Effectiveness of Principals’ Instructional Supervision in Enhancing Teacher Professional Development in Public Secondary Schools in Nairobi And Kajiado Counties, Kenya

Abstract

Schools are the suitable and central places where formal education can be accessed and sustained. In order to achieve high standards of education in a country, the utmost aim of schools therefore, should be to improve the quality of teaching and learning. This can only be achieved through an effective supervision in schools’ instructional program, which should improve students' performance and also enhance teachers’ professional development. This study was aimed at establishing the performance of principals in their instructional supervisory role with regard to enhancing teacher professional development. The objectives of the study were to establish the effectiveness of principals’ instructional supervision as perceived by the principals themselves, heads of departments and teachers in public secondary schools; identify challenges faced by principals in undertaking instructional supervisory role in public secondary schools; establish how instructional supervision has enhanced teacher professional development in public secondary schools; examine the strategies used by principals to enhance instructional supervision in public secondary schools. This study adopted Developmental Supervision Theory by Glickman et al. Descriptive survey design which embraces both quantitative and qualitative approaches, was used. The study was carried out in public secondary schools in Nairobi and Kajiado counties in Kenya. The sample size was as follows: 38 principals, 151 heads of departments and 289 teachers. This gave a sample size of 478 respondents. Stratified random sampling was used in selecting schools according to the following strata: boys’ public secondary schools, girls’ public secondary schools and mixed public secondary schools. Simple random sampling was used to select heads of departments and teachers for the study. The instruments used to collect data were: Questionnaire for principals, heads of departments and teachers. There was also an Interview guide for principals. Content validity was determined by seeking expert judgment from specialists in the department of educational management, policy and curriculum studies; while the reliability of the instruments was ascertained by using Cronbach’s alpha technique. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically, while Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented in frequencies and percentages. Null hypotheses were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis H test statistics. The key finding of this study was that majority of principals’ performed diligently but did not use appropriate skills or lacked knowledge on how to conduct effective instructional supervision. The finding also established that lack of funds hindered the extent to which principals performed in enhancing teachers’ professional development. Based on the findings, the study recommends the need for TSC to introduce a policy on instructional supervision so that the principals who are selected to head schools can gain skills and knowledge to enable them effectively perform their tasks and responsibilities related to instructional supervision. Secondly, adequate funds should be allocated for in-service courses, seminars and workshops in order to improve teachers’ professional development.