Institutional Factors Influencing Head Teachers’ Instructional Supervision Practices in Integrated Islamic Primary Schools in Garissa and Nairobi Kenya

Abstract

Education is a fundamental human right for all regardless of their economic, social, religious or cultural background. Instructional supervision ensures that all staff adheres to appropriate rules and regulations to achieve school goals and objectives. The purpose of the study was to investigate institutional factors influencing head teachers’ instructional supervision practices in integrated Islamic primary schools in Garissa and Nairobi counties, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to determine the extent to which workload influences the head teachers’ instructional supervision practices. In addition, the study sought to determine the influence of staffing levels, number of streams and school location on head teachers’ instructional supervision practices in integrated Islamic primary schools in Garissa and Nairobi counties. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The study had a target population of 688 that consist of 86 head teachers and 602 teachers in integrated Islamic primary schools in Garissa and Nairobi. The sample size of the study consists of 234 teachers and 86 head teachers adding to 320 respondents. The sample size was obtained by a stratified proportionate sampling procedure used to select teachers from their schools. From the sample selected, 104 teachers and 42 head teachers were from Garissa County while130 teachers and 44 head teachers were from Nairobi County. Questionnaire and interview guide were used to collect data from the selected respondents. The questionnaire was administered among all respondents while the interview guide was administered among head teachers. Analysis used were descriptive and inferential statistics that is frequencies, percentages, cross tabulation and correlation to summarize the data. The findings of the study indicated that workload and staffing levels have a significant effect on head teachers’ instructional supervision (r-.475; r-.038) respectively. Further, findings indicate that urban teachers are more qualified than rural teachers (M= 4.04). Further, findings also indicate that head teachers’ workload is high in teaching duties (M= 3.23). Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations are made: the stakeholders and managers should put more emphasis on employing adequate number of qualified teaching staff; head teachers need to delegate some duties to the senior teachers to have ample time for instructional supervision and the head teachers should improve their instructional supervision by increasing frequency of supervision.