indicate the
activities they carry out to promote early literacy in the lower classes based on the self-designed
questionnaire. The result is indicated in the table below. 41 Table 4. 2: Teaching phonemic sounds
Responses Frequency Percent SA 10 18.9 A 24 45.3 D 10 18.9 SD 9 17 Total 53 100.0 As regard to
table 4.2, results indicate that the respondents strongly agreed that they teach phonemic sounds to
the learners with a percentage of 18.9% while the remaining 45.3% just agreed with the fact.
However, 18.9% and 17.0% of them disagreed with the fact. The possible cause why the teachers
teach phonemic sounds could be because sounds enable the learners to read and write correctly.
The findings revealed that there are a number of activities done to promote language and literacy in
lower classes. These include teaching phonemic sounds, writing short stories; shared reading,
spelling exercises, arranging classroom environments into centers of learning, play, and role play
activities. Table 4. 3: Provide materials for creative expressions Responses Frequency Percent SA 16
30.2 A 20 37.7 D 10 18.9 SD 7 13.2 Total 53 100.0 For provision of materials in creative expression,
the findings revealed that majority of the teachers provide materials for creative expressions; 30.2%
strongly agreed, 37.7% agreed. However, 18.9% and 13.2% of the respondent disagreed. The
possible cause for the provision of materials for creative expression could be attributed to the cost
of materials which are not very expensive and are readily available. 42 Table 4. 4: Teaching learners
the use of varied syntactic structures Responses Frequency Percent SA 15 28.3 A 25 47.2 D 7 13.2 SD
6 11.3 Total 53 100.0 The above table revealed that majority with 28.3% and 47.2% strongly agreed
and agreed respectively while 13.2% and 11.3% disagreed while the 10.0% strongly disagreed. The
possible cause of this could be due to their level of education (certificate level) which minimizes
their varied syntactic structure use. Table 4. 5: Teaching how to write short stories Responses
Frequency Percent SA 19 35.8 A 21 40.0 D 13 24.5 SD 0 0 Total 53 100.0 Table 4.5 showed indicated
how learners are taught how to write short stories. Findings about that activity revealed that the
majority of the respondents (40%) agreed that they teach learners how to write stories while 35.8%
strongly agreed that they so. Only 24.5% of the teachers disagreed. 43 Table 4. 6: Carrying out
shared reading with the pupils Responses Frequency Percent SA 21 40.0 A 24 45.3 D 6 11.3 SD 1 1.9
Total 53 100.0 Table 4.6 shows the respondents’ responses on carrying out shared reading with the
pupils. The results indicated that majority of the respondents carry out shared reading with their
pupils (45.35) while another 40.0% also strongly agreed. However, 11.3% and 1.9% of the teachers
disagreed that they do carry out shared reading with their pupils. Table 4. 7: Teachers do give
learners spelling exercises Responses Frequency Percent SA 24 45.3 A 29 54.7 D 0 0 SD 0 0 Total 53
100.0 The above table indicates responses on whether teachers give spelling exercises to the
learners. The findings of that activity revealed that 45.3% of the respondents strongly agreed that
they do give spelling exercises to their pupils while 54.7% also agreed that they do so. The possible
reason for this could be that spelling exercises help learners to read and also write words easily. 44
Table 4. 8: Class environments arranged into centers of learning and play Responses Frequency
Percent SA 24 45.3 A 23 43.4 D 5 9.4 SD 1 1.9 Total 53 100 Table 4.8 shows whether respondents
arrange the classroom environment in centers of learning and play. As far as that is concerned, the
findings showed that 45.30% of the respondents strongly agreed about arranging classes into
learning centers and play while the 43.40% agreed, only 11.3% disagreed. The could be attributed to
the fact that the centers of learning and play enable learners to interact a lot more with the concrete
materials in those around them. Table 4. 9: Learners are taught picture description and writing
Responses Frequency Percent SA 28 52.8 A 25 47.2 D 0 0 SD 0 0 Total 53 100.0 Table 4.9 indicates
whether the learners are taught picture description and writing in the class room. The results
showed that all the respondents agreed that they teach learners picture description and writing with
52.8% SA and 47.2% A. No responded disagree. 45 Table 4. 10: Teachers do engage learners in role
play activities Responses Frequency Percent SA 27 51.0 A 26 49.0 D 0 0 SD 0 0 Total 53 100.0 The
above table shows whether learners are engaged in role play activities by their teachers. The
findings about this activity revealed that all the respondents 51.0% and 49.0% strongly agreed or just
agreed with the fact that they do engage their pupils in role paly activities. None of the respondents
disagreed. Table 4. 11: Teachers do teach their pupils’ familiar sounds Responses Frequency Percent
SA 23 43.4 A 27 51 D 2 3.8 SD 1 1.9 Total 53 100.0 Table 4.11 shows responses on whether learners
are taught familiar sounds by their teachers. The findings showed that the majority of the
respondents (51.0%) strongly agreed that they do so while 43.4% of them just agreed. Only 5.7% of
the teachers disagreed. The possible reason for teaching familiar sounds could be that such sounds
accelerated reading and writing of words and sounds. According to the activities identified above,
the results showed that the most commonly used activities included shared reading, story writing,
