Factors Influencing Principals’ Leadership for ICT Integration in Public Secondary Schools Management in Bungoma County, Kenya

Abstract

In this 21^st century, there is global recognition of integrating Information Communication Technology (ICT) as a contemporary tool for best management practices. The Kenya government ICT Policy and strategy (2006) encourages ICT integration in school management for quality service delivery. The government further entered into partnership with development agencies and private organizations to promote ICT integration. By so doing, the government had at heart school principals to exact their leadership overseeing successful integration. However, despite the efforts, progress has been short of expectations. For instance in Kajiado County, 51% of teachers lacked Internet accessibility, 55% lacked administrative support for professional development in ICT while in Kakamega County, 61.9% of schools lacked ICT technical support and 57.1% had inadequately trained staff in ICT use. In Bungoma County, over 75% of public secondary schools have 1-10 computers and 25% have 11-40 and electricity installed. Even with this ICT infrastructure, principals’ hardly integrated ICT in management due to deficits in operational budgets which raised questions on principals’ leadership as key players in ICT integration hence the need for this study. This paper sought to determine factors influencing principals’ leadership for ICT integration in PSSM in Bungoma County, Kenya. This study adopted Hasan (1998) Activity Theory which states that whole work activity is broken into three parts namely subject, tool and object. Descriptive survey research design was employed. The study population comprised of 272 Principals and 272 Deputy Principals (DPs) and 272 Director of Studies (DOS) Saturated sampling technique was utilized to select 245 DPs while simple random sampling technique was utilized to select 82 principals and 123 DOS. Data collection instruments were Interview Schedule, Questionnaire, Observation Checklist and Document Analysis Guide. Validity was ascertained by revising the instruments based on feedback from experts in the School of Education, Maseno University. A test re-test method was used and Cronbach alpha (α) reliabilities of the instruments which were above 0.70 threshold was therefore acceptable. Mixed methods approach was used in data collection and analysis. The study revealed that 62.2% of the respondents cited finance and administrative support and 64.6% cited attitude as factors influencing principals’ leadership for ICT integration in PSSM. It was concluded that financial and administrative support was inadequate. The study recommended that MOE should increase its budgetary allocation and mount an in-service program on principals’ leadership to enhance ICT integration skills.

Keywords: Factors, Influencing Principals’ Leadership, ICT, Integration