Principals’ Management Practices Influence on Implementation of Safety Policy in Public Secondary Schools in Makueni County, Kenya
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Date
2025-04
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Kenyatta University
Abstract
School principals play a crucial role in the management of schools in Kenya. They
have a responsibility to implement school safety policy in collaboration with other
stakeholders. Despite the efforts that have been made, school safety is still an issue of
concern in most secondary schools in Makueni County. There have been allegations
that a significant number of secondary schools have not effectively implemented
MOE school safety policy. For instance, cases of occurrence of school fires, student
unrests and bullying among secondary schools in this County between the year 2019
and 2022 were on the rise. Arson attacks and unrests have led to destruction of school
property, injuries and in sometimes death of students. Such challenges disrupt
learning process and can cause psychological trauma to the learners, teachers and
parents. The aim of this research was to examine the impact of principal management
styles on the implementation of school safety regulations in public secondary schools
located in Makueni County. The objective of the study was to: find out how
principals’ financial management practices influence implementation of school safety
policy, establish the influence of creating awareness in school on safety on the
implementation of school safety policy, determine the influence of involvement of
stakeholders on the implementation of school safety policy, and establish the
challenges that principals face in the implementation of school safety policy in public
secondary schools in Makueni County. The study was based on Hopkins’ (1977) basic
needs approach to planning theory, and used descriptive survey design. The target
population of the study was 51 public secondary schools in Makueni County with 510
teachers, 51 principals and 1 Quality Assurance and Standards Officer (QASO). The
study used purposive sampling technique to sample 15 schools and 15 principals. 166
teachers in total were chosen through a straightforward random sampling process
from 15 different schools. SPSS Version 28 was used to analyze the study's data. For
the piloting, two schools that had characteristics in common with the sampled schools
were chosen. Expert judgment was employed to assess the validity of the research
tools. To evaluate the reliability of the instruments, Cronbach Alpha was used. Tables
and graphs displaying descriptive statistics, including means and percentages, were
utilized to analyze quantitative data. The qualitative data were examined using
thematic analysis. The implementation of school safety rules and principals' financial
management techniques were shown to be significantly and favorably connected (r
=.58, p <.05.). The implementation of school safety and raising awareness were
significantly and favorably correlated (r =.82, p <.05. There was a significant and
positive correlation between involvement of stakeholders on school safety, and
implementation of school safety, r = .69, p<.05. The study's findings suggest that
principals' financial management practices, their involvement in raising safety
awareness, and their involvement in involving stakeholders in safety matters in public
secondary schools in Makueni County all have an impact on how well school safety
policies are implemented. These findings could be used to provide guidance to the
Ministry of Education on how to improve school safety in secondary schools in
Kenya. Specifically, the Ministry of Education should come up with strategies for
making sure that staff and students are well-informed about safety issues. The
ministry can incorporate this in teachers’ training and make it part of teachers’
continuous development. Despite the limited resources within schools to effectively
support school safety programs as revealed by the study, teachers and principals
should innovatively device ways of addressing safety matters in schools.
Description
A Research Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Education (Educational Administration) in School of Education and Lifelong Learning, Kenyatta University April 2025
Supervisor:
1.. Hellen Kiende Guantai