Influence of Administrative Factors on Principals’ Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya: A case of Kilifi North Sub-county.

Influence of Administrative Factors on Principals’ Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya: A case of Kilifi North Sub-county.

Elizabeth Masharubu and Dr. Beth Mwelu Mutilu

Mount Kenya University, Kenya

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.805097

Received: 25 April 2024; Revised: 09 May 2024; Accepted: 13 May 2024; Published: 12 June 2024

ABSTRACT

Studies show that the performance of schools relies much on the administration. The study purposed to investigate the administrative factors that influence the principal’s performance in public secondary schools in Kenya, Kilifi North sub-county. This was done by examining the influence of delegation of duties to school personnel and the influence of contributions of the Board of Management and Parents-Teachers Association. The research focused on Henri Fayol’s suggestions on administrative management concepts. A descriptive survey design was used. The target population comprised 10 principals, 50 heads of departments, and 40 board of management members, totaling 100 from which a sample of 80 was selected based on a sampling chart by Krejcie and Morgan (1990). Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data from respondents. Pilot testing was done to determine the validity of the instruments, and the test-retest approach was employed to determine the instrument’s reliability. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data was analyzed thematically with the help of Statistical Package for social science (SPSS 23) findings were presented through frequency tables, bar graphs, pie charts, and percentages. Qualitative data from interview schedules was transcribed organized into themes and presented in prose according to the objectives. The study established that principals were ineffective in Kilifi North Sub-county due to insufficient and incompetent personnel to delegate duties to ineffective Board of management, minimal support from the community and inadequate infrastructure. Based on the findings the study concluded that principal’s effectiveness relies heavily on delegation of duties, effective BOM/PTA, community support and effective management of infrastructure. Therefore, the study recommended that there was need for TSC to employ more teachers in schools and ministry to release more funds for payment of workers. BOM/PTA should be on front line to source for funds to run the school.

Key Words: Monitoring and Evaluation, Stakeholder, Competence-based curriculum, Competence-based education

INTRODUCTION

In a school, the principal serves as an administrative and professional leader holding the controller fully accountable for their successful operation: The secondary school principal’s administrative issues are to oversee the actions of the school’s staff, instructors, and students toward the academic goals of the institution. The duties of the school principal can be divided into two categories: supervising curricula and extracurricular activities; allocating subjects or duty schedules; organizing the school; managing interpersonal relationships in the context of school discipline; evaluating the performance of teachers; enlisting the support of the community; and assisting in the resolution of staff and student personal issues (Asiabaka, 2008).

To guarantee improved school administration, a competent principal should lead the way in quality assurance at their institution. To provide instructional leadership, the well-established position of school headship is in charge of administering curricula and extracurricular activities in addition to supervising the general administration of the school. As leaders in education, principals possess unique abilities to oversee, keep an eye on, appraise, and share with teachers the most recent knowledge on educational matters and cutting-edge pedagogies, encouraging them to engage in scholarship and adopt optimal methods for delivering curricula (De Grauwe, 2013).

Successful school principals set definite objectives for students’ academic progress. They focus their operations and available resources on achieving the objectives; they offer a schedule for instruction, regularly verify lesson plans, and monitor classroom activities. They keep an eye on the development of their students to see if their learning objectives are being fulfilled. Furthermore, they offer feedback on student performance, encourage teachers to perform better, reward students for outstanding work, maintain and use physical facilities appropriately, enforce discipline to maintain a calm environment, and develop teachers’ capacity to deliver high-quality teaching-learning processes (Wright and Dolores, 2009).

According to Bowlby’s (2006) study conducted in Berkley, California, principals are expected to be instructional leaders. According to research, principals can have a favorable effect on teachers’ attitudes, practices, and student achievement by visiting classrooms. It also suggests that principals don’t devote much time to this kind of instructional leadership. In response to this problem, the Skyline Unified School District (SUSD) superintendent required all principals to visit classrooms for a minimum of five hours every week. According to research on instructional leadership, going on classroom visits with students can be a significant leadership activity that raises their accomplishment levels (Ejieh Olajide, Igbasan, Babarinde, and Ojuade (2011). The administration of secondary schools is an ongoing, dynamic process of integrating and coordinating resources. Given that it involves everyday processes, it is ongoing. It is dynamic since it incorporates various parties and methods, according to Eccles and Harrold (2011).

