Principals’ Literacy in Information and Communication Technology (Ict): Towards Improving Secondary School Performance in Kenya

Abstract

This thesis is a study of the extent of ICT literacy among secondary school principals in the Western province of Kenya. A contemporary issue in the improvement of quality in school leadership relates to use of ICT; the assumption is that improving leadership is the key to good school performance. The research was triggered by the need for quality among secondary school principals and their preparedness to cope with technology change. A mixed mode methods research was conducted involving both quantitative and qualitative approaches. In this research 188 secondary school principals in the Western province were used for data analysis. An empirical investigation was conducted. School principals responded to questionnaire 1 which investigated ICT literacy. Deputy principals responded to questionnaire 2 which investigated school performance. Open-ended questions, semi-structured interviews and observation schedules were used to obtain qualitative data. From both the literature review and empirical research findings, it was clear that: i) factors that influenced ICT literacy level among principals were gender, age, education level, level of ICT training and proximity from a town. ii) School performance correlated positively with a principal’s ICT access, ICT knowledge and ICT application in school leadership functions. iii) About 42% of principals had access to ICT, 32% of principals were ICT knowledgeable and about 27% of principals applied ICT in school leadership functions. iv) Challenges facing ICT correlated negatively with school performance and they varied among principals in different schools. It was concluded that the ICT literacy of a principal correlates positively with school performance and plays a significant role in influencing school performance. Recommendations made were: i) Concerned stakeholders the Ministry of Education, Kenya Education Staff Institute, Teachers Service Commission, universities and teacher training colleges, ICT service providers and financing bodies should emphasise ICT literacy development among school principals. This can be through decentralising ICT training by organising for ICT training centres at zonal educational offices and providing mobile ICT training services in schools. ii) Concerned parties should standardise the quality of ICT training courses for educators by providing standard Management Information Systems to schools and controlling the relevance of ICT literacy content offered to principals. iii) MoE should encourage ICT application in school management by communicating to principals using digital media only in order to compel them to learn ICT skills.