spelling exercises and role play. Similarly, the respondents were also asked this question: What
measures do you take to ensure that thematic curriculum is fully implemented? For convenience,
the responses of the head teachers were summarized as follows: we make sure that teachers always
follow the curriculum as expected, teachers make use of the relevant teaching aids in teaching
thematic lessons, teachers always write their lesson plans correctly and the right teaching methods
are employed in teaching the young kids. Since bulk of the responsibility of ensuring that thematic
46 curriculum is well implemented in schools, the head teachers were asked the question; how do
you ensure that teachers abide by the curriculum spelt out for their subjects? Reactions of the
participants to this question were summarized as follows: We as managers of the schools make sure
that teachers abide by the laid down syllabus for every subject and write lesson plans before
teaching, we try to see that all the teaching and materials required in the school were supplied by
the government. Besides, teachers were only allowed to teach subjects they specialize in and
effective learners’ evaluation methods were always ensured. Pupils Comprehension of Thematic
Lessons This activity was conducted in order to assess the extent to which the pupils comprehend
thematic lessons taught to them. To achieve this, an experimental test comprising of 10 questions
was administered on them. The test was marked over 100% for every participant. Scores from the
marked papers indicated that, the level of the comprehension was found to be average because the
majority of the pupils (69, 57.9%) scored less than 50% while 50, 42.0% scored more than 50% (see
appendix F). The mean value and standard deviation of the pupils’ marks was computed in SPSS
Version 20 and found to be 44.18 ±16.16. N Valid 119 Missing 0 Mean 44.1849 Std. Deviation
16.16125 Table 4. 12: Pupils Comprehension of Thematic Lessons 47 Parents Participation in
assisting their Children towards Comprehension of Thematic Lesson To achieve this, a focus group
discussion was organized for the parents selected to participate in this study. They were assembled
at place to conduct the discussions. Firstly, they were asked the, do you attend Parents Teachers
Association meetings at schools where your kids study? In response, 7 out of the 11 parents stated
that they do attend PTA meetings whenever they were invited but the remaining 4 stated that they
had never attended such meetings. Secondly, the parents were asked the question, are you able to
provide your children with the basic learning materials required in school? In response, 66% of them
stated that they hardly provide their kids with all the learning materials required in school but do
some times give them money to buy exercise books. However, a good number of them claimed that
they always provided their kids with school materials whenever they were instructed to do so.
Meanwhile, in order to assess how the parents keep track of the movements of their kids, they were
asked the question, how do you make sure that your children attend schools regularly and stay
throughout school hours at the school? With respect to this, it was found that only 34.8% of the
parents stated that were always concerned about the movement of their kids in and out of schools
to the extent that they even go to the schools themselves to check if the kids were present in the
schools. The remaining parents stated that they were so busy to monitor the performance of their
kids at schools saying that they spent most of their times at working places. Besides, in order to find
out if the parents were concerned about the performance of their kids at schools, they were askeed
the question, do you care to find out from schools the progress of your children? In response to this
question, the majority of them 56.5% stated that yes they do track the progress of their children in
schools especially by checking their exercise books and making sure that they always do their home
works. In addition, they stated that they care to check their children’s’ examination reports at the
end of every term or semester. When asked how do you assist your children in doing their
homework? The majority of the parents 56.5% stated that they normally don’t assist the kids in
doing their home works but instruct their senior brothers and sisters to assist them. While some
stated that they don’t do so because they were illiterates, few claimed that they always assist their
kids in doing home works given to them at school especially at nights. However, when asked do you
take measures to ensure that your children are taught what the need to be taught? An
overwhelming response of NO was given by 88.5% of the parents stating that they normally make
that they enroll their 48 kids into good schools where they were expected to be taught well but
don’t normally take any measures to ensure that the schools teach the kids what they were
supposed to be taught. Based on the analysis above, it is established that, thematic curriculum is
being implemented in Namayingo District. Teachers and pupils are already committed to teaching
and learning using thematically curriculum instructions. 4.4 RESEARCH QUESTION TWO: Is there any
challenge facing the implementation of thematic curriculum in lower classes in Namayingo District?
Challenges facing the implementation of thematic curriculum in lower classes in Namayingo District.
