A study of the administrative roles played by primary school headteachers in Kangundo division, Machakos district

Abstract

The major purpose of this project was to find out how primary school headteachers in Kangundo division, Machakos district organize, execute and involve others in their daily administrative tasks as conceptualized by Campbell.

The project was limited to 28 primary schools randomly selected in Kangundo division. There are 105 primary schools in this Division. A larger sample could not have been drawn due to the limited finance and time allocated for the research work. In addition to this is was even difficult to get the required information in time since the data collection phase coincided with the second term in primary schools which is riddle with many activities. Actually one selected headteacher did not respond in time and the researcher had to drop his school from the sample.

The major research tool was the headteachers' questionnaire which was supplemented by an observation guide completed by the researcher.

The data collected was analyzed by using tables, showing frequencies and percentages.

After data analysis it was found out that: (a) Experience of the headteachers did not relate to their knowledge of the activities performed under each operational area. (b) Those headteachers who were trained recently have a better understanding of the admnistrative tasks they perform than their counterparts who were trained along time ago. This was due to the recent introduction of Educational Administration studies in Teacher Training Colleges curriculum. (c) Most headteachers have a proper way of organizing their work but they do not have enough time to attend to all their admnistrative chores as well as carrying out a full teaching load. (d) All the headteachers involved other people at one time or another in their adminstrative work. (e) There are no regularly organized in-service courses for primary school headteachers in Kangundo.

On the basis of the research findings the researcher recommends that:

(a) A special training programme for those aspiring to become headteachers should be introduced. For the already serving headteachers regularly convened in-service courses should be introduced in all Educational Divisions. (b) The Kenya school Equipment Scheme should supply enough stationery and reading materials in order to ease the financial burden placed on parents. (c) Many more teachers should be recruited. This will relief headteachers of the full teaching load and as such provide them with sufficient time to attend to the administrative work. (d) Teacher Training facilities in Kenya should be improved up to help train the bulk of the teaching force which is untrained. It is on this kind of teachers that headteachers spend alot of their time guiding them on instructional procedures. (e) Appointment of headteachers in this country should be streamlined. (f) There is need to increase the inspectorate personnel to ensure that each primary school is inspected at least twice in a term.