Influence of public primary school headteachers' preparedness on their levels of management effectiveness in Kiambu district, Kenya.

Abstract

Accomplishment of educational goals to a large extent depends on proper school , management under the guidance of head teachers. Head teachers playa ;'_Jy role in . the achievement of educational goals and objectives in schools. Therefore, head teachers need to be adequately prepared for school administration. Preparation and development of head teachers helps them acquire skills, knowledge and attitudes to run schools in a professional and effective manner. The expectation is that head teachers would deal with a large volume of resources, human and financial and would therefore need to be thoroughly familiar with modern management skills. The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of public primary school head teachers' preparedness on their levels of effectiveness in management in Kiambu district, Kenya. In order to fulfil the purpose of the study the following research objectives were formulated: examine the extent to which in-service training courses attended by the head teachers have addressed their school management needs; establish the levels of adequacy of induction courses provided to primary school head teachers for school administration; identify head teachers' training needs in their administrative task areas; establish the influence of head teachers' gender and administrative experience on their administrative needs; and suggest intervention measures that can be put in place to enable head teachers manage schools effectively.