A study of teachers' perceptions on supervisory duties of public primary schools headteachers in Ol-Joro-Orok Division, Nyandarua North District, Kenya.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the teachers' perception on primary school headteachers' supervisory duties. The supervisory practices selected for the analysis included: leadership and decision making, communication practices and curriculum and instruction practices. The study sought to fulfill five objectives namely: to deterrn ine the teachers' perception on pri mary schoo I head teachers ' supervisory duties; to find out whether there was any signi ficant difference between teachers' age and their perception of headteachers supervisory practices: to determine whether there was any significant difference between teachers' sex and their perception of head teachers' supervisory duties; to establish whether there was any significant difference between teachers' professional qualifications and their perception of headteachers' supervisory duties and to find out whether there was any significant difference between teachers' teaching experience and their perception of head teachers ' supervisory duties. The research questions that guided the study were formulated from the above objectives. The piloting of the instrument was done in five schools which included twenty five (25) teachers to establish the validity and reliability of the research instrument. The results revealed that the instrument was valid and reliable for seeking information from respondents. Stratified random sampling method was used to select a sample size of two hundred (200) respondents from a population or three hundred and sixty two (362) teachers. The data collected was checked, grouped and coded for analysis. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and the results were computed using frequencies and percentages. Tables, graphs and pie charts were used in the description and presentation of the data. It was found that majority of the headteachers were moderately effective in performance of their supervisory practices because majority of the teachers are lacking a favourable perception towards headteachers' management / supervisory practices. Drawing from the above findings this study suggests the· following recommendations: i) Headteachers should be trained further on how to carry out their supervisory practices more effectively. In particular they should be trained on how to assist the teachers to grow professionally and have a positive attitude towards performance of the supervisory practices. .ii) Headteachers should be trained to help them be kept abreast with the key areas of an educational appraisal program. They should be able to carry out classroom observation results objectively and discuss the results objectively with the teacher, identify teachers training needs and plan in-service training required to improve teachers' performance. iii) The Ministry of Education should delegate their duties to the deputy headteachers and the senior teachers so as to ease his workload and as a result they will be able to effectively carry out other supervisory practices. The following areas are suggested for further research. 1 This study was limited to a sample drawn from Ol-Joro-Orok Division, Nyandarua North District. Other studies could be carried out in other parts of Kenya ~o test the repIica of the findings 2. The study was carried out in public primary schools. Therefore another study may be carried out in private primary schools to establish whether similar findings would be attained as well as secondary schools.