Investigation into training needs of primary head teachers in financial management

Abstract

The study focused on the training needs of headteachers in Financial Management in Central Division of Machakos District, Eastern Province. Financial Management was understood to encompass the spending of funds disbursed to all schools in an objective manner to achieve the educational objectives. The income considered was the grants remitted to public primary schools after Free Primary Education was launched in Kenya in 2003. The purpose of the study was to investigate the problems headteachers faced in performing the task of financial management, which may have been related to inadequate preparedness. The available literature suggested that financial management is an essential and involving administrative task; it interacts with human, financial, time and physical resources, which calls for continuous and thorough training. Data was collected using one questionnaire and a guided interview. Part A of the questionnaire touched on personal data, Part B dealt with training of headteachers in financial management, and Part C was on problems encountered and recommendations given. To establish whether the instruments would collect the relevant data, a pilot study was carried out. The results from the pilot study were used to make the modifications on the instruments. The population consisted of 72 headteachers. Stratified sampling was used to select a sample of 14 headteachers. The return rate was 100 percent. The District Auditor was interviewed to gather in-depth data on the problems discovered while auditing of accounts prepared by headteachers. Data analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The descriptive statistics were presented in the form of frequencies and percentages. The research revealed that most headteachers were male. Majority of the headteachers were at the prime of their career and were qualified to be in the position of headship. Most headteachers attended training on financial management after appointment to headship. Less than 50 percent of headteachers attended courses on financial management after introduction ofFPE. The training on financial management for headteachers was declared inadequate by all headteachers interviewed. Training needs of headteachers were revealed to emanate from inappropriate training methods. The needs were summarized as; writing of trial balances, bookkeeping, general financial reporting, and cashbook maintenance and extracting balance sheets. The study revealed that causes of poor financial management were brought about by lack of accounts clerks, technical language in the Instructional Manual, inadequate training, lack of experience, hostile relationship between heads and School Management Committee (SMC) members and insufficient time for the financial management task. The research recommended more gender balance m headship, more friendly approach in training, more exposure to the accounting skills before headship, training to be pegged on 'needs' and to be available to all stakeholders. It was recommended thaf SMC should have Form Four Education. Further research on training needs in the primary schools and in the non-formal sectors was recommended to enable policy makers come up with goals and ob,ectives of training in financial management.