Determinants of effective leadership and management of public secondary schools in Mwala sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

The public secondary school leadership and management is of paramount importance in the education system. Poor leadership and management inhibit the achievement of academic goals characterized by unstable and unpredictable school climate, general students’ indiscipline, low staff morale and poor academic performance. The main purpose of this study was to examine the determinants of effective leadership and management of public secondary schools in Mwala Sub-County, Kenya. The study intended to: examine the influence of professional qualifications on leadership and management of public secondary schools, establish the influence of school culture on leadership and management of public secondary schools, determine the influence of school resources on leadership and management of public secondary schools and establish the influence of technology on leadership and management of public secondary schools in Mwala sub-county. The study was grounded on two theories namely; Behavioral and Great Man Leadership theory. The research employed a descriptive survey design. The target population was 90 respondents, comprising of thirty principals, 30 deputy principals and 30 senior teachers. The study used simple random sampling technique to get the sample size of 15 public secondary school where all schools had equal chances of being selected. Purposive sampling technique was used to select one principal, one deputy principal and one senior teacher from each school thereby giving a sample size of 45 from the target population; they were selected by virtue of being leaders and managers of the selected schools. A pilot study was done in the neighboring Machakos Sub County using two schools, two principals, two deputy principals and two senior teachers. Data was collected using questionnaires and the collected data was analyzed. Descriptive statistics such as percentages, frequencies and mean were generated and information presented in form of tables. Inferential data analysis was done using multiple regression analysis to establish the relationship between the independent variables and dependent variable. Regarding the research findings, this study concluded that there is a significant influence of professional qualifications, school resources and technology on the effectiveness of leadership and management of public secondary schools in Kenya, institutional culture however, does not have a significant influence on the effectiveness of leadership and management of public secondary schools. Given these conclusions, the study recommended that: the ministry of education should promote leadership training short courses among all school administrators starting from the principals, deputy principals, senior masters and heads of various departments in order to enhance their leadership skills for effective management of school affairs, the government should increase the allocation of financial resources to public secondary schools to enable school administrators run the schools effectively; the government should also allocate funds to boost school infrastructures such as laboratories, classrooms and dormitories especially in rural schools to improve leadership effectiveness and enhance performance. The government should install the necessary ICT infrastructure in all public secondary schools to promote effectiveness on the part of the school administrators; all school administrators should be given ICT gadgets like laptops and Ipads to help them in communication and quick tracking of school performance.