Factors Influencing the Level of Awareness of Teachers Service Commission Code of Conduct and Ethics Among Public Secondary School Teachers in Machakos Town Constituency

Abstract

The code of conduct and ethics forms a framework for ethical decision making within an organization and must be embedded within the organizations so as to inspire appropriate culture that is instilled in the hearts and minds of staff at all levels. All stakeholders to an organization should therefore be encouraged to embrace code of conduct and ethics by creating awareness. The purpose of the study was to understand the factors that influence level of awareness of teachers’ service commission code of conduct and ethics among public secondary schools in Machakos Town Constituency. The societal theory of functionalism and the theory of Moral positivism were adopted as a guide to frame this research. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The sample size of 75 respondents out the expected sample of 80 teachers participated in the survey. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires which were administered through drop and pick method. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were used to analyze the data and the results were presented in form of charts and tables. The findings from the study revealed that secondary school teachers in Machakos town Constituency had low level of awareness of Teachers Service Commission Code of Conduct and Ethics. Various factors influenced the level of awareness of the TSC code of conduct and ethics. The highest influencing factor on level of awareness was the availability of a hard copy of the code of conduct and ethics which was followed by management effort of encouraging staff to embrace ethical practice and availability of soft was the third factor. The study recommends that code of conduct and ethics should form an integral part of schools’ culture which must be communicated regularly to all teachers using different modes. Additionally, more awareness intervention should be devised and copies of the code should be made readily available to all teachers. Successful work ethics depends on strong support, participation and involvement of those in leadership positions and all stake holders. Further research should be conducted in other parts of Machakos County and Kenya.