Publication:

Effects of contracted teachers on quality education (a case of secondary schools in Kieni East District, Kenya)

This study sought to explore the effects of contract teachers on quality of education in secondary schools in Kieni East District, Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives: To determine whether the contract teachers increase education accessibility in remote areas where regular teachers are disinclined to serve, to determine the effects that the contract teachers have on quality education and to find out the level of academic performance in secondary schools since the inception of contract teachers. The literature addressed country experience in the use of contract teachers, the experience of francophone west and central African countries, objectives served by contract teachers, the experience of Kenya, access, quality, equity and impact on the quality of the teaching profession. The study used descriptive survey design. The idea behind qualitative methods is to measure variables by asking people questions and then to examine relationships between the variables. Surveys also attempt to capture attitude or patterns of past behaviour. About the only options are whether to ask people questions once or over time. Most surveys commonly use the cross-sectional design, which asks questions at one point in time. The reason for choosing this design is that data for all objectives will be collected and adequately analyzed. The target population was all teachers in secondary schools in Kieni East District. The total number of teachers is 300. This study adopted the systematic random sampling technique to get a manageable sample from the target population. All the teachers were coded and every third teacher selected for study. This translated to 100, the sample size studied. In this study, the researcher used structured interview guides to measure the variables. Target questions were used in the interview guide. Target questions addressed the investigative questions of the study. The interview guide had both open- ended questions and closed questions. Open-ended questions were used to seek in-depth information while closed questions were easily analyzed and understood. The data obtained from the interviews was compared and interpreted. The data was checked for extremes such as consensus responses to disagree or agree with them. The data was then coded so as to allow for statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to answer the research questions and objectives in relation to the research questions. The data was then analyzed using the Microsoft Excel Package. The results from the data analysis were interpreted; inferences made and presented descriptively using percentage charts, and frequency tables. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used for data analysis. The study realized the following findings: 1. Contract teachers seemed to affect education accessibility in the area of study. 2. Contract teachers improved the quality of education in the area of study. 3. Better academic performance was recorded where there were contract teacher