Principals' Individualised Consideration and Teacher Job Performance in Public Integrated Secondary Schools in Rabai Sub-County, Kilifi County, Kenya

Individualised consideration is the transformational leadership practice through which a principal attends to teachers as individuals, using mentoring, professional guidance, constructive feedback and attention to personal circumstances. It is also the practice most easily displaced by administrative pressure. This article reports one objective from a larger study of principals' transformational leadership in Rabai Sub-County, Kilifi County: the relationship between principals' individualised consideration and teacher job performance in public integrated secondary schools. Bass and Avolio's transformational leadership theory framed the work. A descriptive cross-sectional survey design guided data collection, and stratified random sampling drew 15 of the 20 public secondary schools in the sub-county. Seventy teachers and fifteen principals took part, giving a response rate of 94.4%. Teachers rated their principals on five individualised consideration items adapted from the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and rated their own performance across task performance, punctuality and attendance, professional development, and student engagement and collegiality. Principals responded to semi-structured interviews analysed thematically. Analysis was correlational, and the coefficients reported are unadjusted for teacher or school characteristics. Teachers placed individualised consideration in the moderate band (M = 3.75, SD = 0.43). All four correlations with job performance dimensions were positive and statistically significant. The association with professional development was the strongest recorded anywhere in the study (r = .637, t = 6.813, p < .001), ahead of intellectual stimulation (r = .551), idealised influence (r = .503) and inspirational motivation (r = .470) on the same dimension. The association with student engagement was weakest (r = .269, p = .025). Interviews showed uneven application of the practice: nine of the fifteen principals described learning about individual teachers' backgrounds, the behaviour teachers rated lowest (M = 3.41). The study recommends structured one-to-one feedback, delegated departmental mentoring and leadership training focused on individualised support

individualised consideration, transformational leadership, teacher job performance, professional development, mentoring, Kilifi County

1. Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. Free Press. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J. (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness through transformational leadership. SAGE Publications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Cherogony, E. J. (2021). Effects of principals' transformational leadership characteristics on students' academic performance in secondary schools in Nairobi County, Kenya [Doctoral dissertation, University of Nairobi]. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Firmansyah, F., Prasojo, L. D., Jaedun, A., & Retnawati, H. (2022). Transformational leadership effect on teacher performance in Asia: A meta-analysis. Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences, 17(6), 2127-2146. https://doi.org/10.18844/cjes.v17i6.7552 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Kariuki, J. (2019). Principals' transformational leadership and teachers' performance among public county secondary schools in Nyandarua County, Kenya [Unpublished master's thesis]. Catholic University of Eastern Africa. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development. (2017). Basic education curriculum framework. KICD. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Kihanga, N. W. K., Gichohi, P. M., & Kathuri, N. (2021). Principals' transformational leadership practices and quality of education in secondary schools in Kiambu County. International Journal of Professional Practice, 9(3), 42-55. https://doi.org/10.71274/ijpp.v9i3.111 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Kilonzo, J. M., Kasivu, G. M., & Mulwa, D. M. (2020). Principals' transformative leadership practice of setting institutional direction as a determinant of students' academic performance in public secondary schools in Machakos County, Kenya. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 4(7), 204-209. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Kivunja, C. (2018). Distinguishing between theory, theoretical framework, and conceptual framework: A systematic review of lessons from the field. International Journal of Higher Education, 7(6), 44-53. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v7n6p44 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Latif, N. F., Afzal, A., & Javed, K. (2023). Impact of transformational leadership on teacher job satisfaction and retention. Journal of Policy Research, 9(1), 270-278. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7938987 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Luyten, H., & Bazo, M. (2019). Transformational leadership, professional learning communities, teacher learning and learner-centred teaching practices: Evidence from Mozambican primary education. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 60, 14-31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2018.11.002 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. McCombes, S. (2023, February 6). Descriptive research design: Definition, methods and examples. Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/descriptive-research/ [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Metaferia, T., Baraki, Z., & Mebratu, B. (2023). Link between transformational leadership and teachers' organizational commitment in Addis Ababa government secondary schools. Cogent Education, 10(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2187563 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. Miano, J. K., Mberia, H. K., & Mberia, M. K. (2023). Principals' transformative leadership on the performance in science subjects in girls' public secondary schools in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya. East African Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 4(3), 115-123. https://doi.org/10.46606/eajess2023v04i03.0311 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. Mugenda, O. M., & Mugenda, A. G. (2003). Research methods: Quantitative and qualitative approaches. African Centre for Technology Studies. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. Muia, P. (2018). Influence of principals' transformational leadership practices on academic performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in Mbooni West Sub-County, Kenya [Doctoral dissertation, University of Nairobi]. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Muriuki, J., Nzinga, C., & Chiroma, N. (2022). The influence of teacher transformational leadership on students' academic performance in Kirinyaga County secondary schools. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 27(3), 24-33. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-2703012433 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Musyoki, J. M., Kalai, J., Okoth, U. O. A., & Okumbe, J. A. (2021). Influence of principals' inspirational motivation on students' performance at Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in public secondary schools, Kenya. Journal of Pedagogy, Andragogy and Heutagogy in Academic Practice, 2(1), 109-132. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). SAGE Publications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. Ravitch, S. M., & Carl, N. M. (2021). Qualitative research: Bridging the conceptual, theoretical, and methodological (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

21. Sengendo, D., & Eduan, W. (2024). Headteachers' transformational leadership and its influence on academic performance: A case of public secondary schools in Uganda. East African Journal of Education Studies, 7(1), 61-76. https://doi.org/10.37284/eajes.7.1.1705 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

22. Tafesh, H. Y., & Alsoud, R. S. (2022). The relationship between transformational leadership among governmental secondary school principals and achievement motivation among teachers in Jordan. Jordanian Educational Journal, 7(3), 301-325. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

23. Teachers Service Commission. (2019). Teacher performance appraisal and development (TPAD) guidelines. TSC. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

24. Thomas, L., Tuytens, M., Devos, G., Kelchtermans, G., & Vanderlinde, R. (2020). Transformational school leadership as a key factor for teachers' job attitudes during their first year in the profession. Educational Management Administration and Leadership, 48(1), 106-132. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143218781064 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

25. Wang, L., Zhang, X., & Liu, Y. (2024). The impact of transformational leadership on teacher innovation behavior: The mediating role of perceived meaningfulness of work. Frontiers in Education, 9, Article 1378615. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1378615 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

26. Yu, X., & Jang, G. (2024). A framework for transformational leadership to enhance teachers' work performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, Article 1331597. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1331597 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]