Influence of participatory management on students' academic performance in public secondary schools in Rarieda District, Kenya

Abstract

Participatory management highlights the people's participation and empowerment in every aspect of management. Participatory management roc uses on meaningful involvement of all the relevant stakeholders of the school in the decision making process. Through participatory school management, stakeholders develop a genuine appreciation of democracy. The study was confined to Rarieda District due to sporadic riots exhibited by students' in most schools; continuous outcry by stakeholders of inadequate democratic space in most schools as well as the worrying downward students academic performance reflected in the declining District performance index. Based on the aforementioned reasons, immediate and drastic action must be undertaken on schools management by the stakeholders in order to redeem the situation before matters go out of hand.

The study sought to examine the influence of participatory management on students' academic performance in Public Secondary Schools in Rarieda District. The study was guided by the following objectives: To asses the extent to which Principals leadership style as a component of participatory management influence students academic performance: To establish the extent to which teachers participation as a component of participator) management influence students academic performance: To investigate how students' participation as a component of participatory management influence their academic performance: To determine how the participation of parents as a component of participatory management influence the academic performance of students in public secondary schools in Rarieda District.

A conceptual framework showing the interplay among the various variables was developed to guide the study. Descriptive survey design was developed as a blue print that guided the study. The target population of the study consisted of; 3,000 students, 225 Secondary School Teachers and 31 Secondary School Principals. The total sample size was 341 respondents distributed proportionately under the following categories; 310 Students, 23 Teachers and 8 Secondary School Principals. A pilot study was conducted to establish the reliability of the instruments whereas validity was ascertained by the judgment of research supervisions within the university. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage counts and presented using frequencies and percentages distribution tables.

Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) aided in the analysis of quantitati ve data. Qualitative data was transcribed. organized into various emerging themes of the study and reported in a narrative way. In conclusion. the study findings revealed that there is a strong positive relationship between the leadership style of principals in secondary schools and school performance. Thus, leadership is a very strong predictor of school performance.

Findings also revealed that teachers and students playa significant role in enhancing the academic success of a school. Parental participation in school management contributes to better performance of students in their school work. The study recommends that principals of secondary schools should be encouraged to use democratic leadership style since the style is positively related to students' academic performance excellence. Teachers. students and parents should actively be involved in the day -to-day running of the school-so as to enable them to contribute positively towards enhancing the academic glory of the school.