https://kerd.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/110 2026-07-31T23:31:24Z https://kerd.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/1691 Towards Effective Management in Education: The Case of School Quality Assurance and Standards Officer (QASO) In Kenya Kimemia, John N. The management of Education like the other sectors of national development is crucial particularly in this era of inadequate resources and competing dynamics in politics, social and economic arena. There are specifically designed levels and institutions charged with the responsibilities and duties of managing education. Among these institutions is the Inspectorate and the officers (QASO) working in it as professionals and educational managers. At national level, the school QASO are viewed as watchdogs, semi-administrators and professionals to advise and manage schools comprising the teachers, parents, students and the wider community (nation) served by these institutions. This paper attempts to define effective management in education and focuses on the role of school QASO in the management scene. The conceptualization of the pre-requisites in terms of skills and competencies expected from the QASO are highlighted. Consequently, the prevailing mismatches between their advisory and assessment roles are explained. As one scholar rightly questions: Are school QASO Friends or Foes? (Godia: 1984). This question is not resolved because school QASO are involved in managing education within multi-faceted professional conflicts identified in the paper. The recommendation from this study is that these professional conflicts should not be ignored but should be effectively managed. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Education Quality Education for Societal Transformation 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z https://kerd.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/1622 Moving From Pillage of Resources in Secondary Schools by Principals to Transformative Leadership by Choice Kibwezi Sub County in Makueni County Kenya Mwangangi, Leonard; Ayot, Henry; Kiio, Mueni In Kenya, every year there have been complains and cries about how secondary education is managed at various levels, such as from a selection of form ones, charging of secondary fees, a financial management and the general management of secondary schools resources for effective teaching and learning. School assessment reports in different schools every time they are conducted raise pertinent issues of poor managerial skills, exclusive leadership by school heads, open defiance of ministry’s policies, guidelines and expectations. This has resulted in running down of some secondary schools. This paper intends to examine causes of looting secondary schools, methods of looting and propose remedies to this looting of public secondary schools. The designs of this study will be survey involving 10% of the 68 public secondary schools in Kibwezi Sub-County, Makueni County, sampling method to be employed will be purposive in that schools, that have been assessed in the last two will be purposely sampled and schools that have recorded good academic performance and steady school development. This study expects that the findings will enable the management of secondary schools to move from looting of schools resources by school heads to transformative leadership by choice that will result in effective teaching and learning. The study will examine data. Quality assurance and audit reports, BOM reports/ minutes, observation schedule of sampled school, as well as questionnaire for teachers in sampled schools. The overall significance of this study will be improved quality of education in Kibwezi sub County and in Kenya.. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Education. Nairobi, Kenya: Kenyatta University, July 14-16, 2015 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://kerd.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/1553 Influence of Principals’ Leadership Styles on Public Secondary School Students Academic Performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education.A Case of Narok South Sub -County,Kenya Chebii, Kosgei Ann Leadership is an important aspect innation-building. In schools, the principal’s leadership style often has massive influence on the student’s performance in examinations. The main aim of the study was to examine the influence of selected leadership styles of principals on student’s academic performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in public secondary schools in Narok South Sub- County in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were; to establish the influence of democratic leadership style, autocratic leadership style and Laissez- Faire leadership styles on KCSE performance among public secondary schools in Narok South Sub County. The study adopted descriptiveresearch design. The design was suitable because the independent variable which was principals’ leadership styles and the dependent variable which was KCSE examinations were already in place. The study targeted the 13 public secondary schools in Narok South Sub- County, who had presented candidates for KCSE examination for the last 5 years. The schools have a total population of 193 teachers and 13 principals. This study used both purposive and simple random sampling methods to select the sample. All the 13 principals were considered for the study while 130 teachers were considered. Two sets of instruments were used; questionnaires for the teachers and an interview guide for the principals. