Time management behaviour among secondary school personnel: A case of Kinango District, Coast Province

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to determine time management practices, time wasters, effects and strategies among secondary school teachers in Kinango District. To achieve objectives of a descriptive research design was adopted. The study sampled only nine secondary schools in the New Kinango District which is part of the larger Kwale district, from which nine principals, 45 teachers and 36 students were involved in the research. Data were collected using questionnaires and interview schedules in which all the 90 copies of questionnaires were completed and returned. The study established that all the respondents strongly agreed that first lesson's time was consumed during assemblies. The respondents also indicated that most teachers and students did not report on the first day of opening of the term. The study established that most teachers and principals dealt with the emergency issues instead of the important issues. They further strongly agreed that they lacked priorities and focused on the urgent instead of dealing with the important issues. Majority of respondents admitted that they wrote schemes of work when schools open and most of them did not use lesson plans in their teaching. According to the study 7 (78%) of the principals agreed that they delegated administrative posts with authority while 2 (22%) of the principals strongly agreed that they delegated without authority. Since no one can do everything, those who do not delegate have no time to relax thus became ineffective. It was established that Head of departments didn't have common released time hence departmental responsibilities were done during class time. The study also established that procrastination has resulted to in adequate syllabus coverage. Also dealing with the urgent instead of the important issues has affected the syllabus coverage in the district. The study concluded that all the stakeholders in the education sector should be involved in time management practices in order to improve on the general performance in schools. The study recommends that teachers, principals and students must make sure that they observe hours in all the activities they perform in the school. The study should also seek other methods of controlling time in the schools. Data was presented in the form of tables, pie-charts and bar graphs. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) computer program was used which enabled easier analysis of the data collected.