Thesis:

An investigation on the influence of school staffing on Learners’ academic performance in secondary schools in Keiyo South Sub-county, Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of school staffing on learners’ academic performance in secondary schools in Keiyo South Sub-County.The study sought to achieve the following objectives: to find out the influence of teacher/student ratio on academic performance, to determine the influence of teachers work load on learners academic performance, to establish the influence of teachers’ training on learners academic performance and to determine the influence of teachers subject specialization on learners academic performance. The study used production function theory by Hanushek (2007) and Administrative theory by Galabawa (1990). The study adopted cross-sectional research design by use of concurrent mixed methodology. The target population for the study was 31 principals and 347 teachers. Stratified simple random sampling and purposive sampling method was used to select the respondents’ teachers and principals respectively. This implies that 31 head teachers and 182 teachers participated in this study. The validity of research instruments was ascertained by indepth discussion with the expert judgement before proceeding to the field. Reliability of the instruments was also ascertained through test-retest method at an interval of two weeks to respondents who did not participate in the actual study. Credibility of Research Instruments was attained by triangulation method where information was collected from principals and teachers. Dependability of instruments was attained when the researcher reported in detail to enable an external researcher to repeat and achieve similar results. Piloting of research was carried out in Keiyo North Sub-county where the researcher selected 10 principals and 20 teachers. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. The quantitative and qualitative data collected was collected and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics; Descriptive statistics involved the use of frequencies and percentages while inferential statistics involved the use of Pearson Correlation Analysis and the qualitative data was analyzed thematically and presented in narrative form. The study concluded that a majority of teachers believed that smaller classes in secondary schools could enhance students’ academic performance. It further emerged that there was a statistically negative significant relationship between teacher/student ratio and students’ academic performance in secondary schools. In addition, majority of the teachers believed that reducing teachers’ workload could enhance students’ academic performance. Similarly, there was a statistically significant and negative relationship between teachers’ workload and students’ academic performance in secondary schools. The study findings further showed that a majority of teachers believed that effectiveness of teachers in handling students positively enhances students’ academic achievement. The study further showed that there was a significant and positive relationship between teachers’ training and students’ academic performance in secondary schools. Similarly, majority of the teachers believed that employment of more trained BOM teachers with required subject specialization could ease teachers’ workload and improve on students’ academic performance. The study recommended that there is need for TSC to increase the number of teachers in secondary schools to reduce teachers’ workload since high teachers’ workload translates to ineffective teaching leading to poor students’ academic performance. In addition, there is need for teachers to be provided with in-service training in subject areas to boost learners academic performance.