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of this study revealed that most of the principals either used Autocratic, Democratic and Laissez-faire leadership styles. It was also established that all the leadership styles showed a positive influence with performance in the school but most principals used the democratic leadership style that involves the teachers and other stake holders at all levels. This was followed by autocratic leadership which had a positive correlation with performance but its influence was insignificant. The study also found that though Laissez- faire leadership style had a positive influence with performance but it did not have a significant influence on academic performance of the learners in public secondary schools. The multiple regression model revealed that a combination of the three selected leadership styles has a significant and positive influence with academic performance of learners. It was further noted that democratic leadership had the highest influence on the performance of the learner’s in national examinations. The study concluded that democratic leadership was the most appropriate among the principals in the Sub-County because it showed both a positive and very significant influence with student’s academic performance. This implies that democratic leadership style influences the academic performance of learners in KCSE. The study also concluded that autocratic leadership and Laissez-faire leadership styles are known among the principals. However, they were not commonly used in school administration because they did significantly influence the academic performance of the students. The study recommends that Principals should adopt the democratic leadership styles because it has a very significant influence on students KCSE performance. The study also recommended that principals who may want to use either autocratic leadership or Laissez-faire leadership style should combine with another leadership style for better results. This is because the multiple regression models revealed a very significant and positive influence between academic performance and a combined leadership style. Based on the study findings it is expected that the results shall be able to address the gaps in the literature between the various leadership styles and the performance of the learners in the final examinations. The study recommends that a further study be conducted to find out how principals can effectively integrate the various leadership styles to get the best out of them. A PhD Thesis submitted to Maasai Mara University 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z https://kerd.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/1510 Headteachers’ Self Perception of Their Role in the Management of School Based Change in Western Kenya Mabonga, Joel L. O. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions held by headteachers of their role in the management of school-based change. Specifically the study sought to establish headteachers perception of their role in the management of school-based change, the nature of school-based changes initiated by the headteachers, the kind of resistance faced while implementing school-based change and the strategies undertaken to minimize resistance to change. Guided by available literature on headteachers’ management tasks, seven core management task areas were identified. The seven are: general school administration, management of school physical resources, school community relations, staff personnel, finance and income generating activities, student personnel services and finally curriculum and instruction. The study gravitated around these seven management task areas in examining headteachers’ perceptions on change management. The research was anchored on a conceptual framework that views the process of educational change as a replica of interactions in a social system. Using the Ex Post Facto Research design and a School-based Change Management Questionnaire (SBCMQ) data were collected from sixty four headteachers of public secondary schools in Western Province of Kenya. Respondents were chosen by multi stage sampling incorporating stratification and purposive sampling. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and content analysis. Data analysis revealed that headteachers perceived themselves positively on the accounts of teambuilding, personal motivation and initiative, leadership management and effective communication in the initiation and implementation of schoolbased educational change. The study found that specific school-based changes introduced by headteachers varied from one school to another and from one management task area to another. It was also established that the main sources of resistance to the school-based changes initiated by headteachers emanated from the communities surrounding the schools, the school staff and students. The key task areas that elicited the most serious forms of resistance to changes were, Management of finances, general administration, staff personnel and student services. The study further established that a large proportion of headteachers were unable to diagnose resistance to change. On the basis of the findings the researcher recommends firstly, for a paradigm shift in the management of secondary schools from a centralized command within the Ministry of Education headquarters to mainstreaming of a guided school-based management as a basis of policy making and execution. Secondly, the study calls for institutions charged with the responsibility of pre-service training and in-servicing of headteachers to consider the inclusion of management of change as a core subject in teacher training/in-service programmes, in view of the finding this should be a priority concern. Thirdly, the study recommends for a similar research on the perceptions of other stakeholders on the role played by secondary school headteachers in management of change within their schools. This could be carried out for a comparative analysis of what headteachers contend to be doing and what they are seen to be doing. Fourthly, a replica study on headteachers of private secondary schools could also be carried out to profile their management roles. A Research Thesis Submitted In Fulfillment Of Requirements for the Award of Doctor of Philosophy Degree in the School of Education of Kenyatta University, November 2009 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z