In order to answers the second objective of the study which was to determine the challenges
militating against the full implementation of thematic curriculum in lower primary schools, the head
teachers were subjected to one on one interview. It was believed that head teachers being the
managers of activities in these schools were in a better position to provide the required information
on the challenges being faced in the implementation of thematic curriculum in lower primary
schools. To solicit answers to this study objective, the KIIs were also asked the question, what are
the challenges facing the effective implementation of thematic curriculum in schools? To answer this
question, the participants’ responses were summarized as follows: although the teachers do their
possible bests to make sure that thematic curriculum were well implemented, their efforts were
being obstacle by some challenges such as lack of sufficient learning materials such as textbooks and
teaching aids, socioeconomic status of the learners, poor subject mastery on the part of the
teachers, use of poor teaching methods by teachers, lukewarm attitudes of school Management
among intermarriages from different ethnicity were among the challenges facing thematic
implementation. Based on the analysis above, it is revealed that, teachers do their possible bests to
make sure that thematic curriculum were well implemented, their efforts were being obstacle by
some challenges such as lack of sufficient learning materials, textbooks and teaching aids,
socioeconomic status of the learners, poor subject mastery on the part of the teachers, use of poor
teaching methods by teachers, lukewarm attitudes of school Management and lack of adequate
facilities for teaching and learning of thematic curriculum as identified by the respondents, 49 4.5
RESEARCH QUESTION THREE: What are the possible ways of enhancing thematic curriculum
implementation in lower primary classes in Namayingo District? Determining strategies for
enhancing implementation of thematic curriculum in lower classes To measure this, the
respondents, were asked to indicate how often they carry out literacy activities to promote language
and literacy in the tables below: Table 4. 13: Arrangement of the classroom environment into
centers for learning and play Responses Frequency Percent Always 12 22.6 Sometimes 34 64.2 Never
7 13.2 Total 53 100.0 Table 4.13 indicates how often the classroom environments are arranged into
centers for learning by the teachers and results of that activity showed that the majority of the
respondents 64.2% stated that they sometimes arrange the classroom environments into centers of
learning and play while 22.6% stated that they always do so. Only 13.2% of them claimed that they
never arrange the classroom into centers of learning. Table 4. 14: Encourage learners to spell words
Responses Frequency Percent Always 22 41.5 Sometimes 31 58.5 Never 0 0 Total 53 100.0 Table
4.14 indicates whether the respondents encourage learners to spell words correctly. As regard to the
activity, the majority of the respondents (58.5%) stated that they sometimes encourages the
learners while 41.5% of the teachers stated that they always do so. None responded by the option of
Never. The possible reason for that could be that spelling exercise helps learners to the reading and
writing of word. 50 Table 4. 15: Carry out shared reading with pupils Responses Frequency Percent
Always 19 35.8 Sometimes 30 56.6 Never 4 0 Total 53 100.0 Table 4.15 showed whether teacher’s
carryout shared reading with pupils. The result about that activity revealed that the majority of the
respondents (56.6%) stated that they do that sometimes while another 35.8% stated that they
always do that in their classes. Only 7.5% of the teachers stated that they never do that. This could
be attributed to the fact that reason why some never carryout shared reading could be because the
teachers see it as wastage of time. Table 4. 16: Encourage learners to write full sentences Responses
Frequency Percent Always 30 56.6 Sometimes 23 43.4 Never 0 0 Total 53 100.0 The table above is
about how often respondents encourage learners to write full sentences. The findings indicated that
the majority of them (56.6%) stated that they always do it while 43.4% stated that they sometimes
do it. None responded by statin never. This could be as a result that writing full sentences promotes
language and literacy faster since reading and writing are identical because as children write, they
integrate knowledge of reading with that of writing. 51 Table 4. 17: Give learners reading games
Responses Frequency Percent Always 15 28.3 Sometimes 30 56.6 Never 8 15.1 Total 53 100.0 Table
4.17 is about how often the respondents give learners reading games. The results about that activity
showed that the majority of the respondents (56.6%) sometimes do it while 28.3% stated that they
always do that in their classes. Only 15.1% stated that they never do that in their classes. Major
reason for that could be due to the fewer materials for the reading games and also, some teachers
say that reading games are just a waste of time. Table 4. 18: Respond and interact with learners in
their mother tongue Responses Frequency Percent Always 6 11.3 Sometimes 16 30.2 Never 31 58.5
Total 53 100.0 Table 4.18 indicates how often respondents interact with learners in English and
mother tongue. The results about this activity showed that the majority of the respondents (58.5%)
stated that they never interact with their pupils in their mother tongues while another 30.2% stated
that they sometimes do that. However, 11.3% of the teachers stated that they always interact with
the pupils in their mother tongues. 52 Table 4. 19: Teach learners phonemic sounds Responses
Frequency Percent Always 15 28.3 Sometimes 38 71.7 Never 0 0 Total 53 100.0 Table 4.19 above
shows how often the respondents teach phonemic sounds to their pupils. The findings showed that
the biggest percentage (71.7%) sometimes teach phonemic sounds while (28.3%) stated that they
always do so. None of the teachers was found not teaching phonemic sounds to the learners.
