Principals’ management styles and students’ unrest in public secondary schools in Nairobi Province

Abstract

In spite of the government’s effort to stem out the culture of student unrest in schools, the nature of the unrests have taken a dramatic turn for the worse. The study sought to establish the management styles used by principals and their influence on students’ unrest in public secondary schools in Nairobi province. Specifically, the study sought to identify management styles used by principals; determine the causes of students’ unrest; establish if autocratic management styles influence students’ unrest and to determine the influence of democratic management styles on students’ unrest in Nairobi province. Literature on management styles and students’ unrest in secondary schools was reviewed by studying the global, regional, national perspective and narrowing down to students’ unrest in Nairobi Province. A descriptive research design was selected for the study. From the population, a sample size of 681 was selected using stratified sampling, simple random sampling and purposive sampling method. Research data was collected using questionnaires and interview guide. Questionnaires were prepared for head teachers, teachers, and students while the interview guides were prepared for Kenya Education Staff Institute and Ministry of Education officials. Validity and reliability of data instruments were tested and ascertained. Questionnaires were then administered using drop and pick method while the interviews were conducted with the targeted respondents. Inferential techniques as well as descriptive statistics were used to analyze data and the results presented in tables and pie charts. The study found that there was no clear management style that is predominant in the schools surveyed given that the administration and the students had differing views of what style is used in their schools. The study found that among the causes for unrest in schools include mocks exams, diet, bullying, high handedness of principals, pressure from other schools, transfer of principal, lack of communication between students and the principals, poor facilities like laboratories and libraries, and drug and substance abuse. All the respondents were also in agreement that a principal’s management style influences student’s unrest in secondary schools. For the students, the results indicate that majority were also in agreement. As regards the gender, majority of the respondents were also in agreement that gender, qualifications, experience and age influenced unrest in secondary schools. The study concludes that it is not clear what style of management is used in schools. The study also concludes that the head teachers’ style of management has an influence on unrest in secondary schools. So is the case for the principals’ demographics. The study recommends that school administrations need to enhance communication among various stakeholders in the school through dialogue. The study also recommends that the schools set up guiding and counseling units in schools to help students tone down their anger and deviance. Given that mock examinations was another contributing factor to unrest, these can be done away with and internal tests be used to prepare students for the main exams. The Ministry of Education should also rethink on its policy to ban corporal punishment in schools.