Influence of institutional factors on head teachers’ instructional supervision practices in Public Primary Schools in Njoro Sub-County, Kenya.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate institutional factors influencing head teachers’ instructional supervision practices in public primary schools in Njoro Sub-County, Kenya. Specifically, the study aimed to establish the extent to which head teachers’ teaching workload, school staffing, teachers’ attitude and head teachers’ administrative experience influence head teachers’ instructional supervision practices. The study was guided by human motivation theory. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The study targeted 47 head teachers and 416 teachers in public primary schools of Njoro Sub-County. Census and stratified random sampling techniques were used to come up with a sample of 20 head teachers, and 125 teachers. Questionnaires were used to collect data from head teachers and teachers. Descriptive methods such as frequency distribution and percentages were used to organize quantitative data. The results from the data analysis were presented using tables of frequencies and percentages. The major findings from the study revealed that; instructional supervision was fair with some head teachers carrying out the practice and some not doing instructional supervision. On the effect of head teachers’ workload on instructional supervision, the study findings revealed that sometimes they had too much work that they could not manage to carry out instructional supervision role. On the effect of staffing on instructional supervision, majority (90%) of head teachers and teachers (85%) disagreed that the low number of teachers makes their instructional supervision role easier. The findings concur with the second objective that school staffing influences head teachers’ instructional supervision practices in Njoro Sub-County. On the influence of teachers’ attitude of supervision on the head teachers’ instructional supervision, majority (69%) of the head teachers indicated that some teachers view their instructional supervision as a fault finding mission. In addition, majority (53%) of the head teachers’ relationships with some of my teachers have been strained due to my instructional supervision role. Majority (50%) of the teachers agreed that personal relations interfere with the head teachers’ instructional supervision. In addition, 49% of the teachers indicated that Supervision mainly looks at the negatives and not good work of teachers. The researcher recommends that: Head teachers workload should be reduced to enable him/her focus on their administrative duties. This can be achieved by employing more teachers to take lessons. Support staff such as head teachers’ secretary and bursar would relieve the head teacher of some of the duties. The school administration in collaboration with the TSC and the Ministry of Education should be offered with regular administrative training to ensure that they are well acquitted with their responsibilities as administrators and supervisors. The study suggested that future studies can look at private schools to compare the findings.