Influence of Principals role in setting direction on academic performance: Perceptions in Public Secondary Schools in Kisumu County, Kenya.

Abstract

Principals play a vital role in providing leadership for delivery of quality education in schools, they are continually held accountable for their schools’ performance in national examinations. Some schools have experienced conflicts between stakeholders and principals over the same. Due to this 5% (10 out of 204) principals in Kisumu County have been deployed as classroom teachers while 24.5% have been transferred. This study established the influence of setting direction as an aspect of transformational leadership practices by principals on students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Kisumu County.. The objective of the study was: to determine perceptions of teachers and students on the influence of principals’role in setting directions on academic performance in public secondary schools in Kisumu County. The study used a descriptive   survey research design. The target population was 204 public secondary schools, 204 principals, 2196 teachers’ and 13,213 form 3 students. The sample comprised 152 schools selected through stratified sampling, purposive sampling was used to select 152 principals and form 3 classes. Simple random was used to select 333teachers and 378 students. Data was collected using questionnaires, interviews, direct observation and document analysis. Validity of the instruments was done by expert opinion, a test retest was done to determine the reliability of the instruments and a reliability index of 0.833 was reported. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically, while quantitative data analyzed descriptively using percentages, frequencies, mean and standard deviation. Hypothesis was tested at α= .05 level of significance, The level of significance used was 95% (α= 0.05) and where p ˂ 0.05, one hypothesis was formulated; ₍ 16H01"> :  There is no significant influence on principals setting directions on students’ academic performance,  it was concluded that setting directions by the principals had a significant influence on the academic performance p = .002, p ˂=0.05), The study concluded that principal role in setting direction has a significant influence on academic performance of students.

Key words; Setting direction, Academic performance

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-2-14