Influence of boards of management governance practices on Teachers’ job satisfaction in Secondary Schools in Ndeiya Division, Limuru District, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of the Boards of Managements’ Governance Practices on job satisfaction in secondary school teachers in Ndeiya Division, Limuru District. The study sought to determine the extent to which the Boards of Managements’ provision of autonomy to the teachers, involvement in decision making, provision of conducive working conditions, provision of incentives and recognition influenced secondary school teachers’ job satisfaction. The target population consisted of all Board members in the nine secondary schools and all the teachers working in the area secondary schools. Simple random sampling was used to sample the 92 teachers since it ensured equal chances for all teachers. The study sampled 18 BoM members among the schools’ Board chairmen and Secretaries. The study used descriptive survey design whereby teachers responded to a questionnaire while the Board members responded to an interview. The two research instruments were picked due to their convenience and low cost. The questionnaire return rate was 86.2%. Data was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics like pie charts, bar graphs and frequency tables useful in descriptive survey design. The study found that 52 (56.5%) teachers were satisfied with the autonomy provided by the Board during admission of new students. On whether the Boards consulted the teachers before making decisions, 52 (56.5%) teachers were dissatisfied with the autonomy given when setting the entry mark while 48 (52.2%) teachers were dissatisfied with joint-meetings with the Board members. On provision of conducive working conditions by the Board, a majority of teachers, 48 (52.2%) were dissatisfied with the conditions of the offices. On housing, only 8 (8.7%) teachers were housed in the area schools. Most of the teachers were thus forced to commute for long distances outside the Division. Concerning recognition of teachers by the Board, majority 64 (69.5%) teachers were dissatisfied with the use of thank you cards by the Board for work well done. Majority of teachers 68 (73.9%) were dissatisfied with training opportunities provided by the BoM. Majority of the teachers, 60 (65.2%) indicated their dissatisfaction with provision of monetary incentives by the Board while 20 (21.8%) teachers reported that school trips were not applicable in their schools. Majority of the teachers identified good remuneration, prompt promotion, consultation and recognition of teachers by the Board as the main contributors to their job satisfaction. The study concluded that the Boards of Management’s governance practices played a major role in teachers’ job satisfaction. The study recommends that the government through the Ministry of Education should zero-rate school building materials in order to ease the Boards’ burden of building adequate staff houses. The Boards should recruit qualified members in line with the Kenya Constitution (2010) and reward teachers in order to motivate them to work hard in their subjects and thus post good results especially in the KCSE examinations.