Public Secondary Schools

Causes of School Dropout among Public Secondary School Students in Ifakara Town Council, Tanzania (Published)

This study aimed at exploring causes of students’ dropout in public secondary schools in Ifakara Town Council, Morogoro. The study employed a mixed approach. The study involved 128 participants including 1 DEO, 7 heads of school, and 120 dropout students. Data was collected through questionnaires and interviews. Quantitative data were analysed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 while qualitative data were analysed through content analysis. The findings of the study revealed that low economic status of the respondents’ family was the leading cause of school dropout in the study area; the parents failed to meet school expenses and support their children education. Also, students missed school to do home responsibilities like taking care of their young siblings while the parents were working. Parents’ low level of education made them to have low income and not to value the education of their children. Children from single parent families had challenges with their school requirements being met which led to some dropping out of school. Major recommendation was that, Tanzanian government, NGOs and other educational stakeholders should provide more assistance for poor students who cannot afford to pay for educational materials by creating special program from government in co-operation with the Ministry responsible for education.

 

Keywords: Ifakara town council, Public Secondary Schools, causes of school dropout

A Comparative Study of Instructional Leadership Practices and Collective Decision Making in Public Secondary Schools in Morogoro Municipal, Tanzania (Published)

This study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of strategies for enhancing the implementation of instructional leadership practices for collective decision-making in Public Secondary Schools in Morogoro Municipality. This study adopted the Distributed Transformational leadership theories propounded by James Spillane and Bernard Bass. The study adopted a convergent research design under a mixed research approach. Probability and non-probability sampling techniques were employed to sample respondents in this study. The study collected data from five (5) Heads of Schools (HoSs) and fifty (50) Teachers using an interview guide and questionnaire. The study found that instructional leadership encompasses the actions and strategies undertaken by school leaders to promote effective teaching practices, curriculum development, and student achievement. Nevertheless, the study also found that instructional leadership is a critical factor influencing teaching quality and student achievement. There is limited understanding of how these practices manifest and interact with collective decision-making structures within school settings. The hypothesis test indicated no significant relationship between instructional leadership practices and collective decision-making in public secondary schools. This study concluded that school administrators should work on improving instructional leadership practices to enhance collective decision-making. The study also resolved that instructional leadership and collective decision-making jointly create an effective collaborative school environment that focuses on improving teaching and learning outcomes for all students. Therefore, the study recommended Ministry of Education to organize capacity-building programs for HoSs focusing on instructional leadership skills and effective decision-making.

Keywords: Instructional Leadership, Public Secondary Schools, collective decision making

Strategies Used by Student Counsellors and Their Effectiveness in Promoting Student’s Self-Efficacy in Public Secondary Schools in Moshi District – Tanzania (Published)

This study examined the strategies used by student counsellors in promoting students’ self- efficacy among secondary schools. Guided by Self-Efficacy Theory, the study adopted convergent parallel design under a mixed research approach for data collection and analysis. The study adopted probability and non-probability sampling techniques to obtain 5 Head Teachers, 5 Student Counsellors and 127 students. Cronbach Alpha was adopted to test the reliability of the research instrument at (r) = 0.73 for the quantitative data aided by SPSS version 22; while qualitative reliability was ensured through detailed field notes, recording devices and by transcription. The quantitative data were analysed descriptively (frequencies, percentages and means) and inferential statistics using Chi-Square Statistical test and presented in form of tables. The qualitative data were coded to translate the responses into specific categories and themes for narration and direct quotations from the respondents. The study found that student counsellors used the following strategies which proved effective in enhancing students’ self-efficacy: encouraging students’self-verbalization, providing feedback on students’ efforts, encouraging teachers to provide activities that students can accomplish with a reasonable amount of effort, encouraging peer modelling, helping students to set goals, teaching students effective study skills and helping student to identify their areas of interest. Through Chi-Square test, the study found that there was a significant association between strategies used by student counsellors and the level of students’ self-efficacy. The study concluded that there was a positive relationship between strategies used by student counsellors and students’ self-efficacy which greatly influenced students’ academic achievements. Therefore, the study recommends that the head teachers should workout through the government to have more professional counsellors deployed in schools and that students should be encouraged to attend guidance and counselling sessions.

Citation: Mwiki A., Malusu J.M., Salema V. (2022) Strategies Used by Student Counsellors and Their Effectiveness in Promoting Student’s Self-Efficacy in Public Secondary Schools in Moshi District – Tanzania, British Journal of Education, Vol.10, Issue 15, 12-26

Keywords: Public Secondary Schools, Strategies., Students’ self-efficacy, student counsellors

Student Council Members’ Management of Discipline in Public Secondary Schools in Wareng Sub-County, Kenya (Published)

In Kenya, there has been increasing concern that acts of student indiscipline are on the rise in schools. In light of this view, this paper explores the extent to which student council members manage of students’ discipline in public secondary schools in Wareng Sub-County, Kenya. The study was guided by the Social Systems Theory, which states that an organization is a system that comprises of different units which are interrelated in carrying out activities. The study’s main research question was to what extent do student councils to meaningfully participate in management of students’ discipline in secondary schools in Wareng Sub-County? The study employed ex post facto research design. The target population was student councillors, deputy, head teachers and principals in public secondary schools in Wareng Sub-County. Stratified simple random sampling techniques were used to select the sample to participate in the study. Data collection was through use of a questionnaire and interview. Descriptive statistics such as means, percentages, frequencies, means and standard deviations were used to analyse and present the research data. To test hypotheses independent samples t-test and ANOVA were used. From the findings of the study, the research concluded that student council members were aware of the mission and vision of their schools. Majority of the participants were trained to follow rules and regulations. Problem solving strategies were also covered during training. Moreover, student council members were taught the importance of skills public speaking. Based on these findings, it was recommended that the Kenya Ministry of Education should come up with a proper school governance system that enables student councillors to participate in decision-making process and especially in matters that concern students through active involvement in various meetings. The Ministry should adopt a proper school governance system that enables student councillors to participate in decision-making process especially in matters that concern students through active involvement in various meetings.

