SE-Education Management, Policy, Planning and Financing

Towards Effective Management in Education: The Case of School Quality Assurance and Standards Officer (QASO) In Kenya

2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

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

Moving From Pillage of Resources in Secondary Schools by Principals to Transformative Leadership by Choice Kibwezi Sub County in Makueni County Kenya

2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

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

Parenting Styles as Predictors of Selected Behaviours among Public Secondary School Students in Embu County, Kenya.

2018-01-01T00:00:00Z

Parenting Styles as Predictors of Selected Behaviours among Public Secondary School Students in Embu County, Kenya. Njogu, Njagi Simon Secondary school students face challenges of safely wading through their adolescence in a world where the culture of drug use and sexual immorality is fast becoming the norm other than exception. As adolescents transit this turbulent stage they increasingly engage in risky behaviours despite the efforts made by schools, government and the society at large to address the challenges. The role parents in helping their children face the adolescent challenges cannot be underestimated, however, the extent to which parenting styles determine secondary school students‟ behaviours is not well understood. This study examined parenting styles, as predictors of selected behaviours among public secondary school students in Embu County, Kenya. Five objectives guided the study: to investigate the extent to which parenting styles predict secondary school students’ risky sexual behaviours, to find out the extent to which parenting styles predict secondary school students’ drug use, to establish the extent to which parenting styles predict secondary school students' violent behaviours, to investigate extent to which parenting styles predict secondary school students suicidal behaviours and to establish extent to which parenting styles predict dropping out of school by students in secondary school. The study was anchored on Bronfernbrenners’ bioecological theory and parenting styles theory by Maccoby and Martins. Cross sectional survey research design was adopted for the study. Data on parenting style and students’ risky behaviours, were collected by use of questionnaires, focus group discussion guide was used to collect indepth views of students while interview guide was used to collect views of guidance and counseling teachers on students’ behaviours. The study targeted population of 8820. Purposive sampling was used to select a sample of 15 schools. A sample of 399 students was selected using systematic random sampling. The study also used a sample of 15 Guidance and counseling teachers and 70 secondary school dropouts, purposively selected. Reliability for the parenting styles questionnaires and students’ behaviour were calculated, an average cronbach alpha (α) of α = 0.82 for parenting styles questionnaires was reported and α = 0.78 for risky behaviour. Data was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics such as: frequency tables, means percentages and inferential statistics. All the study hypotheses were tested by use of multiple linear regressions. The major findings of the study based on the study objectives showed that parenting styles significantly predict secondary school students‟ behaviours studied, specifically parenting styles predicting students risky sexual behaviours (R 2 =0. 483, P< 0.05), parenting styles predicting drug use (R2 = 0.644, P< 0.05), Parenting styles predicting students’ violence (R2 =0.627, P< 0.05 ), parenting styles predicting suicidal behaviour (R2 = 0.721, P< 0.05) and parenting styles predicting students school dropout (R2 =0.862, P< 0.05). The study also established that authoritative parenting style is the most protective of students against behaviours of students which are undesirable. The study recommends that, students’ behaviours be addressed through combined efforts of the government; school BOM, PTA. Each agent should be involved in intervention measures which target educating and empowering parents on good parenting. A PhD Thesis submitted to Maasai Mara University

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

2018-01-01T00:00:00Z

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