Determination of factors affecting the performance of female teachers in public secondary schools of Starehe Constituency, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate into the factors affecting the performance of female teachers in Kenya with a special focus on Starehe Constituency in Nairobi. The objectives of the study were to determine how family issues, work related issues, informal work groups, gender issues and psychosocial issues affect the performance of female teachers. The study adopted descriptive survey design, where data was collected and analyzed to answer the objectives and research questions. The study focused on the entire population of 85 female teachers in the 12 public secondary schools in the constituency and hence census method was used to gather the data needed. The data collection procedure was through the use of questionnaires. The data analysis was both qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative data was presented in narrative form while quantitative data was summarized using frequencies and percentages. The data collected was analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) computer software data analysis programme. The analyzed data was then presented by the researcher using pie charts, graphs, distribution tables and percentages. The study results revealed that according to majority of the respondents (73 %) teachers lose concentration due to family pressure. Study results showed that majority of the respondents (90%) indicated that teacher often carry extra work home from school. As a result of the work carried home, the findings of the study revealed that 65% of the respondents had their family members complain. The results also showed that majority of the respondents (75%) agreed that teacher often had problems with their seniors due to failure to beat deadlines. The results further revealed that 68% of the respondents indicated that teacher problem at work emanated from poor attitude. The results revealed that majority of the respondents (60%) indicated that gender biasness in schools had brought about confrontations. The results in show that most respondents (62%) indicated that informal groupings contributed to most tensions in the schools due to grapevine and group loyalty. The study recommended that the employers to balance the work by giving female teachers longer hours to attend to family issues, femaleteachers be given manageable work which will not exert much pressure on them thereby improving their performance, teacher issues of teachers be addressed with the aim of boosting their performance, the government through the TSC