Quality of Education in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya: Does Teacher Motivation Matter?

Abstract

Quality of education has remained at the heart of educational administration over the years. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which teacher motivation levels influence quality of education in public secondary schools in Kenya. The study was guided by the general systems theory. The study used a correlational research design focusing on a target population of 7,325 secondary school principals and 65000 public secondary school teachers employed by the Teachers Service Commission. Based on social economic potential of a region, the study purposefully sampled Kitui, Kisii and Nairobi counties to represent low, medium and high social-economic potential counties in Kenya respectively. Stratified sampling was used to classify schools in these counties into National, Extra County, County and sub County categories. The three counties have a school population of 783 (11 national, 34 extra county, 120 county, and 618 sub county schools) and 8617 teachers giving a sample population of 260 schools and 368 teachers. By stratified proportionate sampling, the study sample consisted of 4 national schools, 11 extra county schools, 40 county schools and 205 sub county schools. The schools were randomly selected in each category to ensure representativeness of all school types. The instruments used to collect data included the teachers questionnaire, principals’ questionnaire and observation guide. Reliability coefficient for the questionnaires was 0.7 for teacher questionnaire and 0.72 for principals questionnaire. Data was analyzed using frequencies, percentages, means, T- test, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficients and regression analysis. The findings revealed that there was a positive correlation between teacher motivation and quality of education. From the regression analysis, teacher motivation levels predict KCSE mean score at 6.5.There is need for a structured teacher incentive policy for teachers. The award of incentive should focus on teacher performance and student achievement.

Keywords: quality of education, teacher motivation, student achievement