Impact of Teacher Performance Appraisal on Teaching and Learning in Secondary Schools in Maara Sub County Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya

Abstract

Teaching and learning involves mastering abstract principles, understanding proofs, remembering factual information, acquiring methods, techniques and approaches, recognition, reasoning, debating ideas, or developing behavior appropriate to specific situations; it is about change. Raising teacher performance is the policy direction most likely to lead to substantial gains in student learning. The objective of teacher performance appraisal is to enhance teaching and learning. However, despite the elaborate process of teachers performance appraisal put in place by the TSC, the students‘ academic performance of Maara sub-county in KCSE has been on the decline, this raise the question on whether teacher performance appraisal has impacted on teaching and learning. The study sought to determine the impact of teachers‘ performance appraisal on teaching and learning in Maara Sub County, Tharaka Nithi. The study was guided by Cognitive theories of learning and Taylors Performance monitoring theory. The researcher adopted descriptive survey design and correlational research design. Descriptive survey was used to investigate the status and condition of teacher performance appraisal while correlational design was useful to test for relationship between the independent and dependent variables. The target population was 533 subjects comprising of 49 principals, 483 teachers teaching in 49 public secondary schools in Maara Sub-county and 1 Quality Assurance and Standards Officer (QASO). Stratified sampling was used to select 35 schools, the principal of each of 35 schools were purposively selected since they were the immediate supervisors and acted as appraisers. From the 35 schools selected, 6 teachers from each school were selected randomly giving a total of 210 teachers who took part in the study. The QASO was purposively selected given his role in teachers‘ performance appraisal. Questionnaires for teachers and head teachers were used in collection of data. An interview schedule was used for the QASO. A pilot study was conducted in five schools in the neighboring Chuka Igambang‘ombe sub County which has similar. A Cronbach‘s Alpha coefficient was used for reliability testing revealed a reliability coefficient of 0.806 hence data was considered reliable for the research. Data collected was both qualitative and quantitative. Analysis of Quantitative data collected was aided by SPSS programme Version 23.0. Data analysis was done using inferential statistics and results were presented in cross tabulations, frequency and percentages. Pearson‘s correlation and linear regression analysis were used in analysing data. The results obtained implied that there was a significant relationship between target setting, documentation, classroom observation and teaching and learning in secondary schools in Maara Sub-county. It was found out that learners need to be involved in the target setting activity, that there is need to digitize the documentation process and large class sizes adversely affect teaching and learning in secondary schools in Maara Sub-county. The researcher recommends that the Government should carefully design coherent formats for target setting and instructional strategies to be followed from start to finish, government and school administration should digitize the documentation required to be prepared by teachers and Government and other stakeholders need to prioritize reducing the current large class sizes which can be achieved by construction of more classes and employing more teachers. The study will be significant to the policy makers, TSC, teacher training institution, teachers and teacher trainees by providing useful information enabling them to make informed decisions.