Principals’ characteristics influencing integration of information and communication technology in management of secondary schools in Makueni county, Kenya
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to investigate how principals’ attitude towards ICT, their
ICT literacy level, their gender and age influences integration of Information and
Communication Technology in management of secondary schools in Makueni SubCounty.
The theory that was used in the study was the Technology Acceptance Theory
which was designed by Davis (1989) which was based on factors influencing user
adoption and acceptance of technology. The research design used was descriptive survey
design. The target population was 43 principals, 135 Heads of Department in the 43
public secondary schools in Makueni Sub-County and one Sub-County Education
Officer. Sampling was done by stratifying schools into boarding and day schools and
then using simple random sampling a sample size of 28 principals, 61 HODs was
obtained. The data was collected using questionnaires sets one for principals and another
for HODs, an interview schedule was used for the Sub-County Educational Officer. The
data was analyzed according to themes and objectives and quantitative data was entered
into the computer for analyzing using the Statistical Package for Social Science
(SPSS),frequency distribution tables and pie chart were used to present data. The study
revealed that majority of the principals’ had a positive attitude towards ICT integration in
curriculum and instruction, student personnel management, staff personnel management,
and integration in financial management. Principals’ literacy levels showed consistency
where those who were ICT literate integrated ICT more in performing the various
administrative tasks compared to those who had no training. The study also found out
that male principals integrated ICT more compared to their female counterparts. This
could be because male teachers and female teachers regard computer technology as male
domain. Finally, the study found out that age did not influence ICT integration in
management of secondary schools. Principals above the age 40years and principals aged
below 40 years integrated ICT in performing administrative tasks despite their age. The
researcher found out that majority of the principals had not integrated ICT in school
community relation and physical plant management. The study concludes that gender
and principals’ attitude affects ICT integration in management of secondary schools
while age and principals’ level of ICT literacy does not influence ICT integration in
secondary school management. The study recommends that the Ministry of Education
should construct computer laboratories and equip them with ICT tools this will facilitate
training of teachers and administrators in all areas of management. School principals
should also consider using ICT in physical plant management and in school community
relations. Female teachers should embrace ICT by training more and integrating it into
school management.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Collections
- Faculty of Education (FEd) [6020]