enhancing democratic school governance in public secondary schools in kenya: principals experiences and practices

Abstract

This study set out to explore school principals’ experiences and practice in enhancing democratic school governance in public secondary schools in Kenya. Specific objectives of the study were to establish the extent of democratization in schools, to establish practices and processes in schools that enhance democratic school governance, to examine the school principal perception of democratic school Governance and to establish the challenges principals face in enhancing democratic school governance. The study utilized cross-sectional descriptive survey strategy that employed mixed methods approach of inquiry in a sequential procedure. The target population of the study was 122 principals, teachers, parents and 244 students of public secondary school in Baringo County. The study sample was selected from 92 schools using stratified and simple random and purposive sampling. Respondents included 92 principals, 92 teachers’ representatives, and 184 students. Interview schedules were developed and administered to two principals of schools with fairly established democratic practices. This gave a total of 370 respondents. Questionnaires were developed and administered to the principals, teachers and students of the sampled schools. Content validity was ensured by expert judgment. On the other hand, internal consistency reliability of the instruments was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha Coefficient on the piloted questionnaire. Data was collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as means and frequencies to summarize data and inferential statistics: regression model, ANOVA and t test were used to test difference between means scores of variables in the study hypothesis. Data obtained from interview were analyzed qualitatively using content analysis and actual verbatim were also used. The findings of the study indicated that; there is still need for school principals to be enlightened on how to lead schools democratically, opportunities for student participation in school governance was minimal and that most principals do not interact freely with teachers. The findings of the study also revealed that there is a significant relationship between practices and processes put in place by school principal and democratic school governance (F=32.393; R=0.76; R 2 =0.577) and the constrains to democracy in schools include; parents apathy, lack of proper communication, curriculum, time and lack of training among stakeholders. The study recommends that the Ministry of Education should develop a policy on education for democracy for schools; students should be given substantial role when setting up school rules and that principals should engender parents’ participation in school governance. It is anticipated that the findings of the study will inform the Ministry of Education on training needs of school principals and Board of Management with regard to democratic management of schools. It will also shade light on the importance of student participation in school governance and school principals’ will have in depth knowledge on how to create a democratic culture in their schools.