Individual factors influencing board members’ management of human resources in public secondary schools in Makadara district, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate individual factors influencing board members’ management of human resources in public secondary schools in Makadara District, Kenya. Four objectives guided the study; to establish the influence of Board of Management level of education, work experience, professional status and capacity to interpret policies of human resource management in public secondary schools in Makadara District. The study targeted all the 9 public secondary schools in Makadara district. The researcher selected 50% of the 135 board members and 30% of 320 teachers of each school to get 67 board members and 96 teachers for the study. The Sub County Education officer was also sampled using census sampling. This gave a sample size of 164 respondents. Questionnaires for teachers and an interview guide for Sub County Education officer and teachers were used for data collection. Reliability analysis was done through test-retest method. Pearson’s product moment’s correlation was used to test reliability. Validity was ensured through discussion with the experts including supervisors and colleagues. Primary data was collected and analyzed using quantitative and qualitative techniques and presented in tables and graphs. Secondary data was obtained from journals and schools data base. Data collected was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics and thematic statistics were used. This assisted in determining the level of influence the independent variables have on the dependent variable. The study may assist the policy makers in the Ministry of Education (MoE) to design, develop and finance full capacity building programme for the board members upon appointment in order to improve their service delivery. Findings of this study may be useful to the principals of the schools in getting the right and visionary leadership for the school to assist in improving the academic standards. The study found out that The level of education of board members’ influences the human resources management in schools. The board members’ recruitment does not involve checking their academic qualification. The study on the influence of board members capacity to interpret policies on human resources management indicated that board members interpretation of policies influences human resource management. Board members do have knowledge in policy implementation and do not understand school policy formulation. The board members do not have exposure to strategies in policy revision. The board members should attend seminars and workshops that teach the importance of having an effective school board.