Influence of board of management practices on students’ academic performance at Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in Busia County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of Board of Management practices on students’ academic performance at Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in Busia county Kenya. Specific objectives were to: determine how Board of Managements’ provision of teaching-learning resources influence students’ academic performance; examine how the Board of Managements’ involvement in the recruitment of teaching staff influence students’ academic performance; assess the Board of Managements’ involvement in disciplining of students affect their academic performance; and determine how the Board of Managements’ use of incentives influence students’ academic performance. The study adopted descriptive survey design. This study targeted 95 secondary schools in Busia County, Kenya with 95 principals, 1450 teachers and 950 members of Board of Management. The sample size consisted of 10 secondary school principals, 145 teachers and 95 members of the Board of Management. This made a total sample size of 250 respondents. Data was collected through questionnaires. The findings indicated that provision of motivational incentives used by BOM as a strategy influence students’ performance. The findings also showed that most of the incentives were given after an appraisal year. Findings indicated that rewarding of the good discipline can as well be used by BOM as a strategy for student’s academic performance. Provision of teaching/learning resources was also approved by a majority of the teachers and BOM members as strategy that can be used by BOM to influence teachers’ job performance. The study recommended that BOMs should improve on students’ academic performance by providing motivational tokens, awarding certificates of merit and tracking students to establish a database of their performance for appropriate rewarding.