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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. |
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