Shape Up or Shape Out: The Case of Lecturers Unfit for the Modern Classroom

Abstract

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number four is quality education for all and the Commonwealth Education Report (2019) underscores the central position of this goal in powering the achievement of the entire 2030 agenda. Top among the issues attendant to quality education is quality teachers who are able to function and deliver in line with the principles of the heutagogical approach where learners are considered autonomous and learning is seen as self-determined. However, the majority of instructors serving in Kenyan classrooms at all levels today are products of old, teacher-centred approaches of content delivery and have faithfully carried on the practice to their charges. This situation is aggravated by inadequate or non-existent facilities in the way of technologies that would open up education by means of open delivery not confined to the traditional classroom. All these facts work against the envisaged quality education for all and fail to inspire the global goal of education as a continuous lifelong learning process since the learner is reduced to a consumer of knowledge that has been created elsewhere. These issues are relevant in Kenya, a country that is yet to adopt in serious practice the concept of the Open University. This paper aims to assess the preparedness of Kenyan university lecturers as instructors in an educational platform that is rapidly becoming open, global and technology-based. It also seeks to assess their present abilities or lack there-off to embrace technology to promote their effectiveness as instructors. The study also assesses the lecturers’ attitudes towards the paradigm shift and what it means for them as contributors to the achievement of SDG 4. The study will be conducted on a random sample of lecturers from Kenyan universities. The findings of the study will identify gaps and inform policy formulation regarding in-service staff training and development.