INFLUENCE OF STUDENTS’ COUNCIL LEADERSHIP SKILLS ON MANAGEMENT OF DISCIPLINE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN MBEERE SOUTH SUB-COUNTY, EMBU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Management of students’ discipline is a critical component in attainment of positive outcomes in schools. In an effort to manage students’ discipline, Government of Kenya (GoK) introduced the following strategies; democratic election of students leaders, presentation of undisciplined students before court of law, presentation of indiscipline students to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and strengthening of guidance and counseling (G&C) departments in schools. However, cases of indiscipline have continued to be reported in schools. The study sought to determine the influence of students’ council leadership skills: conflict resolution, peer mentoring, decision-making and communication on management of discipline in public secondary schools in Mbeere South Sub-County, Embu County, Kenya. The study had four objectives. Four hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study used correlational research design. Stratified random sampling was used to select 18 schools from the target population of 53 public secondary schools. The deputy principals were purposively selected while students’ council leaders were proportionately and randomly sampled from the sample frame such that larger proportions of the sample were drawn from the schools that had more students’ council leaders. The sample size was 272 comprising 22 deputy principals and 250 students’ council leaders. Questionnaires were used to collect data from the students’ council leaders and deputy principals. The instruments were piloted in four secondary schools purposively selected in Mbeere North Sub-County. The researcher used Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient method to estimate the reliability of the research instruments and correlation coefficient value of at least 0.70 and above was considered appropriate. In this study reliability of students’ council leaders’ questionnaire was 0.848 while that of deputy principals was 0.924. The researcher ascertained validity of the instruments by presenting them to experts in the Department of Education. Quantitative data gathered was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26. Descriptive data analysis was presented in form of mean, standard deviation, percentage and frequencies. The hypotheses were tested using linear regression model. The study established that students’ council leaders’ skills of conflict resolution, peer mentoring, decision-making and communication influenced management of discipline in public secondary schools. The study recommended: allocation of funds to students’ council activities in schools’ annual budget; evaluation of students’ councils inputs in management of schools; design and development of curriculum on leadership skills; performance appraisal for students’ council leaders; monitoring of students’ council’s activities by Ministry of Education (MoE). It is hoped that the findings will be significant to school principals, teachers, students’ council leaders and educational policy makers in coming up with strategies to manage students’ discipline. The findings also provide additional literature on the management of students’ discipline in secondary schools in Kenya. The findings may also influence the practices of school administrations in management of students’ discipline.