Effectiveness of performance evaluation system of teachers in secondary schools in Meru Central District - Kenya

Abstract

Performance Evaluation System is one of the tools that have been used over time to appraise employee performance in terms of quality, quantity, cost and time. Performance Evaluation (PE) is essential for the effective management, development and evaluation of staff. As different organizations have different modalities of evaluating their human resource, for many years the Ministry of Education has been evaluating secondary school teachers through their Principals for assessing the teachers' performance and as a measure for promotion and salary increment. However, it had been observed that the teacher evaluations were no longer done in some of the schools and even when done, teacher evaluation policies and practices in Kenyan secondary schools exhibited weaknesses. This study therefore, attempted to evaluate the current system of performance evaluation among secondary school teachers in Meru Central District. Specifically, the study sought to; assess the performance evaluation system currently used to evaluate teachers in secondary schools, examine the applicability of the performance evaluation process and its effectiveness and establish the challenges accruing while evaluating secondary school teachers. The study was guided by Vroom's Expectancy Theory, which indicates how effort, performance and rewards influence both individual and organization's overall performance. The main research design adopted was survey method. Simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 200 from the 1260 teachers from secondary schools in Meru Central District who served as respondents. The respondents were given a TSC teachers' performance evaluation form to study and a standard Questionnaire to fill. Other data collection methods adopted were informal discussions and key informant interviews. The data was analyzed descriptively. Arising from the study were findings that the current Evaluation System does not live up to the expectations when applied in secondary schools to some extent. In terms of implementation the P.E. system has been implemented in almost 80% of the schools. However failures and challenges also emerged that affected the implementation of the P.E system but these can easily be mitigated upon. In spite of the challenges the study concluded that P.E system was appropriate for teacher appraisal that can be relied on by TSC and the Ministry of Education. Arising from the findings, it is the recommendation of this study that evaluation of teachers in secondary schools in Kenya be used as a tool in planning by TSC and the Ministry of Education.