Determinants of effective implementation of institutional strategic planning in public Secondary Schools in Eldoret West Sub-County Uasin-Gishu County, Kenya

Abstract

Despite the evident benefits of strategic planning, many schools in Kenya have come up with strategic plans as directed by the Ministry of Education. There are those who have successfully accomplished their set objective but some continue to struggle with various management challenges which affect the implementation of their strategic plans. The purpose of the study was to investigate determinants of effective implementation of institutional strategic planning in Eldoret West sub-county public secondary schools; Uasin Gishu county. The study was guided by the following objectives; to determine the extent to which leadership influence effective implementation of strategic planning in public secondary schools, to establish the extent to which financial resource allocation affects the implementation of strategic planning in public secondary schools and to determine the influence of policy framework on the effective implementation of institutional strategic planning. The theory that guided this study was derived from Henry Fayol’s theory of principles of management. The current study adopted a descriptive survey design using mixed methodology. The study targeted 53 principals and 724 teachers. Krecjie and Morgan determination formula was used to obtain 276 teachers and 16 principals. The sampling procedures which were used in this research included, stratified, simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques. Questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data from teachers while interviews were used to collect qualitative information from the principals. The validity of the research instruments was determined through expert judgment while reliability was obtained through piloting and use of Croncbach Alpha where a correlation coefficient of 0.79 was obtained on teachers’ questionnaire. Quantitative data was analyzed through the use of frequencies and percentages and inferential statistics while qualitative data was thematically analyzed. The study found out a significant positive relationship between leadership r =0.559) and implementation of strategic plans, a significant strong positive correlation (r = .894; p = .000) between financial resources and strategic plan implementation and a significant positive correlation (r = .651; p = .000) between policy framework and strategic plan implementation in secondary schools. The study recommended that there is need for secondary school leadership to have the competencies required for effective implementation of strategic plans. These competencies include idealized characteristics, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration. In addition, the study further recommends that there is need for budgeting of available resources.