According to Wekesa (2013), administration includes organizing, staffing, motivating, communicating, leading, and managing an organization’s resources. As a result, school administration works to integrate and coordinate resources to achieve the goal of education. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the secondary school was the principal (Ejieh Olajide, Igbasan, Babarinde, & Ojuade (2011), this suggests that the principle of the school served as the primary administrator at the secondary school level. According to Perrone (2008), the principal of the school is the main figurehead in secondary school administration. This suggests that the principal of the school is responsible for and constantly monitor what happens there. Furthermore, according to certain academics (Cheruiyot, (2013) & Onyango, 2011), school administration is a form of management or leadership. Bowlby (2006) asserts that administration is a combination of management and leadership. As a result, it was necessary to consider the secondary school principal from the perspective of administration rather than merely management or leadership. This is so because the principal of the school performs both roles. This will shed light on how the principal of the school affects student learning outcomes in her capacity as an administrator.

A study by Kharmes (2012) in Colombia revealed that most principals experience management ineffectiveness as a result of inadequate accessibility to educational facilities, poor working environment and inadequate and poorly prepared teaching staff. To what extent do principals in Kenyan public secondary schools experience management difficulties as a result of inadequate staff

Rowland (2017) conducted a study in the United States of America on principals’ professional development and its influence on school management. The study found that school principals play a powerful pivotal role in change particularly when supported and given appropriate training. The survey also showed that, to improve principals’ professional growth, new approaches to budgeting, prioritizing, and thinking would probably be needed on both a national and local level. The study seems to support the argument that principals’ training in managerial skills improves their effectiveness. The extent to which the Kenyan secondary education system supports principals’ professional development is yet to be established.

A hypothesis proposed by Henri Fayol (1841-1925) will be investigated. Fayol is considered a classical management theorist and the pioneer of modern operational management theory. The claims of Fayol demonstrate well-explained principles of modern management. Most of today’s managers in various organizations have learned a variety of useful management skills. Fayol’s article “General and Industrial Management” focuses on general management and how it can be beneficial to a variety of industries. Fayol split management into five parts in his explanations on administrative management: preparation, arranging, authorization, scheduling, and managing. These five parts are still used in running an organization today.

To be more effective in carrying out their administrative duties, Fayol discovered valuable teaching principles and management elements that all principals should obey. When carrying out administrative responsibilities, management aspects such as organizing, planning, commanding, scheduling, and regulating must be considered. The above elements are used by school principals in their daily administrative duties. Fayols’ theory focuses on increasing organizational cohesion, yield, performance, and administration. Fayol’s management roles are used in all companies to ensure that they operate well in all industries. These components must be internalized by the principal for them to be included in the successful implementation of administrative duties.

Statement of the Problem

The government of Kenya is making huge steps to provide free basic education to Kenyan children both in primary and secondary schools. Access to basic and universal education is a right enshrined in the Kenyans Bill of Rights. The government has done several things including but not limited to the provision of learning materials and human resources (Republic of Kenya, 2000). Parents also make huge efforts and sacrifice resources to facilitate their children to attend school, learn and gain knowledge, skills, and values.

The Success of the academic process is measured through good results in national examinations. The good results are largely determined by strategies laid down by the principal, who plays a midfield role. They must offer appropriate management techniques to the school and the larger community. Strong management strategies were among those factors within a school that makes a difference in student academic success, according to a study on the principal’s management tactics in terms of school effectiveness (Poirier, 2009). The roles of principals are complex, ranging from accountability, building relations, motivation, supervision, managing crises in schools, creating culture and overseeing issues of discipline.  However, the most basic role is to influence the academic achievement of learners.

Despite the above key roles, Mawinga (2010) asserts that most principals handling secondary schools are ill-prepared to execute these responsibilities leading to poor performance in secondary schools. Reports available from the office of the Kilifi County Director of Education 2021 (reveal that while some public schools in Kilifi County achieved satisfactory results, schools within the Kilifi North sub-county performed way below average as shown below.

