| dc.description.abstract | Kakamega district in Kenya had over sometime
experienced problems wi th in-effective utilization of
participatory leadership styles in the administration of
public secondary schools. Indeed Musingu (Daily Nation Feb.
9, 1993), Malava (Daily Nation Feb. 24, 1995) and Mukumu
(East African Standard Nov. 8, 1997) high School students
had raised their concern over being excluded from the
decision making process in school administration. Moreover,
the students were concerned with the manner in which their
schools had been mismanaged. Following these incidents,
and, in order to establish how principals involved the
members of the school community in the administration of
secondary
teachers'
schools, the study
perceptions of the
examined secondary school
principals' participatory
leadership styles in public secondary schools in Kakamega
district.
The study set to find out if the variables of age and
gender of the principals had influence on the utilization of
participatory leadership styles by the principals. Secondly,
the study set to find out if the size and category of the
public secondary schools had influence on the utilization of
participatory leadership styles by the.principals.
The target population of the study were all principals
and all teachers of public secondary schools in Kakamega
district. The study used the systematic sampling design to
select the secondary schools that provided the principals
and the teachers that were respondents to the instruments of
the study.
Content validity of the research instruments was
established by having the instruments appraised by three
scholars who were experts in the area of educational
administration at the Uni versi ty of Nairobi. The second
step taken by the investigator at establishing the content
validity of the instruments was the carrying out of the
pilot study. The split-half technique was used to test the
reliability of the research instruments.
The following were the findings of the study:
1) The teachers perceived that the principals did not
provide them (the teachers) with the opportunities that
would enable them (the teachers) to be involved in
participatory leadership in public secondary schools.
2) There was no significant difference between the age of
the principals and the extent to which participatory
leadership styles were applied in public secondary
schools.
3) There was a signific9nt difference between the gender of
the principals and the extent to which participatory
leadership styles were employed In public secondary
schools.
4) There was a significant difference between the age of the
teachers and their perception of the extent to which
participatory leadership styles were employed in public
secondary schools by principals.
5) There was no significant difference between the gender of
the teachers and their perception of the extent to which
participatory leadership styles were employed in public
secondary schools by principals.
6) There was no significant difference between the category
of schools and the extent to which participatory
leadership styles were employed in public secondary
schools by principals.
7) There was no significant difference between the size of
schools and the extent to which participatory leadership
styles were utilized in public secondary schools by
principals.
The study concluded that:
1. The principals were autocratic and did not
other members of the school community
involve the
in school
administration.
principals may be
among teachers.
The leadership style provided by the
concluded as causing dissatisfaction
The leadership styles may not be
promoting the realization of school organizational
effectiveness.
2. The teachers perceived that all the age categories of
principals did not provide the teachers with
opportunities to be involved in participatory leadership.
3. The results showed that the female principals had a mean
of 3.0404 and male principals had a mean of 3.1329. The
teachers perceived that although both categories of the
gender of the principals did not provide opportunities
for participatory leadership, the male principals seemed
to provide slightly a little more opportunities for the
teachers to be involved in participatory leadership.
4. The teachers of age groups 45-49, 50-54 and 60-64 had a
mean of 4.0000. This indicated that the teachers in
these age groups perceived that the principals allowed
for the practice of participatory leadership in schools.
However, all the other age groups of 20-24 (3.0294), 25-
29 (3.1983), 30-34 (3.0267), 35-39 (2.8621), 40-44
(2.9000) and 55-59 (2.0000) perceived that the principals
did not provide opportunities for participatory
leadership in schools. 5. The attributes that provide the hallmark of participatory
leadership were perceived to be lacking by both male and
female teachers.
6. The ineffective utilization of participatory leadership
styles did not depend on the category of the schools.
The behavioural characteristics of a principal who
practises participatory leadership styles are identical
in varied school categories.
7 The inability to practise participatory leadership styles
was not influenced by the size of the school organization.
The following recommendations were given:
There is need to develop Participatory Leadership
Capacity (P.L.C.) in schools. This would require all
teachers to attend educational leadership sessions/seminars
organised at district development co-ordination centres.
The skills acquired by teachers in these centres would help
to sensitize the teachers on how to effectively utili ze
opportunities that exist and can enable them to effectively
contribute to the development and practice of participatory
leadership styles in schools.
There be established an educational management centre
perhaps to be called the PRINCIPAL'S CENTRE (P.C.) at all
public universities, especially at the University of Nairobi
because of its central location in Kenya. The centre would
offer formal training opportunities to students of education
at Universi ty level, practising principals and also serve
the purpose of inducting, newly appointed principals.
xu
The investigator proposed that further studies be
carried out to:
• establish the effect that the lack of practice of
participatory leadership styles by principals has on the
realization of school organizational objectives;
• investigate the practice of participatory leadership
styles in private schools, middle level colleges and
universities;
• establish the effect that the lack of practice of
participatory leadership styles by principals has on
student behaviour and discipline in schools; and,
• investigate the perceptions of the other members of the
school community, other than teachers. | en |
