| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of Heads of Departmental Heads Managerial Skills on the Implementation of School Programs, among secondary schools in, Kakamega Central and East Districts. Some of the literature reviewed indicated that Departmental Heads lacked key managerial skills that were needed to run the departments they head and thus they were not able to run the departments effectively. It was therefore necessary to establish to what extent the Departmental Heads influenced the implementation of school programs.
Some of the objectives that the study seeks to establish included; To determine the level at which Departmental Heads' personnel management skills influence the implementation of school programs among secondary schools; To establish the extent at which Departmental Heads' strategic planning skills influence the implementation of school programs and To determine how Departmental Heads' financial management skills influence the implementation of school programs.
The study also sought answer the following questions; How Departmental Heads' personnel management skills influenced the implementation of school programs; To what extent do the Departmental Heads' strategic planning skills influenced the implementation of school programs; and How the Departmental Heads' financial skills influenced the implementation of school programs. The study used descriptive research design and the target population was 184 Heads of Departments (HoDs) in the selected schools and the sample selected were Heads of Departments of schools. The respondents were selected through simple random and purposive sampling techniques.
The research instruments used was a questionnaire which contained three parts; Open ended questions that required them to give descriptive answers, closed ended questions that required a definite answer; and questions that tested them on their attitude towards their roles as Departmental Heads in secondary schools. On validity of the instruments, the researcher used content validity while the test re-test method was used to test reliability which yielded a Pearson product moment of 0.78.
The researcher then analysed the data and presented the results in form of frequency tables. The study findings revealed that majority of HoDs did not receive adequate skills in personnel management to enable them run their departments effectively; Departmental Heads' skills in strategic management in implementation of school programs were inadequate in planning and implementation of schools long term goals and some HoDs had substantial skills in procurement, budgeting, but very poor skills in fmancial expenditure reports and auditing of departmental fmancial records. Therefore, HoDs were not adequately skilled in handling procurement and budgeting.
The findings of this study may be useful to the Ministry of Education, KESI and other stakeholders in education in their improvement of policies and practices on implementation of secondary schools' programmes. The study revealed that implementation of school programs was not satisfactorily achieved because HoDs were not equipped with the skills they needed to manage the departments. Based on these findings the following recommendations were made: The schools should organise training in leadership and school management; the government should mount refresher courses in financial management and HoDs should be actively involved in the formulation and implementation of schools' strategic plans. | en_US |
