Instructional Resource Utilisation in the Implementation of Integrated Science: A Focus on Public Junior Schools in Western Region, Kenya

Resources held by a school are of no value to a curriculum unless teachers actually use them, so the utilisation of instructional resources is a distinct condition of implementation from their availability. This paper examines the utilisation of instructional resources in the implementation of the Integrated Science curriculum in public junior schools in the Western Region, Kenya, where Integrated Science is taught across Grades 7, 8 and 9 and Grade 9 is the terminal grade of the cycle. Anchored on the social constructivist theory of Lev Vygotsky, the study adopted a descriptive survey design within a mixed methods approach. From a universe of 113,237, a sample of 1,087 respondents was drawn using stratified, simple random, systematic and purposive techniques, and 844 (77.6%) responded. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and the Chi-square goodness-of-fit test at the 0.05 level of significance. Utilisation returned a mean of 1.69 (SD = 0.78), only just inside the moderate band and barely above availability. Six of the seven resources departed significantly from an even spread of responses, and the pattern was one of non-use of the resources central to inquiry, since charts and models (χ² = 308.450) and internet for research (χ² = 254.306) were reported never used by 189 (90.4%) and 178 (85.2%) of teachers, while textbooks and the teachers’ guide were the most used. The single exception was laboratory equipment (χ² = 1.560, p = .458), where use was split almost evenly. The null hypothesis was rejected, and the utilisation of instructional resources was found to have a statistically significant influence on implementation. The qualitative evidence attributed the pattern to a heavy reliance on textbooks and dictated notes and to the non-use of practical and digital resources, driven by both scarcity and teachers’ limited confidence. The paper concludes that utilisation tracked availability closely, so that the curriculum was delivered through the textbook while its practical and digital resources went unused, and recommends that the supply of resources be paired with the training and support that build the confidence to use them.