Determinants of participatory management among public primary schools in Nyando District, Kenya

Abstract

Participatory management is whereby the manager tries to make each individual feel that he or she has special talents to offer towards the success of an organization. The purpose of this study was to examine the determinants of participatory management in public primary schools in Nyando District. The study's main objectives were to establish the extent to which demographic characteristics of head teachers, nature of stakeholders, school culture and policies on education determined participatory management in Public Primary schools in Nyando district.

On research methodology, a descriptive survey design was used with a target popu lation of 54 head teachers, 517 teachers and 21936 pupils from 54 public primary schools in Nyando district. A sample of 370 respondents was drawn from this population as recommended by Krejcie and Morgan, (1990). The study made use of 10 schools from which it purposively sampled 10 head teachers and 60 panel leaders. 300 pupils were then selected systematically using the class register. From every school, the study made use of 1 head teacher, 6 panel leaders and 30 pupils. Questionnaires and interview schedule were used to gather information from the respondents.

The research instruments were pilot tested in 2 schools from the neighboring Kisumu district. Validity of the research instruments was then tested by carrying out a pilot study as well as seeking expert opinion from the university supervisors. Reliability was tested using the test retest method after which a correlation coefficient was calculated using the Pearson product moment correlation formula.

Data was then collected and analyzed after which the qualitative data was reported in narrative form while the quantitative information was analyzed using frequency tables and percentages in line with the objectives. On the demographic characteristics of head teachers, 47(85.45%) of the panel leaders and 8(80%) of the head teachers said that head teacher's age determined participatory management. 13(23.64%) panel leaders said that head teacher's gender determined participatory management while 45 (81.82%) of the panel leaders and 7 (70%) of the head teachers said that highly qualified head teachers involved stakeholders in management more than the heads with lower educational qualification. On nature of stakeholders. and participatory management, it was established that primary stakeholders were involved in management more than the secondary stakeholders with the primary having a mean of 4.1 while secondary having a mean of 0.9 in a five point Likert scale.

On school culture and participatory management, 51 (92.73%) of the respondents said that their schools had collaborative culture while 4 (7.27%) of the respondents said that their schools had non collaborative school culture. On policies on education, 21 (38.18%) of the respondents said that the sessional paper no.l of 2005 encouraged participatory management while 34 (61.82%) of the respondents did not know about it. 10 (100%) of the head teachers said that free primary education policy encouraged participatory management except on matters regarding financing of school activities by parents where 7 (70%) of the head teachers said that it discouraged participation.

The study recommends that schools have guidelines that stipulate the mode of selecting stakeholders to participate, ensure that there is more participation of the pupils and parents in management adopt a culture' of team work and observe the provisions of the Sessional paper no. 1 of 2005. The study suggests that in future, researchers should carry out a study on the problems encountered by head teachers as a result of participatory management, the influence of pupil participation in management on their academic performance and lastly, a similar study should be carried out III private primary schools III the same region.