Influence of head teachers’ administrative practices on students’ discipline in public secondary schools in Machakos sub-county, Machakos county, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of head teachers’ administrative practices on the management of students’ discipline in public secondary schools in Machakos Sub County. The study objectives were to: investigate the influence of head teachers use of students’ council, parental involvement, Guidance and Counselling and Life Skills Education on management of students’ discipline. The study was guided by situational theory of leadership which is characterized leadership in terms of task behavior and relationship behavior. The study used a descriptive survey design. The target population comprised of head teachers, teachers and students. The sample size comprised of 421 respondents. Data was collected using questionnaires. Quantitative data was analyzed using Statistical Package of Social Sciences software programme version 22. Inferential analysis was done using chi square statistics at the .05 level of significance. The study established that head teachers used a variety of administrative practices to manage students’ discipline. Use of students’ council, parents and Guidance and Counseling were highly rated compared to Life Skills Education. The study further established that the use of students council influenced management of discipline significantly (ℵ^2(𝑑�3)) = 25.542; � < .05). Further, use of parental involvement influenced management of discipline significantly (ℵ^2(𝑑�3)) = 21.902; � < .05). Moreover, the use of guidance and counseling influenced the management of discipline significantly (ℵ^2(𝑑�3)) = 23. .182; � < .05) and lastly the use of life skills education influenced the management of school discipline significantly (ℵ^2(𝑑�3)) = 28.846; � < .05). The study concluded that use of life skills education, students’ council, guidance and counselling as well as parental involvement are influence management of students’ discipline in secondary schools. The study recommends that the Kenya National Examination Council should start examining Life Skills Education since it is an important subject in managing discipline and molding social emotional skills of learners, training .and retraining of teachers to be at par with emerging social challenges and establishment of a reward system to compensate disciplined schools. These study findings are beneficial to head teachers and other stakeholders in education regarding how they manage discipline related issues in schools.