Effects of headteachers' instructional supervision practices on curriculum implementation in public secondary schools in Bureti District, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of head teachers' instructional supervision practices on curriculum implementation. The study had the following objectives: It was to investigate frequency of internal instructional supervision on teachers work on curriculum implementation and establish the extent to which instructional supervision helped teachers to improve in the assessment and evaluation of their students. It was also meant to determine the extent the rate of syllabus coverage is influenced by secondary school head teachers' instructional supervision practices.

The study was also to determine the Influence of age,ge.ll.det, 'and . administrative experience of head teachers on teachers' attitudes towards instructional supervision by head teachers. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of head teachers' instructional supervision practices on curriculum implementation in public secondary schools in Bureti district Kenya. The study was guided by the systems approach to educational planning theory first proposed under the name of general systems theory by Ludwig Von Bertalanffy. It emphasized the complex pattern of interaction among different elements of the education system. The study adopted descriptive survey research design.

A survey research is a self report study that requires the collection of quantifIable information from the sample by interviewing and administering questionnaires to a sample of individuals (Kothari 2006). The design was chosen because it can be used to generate answers to research problems from a large sample. The study targeted a population of forty three (43) public secondary school head teacher's for forty three (43) deputy head teachers and one hundred and seventy two heads of departments. The study used 50% of the head teachers and 30% of the heads of departments. The sample size was 22 head teachers, 22 deputy head teachers and 88 heads of departments.

The research instruments used were two sets of questionnaires one for head teachers and the other for deputy head teachers and Heads of departments. Document analysis guide was used by ·the researcher. The research instruments were administered and collected by the researcher. The collected data was analyzed by using SPSS software. The major findings of the study were: The head teachers' frequency of instructional supervision influenced the rate syllabus coverage to a very large extent (73%) and the instructional supervision practices by head teachers helped teachers to improve in assessment and evaluation of students (77.3%).The age of the head teachers influenced teachers' attitudes towards instructional supervision practices by the head teachers.

The attitude of teachers towards old and experienced head teachers is hundred percent positive. The gender of the head teachers did not have any influence on teachers' attitudes towards the supervision practices by head teachers. The experience of head teachers influenced teachers' attitudes towards the supervision practices. It was concluded that supervision by head teachers is vital for effective and efficient implementation of the school curriculum.