An Exploration of How Peace Building Meetings as a Form of Stakeholders’ Collaboration Affects Management of Conflict in Secondary Schools in Narok County, Kenya

Abstract

Collaboration by all stakeholders in education could drastically reduce conflicts being continuously witnessed in the education sector in Kenya. These conflicts have led to undesirable results like teachers’ strikes, sit-ins, go-slows, students’ unrests among others. Thus the main purpose of this study was to explore how peace building meetings as a form of stakeholders’ collaboration affect management of conflict in secondary schools in Narok County, Kenya. The objective of the study was to establish whether peace building meetings affect conflict management in secondary schools in Narok County. The study was guided by the Stakeholders’ theory and Interest-based Relational Approach. The study adopted the mixed methodology and an exploratory design.  A sample of 371 respondents were selected from the population from stakeholders who included: secondary school principals, teachers, BOM members, PTA officials, sponsors, ministry of Education officials, teachers unions’ representatives and TSC officials in Narok County. Clustered random sampling was used to select the respondents in the study. Purposeful sampling was used to automatically select principals, BOM, PTA and sponsors from the schools sampled. Validity was established by requesting two supervisors and other experts to indicate whether each item in the research tools is relevant or not then the calculated content validity index indicated that the tools were valid. Reliability was established by use of test retest, the split half reliability method and trustworthiness through dependability and reliability. The research tools were piloted in two schools not included in the study but with similar characteristics with the target population. Data collection method involved use of questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions.  Data analysis was facilitated by use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. Descriptive statistics in form of frequency distribution, percentages, means and standard deviations were used and data presented in form of graphs and tables. Inferential statistics was in form of Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient, ANOVA, Regression Analysis and Chi-square test. Thematic content analysis was used for qualitative data. This study revealed that peace building meetings do influence management of conflict and create stability and cohesion among stakeholders in secondary schools. It is therefore recommended that peace building be utilized in conflict management.

Keywords: Peace building, Stakeholders, Collaboration.