PERCIEVED SOCIOLOGICAL FACTORS INFLUENCING PERFORMANCE OF TEACHERS IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN IGEMBE SOUTH SUB-COUNTY, MERU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Society looks at the teacher as a principal agent in promoting socially responsible behaviour in young people. Motivated teachers are more likely to motivate students to learn and ensure the implementation of educational reforms and feelings of satisfaction and fulfilment. Teacher performance is a major preoccupation of the Teacher Service Commission. To enhance this Teacher Service Commission introduced Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development system to motivate, promote and establish a collective bargaining agreement for teachers. This was aimed at improving performance of teachers. Despite all these efforts the performance has remained low. This has drawn concern of various stakeholders like the ministry of education, parents, students as well as non-governmental organizations on the effectiveness of the factors put in place to motivate teachers in order to improve their performances. The study therefore, sought to establish the sociological factors that influence performance of teachers in public secondary schools in Igembe South Sub-County. The target population for the study comprised of 200 subjects. A sample size of 141 respondents made up of 1 Sub-County, 10 principals and 130 teachers was selected to participate in the study. Simple random sampling was used to select the 10 schools from the current total of twenty 20 schools and 13 teachers per the selected school. Purposive sampling was employed to select 10 principals and 1 Sub County Director of education. Data collection was done using questionnaires and interviews. A total of 16 respondents made up of 1 Sub-county director of education, 5 principals and 10 teachers participated in the Pilot study in the neighbouring Igembe-Central Sub-County. The validity of the instruments was enhanced through the expert judgment of the researcher’s supervisors and other experts. Reliability of instruments was estimated by use of Cronbach alpha method where a reliability coefficient of 0.845 was obtained. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data with the aid of Scientific Package for Social Sciences version 25.0. Qualitative data from interviews was organized into themes, categories and patterns pertinent to the study.Teacher performance was rated as good though some teacher failed to perform. The study established that work environment was influenced by; health and well-being, personal security, good supervision, praise, cordial relationship, decision making, trust, freedom of expression, guidance, feedback and school housing. The study established that, professional training and development like: in-service training, workshop and seminars, training as Kenya National Examination Council examiners, orientation and benchmarking would improve teacher performance. The study indicated that gender factors did not influence teacher performance much. The study established that economic status was influenced by: salary, incentives, allowances, pension schemes, credit facilities and medical schemes. The study concluded that work environment, professional training, gender factors and economic status had a significant influence on teacher performance. The study recommended that the government should ensure training of managers and principals, encourage in-service training, enhance gender balance on teachers promotion, offering incentives, rewarding and regularly review salaries and allowances. It is also hoped that the findings of study will help the Ministry of Education, TSC, school managers, teachers, parents and other policy makers to improve teacher performance. This study will provide a basis for further research on teacher performance.