Leadership Practices and Academic Performance of City Public Primary Schools in Kenya

Abstract

In recent years, performance in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations by public schools has been on a steady decline. Studies have revealed that, school leaders, especially head teachers, have a critical role to play in setting high expectations and monitoring the learning outcomes which ultimately translates to improved academic performance. This study sought to examine the influence of specific leadership practices namely: goal setting, staff professional development, promotion of supportive learning environment and monitoring of pupil learning on academic performance of city public primary schools in Kenya. The study was guided by four theories; goal setting theory, transformational leadership theory, humanistic learning theory and instructional leadership theory. The study adopted a concurrent embedded mixed methods research design. The target population was drawn from 924 public primary schools in Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa with a total of 14025 teachers. The sample size comprised of 330 teachers, calculated using Kathuri and Pals (1993) formula and 30 head teachers obtained by census, making a total of 360 respondents. The study employed proportionate and stratified random sampling to select five Sub-Counties and 30 schools that participated in the study. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to collect primary data while secondary data was collected through document analysis. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze quantitative data whereas qualitative data was analyzed thematically. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the null hypotheses. The study findings showed that each of the four identified leadership practices; goal setting, staff professional development, supportive learning environment and monitoring of pupil learning had a positive and significant influence on school academic performance. The study recommended that, head teachers in public primary schools should: Work together with other education stakeholders in setting goals that can improve academic performance; encourage participation of all teachers in professional development programs; collaborate with other stakeholders to promote supportive learning environment in schools; frequently monitor the teaching and learning process for improved academic performance. There is also need for the government to ensure that all head teachers in public primary schools are trained on effective leadership practices that improve academic performance as evidenced by this study.