Role performance of secondary schol headteachers in instructional supervision: a case of Siaya District

Abstract

The study sought to find out the extent to which secondary school head teachers in Siaya district carry out what is expected of efficient and effective instructional supervision in their schools. Role activities under the following five essential supervisory functions were covered by the study: obtaining and distributing instructional resources, providing assistance and support services to teaching and learning, relating the school to the community, maintaining and controlling the learning process and improving the school system. The study target population comprised of 53 public secondary schools in the district out of which a sample of 12 secondary schools was randomly selected. The study subjects were 12 head teachers, 24 heads of departments and 36 teachers from the selected schools. The main research tools used in this study were Head teachers Questionnaire, Heads of Departments Questionnaire and Teachers Questionnaire. The questionnaires sought to obtain information on the current status of instructional supervision in the secondary schools with regard to the five instructional supervisory functions. The study found out among other things that majority of secondary school head teachers in the study sample were professionally trained university graduates with the B.Ed graduates forming the bulk. More than half of the head teachers had served as head teachers for more than 5 years and all the head teachers in the study were experienced teachers before appointment in administrative post. Most of the secondary schools in the research sample were either one-streamed with student enrolment of about 160 or two-streamed schools with enrolment of about 320 students. Majority of the teaching staff in the schools studied were professionally trained university graduates and teachers with diploma in education and untrained teachers formed a small proportion of the staff. The most frequently performed supervisory activities by the head teachers were found to be those concerned with providing resources and setting environment for teaching and learning, implementation of the timetable, maintaining good relationship between the school and the school stakeholders and keeping records of instructional activities. The least frequently performed supervisory activities were found to be those that require more personal guidance by the head teacher like assisting teachers in preparation of schemes of work, observing teachers lesson plans, visiting teachers in classroom to observe instruction, helping teachers identify problem areas in the curriculum and assisting the teachers to come up with strategies for solving the problems and appraisal of teachers instructional performance. Teachers rating of head teachers performance of instructional supervision and heads of departments' views indicated that there are inadequacies in instructional practices. It is therefore important that head teachers are given formal training in supervision to improve their performance in school administration since supervision is a phase of administration.