Effectiveness of school partnership with stakeholders in the Management of secondary schools in Makueni District, Makueni county.

Abstract

The study sought to investigate the effectiveness of school partnership with stakeholders in themanagement of secondary schools in Makueni District, Makueni County, Kenya. It aimed at finding out the effectiveness of school partnership with stakeholders in the management of schools, the impact of accountability among stakeholders in the management of schools and the challenges faced by stakeholders in the management of schools. This study was based on Macgregor Burns, theory (1978) on transformational leadership theory. The research provided information that can be used by the policy makers, ministry of education, students, principals and parents teachers Association to understand the various roles of stakeholders, help them come up with policies and strategies of addressing the effectiveness of school partnership with stakeholders and motivate future researchers to identify other factors with a view to establishing the role each factor plays in the overall school performance. The study provided information which will add scarce literature on the effectiveness of school partnership with various stakeholders in the country. The researcher used a descriptive survey design based on a target sample population from Makueni district, Makueni County. The sample size included 9 (100%) principals, 67 (33.5%) student council, 18 (50%) PTA representatives and 54 (40.9%) teachers making a total of 148 respondents. Schools were selected using census method. Principals from the schools were also selected using census. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the teachers, student council and the PTA members. The researcher used interview schedules and questionnaires for data collection. Reliability of the instrument used in the study was done by piloting in two secondary schools in Mulaani zone in Makueni County. The researcher requested for a permit from the County Director to obtain permission to carry out the research. The data was analyzed qualitatively. The coded questionnaire responses were analyzed using statistical package for social sciences. The major findings were that there is effective school partnership with stakeholders in the management of secondary schools; however it was found out that the stakeholders faced challenges in the management of schools which needs to be tackled. Recommendations were made that, the stakeholders should liase with the school management and be given chance to make decisions pertaining the school. Stakeholders such as parents, students and the teachers should be given opportunity by the management to hold frequent meetings in order to discuss the matters concerning the management of the school. Stakeholders should be accountable in their level of performance and each should have full responsibility in performing their duties. Communication within the school should be made clear and in a language that every member should understand. The leadership style used in the management should be appropriate and suitable. Suggestions for further research were done and the researcher concluded that possible direction for future research in the area could be the investigation of school partnership with stakeholders and academic performance of students in secondary schools. A research needs to be conducted on the effects of school partnership with stakeholders and its impact on students’ performance in KCSE. There is need for a research to be conducted on the school preparedness in relation to academic performance. Further research needs to be conducted on the effects of motivating the principals on academic performance of the students.