Efficacies of Kenya Education Management Institute Induction Course on Management Practices for Public Primary Schools in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Abstract

To address gaps in management of public primary schools and provision of quality education, the Ministry of Education periodically supports head teachers of public primary schools to undertake induction courses in education management in order to improve management practices at school level. One of the many induction courses supported by the Ministry of Education and organised by Kenya Education Management Institute is the Induction Course in Educational Management. This course targets all education managers in public schools with the aim of improving management practices. Despite Kenya Education Management Institute conducting the induction course targeting school managers, poor management practices still are witnessed in many public primary schools. The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacies of the induction course on management practices of public primary schools. The objectives of the study were to examine the procedures used in preparation for the induction course, assess perceptions of the effectiveness of the induction course on the management of public primary schools, determine if the induction course had influence on the management practices and finally to investigate the efficacies of the induction course on the management of public primary schools. Total Quality Management was used as the theoretical framework of this study. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. The target population for the study were ninety-six public primary schools head teachers, chairpersons of boards of management, senior teachers, support staff members, school prefects and staff trainers from Kenya Education Management Institute. Simple random sampling was used to select the sample for this study. Data for the study was collected using structured questionnaires and analysed using descriptive statistics with the aid of the Statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer software. The main findings of the study were that a vast majority of the head teachers were not knowledgeable on the policy guidelines regarding preparation for in-service training, there existed no clear policy guidelines on preparation of head teachers for in-service training and there were no follow-up mechanisms after the in-service training. Another major finding was that a vast majority of the head teachers perceived the training to be highly effective as the training had given participants important requisite skills in management. It was found out that the induction course had highly influenced head teachers’ finance and human resources management. The chairpersons of the boards of management, senior teachers, support staff and prefects found the head teachers who had attended the induction course to be highly effective. The study recommends development of clear policies and guidelines on preparation of head teachers for in-service training. Kenya Education Management Institute should support the induction course as it had clear benefits for the targeted school managers and to put in place evaluation mechanisms of all its in-service training programmes targeting school managers.