Influence Of Principals’ Governance Practices On Students’ Performance In Kenya Certificate Of Secondary Education In Rachuonyo South District, Kenya.

Abstract

Corporate governance in Kenya is now gaining some level of recognition and it reflects the interaction among those persons who provide services thus contributing to improved performance. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of corporate governance practices on the students’ academic performance in Kenya Secondary Certificate of Education in Rachuonyo South District, Homa Bay County. The study objectives sought to determine the extent to which secondary school principals’ use mentoring, monitoring incentives, letter of recommendation and academic target setting to influence students’ Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education performance (KCSE); in Rachuonyo South District. The study employed the descriptive survey design and all the 74 principals of the secondary schools and at least two teachers from each school participated using census sampling. The questionnaire was the main instrument of data collection in this study, which was structured, and self-administered. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, linear multiple regression and factor analysis methods using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study findings revealed that most of the principals were conscious of the benefits of mentoring their teachers and were actually putting it into practice. The teachers appreciated that the mentorship program by the principals was towards having improvement in the academic performance of the students in their assigned subjects. They also recognized mentorship as an effective strategy for enhancing the performance of students in secondary schools. Mentorship was recognized as a useful strategy in helping slow learning students to help them improve their academic performance. The use of monetary incentives was found to an effective strategy in improving the academic performance, since the teachers would be motivated to dedicate more time and effort towards coaching students and teachers would feel more motivated and ignite their commitment for improving academic performance. The use of letters of recommendation by principals would inspire teachers to strive harder to have their students improve their performance and would create fair and health competition. Further setting of performance targets would instil a sense of personal accountability and will motivate the teachers into putting more efforts for the realization of such targets, thus improving performance of students in national examination. The research sought to encourage the principals to adopt objectivity and have regular mentorship sessions for teachers as opposed to one of mentorship for the teachers. This should be done through monitoring and evaluation of the mentorship process by doing proper documentation and ensuring that learning is on what is working and what is not working so as to enhance effectiveness. The principals and Board of Governors should consider initiating and strengthening monetary incentives to subject teachers in order to improve performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE). Teachers Service Commission (TSC) on the other hand should ensure that they encourage healthy competition for performance in the national examination. The study also identified areas requiring further study. This included an assessment of the effects of corporate governance practices in secondary school management in Rachuonyo South District an investigation into the influence of corporate governance practices on the performance of students in Rachuonyo South District a study to establish the barrier to effective teacher mentorship program the RSD and also establish the negative effects of teacher target setting on secondary school students in Rachuonyo South District.