The nexus between background instructional supervisors’ characteristics and instructional supervisors’ competences in Kenya

Abstract

The concern for having instructional supervisors with requisite instructional supervision background characteristics in the education sector has always been recognized globally. The purpose of this study was to investigate the background instructional characteristics of instructional supervisors in Nairobi and Machakos Counties, Kenya. The objectives of the study were: to establish the professional qualifications of instructional supervisors, ascertain their years of service as instructional supervisors, establish positions held by QASOs prior to appointment as QASOs, and to assess QASOs’ years of experience as teachers before appointment as QASOs. The study adopted ex post facto survey design and had a target population of 1481(N) persons which comprised of 365 school principal teachers, 17 SC-QASOs, 2 C-QASOs, 2 N-QASOs and 1095 HOD teachers. A sample of 460 (n-31%) respondents comprising of teachers (110 Principal teachers& 329 HOD teachers) and 21 QASOs were drawn from the target population. Purposive, stratified and simple random sampling were used to select the locale of the study and respondents used for the study. Data were collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. The major finding of this study was that instructional supervisors had requisite background characteristics in instructional supervision.