The effects of free secondary education on teachers performance in Kenya public secondary schools: a case of Kwanza district -Kenya

Abstract

Teacher performance is very essential to the continuing growth of educational systems around the world. Early last year, the Kenyan government declared free Secondary education (FSE) in all public secondary schools. As students enrolment in public secondary schools continues to increase due to none payment of tuition fee. This study assessed the effects of free secondary education on teacher performance in Kenyan Public Secondary Schools. The objectives for this study were to; examine the effects of increased number of students in class on teacher performance; examine the effects of increased number of students in class on students performance; investigate the support and physical conditions provided to teachers to perform their duties; and to identify the possible solutions to challenges facing the performance of teachers in Kenya public secondary schools. A comparative study approach was adopted. In 2007 student performance was compared to 2008 performance basing on the newly formed Kwanza District in Rift-valley Province. A questionnaire was used to collect data from the teaching staff, head of the institutions and the students. The study is based on systems theory developed by Ludwig Von Bertalanfly (1936). Stratified random sampling technique was used to obtain a representative sample from boarding and day public secondary schools both mixed and boys/girls schools. The new district has a total of 24 public secondary schools. 50 % of the schools were selected randomly to give a total of 12 schools. The school principals, heads of departments, senior teachers, and teachers in the district comprised the target population. The school principals were selected purposively while the teachers and students were selected using simple random sampling in the sampled schools in the District. The study findings revealed that introduction of free secondary education has caused an increase in number of students in the schools and thus consequent strain in materials and infrastructure in the schools. The ability of the teacher to give instruction to students and getting results within an agreed framework of planned goals, standards and competency framework is adversely affected by the workload brought on board by the increased number of students in class. Teachers in an effort to overcome the challenges encountered are working extra hard and sometimes overtime. In particular, this study will be of benefit to education planners, policy makers, educators, academics and human resource development and strategic managers interested in empirical information methods to conceptualize the issue that will be raised in this study and provide them with useful suggestions that might help them improve secondary schooling in Kenya. Multiple audiences exist for any text, thus it is my intention that the academic community will also find this work a useful addition to school effectiveness and school improvement literature.