Teaching of sounds helps learners to read even difficult more difficult words and also how to write
them. Table 4. 20: Encourage learners to use varied syntactic structures Responses Frequency
Percent Always 23 43.4 Sometimes 28 52.8 Never 2 3.8 Total 53 100.0 Table 4.20 above shows how
often the teachers encourage learners to use varied syntactic structures. The findings revealed that
the majority of the respondents (52.8%) stated that they sometimes do that while 43.4% claimed
that they do always encourage learners to use varied syntactic structures. However, 3.8% of the
teachers stated that they never encouraged learners to use the varied syntactic structures. 53 Table
4. 21: Engage learners in imaginative writing Responses Frequency Percent Always 12 22.6
Sometimes 12 22.6 Never 29 54.7 Total 53 100.0 Table 4.21 indicates how often the respondents
engage learners in imaginative writing. The findings showed that a good number of the respondents
(22.6%) stated that they sometimes engage learners in that activity, while another 22.6% stated that
they do always do that in their classes. However, the majority of them 54.7% never engage the
learners in such activities. The possible cause for the highest percentage of the respondents failing
to engage learners in the imaginative writing could be attributed to the nature and method of
teaching. The teachers assume that imaginative writing is a waste of time for the people. Table 4. 22:
Ask learners to narrate and write interesting stories Responses Frequency Percent Always 18 34.0
Sometimes 30 56.6 Never 5 9.4 Total 53 100.0 From the table above, it can be seen that the majority
of the respondents (56.6%) do sometimes ask learners to narrate and write interesting stores while
those teachers who always do that constituted 34.0%. Besides, 9.4% of them never do that. The
possible reason and cause for the big percentages in agreement with that fact could be because kids
enjoy and attend to narrative stories being told in the classroom more. Furthermore, the interview
participants were as asked the question: what strategies can be used to enhance the
implementation of thematic curriculum in lower primary classes? In their responses to the question
which were summarized here, the head teachers who were the participants in the One on One
interview stated that: In order to enhance the good implementation of thematic curriculum in
schools, these strategies could be employed: recruitment of only qualified teachers, provision of
sufficient teaching and learning materials, 54 effective supervision of teaching and learning
processes, proper use of teaching methods and aids, provision of training, capacity building as well
as sensitization workshops for teachers and so on. Based on the analysis above, it is revealed that,
the possible ways of enhancing thematic curriculum implemented in Namayingo District are through
the effective method of thematically curriculum instructions analysed in the tables above as
activities oriented in the areas of spelling exercises, shared reading, teaching phonemic sounds,
interacting with learners in English as well as encouraging the learners to write full sentences. Other
ways were that, managers of the schools make sure that teachers abide by the laid down syllabus for
every subject and write lesson plans before teaching, teaching and materials required in the school
were supplied by the government, teachers were only allowed to teach subjects they specialize in
and that effective learners’ evaluation methods were always ensured. 55 CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSIONS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Findings 5.1.1 To determine the extent
to which thematic curriculum is implemented Findings made by this study particularly in respect of
the first objective which was to determine the extent to which thematic curriculum in lower primary
schools is implemented showed that, at the schools level, the teachers did employ of activities to
achieve that. Since the sole responsibility of implementing the said curriculum largely rests with the
teachers so, the extent to which it is implemented will also be determined by the extent to which
stipulations of the curriculum are executed by the teachers in their classes. In fact, this study
revealed a number of activities employed by teachers with regards to thematic lessons through the
promotion of language and literacy promotion. These included shared reading, spelling exercise, role
– play activities arranging centers into learning and play as well as teaching phonemic sounds. The
majority of the teachers stated that they make use of the ten activities slated in the questionnaire. It
should be noted that thematic lessons especially at lower primary classes can serve as the
foundation for better academic performance in upper classes. Kateeba (2009), posits that, a
thematically organized curriculum was preferred to subject-based curriculum because children at an
early age cannot differentiate one subject from another and that through thematic curriculum
children learn all the content in a holistic manner. However, in spite its numerous advantages, some
teachers do oppose it. Nevertheless, this curriculum has been contested by teachers who argue that
it is shallow, overloaded, poorly structured and that they received hurried and superficial training
prior to its implementation (Altinyelken, 2010; Ssentanda, 2013). Mother tongue plays a major role
in the success of thematic lessons hence; the respondents (teachers) were asked in the
questionnaire on whether they interact with their pupils in their mother tongues, the majority of
them stated that they don’t. The scores obtained by the respondents (pupils) in the experimental
test administered on them was found to be low mean value (44.1849±16.16125); this could be
attributable to failure of the teachers to consider factors such as the use of pupils mother as
essential factors in the success of thematic lessons in primary schools. Piper (2010), reported on
Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) assessments involving both mother tongue and English. The
assessment covered, letter naming fluency, letter sound fluency, syllable reading fluency,
phonological awareness, oral reading, familiar word fluency, connected text oral reading, familiar
word fluency, connected text oral reading fluency and 56 reading comprehension in connected text.
This report shows that children in the central region are quicker at identifying sounds in their mother
tongue than in English. However, when placed in an international context, the level of performance
of learners’ in Uganda was below the regional level for East Africa and below international levels. In
addition, comprehension levels were reported to be close to zero in English. The low performance of
the pupils might not be only obtainable in the district where this study was conducted. Two reports
produced by a private NGO (Uwezo 2010, 2011) presented a review of the English literacy skills of
children in East Africa. It also revealed low levels of literacy in the Ugandan context; “Overall at least
one out of every five (21%) of all the class P3 children sampled across the country could not even
recognize letters of the English alphabet; and only 7% could read and understand an English story
text of class P2 level was difficulty. Almost one out of every five (17%) of all the class P7 children
could not read and understand an English story text of class P2 level difficulty.” (Uwezo 2011:14).
