| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of head teachers` instructional supervisory practices on KCPE performance in Starehe District, Nairobi Kenya. Four objectives were formulated to guide the study. These were; to establish the influence of head teacher‟s instructional supervision on performance in KCPE in Public Primary Schools in Starehe District, Nairobi county, to determine the influence of head teachers characteristics on KCPE performance in Public Primary Schools in the District, to identify primary school teachers` perceptions about the suitability of head teachers supervisory practices in enhancing KCPE performance in the District, and to establish other factors other than head teachers supervisory practices that influence KCPE performance in the District.
The study was based on the scientific management theory used to describe the approaches to management and organization as formulated by F.W. Taylor (1911).
The research design of the study was descriptive survey and the study population included all the 30 Public Primary Schools in Starehe District of Nairobi County. Simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 10 schools. Purposive sampling technique was then used to select one headteacher and nine teachers in each of the sampled schools. This translated to a sample size of 10 headteachers and 90 teachers who served as the respondents. Questionnaires tools were used as the main data gathering instruments.
The study established that a strong correlation between the supervision of lesson plans and class registers and performance existed, that additional ways of improving performance include improvement of teaching methodologies, In-service courses, workshops and seminars on the teaching methodologies of the various subjects. Headteachers should be keen on Discipline management, while also addressing adequacy of learning and teaching resources, encouragement and motivation of teachers, discouraging teachers from dealing with parents during lesson hours and provision of adequate physical resources like desks and class space.
The headteacher‟s teaching experience was found to influence performance, as schools headed by headteachers with long teaching experience tended to perform better. Performance was also influenced by time of commencement of learning during the term, pupils‟ frequency of absenteeism, adequacy of learning resources, teachers motivation, pupils‟ language use, parents‟ willingness to participate in school development, headteacher‟s leadership style, pupils‟ lateness, parents‟ consultation with teachers, teachers‟ workload, and teacher turn-over rate.
The study concluded that regular monitoring of professional documents was the most critical area that headteachers should lay emphasis on, especially on schemes of work, lesson plans, lesson notes and class registers since the documents reflect the plan for syllabus coverage and also assist in monitoring the progress on syllabus coverage.
The study recommended that the Ministry of Education emphasizes on the regular monitoring of professional documents by the headteachers and that the Ministry of Education ensures availability of adequate teaching and learning resources including physical resources to ensure that pupils are adequately prepared by their teachers for the national examinations. The study recommended further research on the reasons behind the perennial poor performance of schools in KCPE in the district since this study ruled out the headteachers characteristics as the possible cause of the poor performance. | en |