Keywords: Discipline, Kenya, Management, Public Secondary Schools, Student Council Members, Wareng

Assessing Free Education of Public Secondary Schools for Sustainable National Development in Nigeria (Published)

Education is inevitable tool for sustainable development and economic development is the desire of all nations of the world but how to attain a sustainable development remains a challenge to many nations. This paper examined free education and its adaption for sustainable national development in Nigeria. Education is a social service, which is meant to eradicate illiteracy, ensures comfortable living of the citizens as well as the development of the country, it should be provided free for all. In the course of this paper, information and data were gathered from literature and forty two (42) principals spread across forty two secondary schools in the four (4) Local Government Area of Umuahia Education Zone to describe the Concept and support of the arguments raised. The data for the study were collected using an instrument titled “Assessing Free Education for Sustainable Development Questionnaire (AFESDQ). The instrument was validated by three (3) research experts and reliability established using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient with reliability 0.83. Data obtained were analyzed using mean for the research questions while hypothesis formulated was tested at 0.5 level of significance. The relationship between free education and sustainable development were established, the extent of enhancement and factors that facilitate free education were also examined with suggestions including among others, the need to ensure equity and egalitarianism, combat the looming poverty, low manpower/ literacy level and provision of scholarships, bursaries to students and adequate funding from government.

Keywords: Free Education, National Development, Nigeria, Public Secondary Schools

The Nature and Causes of Indiscipline Cases among Public Secondary School Students in Thika Sub-County, Kiambu County, Kenya (Published)

For a long time now, Kenya has continued to record increasingly disruptive cases of indiscipline among students in public schools. In response to this menace, the Kenya government has usually set up committees to investigate the root causes of and recommend concrete solutions to student indiscipline in schools. Despite many recommendations and subsequent actions by educational stakeholders, the problem of student indiscipline in, especially, Kenyan public secondary schools just seems unable to go away. Therefore, this paper attempts to understand how teachers, students and principals identify and deal with indiscipline cases in their schools so as to make recommendations that could work for every other public school. The paper is based on a case study that investigated the constraints to the development of an effective discipline culture among public secondary schools in Thika District of Kenya. The study employed a survey research design targeting a population of 144 secondary schools, all the accessible students enrolled in these schools, all the 1,753 teachers and all the 144 principals from the 144 schools. The author purposely selected 6 public secondary schools. Data for the study was collected using questionnaires administered to principals, teachers and students and the collected data was analysed descriptively. Based on the research findings, the common cases of indiscipline are: noise making, bullying, fighting, failing to complete assignments, drug abuse, sexual deviance, sneaking out of school, stealing other students’ property and general defiance of school authority and rules. The principals, teachers and students all believe that indiscipline in school can be eradicated. According to them, schools can instil a discipline culture on students through guidance and counselling, involvement of parents in dealing with issues of student behaviour, teachers closely supervising assignments and helping learners to complete difficult tasks, strengthening of peer counselling and meting out punishment against unruly students. The study recommends the need to effectively use available means of communication in schools. Students should be encouraged to express themselves through the proper channels rather than resorting to indiscipline.

Keywords: Causes, Indiscipline Cases, Kenya, Public Secondary Schools, Thika

MASSIFICATION OF STUDENTS’ INTAKE AND EFFECTIVENESS OF ADMINISTRATION IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA (Published)

This study investigated massification of students’ intake and effectiveness of administration in public secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State. An ex-post facto correlational design was used. Three research questions were formulated to guide the study and three Null hypotheses were tested. The population of the study consisted of all the 221 public secondary school principals in the state. The sample size of 57 principals (25 percent) with 171 teachers that is, 3 teachers rating one school principal was drawn for the study using cluster and the simple random sampling techniques on Local Education Committee bases. Data collection was done with the use of a researcher designed instrument tagged “Effectiveness of Secondary School Administration Questionnaire (EOSSAQ)” for teachers only. Cronbach Alpha statistics used to determine the reliability of the instrument gave a reliability coefficient of 0.76.The statistical technique used for both the research questions and Null hypotheses was simple linear regression at 0.05 alpha levels with 1 and 54 degree of freedom. Findings from the study, revealed no significant relationship between massification of students’ intake and effectiveness of school supervision, supply of school facilities and managing of school budgets. All the null hypotheses were retained. The study thus concluded that massification of students’ intake has no direct relationship on the effectiveness of secondary school administration. Based on this, it was recommended that administrators and all heads of schools should not panic whenever there is influx of students in their school enrolment. State Secondary Education Board should have some sort of incentives to use and encourage principals who manage their schools without much demand on the government for their ingenuity.

Keywords: Akwa Ibom State, Effectiveness Administration, Nigeria, Public Secondary Schools, Students’ Intake