Stakeholder Involvement and, Monitoring and Evaluation: Determinants of Schools’ Compliance with Safety Standards.

Abstract

The safety of school children at all times, and everywhere cannot be over-emphasized. Learner safety is central to the provision of quality education and globally, governments are committed to ensure safety and overall welfare of children through development of safety policies and guidelines. This study examined the influence of Boards of Management (BoMs) governance on compliance with safety standards and guidelines in public boarding secondary schools in Embu County, Kenya. The study objectives were: To establish the influence of involvement of education stakeholders in making safety decisions by BoMs on compliance with safety standards; To determine the influence of safety programme monitoring and evaluation (M&E) by BoMs on compliance with safety standards. The study was based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Systems Theories. Pragmatic philosophy and mixed-method design were adopted. The study targeted sixty-four public-boarding secondary schools in five sub-counties. Simple random sampling picked fifty-five schools. 3 BoM members and 5 Heads of Departments (HoDs) were purposive sampled to respond to an interview and a questionnaire, respectively. All the 5 Sub-County Quality Assurance and Standards Officers (SCQASOs) responded to an interview. The total sample was 445 participants. Descriptive statistics were utilized to analyse quantitative data. Pearson’s coefficient of correlation was computed to determine the correlation between independent and dependent variables at alpha = 0.05 level of significance. M&E of safety programs correlated with compliance with safety standards at r = .927 while involvement of stakeholders in decision making and compliance with the safety standards correlated at r =. 813. The study concluded that both M&E of safety programmes and involvement of stakeholders in making safety decisions positively and strongly correlated with, and significantly influenced school safety. The study recommended that boards should monitor and evaluate safety programmes while involving key stakeholders in safety decisions to enhance safety.