Administrative challenges faced by secondary school headteachers in Starehe Division, Nairobi

Abstract

The secondary school head teacher has the responsibility of ensuring that the school performs well. The successful accomplishment of this task requires that the head teacher excels in various administrative tasks which include management of staff, pupil personnel, and finance and school community relations. This study sought to examine the challenges experienced by head teachers as they perform their duties and to investigate the extent to which these challenges hinder their performance. The literature review covered school administration, role of head teacher and their management tasks. The relationship between performance and headship was also underscored All the nine public secondary schools in Starehe division participated in the study. Random sampling was used to pick one school for piloting and the remaining used in the actual study. Questionnaires and Interview schedule were the key instruments of data collection. From the analysis of data, it was noted that management of curriculum and instruction is the biggest challenge faced especially in the wake of free primary and secondary education programmes, which have seen a marked increase in student population. Student personnel as a task area also posed a major challenge given the increased cases of truancy because of overcrowded classrooms. It was concluded that the challenges faced could only be eased by increased funding, recruitment of personnel and expansion of facilities to accommodate the rising student population and demand for successful running of core and extra curricula programmes.