The impact of training on performance of secondary school head teachers in Kitui District

Abstract

Training is a planned process to modify attitudes, knowledge or skill behavior through learning experience to achieve effective performance in an activity or range of activities, as defined in the glossary of training terms (Dessler, 2001). The emphasis is on planned process and effective performance. Training also refers to the methods used to guide new or present employees on the skills they need to perform their job. It might thus mean showing a mechanic how to operate his new machine, a new sales man how to sell his firms products, or a new supervisor how to interview and appraise employees (Dessler, 2001). Training and development therefore entails a deliberately planned process that is carried in a systematic fashion and aimed at bringing about effective performance. The performance of any organization is dependent on the quality of its workforce. The general view is that training and development leads to improved employees performance and that organizations should therefore invest in training and development. The study seeks to examine whether management training and development is an essential tool in enhancing the productivity of head teachers in public secondary schools in Kenya. This will be made possible by studying the kind of management training and development programmes that are available for the public schools head teachers in a bid to examine the various variables relating to performance, success and survival of the schools that they head. The study also tries to asses the various aspects of performance such as increased productivity, increased efficiency, improved quality levels, improved morale, with regard to specific management training and development methods adopted by the Ministry of Education for the public secondary schools head teachers in Kenya. The scope of the study was limited to the Kitui District. The target population was the 60 public secondary schools head teachers in Kitui District. In this target population a sample of 30 head teachers was drawn by stratified random sampling technique. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages, frequencies and measures of central tendencies through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer package. From the findings, the study concluded that that there is a relationship between training and development and performance in secondary schools. This is because, training gives the head teachers a chance to look positively at the job, it motivates them and also it presented some new ideas and approaches. The training also is appropriate to the head teachers needs and also the training helped in improving their performance.