Another report by UNEB (Uganda National Examinations Board 2010) also confirmed the low levels
of literacy acquisition among primary school children, not only in local languages but also in English.
Similar findings were reported by the (Mango Tree Lano literacy project (Mango Tree Lano literacy
Project 2010) this study was carried out in the Lano sub–region (Northern part of Uganda) in both
urban and rural schools. The study found that, by end of P1, pupils were not able to identify the
alphabet and neither could they read a simple text with minimal fluency. Meanwhile, the
consequences of pupils’ poor performance in reading skills can have a live long impact on their
future academic endeavours because if children are still struggling with reading skills in the third
grade, odds are, they will be struggling the rest of their lives (Wren, 2000:7). However, it should be
noted that children’s performance in schools are determined by a number of factors such as socio
economic status and as is the case elsewhere, some children in Uganda join school with already
developed skills depending on their parental socioeconomic and/or educational status while others,
particularly those from rural areas, do not have any (Wren (2000:8). In addition, some of the reasons
for poor reading skills among learners rest with the teachers themselves. In 2011 assessment by the
Uganda National Examinations found that “pupils” weak performance in literacy could have been
due to the deficiency in the teachers’ skills to teach, particularly reading, reflected by the teachers’
weak performance in Oral Reading; implying that they themselves might not have been taught
reading skills. “This remark implies that there are teachers in Uganda who are not fully prepared to
handle the challenges involved in the teaching of reading (cf. kyeyune 2012). As 57 the UNEB report
suggests, it is difficult for the teachers to properly manage reading when they themselves have some
difficulties with reading tests. 5.2 Challenges of thematic curriculum implementation in lower
primary classes The second specific objective of this study was to assess the challenges facing the
smooth implementation of thematic curriculum in lower primary schools; to achieve this, One on
One interviews with head teachers of primary schools using Structured Interview Guide was
conducted. It was gathered from these interviews that, though according to the head teachers the
implementation of thematic curriculum was satisfactory, there were some obstacles militating
against its successful implementation. Some of these challenges as identified by the participants of
the interviews were lack of sufficient learning materials such as textbooks and teaching aids,
socioeconomic status of the learners, poor subject mastery on the part of the teachers, use of poor
teaching methods by teachers, lukewarm attitudes of school Management among others, lack of
experience among the teachers, lack of good commitment to work on the side of some of the
teachers, lukewarm attitudes of parents towards the education of their kids and so on. The above
mentioned challenges facing the implementation of thematic curriculum as revealed by the study
indicate that different stakeholders share the blame as some of the problems were human while
others were institutional. The human problems were those problems emanating from the teachers
as well as the parents while those emanating from the schools such as lack of sufficient teaching and
learning materials were considered to be institutional. However, bulk of these problems seemed to
rest with the teachers who were the implementers of all learning materials and managers of the
whole teaching and learning process in the class room. Furthermore, some studies have confirmed
that the challenges facing thematic lessons especially those relating to reading are not only faced by
learners but also by some teachers. In 2011 assessment by the Uganda National Examinations found
that “pupils” weak performance in literacy could have been due to the deficiency in the teachers’
skills to teach, particularly reading, reflected by the teachers’ weak performance in Oral Reading;
implying that they themselves might not have been taught reading skills. “This remark implies that
there are teachers in Uganda who are not fully prepared to handle the challenges involved in the
teaching of reading (cf. kyeyune 2012). As the UNEB report suggests, it is difficult for the teachers to
properly manage reading when they themselves have some difficulties with reading tests. Similarly,
implementation of thematic curriculum requires a lot of things and a thorough survey before it is
done, unlike other methods of teaching and learning whereby technical experts is 58 required.
Among other things required include teachers with sufficient knowledge, instructional materials,
class room or school environment. Nevertheless the problems in Uganda may not be planning
educational programs or reforming the existing ones but effective implementation to achieve
desired income. Effective implementation of the curriculum and competent teachers who
understand the inter-disciplinary and thematic arrangements of the subject and moreover the
pedagogies to include desirable learning outcomes. One of the first steps to reading is letter and
sound identification and naming, (cf. I Hoover & Gough 2000), this is the point at which the
challenge of teaching reading in Uganda starts. Sometimes, some of the challenges faced in the
implementation of thematic curriculum were inherent with the curriculum itself. For instance, the
content arrangements in a matrix form where the themes emerge are presented horizontally and
crucial learning areas are presented as vertical strands. The matrix also shows how the competences
relate and learners learn more from one another. These become a challenge to some teachers to
implement such a curriculum. Since the content to cover is too big and wide. Sometimes, the
challenges relate the pupils’ first language which is considered as the first or familiar language.
