PERCEPTIONS OF EDUCATION STAKEHOLDERS REGARDING INFLUENCE OF PRINCIPALS’ STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP PRACTICES ON PERFORMANCE IN KENYA CERTIFICATE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION EXAMINATIONS IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS, NYANDARUA COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

The quality of an education system is majorly evaluated in terms of the number of candidates passing national examinations. The most outstanding factor has to do with the principals’ strategic leadership. Leadership practices are the foundations that boost their concerted efforts in improving student learning and top performance. Public secondary schools in Nyandarua County have been performing poorly in KCSE with majority of the students (77%) scoring below C+ grade, which is the minimum entry grade to universities in Kenya. For example in the year 2014, only 23% of the students who sat for KCSE qualified for admission for a degree program. The present study sought to analyse the perceptions of selected education stakeholders on the influence of principals’ strategic leadership practices on performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations in public secondary schools in Nyandarua County, Kenya. More specifically, the study sought to establish the effects of instructional supervision on academic performance; examine the effects of teacher professional development on academic performance; assess the influence of planning for leadership transition on academic performance; and determine the influence of motivation strategies on academic performance of public secondary schools in Nyandarua County in Kenya. This study adopted a descriptive research design. The study employed primary data which was quantitative in nature. Data was collected by use of structured questionnaires. The study targeted all public secondary schools in Nyandarua County. The study targeted 167 principals, 1,660 teachers, 67,840 students in Nyandarua County. The study sample was a total of 384 principals, teachers, and students, equally drawn from the 167 public secondary schools in the county. Descriptive analysis was conducted in data analysis. Data analysis involved the use of descriptive statistics which entailed the use of frequencies in their absolute and relative forms. Mean and standard deviations was also used as measures of central tendencies and dispersion respectively. The study expected a positive and significant relationship between dependent and all the independent variables as well as with the intervening variables. The study will be a key contribution to the existing literature and discourse in strategic leadership among secondary school principals in the country. Among those who will benefit from findings in the present study include the Ministry of Education, parents and head teachers. This study also found that there was a relationship between the academic performance of a school and its principal's instructional leadership practices. The study concludes that majority of the principals in charge of schools in secondary schools in Nyandarua County apply strategic leadership practices to influence positive performance in KCSE. The study recommends that relevant organs of the ministry of education such as the Directorate of Quality Assurance should encourage principals to effectively institutionalize instructional supervision as a way of improving academic performance in public secondary schools in Kenya. The Kenya Educational Management Institute (KEMI) should organize periodical in-service refresher courses for school principals on instructional supervision. School principals should encourage teachers under their supervision to attend professional development courses, trainings and seminars whenever opportunities for such become available