Determinants of adoption of participatory monitoring and evaluation in management of public secondary schools in Kisumu East District, Kenya

Abstract

In schools, participatory monitoring and evaluation is one of the reforms which seek to improve performance in management and academic performance. This activity investigates the manner in which project outputs interact in the context of an individual school, community or classroom. Furthermore, the projects do not assess the collective impacts in terms of enhanced teaching and learning processes or in relation to student participation and learning outcomes. The purpose of the study was to establish factors influencing participatory monitoring and evaluation in management of public secondary schools in Kisumu East district.

This study sought to meet five objectives: to investigate the extent to which demographic characteristics of school principals influence and evaluation; determine the extent to which government policies influence participatory monitoring and evaluation; to establish the influence of manager's skills and knowledge on adoption of participatory monitoring and evaluation in management of public secondary schools, and identify challenges faced by schools in implementing participatory monitoring The study adopted a descriptive survey design in assessing the factors. The target population was 63 public secondary schools out of which 12 had been selected for the study. The total number of board of governors sampled was 120, 12 head teachers, 12 deputy head teachers, 24 parents teachers association members and 3 officers in the District Education Office.

A pilot study was carried out in Kisumu East district, on 5 schools which were not part of the sample to assess the validity and reliability of instruments. Descriptive statistical components such as tabulation were used to analyze the responses, concerns and views of the respondents to give general descriptions of the data. The study found out that knowledge and skills of principals and board of governors influences adoption of participatory monitoring and evaluation in public secondary schools. The study also established that board of governors and principals have little knowledge on policies guiding monitoring and evaluation in management and this too was found to influence adoption of participatory monitoring and evaluation in management of public secondary schools. Other factors identified included staff capacity, availability of funds, attitude of school managers, and level of involvement of stakeholders, politics and competence.

The boards have inadequate knowledge of policies guiding monitoring and evaluation and they do not adhere to them leading minimal adoption of participatory monitoring and evaluation in management. The study concludes that school managers have little knowledge on participatory monitoring and evaluation and efforts should be made by the appointing authority to train them. The study also concludes that although participatory monitoring and evaluation is practiced its impact is still localized and efforts should be made to encourage wider participation of all stakeholders and training facilitated. The study recommends that in order to improve adoption of participatory monitoring and evaluation in management in public secondary schools, all stakeholders should be trained on participatory approaches to management, and policy issues Areas that need further research include establishing other factors influencing implementation of participatory monitoring and evaluation.