Influence of headteachers’ management practices on students’ academic performance in public secondary schools within Kitui central district, Kitui County, Kenya

Abstract

In Kenya, the education system has been hit by students‘ poor academic performance every year the results are announced. Some schools have maintained good academic performance while others have always lagged behind. These differences are brought about by many factors and one major factor is the headteachers‘ management practices. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of the headteachers‘ management practices on students‘ academic performance in Kitui Central District-Kitui County. The specific objectives were to establish the effects of headteachers‘ supervision on performance; to examine how the head teachers‘ communication mode affects performance in national examinations and to establish the influence of motivation on students academic performance. The target population was the 33 secondary schools in Kitui Central District. The sample was 200 respondents, which consisted of 10 principals, 40 teachers and 150 students. The method for selecting the respondents was stratified random sampling. Two stratums were used to select the 10 schools for the study, one for high performing schools and another for low performing schools. Five schools from each stratum were selected using purposive sampling. The researcher used the descriptive survey design for the study and questionnaires were used as data collection instruments. A pilot study was conducted in two secondary schools one school from each category at two weekly intervals to test the validity and reliability of the research instruments. These two schools though from the target population did not constitute the sample. The primary data collected were computed by the use of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20. The analysed data was presented in frequency distribution tables and percentages. The study findings were that headteachers‘ management practices of supervision, communication and motivation influenced students‘ academic performance in national examinations. In Schools that performed well, headteachers practiced better management practices than in those that had low performance. The study concluded that there was need for headteachers to be trained on management practices before they are appointed to headship. The study recommended the need to involve all stakeholders in the schools management for improved students‘ academic performance.