| dc.description.abstract | Deputy Head teachers are very instrumental in the management of secondary schools. To a large extent, they encounter a lot of administrative problems. This is because they spend a lot of time handling problems from students, teachers and parents. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate the influence of deputy head teachers’ in-service on students’ indiscipline in Kathiani Sub-County, Machakos County, Kenya, a sub-county that has experienced many strikes and has led to a marked drop in academic performance. The study sought to determine the influence of in-service programmes offered by Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI), head teachers mentoring of deputy head teachers, on-the-job training of the deputy head teachers and the influence of previous administrative experience on deputy head teachers and their influence on competence in management of secondary school students’ discipline. Kathiani Sub-County has 32 public secondary schools according to the Sub-County Director office data. The study therefore considered the deputy head teachers of 32 secondary schools, 32 head teachers, 32 prefects under the guidance and assistance of the District Education Quality Assurance Officer. Descriptive research design was used where three questionnaires were prepared, that is for the head teachers, deputy head teachers and school presidents. Data was collected using questionnaires. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics with the aide of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) from which frequency tables, bar graphs and percentages were generated. The study established that deputy head teachers are not adequately prepared to manage students in schools especially on drug and substance abuse, bullying fellow
students and time management among others. The study therefore recommends the re-introduction of corporal punishment in schools, empowering prefects’ body to assist the deputy head teachers on how to manage students’ discipline. The MOE should increase its budgetary allocation to schools in order to address emerging issues which include drug abuse. KEMI should also organize relevant in-service training courses for deputy head teachers in order to equip them with management skills. | en_US |