Wherever possible, the learner should learn in his or her home language or at least a language that is
familiar to the pupil. But with the case of Namayingo District, there are people of different ethnicity
so they speak different languages and as a result, it affects the thematic curriculum implementation.
The thematic curriculum is based on evidence that literacy is achieved at a much faster speed when
it is acquired in a language in which the pupil already has a strong oral command. For learners with
hearing impairment, this should be in sign language. The approach to assessment is one of the most
challenges to the implementation of the thematic curriculum. Most teachers have not yet learnt
how to assess pupils. Assessment is built into the thematic curriculum. Since the thematic curriculum
is based on competences, it is essential that all competences, whatever oral, written or practical, are
assessed. This assessment is primary for the teacher and other stakeholders to know whether pupils
are generally learning and what action needs to be taken to support the pupils. The approach to
assessment is “Continuous” and pupils should have as much opportunity as possible to show that
they have achieved the competences which is quite tiresome for teachers to carry out continuous
assessment. 59 5.3 Possible ways of enhancing the implementation of thematic curriculum In fact
the most important strategy that can be employed to enhance the implementation of not only
thematic curriculum but of any other curriculum are those strategies employed by the teachers
themselves. This is because teachers are the most important role players in any educational system
whose relevance and importance cannot be over emphasized. From the finding made by this study
in respect of the strategies used for the enhancement of thematic curriculum implementation in
lower primary schools, it was revealed that the respondents (teachers) make use of several activities
towards the achievement of that objective. Although few among the respondent rejected the
strategies, the majority of the stated that they employ the strategies in teaching their pupils for the
purpose of achieving effective comprehension of thematic lessons. Some of these strategies which
the teachers were asked to respond to in the questionnaire were arrangement of the classroom
environment into centers for learning and play, encouraging learners to spell words, carrying out
shared reading with pupils, encouraging learners to write full sentences and giving learners reading
games. Other teaching strategies employed by the teachers as revealed by the study include
teaching learners phonemic sounds, encouraging learners to use varied syntactic structures as well
as the use of encouraging the learners to narrate and write interesting stories. However, the
majority of the respondents 58.5% stated that they do not interact with learners in their mother
tongue. It should be noted that interacting with learners in their mother tongue especially those at
the lower class levels is very essential. This could be one of the reasons that led to poor performance
of the pupils especially in writing and reading skills as revealed by this study. Clearly, how well a
teacher teaches children in lower primary classes to read and write in their mother tongue and he
communicates to parents what they’re doing in terms of literacy development of their children in
mother tongue will be critical to the teacher’s success. The teacher’s responsibility is to determine
what the child knows and then choose the experience that will help the child move along the
continuum towards becoming on ever more skilled reader. Several studies have found that adding
selected materials to the play environment and guiding their use can encourage children to
participate in more literacy activities in their play. Also disagreed with by the respondents was the
issue of engaging the learners in imaginative writing claiming the activity was usually time
consuming and stressful considering the age of the pupils they teach while others called it time
wasting. Anderson (2009) recommended using real literacy objects rather than presented objects,
the materials selected should be familiar to the children from their real world experiences. Morrow
et al (1991) suggest that literacy 60 materials should be kept in clearly marked place that they be
changed frequently to keep children’s interest in them high, that teachers model the uses of
materials as needed or suggest possible uses when appropriate, and that all levels of development
be accepted for the most positive results. Another option was for the teacher to take dictation as the
child tells what he had done that day with the blocks. The teacher should be sure to read narrative
back to the child so he can agree that it says what he said. Teachers should also include this dictation
experience in notes to the child’s parent or in completions of class activities in the mother tongue or
local language. It was also important that the teacher should not treat reading and writing as the
only important activities in which children are involved. Children need to be involved in play, art and
music, dance and drama, in the language they know, the teachers must value this experiences for
themselves without always taking on a reading or writing component to legitimize the experience.
