Challenges that head teachers face in school strategy implementation in public secondary schools in meru south district in kenya.

Abstract

Strategic management is defined as that process of coming up with informed decisions .that lead to successful attainment of institution objectives. In order to make proper decisions that will ensure success of school, proper strategies need to be developed. Strategy implementation involves putting into action the logically developed strategies that emerge from previous steps of the strategic management process. Schools are bound to fail in achieving their objectives if proper and effective strategies are not implemented. The responsibility of managing the Secondary Schools requires Head Teachers to have thorough knowledge on; change management when implementing a new strategy, dealing with School culture for smooth implementation of the strategy, relationship between the administrative structure and strategy implementation, different implementation approaches to follow and other skills necessary for successful strategy implementation. In addition to these skills, the Head Teacher as a manager is required to have adequate skills in planning, organizing, co-coordinating and evaluation. Other duties of the Head Teachers together with their committees or boards are being responsible for appointment of non-teaching staff, financial management, provision and maintenance of school facilities, management of staff welfare, and secretary to the B.o.G. In addition he appoints competent and experienced teachers among the teaching staff to be heads of departments where the T.S.C has not appointed and ensures continuous professional development of all staff. The Study aimed at identifying the major challenges faced by Head Teachers in strategy implementation in Meru South District and at the National level. The study also highlighted the existing strategy implementation practices by Head Teachers. The information from this study will be useful to the education sector both at the National and District levels. This study was carried out on the basis that the sampled Head Teachers had been involved in strategic planning for the time they had been in their schools. The study was limited to Meru South District in Eastern province. The ex-post facto research design was used. The researcher did not develop new treatments but examined the effects of naturally existing treatments. Random sampling was used to select thirty (30) Head Teachers out of the 41 head teachers in public schools in the District. Descriptive statistics were used for final analysis and results.