School Based Factors Influencing Management of Examination at Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in Makueni County, Kenya

Abstract

National examination management is faced with different types of examination irregularities therefore; it is critical that examinations are carried out with utmost integrity and have high levels of credibility. The purpose of this study was to investigate the school based factors influencing examination management in Kenya Certificate of Secondary School examinations in Makueni County. The study aimed to achieve the following objectives: to establish the influence of professional code of conduct, school environment, teachers’ attitude, and school culture on examination management in Makueni County. Various studies were reviewed to give literature on examination management as a global affair. The study was built on Utilitarianism theory. It adopted descriptive survey design. The target population included all the 324 public secondary schools in Makueni County, 324 principals, 3865 teachers and 97200 students. Proportional Stratified sampling was used to select the sample so as to obtain a representative sample. The sample comprised of 85 principals, 349 teachers and 383 students. The research instruments used in this study were questionnaires and interview guide. Piloting was conducted in order to determine the reliability and validity of the instruments. Validity was also established by use of expert judgment while, the reliability was also tested using test-retest technique. Data was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The study realized a total response rate at 85.7 percent. The study’s key findings revealed that majority of the respondent agreed that professional code conduct play a key role in examination management. Students view that over emphasis on certificates, lack of decent exam venues, supervision, poor funding no failure and non-implementation malpractice are not significantly enough to influences examination management in Makueni County. Teachers’ attitude is a major concern on influencing examination management in the County. On the other hand, teachers and principals were also in agreement with students that the school culture has little impact on the examination management. The research found that school culture has adverse effect on examination management in general on the side of students. The study concluded that school based factors played a major role in effective examination management in public secondary schools. The study recommended that the government through the ministry of education should monitor the professional code of conduct teachers and principal from time to time, also teachers and principal to ensure that students are well prepared for exams at any time. Further, the students are encouraged to report any kind of exam malpractices to the teachers and principals and any relevant authority. . The study therefore suggest that a future research should be carried out with the aim of establishing factors influencing examination management among schools both primary and secondary with a focus on all counties in Kenya.