Influence of Boards of Management Governance Strategies on Compliance With Safety Standards in Public Boarding Secondary Schools in Embu County, Kenya

Abstract

Management of school safety has remained a growing global concern due to the recurrence of tragedies resulting in the loss of lives and destruction of property. Countries have developed safety policies and compliance with set safety standards remains a significant factor in realizing inclusive safety. This study investigated the influence of Boards of Management (BoMs) governance strategies on compliance with safety standards in public boarding secondary schools in Embu County, Kenya. Five objectives guided the study; to examine the influence of planning for disasters and emergencies; facilitation of training and sensitization of stakeholders on safety knowledge and skills; involvement of stakeholders in making safety decisions; programme monitoring and evaluation (M&E); and collaboration with partners by Boards of Management on compliance with safety standards. The study was anchored on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Systems Theories both of which underscore the safety of individuals in an organization. Pragmatism worldview, Descriptive survey design, and Convergent parallel mixed-method were adopted. The study targeted five Sub-Counties and 64 public boarding secondary schools in Embu County. To ensure a proportional sample size, stratified proportional sampling was used to select 55 schools from across school types (10 boys’ and 13 girls’ boarding, 3 girls’ day/boarding, 6 mixed boarding, and 23 mixed day/boarding secondary schools). BoM and Parents Association (PA) chairpersons and BoM secretaries participated in the study. Purposive sampling was used to select 5 academic and non-academic Heads of Departments (HoDs). A census was used to pick all the 5 Sub-County Quality Assurance and Standards Officers (SCQASOs). The sample was made up of 445 participants (55 BoM chairs, 55 PA chairs, 55 BoM secretaries, 275 HoDs, and 5 SCQASOs). Three research instruments were used: a questionnaire for HoDs, interview schedules for BoM members and SCQASOs, and an observation schedule to collect data from the sampled schools. Cronbach’s Alpha was computed to test the reliability of the research items and for the instrument. Qualitative data from interview schedules and the open-ended questionnaire responses were examined based on their consistency in forming themes. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively and offered in frequency tables, pie charts, and bar graphs. Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation ‘r’ was computed to determine the correlation between the independent and dependent variables at a five per cent (alpha = 0.05) level of significance and to test Hypotheses H01- H05. The study found that governance strategies strongly and positively correlated with compliance with the safety standards with r values ranging between .927 and .607; monitoring and evaluation of safety programmes (r = .927), involvement of stakeholders in making safety decisions (r = .813), planning for disasters and emergencies (r = .773), collaboration with partners (r = .726), and facilitation of training and sensitization of stakeholders on safety knowledge and skills (r = .607). The findings also indicated that governance strategies had a significant relationship with compliance with the safety standards thus all the null hypotheses were rejected with p-values ranging between .005 and .029. Involvement of stakeholders in safety decisions had the highest influence at p = .005 followed by facilitation of training at p = .016. Planning for disasters least influenced compliance with safety standards at p =.029. The study concluded that BoMs’ governance strategies significantly influenced school compliance with set safety standards. The study recommended that schools should be governed through well-thought-out safety strategies; planning, facilitation of safety training, involvement of stakeholders in safety decision-making, M&E of school safety programmes, and, collaboration with key safety agencies to promote compliance with the safety standards for the realization and the sustainability of comprehensive school safety