Without more examination, it is difficult to determine the causes of this disappointing result. This type of behavior in Kilifi North Sub-County makes students less likely to enroll in colleges and universities, endangering their chances of finding employment and advancing national development. Despite many years of efforts to improve students’ academic achievements in Kilifi North Sub County, it is not clear what administrative factors influence the principal’s performance on improving student’s academic achievements in public schools. It is therefore important to establish the link between the principal’s performance and the students’ achievements in KCSE in Kilifi North Sub County. Therefore, this research aimed at assessing the influence of administrative factors on principal’s performance in public secondary school in Kilifi North Sub County, Kilifi County, Kenya.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objectives of the study were;

1. To examine the influence of delegation of duties to school personnel on the principal’s performance in public secondary schools. 2. To examine the influence of contributions of the Board of Management and Parents -Teachers Association on the principal’s performance in public secondary schools

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. How does delegation of duties to school personnel influence the principal’s performance in Kilifi North Sub- County? 2. In what ways do the roles played by BOM and PTA influence the principal’s performance in Kilifi North Sub- County?

METHODOLOGY

A descriptive survey design was used. The target population comprised 10 principals, 50 heads of departments, and 40 board of management members, totalling 100 from which a sample of 80 was selected based on sampling chart by Krejcie and Morgan (1990). Closed ended Questionnaires and interview guides were used to collect data from respondents. Pilot testing was done to determine the validity of the instrument, and the test-retest approach was employed to determine the instrument’s reliability. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics presented in form percentages (%) and frequencies (f). Qualitative data obtained from interview schedules was transcribed organized into themes and presented in prose according to the research objectives of this study. The SPSS version 25 was used to carry out this.

Influence of Delegation of Duties to School Personnel on Principal’s Performance Public Secondary Schools

The researcher set out to determine the various views on the Influences of influence of the delegation of duties to school personnel on the principal’s performance from the 90 respondents who returned the questionnaires.

Table 1: Influence of Delegation of Duties to School Personnel on Principal’s Performance

Source: (Author, 2023)

Table 1 reveals that a fair majority of respondents 35(38%) strongly agreed that the financial situation makes it difficult to hire enough teachers and schools not have enough qualified teachers. 25(28%) of the respondents agreed while 5(5.5) were undecided. However, a paltry 7(7.7%) and 8(8.8%) disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively. Concerning there enough support staff at the school, 34(37.7%) of the respondents strongly agreed while 26(28.8%) agreed. 4(4.4%) were undecided while 8(8.8%) disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively.

On the school having enough employees to complete the tasks at hand, the study recorded a fair majority of the respondents 40(44.4%) strongly agreeing followed by 25(27.7%) agreeing. 5(5.5%) were undecided while 7(7.7%) disagreed. Only 13(14.4%) of the respondents strongly disagreed. On the school not having enough money to keep the BOM teachers working, the study tabled 55% and 22% response rates whereas 5.5% and 16.6% response rates disagreed. In the sub-county public secondary schools, a lack of qualified teachers is a major issue the researcher administered 35.5% and 28% response rates agreeing with 4.4% response rate not sure whereas 11.1% and 17.7% response rate disagreed. These findings were also reflected in the interview section where one of the participants reacted on the influence of delegation of duties as follows;

“Our desire as a school is to ensure every teacher and employees have few clearly established roles for effective performance. We want them to have few roles that they can do better rather than allocating them many roles they can’t perform effectively due to fatigue or ineffectiveness. However, we have not been able due to the few number of employees and teachers we have in the school. For example, we have teachers holding multiple roles such as H.O.S, H.O.Ds, Co-curriculum masters, House masters, etc.  This has undermined the performance of our school academically and hence my effectiveness as the school head” (Participant G.S).

Another participant responded as “I have been trying to delegate duties to the few available teachers and essential staff from time to time to help our employees use their time and skills to grow while building trust and confidence. As a school, we marshal and mobilize our available resources, share responsibilities, and focus on the academic improvement of our school. Sometimes running the school is easy, because even in my absentia, the HODs can run the school and monitor curriculum implementation” (Participant Z.Q).  The findings positively relate to that of Undiyaundiyeye and Julius (2020) who in their study focused on the Delegatory Functions of Public Secondary Institution Principals in the Ogoja educational zone of Cross River State. The findings of the study revealed that to a high extent do principals delegate supervisory functions to teachers in public secondary schools in the Ogoja educational zone, to high extent principal’s delegate disciplinary functions to teachers in public secondary schools in the Ogoja educational zone.

