Analysis of time management strategies for instruction in public secondary schools in Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya

Abstract

This study was aimed at analyzing how teachers spent instructional time in public secondary schools in Elgeyo Marakwet County. Some schools do well others do not depending on many factors. One of the most important teaching resource is time, hence the purpose of this study. The objectives of the study were; to examine how teachers prepare for teaching with time allocated, to establish how teachers manage interruptions during teaching time, to find the effect of class completion of syllabus on learning achievement, to determine teachers’ commitment on instruction and to establish teachers’ attitude towards time management on instruction in public secondary schools in Elgeyo Marakwet County. The study employed the Pickle Jar Theory of time management advanced by Wright. It applied descriptive survey research design. Stratified random sampling was used to select 23 schools from 75 public secondary schools in the county. Stratified random sampling was used to select the teaching subjects; biology, physics, agriculture, English and geography for the study. Purposive sampling was used to select 23 directors of studies, while simple random sampling was used to select 115 teachers as respondents making the total number of respondents 138. Data was collected using questionnaires, individual interview schedule and document analysis. Research instruments validity was checked by expert review. The reliability of the study instruments was done using test re-test technique and was found to have a co-efficient of (r) = 0.89 which was considered reliable. Analysis of data was done using SPSS software. The results were analyzed and presented using frequency count, percentages, tables and statement descriptions. The major findings of the study were; teachers did not prepare adequately for teaching effectively within allocated time, teaching interruptions reduced teaching time, teachers would teach during unofficial hours of school in order to cover syllabus on time, early completion of syllabus did not translate to good performance, teachers in the county were committed to their teaching job and that teaches had good attitude towards time management strategies in teaching. The study conclusions were; most teachers did not prepare adequately for teaching and as a result would lose a lot of teaching time, teaching interruptions were common, teachers would conduct lessons on unstipulated teaching time of school, early completion of syllabus did not translate to good performance. The main recommendations of this study were; there was need to in-service teachers on lesson preparation to manage effectively allocated teaching time, teachers should not allow unplanned activities to interrupt their teaching time except a few which should be educational in nature, teachers should not teach during unofficial time of school to cover syllabus instead such time could be used for remedial teaching, teachers should emphasize more on quality teaching as opposed to early completion of syllabus. The research findings and recommendations would be useful to teachers, school administrators, government officers and students.