Selected challenges and strategies for principals in the Provision of quality secondary school education in Emuhaya sub- county Kenya

Abstract

Studies worldwide have revealed that school principals are charged with the responsibility of providing quality education. However, due to certain challenges, the quality falls below the expectation. The government has put in place strategies such as defining roles of stakeholders, giving direction on access and strengthening quality assurance in provision of quality education, but still there is generally poor performance in Emuhaya Sub- County compared to the neighboring Sub- Counties. From 2008 to 2013 the overall mean score in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in Emuhaya Sub- County was 4.939 compared to the neighboring Sub- Counties Hamisi 5.043, Sabatia 5.231, and Vihiga 5.266. The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of selected challenges faced by principals and strategies used in the provision of quality secondary school education in Emuhaya Sub-County. The objectives of the study were to; establish influence of teacher based challenges, establish teaching and learning resources based challenges, ascertain the influence of school infrastructure based challenges, examine the influence of government policies based challenges, and establish strategies used by secondary school principals to cope with the challenges faced. A conceptual framework showing relationships between independent and dependent variables was adopted. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. Target population was 39 principals, 140 teachers (who were 62 deputy principals, 39 Directors of Studies and 39 senior teachers) 2482 form three students of 2014 and 1 Sub- County Director of Education (SCDE). Saturated sampling was used to obtain 34 principals, 102 teachers and 1 SCDE. Simple random sampling method was used to select 330 students. Data was collected using questionnaires, interview schedules and Focus Group Discussion. Face and content validity of the instruments were established by experts Education Administration. Reliability of the instruments was determined by test re-test method whereby principals questionnaire had a coefficient of .75 and teachers questionnaire was .83 at p- value of .05. Quantitative data was analyzed using frequency counts, percentages and means while qualitative data was analyzed for content and categorized in emergent themes and sub themes. The study established that the influence of teacher based challenges had moderate influence with a mean rating of 3.31, teaching /learning resource based 3.03, infrastructure 2.8; government policies 3.14 and strategies in the provision of quality secondary education. Coping strategies had a moderate influence on provision of quality secondary education with a mean rating of 3.02. The study concluded that the selected challenges faced by principals had a moderate influence on provision of quality secondary education. The study recommended that teacher based challenges, teaching/learning resources based challenges, infrastructure based challenges and government policy based challenges should be addressed to enhance provision of quality secondary education. The findings of this study are significant to stakeholders for instance the Ministry of Education in formulating appropriate policies for enhancement of quality education in secondary schools.