Influence of Contributions of the BOM & PTA on the Principal’s Performance in Public Secondary Schools

With the influence of contributions of the Board of Management and Parents-Teachers Association on the principal’s performance in a public secondary school, the researcher indulged the respondents to establish their respective thoughts and tabled the following findings

Table 2: Influence of Contributions of the BOM & PTA on the Principal’s Performance

Source: (Author, 2023)

From the table above a majority of the respondents 53(58.8%) strongly agreed that BOM/PTA contributions influence principal’s performance in public schools in Kilifi North Sub county. 30(33.3%) of the respondents agreed while 2.2% were undecided. On the other hand, a partly (2.2 and 3.3. %) of the respondents disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively. These findings correspond to the responses given by some of the participants in the interview section, where one of the participants said “BOM/PTA have responsibilities of promoting the best interests of the institution, ensure development, promote quality of education, determine cases of discipline of the students, ensure the safety of the teaching and non-teaching staff, recruit, enumerate, and train staff, ensure cohesion and unity, and manage the school resources (Participant G.S)

Another participant also added “I was disappointed to notice that some members of the BOM/PTA did not have qualifications and skills to help in management of the institution. Some of them attended our meetings and spoke nothing throughout the meetings. They came to sign for money” (Participant T.Y). These findings agree with a study done by Okemwa, Momanyi and Ntabo (2020) which concluded that inadequate provision of infrastructural facilities in schools by the BOM affects the teaching and learning activities which negatively affect the students’ academic performance.

Figure 1: Influence of Contributions of the BOM & PTA on the Principal’s Performance

Source: (Author, 2023)

The aforementioned influences were then presented to the respondents in the form of views statements to establish the relationship between the contributions made by the Parents-Teachers Association and the Board of Management on the performance of the principal in a public secondary school. The responses ranged from strongly disagree to not sure, and the percentages corresponding to these effects added up to 100% of the response rate. Based on a Likert scale of 1 to 5, the analysis of this section was conducted. A mean of 1 indicated strongly agree, a mean of 2 indicated agree, a mean of 3 indicated not sure, a mean of 4 indicated disagree, and a mean of 5 indicated strongly disagree.

CONCLUSIONS

Guided by the study findings the study therefore concluded that;

Delegation of educational duties and management roles improves Kenyan client service. The principals’ governance approach helps students make educated judgments. To achieve quality, a school principal must delegate administrative tasks to staff such as HOD’S, senior teachers, topic leaders, patrons of many organizations and clubs, and extracurricular activity patrons. The student council assigns tasks. This promotes principal-tutor-student connection, failure to which principals will be overburdened and unable to effectively supervise curriculum implementation in schools.

In light of the influence of contributions of BOM/PTA the study established that, communication between a school’s Board of Management and Parents’ Teachers Association is necessary to pay fees, enroll more students, encourage student behaviour, get involved in extracurricular activities, and assist the principal with management. In addition, a school board’s main role is to supervise school activities by including wide-ranging education stakeholders. The BOM establishes a strong organizational culture, tradition, values, and ethos throughout the educational system. All stakeholders work with the BOM and PTA to create short- and long-term strategic plans for the schools. The board must define the institution’s vision and mission within the plans. The board must always prioritize kids’ educational needs by providing enough teachers, support staff, and facilities. However, the PTA and BOM must have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience. On the influence of community, the study established that educational policy does not address school-community relationship involvement in public secondary school administration. The educational policy authorizes the PTA and Board of Management to include parents and the school community relationship in school matters. High school community relationship cohesion allows people to share duties, make important decisions about projects that bring money to the school to aid the finance department, and work together to attain the national education goal. The schools must evaluate students’ context, society, and surroundings before strategizing how to improve students’ achievements. Thus, the school must communicate with its surroundings and external stakeholders

RECOMMENDATIONS

The study makes the following recommendations.

1. The study recommends that TSC should employ more teachers to support the principal. The ministry of education should also allocate enough money for schools to hire enough non-teaching staff.
2. The study recommends that PTA and BOM should have a minimum qualification of degree and be sensitized on their duties. The government should also develop policies that would help direct and illuminate these structures and operational processes.

Areas for Future Studies

1. A study should be carried out to determine how principals’ leadership styles affect their ability to effectively supervise the execution of the curriculum in secondary schools.
2. A study should be conducted to determine how school community relationship, PTA, BOM, and staffs affect the principal’s ability to run public secondary schools effectively.

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