Competence of Head Teachers in Primary School Management in Kenya: An Evaluation of Capacity Building

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of capacity building onhead teachers’ competence in primary schools Management in Bomet County. Theministry of education in collaboration with the Kenya Education ManagementInstitute (KEMI) rolled out a one year diploma programme on school managementfor all the head teachers in public primary schools in Kenya in 2011. The aim of theprogramme was to upgrade the competency of head teachers on school management. The research randomly selected a total of 378 head teachers from a population frameof 610 head teachers in the county. Quantitative data was collected by use of selfadministered structured questionnaires. Analysis of data using correlation showedthat capacity building is highly correlated to head teachers’ competency in primaryschool management. The correlation of the capacity building to managerialcompetency variables were: Resource management, r = 0.389; Result basedmanagement, r =0.496; Procurement process,r=0.394; Finance management, r =0.567; Strategic leadership, r =0.567; Project planning, r =0.547. The correlationmatrix obtained from Spearman’s rank correlation showed similar results at 0.05percent level of significance. The results were r = 0.00 p < 0.05; showing thatcapacity building is significantly related to competency in primary schoolmanagement. It was recommended that training needs should be conductedperiodically for improving knowledge and skills for the administrators.