Shared reading as an instructional strategy in which teacher takes primary responsibility for the
reading but involves the children actively in the process of using the local language is another
important experience that supports young children developing literacy. Findings made by the study
indicate that the teachers who participated in the study employed different strategies at their
disposal to encourage learners to develop skills in reading and writing. This was necessary because
language development is indispensable factor in the education of children in order to prepare the
learners for more difficult tasks ahead of them more than mere reading and writing. B. F. Skinner
(1957) defined language as the observed and produced speech that occurs in the interaction of
speaker and listeners. Thinking, he said, is the internal process of language, both language and
thought are initiated through interactions in the environment, such interactions a between parent
which provide a language model that children learn through imitation. The child’s acquisition of
language is enhanced and encouraged by the positive reinforcement of an adult. Research indicates
that reading to a child benefits the child’s acquisition of reading ability. It aids development of
literacy skills, increases interest in books and in learning to read, enhances background information
sense of story structure, and familiarizes children with language of books as opposed to oral
language. Oral and written literacy are encouraged through the availability of materials for creative
expression, construction play, motor play and dramatic play and these opportunities to extend play
and language are afforded through observation of children’s language during play. The teacher
suggests ways to extend dramatic play themes, and the teacher models how to increase language
and written literacy experiences into play episodes. Numerous short and long term studies
examining children’s developmental progress while attending lessons in lower classes 61 indicates
that preschool education in a variety of forms can in fact play a significant role in helping children
develop essential language and literacy skills. However the impact of such programmes appears to
be influenced by a variety of factors including the quality of the child care environment, teacher
training, effectiveness, socioeconomic status of the child’s family, level of parental involvement,
amount of time spent each day and week in the programme and overall length of enrollment in the
programme. While all of the above strategies have been shown to be effective, many experts
contend that the simple most important teaching strategy for promoting children’s early literacy
development across multiple domains (e.g. vocabulary growth, print awareness) is reading aloud to
children in an interactive style that engages them as active learners when children are encouraged
to become active participants rather than passive listeners, they are more likely to experience
improvements in their vocabularies and comprehension abilities (Menke, 2012). 5.4 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the findings made by the study, it is concluded that considering the numerous educational
challenges (human and institutional) affecting the educational system in the district which can
militate against effective teaching and learning processes, the effective implementation of thematic
curriculum in Namayingo district will be very difficult to achieved. This was further confirmed by the
low performance recorded in the experimental tests given to the pupil respondents. Thus, based on
this development, it can be rightly concluded that the future academic performances of these young
learners can be seriously affected with resultant consequences on the development of the area as
well as its educational status. Reading and writing are identical simply because as children write,
they integrate knowledge of reading with that knowledge of writing. Reading aloud to children on a
frequent basis is one of the most effective ways to promote early literacy development among
growing children. Through interactions with adults children develop their understanding of the rules
of the rules and function of language. The study was guided by the “Basic learning” theory of
Vygotskyl (1975) and Hilliday’s theory of language development (1975) which describes a zonal of
proximal development, arrangement of social interaction between an adult and the child. The
teacher therefore have a great role to promote language development interact with children,
encouraging, motivating and supporting them (Sulzby 1986). There are a number of activities carried
out in the lower class to promote language and early literacy. 5.6 Recommendation 62 Based on the
findings, the researcher recommends the following; The Ministry of Education, Sports and
Technology together with the National Curriculum Development Center (NCDC) should ensure that
the curriculum for early child education can be organized into activities that will promote the child’s
expressive and receptive language. There is a need for the Ministry of Education still to ensure
provision of adequate reading materials for the early childhood centers. Teachers in lower classes
should be given adequate motivation and training in the area of thematic curriculum instructions so
that they would acquire experience in handling the delicate pupils in the class. Teachers should be
fully models for language development through interactions with children. Teachers should support
the development of vocabulary by reading daily to children, transcribing their language and selecting
materials that expand children’s knowledge and language development. Parents should support
their children’s specific hobby of interest with reading materials and references. 5.6 Area for further
research Further research can be conducted on the same topic and in the same area as a follow up
study of this nature at least five years later to establish the extent of improvement on the present
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language and Education (2), III R 66 APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS Dear Respondent,
I am Ouma Geoffrey a student of Kampala International University pursuing a Master of education
degree in Education Management and Administration. I am carrying out a research on the challenges
facing thematic curriculum implementation in lower classes in Namayingo District Uganda. This
questionnaire was designed to assist the researcher complete the academic research project which
is in partial fulfillment of the award of Master of education degree in Education Management and
Administration. The results of this study will be treated with all confidentiality and only for the
research purpose. Instructions about the questionnaire This research questionnaire is made up of
two sections, section A is about demographic characteristics of the respondents while section b are
questions aimed at determining level of thematic curriculum implementation . You are therefore
kindly requested to tick the options according to your views. SECTION A: PROFILE OF THE
RESPONDENT (THE TEACHER) 1. Age 20 – 29yrs 30 – 39yrs 40 – 49yrs 50yrs and above 2. Sex Male
Female 3. Marital status Single Married Widowed Divorced 4. Educational Level Certificate Diploma
Degree Masters 5. Level of experience 1-5 years 6 – 10 years 11 – 15 years 16 years and above 67
SECTION B: to determine level of thematic curriculum implementation In this section tick the most
appropriate option of your choice 1. You teach learners phonemic sound? Strongly Agree Agree
Disagree Strongly Disagree 2. You provide materials for creative expressions? Strongly Agree Agree
Disagree Strongly Disagree 3. You teach learners the use of varied syntactic structures? Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree 4. Learners are taught how to write short stories? Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree 5. You carry out shared reading with learners? Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree 6. You give learners spelling exercises? Strongly Agree Agree
Disagree Strongly Disagree 8. Learners are taught picture description and writing? Strongly Agree
Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree 9. You engage learners in role play activities? Strongly Agree Agree
Disagree Strongly Disagree 10. Learners are taught familiar sounds? Strongly Agree Agree Disagree
Strongly Disagree SECTION C: To determine the extent to which early literacy activities are promoted
in lower classes 11. You arrange the classroom environment into centers for learning and play
Always ( ) Sometimes ( ) Never ( ) 68 14. You encourage learners to spell words Always ( ) Sometimes
( ) Never ( ) 14. You encourage learners to write full sentences Always ( ) Sometimes ( ) Never ( ) 15.
