Articles

Contribution of The Catholic Church to Instructional Resources and Appointment of School Administrators in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya. A study across Public Secondary Schools in Kisii Central Sub – County

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Kenya’s Legislation on Basic Education directs religious sponsors to participate in appointment of principals and provision of instructional materials to schools. In Kisii Central Sub-County, the Catholic Church participates in management of 29(39.7%) secondary schools. However, queries were being raised on the current contribution of the church as it had come to the fore that most sponsored schools were experiencing crises that had tended to be linked to the church’s participation in school management.  For instance, out of 29 principals in the sub-county, 18 (62.07%) new principals; 23 (79.31%) deputy principals and 5 (17.24%) BOM chair persons were rejected by the church from assuming their positions between 2010 – 2013 in the Sub-County which was higher compared to neighbouring Sub-Counties, that is, Marani 1(4.54%) and Kisii South 2 (7.41%) Principals; while Masaba 3 (12%) and Sameta 3 (13.04%) both involving Board of Management. The objectives of the study were to establish the contribution of Catholic Church to instructional resources and to find out the contribution of the Catholic Church in appointment of school administrators to management positions of public secondary schools in Kisii Central Sub – County. The  findings of this study  indicated that the Catholic Church contribution to instructional resources was 50.8% in terms of laboratory  equipment, text books and teaching materials  and appointment of school administrators was 25%. This had positive influence on management Quality Index.

Influence of Principal-initiated Goal Setting Strategies on Students’ Academic Achievement in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya: A Study across Secondary Schools, Mbita Sub County

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Goal setting is one of the most important principal initiated strategies that facilitate students’ academic achievement in schools. This is because it energizes the students’ participation in academic programs and as a result enhances their academic achievement. World over, research has shown that motivation of the students enhance their academic achievement. In Mbita Sub-County, despite the existence of motivation strategies put in place by principals, the Sub-County was still performing poorly as was revealed by the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination results of 2018, 2019 and 2020. The Sub-County was ranked last in KCSE Examinations compared to the five other neighbouring sub- counties in Homa Bay County. Mbita Sub-County was ranked position five with an average mean score of 4.886 compared to Rangwe which was position one with a mean score of 5.354, Rachuonyo South was second with a mean score of 5.022, Rachuonyo East was third with a mean score of 4.988 while Homa Bay town was fourth with a mean score of 4.958. The objective of this study was to establish the influence of Principal-initiated Goal Setting on students’ academic achievement in public secondary schools. The study established that Principal-initiated goal setting strategy significantly influenced students’ academic achievement in public secondary schools by promoting independent learning among students. The findings are beneficial to policy makers and education administrators in formulating policies that can be used to improve students’ achievement in KCSE as well as improve practices in the initiation of motivational strategies in schools.