Efficacies of the Kenya Education Management Institute Induction Course in the Management of Public Primary Schools in Kenya

Abstract

In order to address performance gaps in management of public primary schools and provision of quality education, the Ministry of Education periodically supports head teachers of primary schools to undertake induction courses in education management. One of the many induction courses supported and organised by the Ministry of Education (MoE) is the Induction Course in Educational Management (ICEM). ICEM is organised by Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI) for head teachers of public primary schools where they are taken through best management practices to be adopted and implemented in schools. Despite the head teachers undertaking this induction courses, poor management of public primary schools is a perennial problem in many schools. Despite the enormous resources set aside by the Government of Kenya (GoK) for induction courses, poor management of primary schools affects the provision of quality education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacies of ICEM in-service training in order to establish its impact on management of public primary schools in Nairobi County. The specific objective of this study was to examine the procedures used in the selection and preparation of head teachers for ICEM in-service training. The study was anchored on Quality Management System’s theory.The study employed a descriptive research design. The target population for the study were public primary schools head teachers, chairpersons of Boards of Management (BOM), senior teachers, subordinate staff members, school prefects and KEMI staff trainers. Stratified random sampling was used to select the target population for this study. Data for the study was collected using structured questionnaires and was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer software. This study established that despite the fact that ICEM training were considered to be pertinent in the management of the schools’ resources such as finances, curriculum, plant and human resources, it was revealed that there were no proper policy guidelines on head teacher selection and preparation for ICEM training. The study concludes that time allocated for the trainings were inadequate and lack of follow-ups were challenges that hampered effectiveness of the training. Therefore, this study recommends that the Ministry of Education (MoE) should develop clear policies and guidelines on selection and orientation of head teachers for in-service training. Further, this study recommends that KEMI in partnership with the MoE should review timelines of the trainings and develop a sustainable model of evaluating results or effectiveness of the ICEM training in management of public primary schools in Kenya.

Keywords: Efficacy, Education Management and Induction

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-18-04

Publication date:June 30^th 2019