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.