Effectiveness of implementation of staffing policies on deployment of teachers by teachers service commission

Abstract

The major determinant of an organization success today in the changing and turbulent environment is the successful implementation of policies. TSC cannot be left out of this major effort. It must follow the critical path of success, for its own good and for the future of Kenyan citizens who want to pursue education and need to be taught by teachers. Clear and well defined policies must be put in the right perspective. This may call for a comprehensive effort to develop a policy manual, which will be used as the source of reference for all TSC core activities, especially in deployment of teachers, which is the centre of focus for this research. The study sought to fulfill four objectives namely: i) To establish whether TSC has policies on deployment of teachers ii) To determine whether TSC has put in place adequate measures to facilitate implementation of policies on deployment on teachers. iii) To establish whether TSC has been implementing staffing policies on deployment of teachers iv) To establish the possible problems TSC has encountered in implementing the staffing policies on deployment of teachers To realize these objectives, there were four research questions that guided this study: i) What are the staffing policies on deployment of teachers by TSC? ii) What measures has TSC put in place to facilitate the implementation of deployment policies? iii) How has TSC been implementing staffing policies on deployment of teachers? iv) What problems has TSC encountered in the implementation of staffing policies on deployment of teachers? Literature review was carried out under the themes, concept of the term policy, problems of successful implementation of policies, norms and practices of teacher utilization, imbalances in the deployment of teachers, some recommendations for action in the deployment of teachers, problems of implementation of policies in the education sector and fmally, policy implementation approaches. The concept of the term policy brought in various writers. Policy means guidelines meant to encourage work towards stated goals. The problem of successful implementation of policies gave an overview of what hinders implementation of policies such as lack of skills to implement, fear of change and the policy itself being poorly thought out. Norms and practices of teacher utilization described the ideal pupil-teacher ratio. Imbalances in the deployment of teachers looked at the urban schools which are overstaffed and compared them with rural schools which are understaffed. Some recommendations for action on deployment of teachers suggested ways in which teachers can be utilized more effectively and motivated. Some recommendations included in-servicing of teachers, bonding of teachers in disadvantaged areas, addressing teachers welfare including housing, giving teachers remote area allowance and decentralization of administrative control of teachers. Problems of implementation of policies in the Education sector outlined the difficulties encountered by the Ministry of Education in its attempt to liase with schools to facilitate implementation of policies. Lastly, the chapter looked at policy implementation approaches, which tried to give solutions on the best approach to use to implement policies. The research design was descriptive. The target population consisted of 100 employees of Teachers Service Commission based at the headquarters. Purposive sampling was used to select 100 employees from the population for data collection. A total of 10 employees were used for the purpose ofthe pilot study. A questionnaire linterview guide consisting of two parts was used as an instrument for data collection. The response from the ten employees was scrutinized and verbal discussion was held to determine the validity of the questionnaire. A research expert was also consulted. The Cronobach Alpha, a measure of the internal consistency of the questionnaire items was used to measure the reliability of the instrument. The full reliability was calculated and obtained as 0.65. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics, which included cross tabulation, charts, percentages, frequency and averages. The study established that staffmg policies on deployment of teachers exist but are not well documented. It was also concluded that there are problems encountered in the implementation of policies including interference by stakeholders, inability of the government to recruit an adequate number of teachers, inadequate skills of officers meant to implement policy, demand of teachers to teach in schools in accessible areas at the expense of schools in inaccessible areas, inadequate information support system by TSC, gender imbalance, uncontrolled registration of schools, and the challenges of HIVIAIDS and free primary Education. The study may be of help to the following groups; the Government of Kenya, Teachers, Teachers Service Commission ,District Education Officers, Provincial Directors of Education, School Board of Governors, parents, students, Kenya National Union of Teachers, Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers, religious groups interested in education and other stakeholders. Finally.it was recommended that if TSC is to succeed to fu1fi11its mission, it should undertake the responsibility of coming up with clear deployment policies. This can be done by the establishment of a corporate strategy department charged with the responsibility of monitoring its internal and external environment and advising the management on policy framework. The necessary actions to implement strategic policies should also be identified, planned and responsibility allocated. Milestones or progress measurements points should be established, measures of performance put in place and appropriate monitoring and control mechanism created.