You give learners reading games Always ( ) Sometimes ( ) Never ( ) 16. You respond and interact with
learners in English Always ( ) Sometimes ( ) Never ( ) 18. You encourage learners to use varied
syntactic structures Always ( ) Sometimes ( ) Never ( ) 19. You engage learners in imaginative writing
Always ( ) Sometimes ( ) Never ( ) 20. You ask learners to narrate and write stories on things around
them Always ( ) Sometimes ( ) Never ( ) 69 APPENDIX B: STRUCTURED INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR HEAD
TEACHERS To determine the challenges facing thematic curriculum implementation in schools as
well as the strategies for enhancement 1. How do you assess the level of thematic curriculum
implementation in your school? 2. What measures do you take to ensure that thematic curriculum is
fully implemented? 3. What are the challenges facing the effective implementation of thematic
curriculum in schools? 4. What strategies can be used to enhance the implementation of thematic
curriculum in lower primary classes? 5. How do you ensure that teachers abide by the curriculum
spelt out for their subjects? 70 APPENDIX C: EXPERIMENTAL TEST QUESTIONS FOR THE PUPILS
(Assessment work on language and Literacy) Name
………………………………………………………Class:………………………………
School:…………………………………………………………………………………………… Age
……………………………………………… SECTION A 1. Circle the correct answer Bag abg gab Tni tin nit Cpu
puc cup Box oxb xob 2. Fill in the missing sounds ba …………… bi…………… bu………………… fa …………..
fo…………….. me………………… 3. Read the words of “oo” sound Book foot room Look took doom Noon
food zoom 4. Read and draw The ball is on the table The bird is flying over the tree The flower is in
the pot 71 SECTION B 5. Write 3 sentences using “This is….”
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………… ……… SECTION C Read the story and
answer the questions: Mary is a good girl. She lives at Kanyanya. She goes to Good Hope Nursery
School. Her teacher’s name is Mr. Kato. She likes English and Mathematics. She loves mummy and
dad Questions 1. What is the name of the pupil in the story?
……………………………………………………………………………….. 2. Where does Mary live?
…………………………………………………………………………………… 3. What is the name of her teacher?
……………………………………………………………………………… 4. To which school does Mary go?
……………………………………………………………………………… 5. What subject does Mary like?
……………………………………………………………………………… 72 APPENDIX D: CHECKLIST FOR THE LEARNERS
1. Form letters in conventional ways 2. Relate sounds to letters 3. Space words correctly; 4. Write
legibly 5. Write short sentences 6. Sequence written ideas logically 7. Enjoy shared reading
experiences 8. Construct meaning from texts 9. Decode new words 10. Use expressive words 11.
Write for a particular audience 73 APPENDIX E: FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION FOR PARENTS 1. Do you
attend Parents Teachers Association meetings? 2. Are you able to provide your children with the
basic learning materials required in school? 3. How do you make sure that your children attend
schools regularly and stay throughout school hours at the school? 4. Do you find out from schools
the progress of your children? 5. How do you assist your children in doing their home works? 6. Do
you take measures to ensure that your children are taught what the need to be taught? 74
APPENDIX F: PUPILS TEST MARKS Marks Frequen cy Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 15.00 1 .8 .8
16.00 1 .8 1.7 19.00 4 3.4 5.0 20.00 2 1.7 6.7 21.00 1 .8 7.6 22.00 7 5.9 13.4 23.00 1 .8 14.3 26.00 3
2.5 16.8 27.00 2 1.7 18.5 28.00 2 1.7 20.2 29.00 3 2.5 22.7 30.00 3 2.5 25.2 31.00 5 4.2 29.4 32.00 3
2.5 31.9 33.00 1 .8 32.8 36.00 5 4.2 37.0 37.00 1 .8 37.8 38.00 2 1.7 39.5 39.00 5 4.2 43.7 40.00 4 3.4
47.1 41.00 2 1.7 48.7 42.00 1 .8 49.6 44.00 1 .8 50.4 46.00 5 4.2 54.6 47.00 1 .8 55.5 48.00 1 .8 56.3
75 49.00 3 2.5 58.8 50.00 3 2.5 61.3 51.00 2 1.7 63.0 52.00 4 3.4 66.4 53.00 1 .8 67.2 55.00 1 .8 68.1
56.00 2 1.7 69.7 58.00 3 2.5 72.3 59.00 3 2.5 74.8 60.00 3 2.5 77.3 61.00 1 .8 78.2 62.00 8 6.7 84.9
63.00 4 3.4 88.2 65.00 4 3.4 91.6 66.00 2 1.7 93.3 67.00 1 .8 94.1 69.00 1 .8 95.0 70.00 2 1.7 96.6
71.00 3 2.5 99.2 75.00 1 .8 100.0 Total 119 100.0