Gender Factor in Public Secondary School Teacher’s Job Satisfaction in Nakuru County, Kenya (Published)

The teaching profession in Kenya has witnessed various manifestations of teacher dissatisfaction more specifically in the last ten years. These include industrial disharmony, teacher turnover and disciplinary cases relating to teacher absenteeism and desertion of duty. Teachers’ job satisfaction has a direct impact on students’ achievement and their future careers. This implies that, while a satisfied teacher is less likely to desert his/her teaching responsibilities, a dissatisfied one has higher chances of being less committed to his/her students thereby minimizing their chances of making positive learning gains among learners. In view of the importance of teacher job satisfaction, this study investigated the influence of gender on job satisfaction among public secondary school teachers in Nakuru County, Kenya. Using ex-post facto research design, data was collected from 341 teachers through a self-delivered questionnaire. Validity of the research instrument was ascertained through a pilot study carried out in the neighbouring Nyandarua County. The internal and external reliability coefficients for the teachers’ questionnaire as estimated through Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and split-half technique stood at r= .945 and r= .905 respectively. Data was analyzed using t-test. The study found that gender had a statistically significant influence (p<.05) on teacher satisfaction, with the male teachers recording a higher satisfaction than their female counterparts. The study offers useful insights to the teacher managers in Kenya, specifically the Teacher Service Commission (TSC) and Boards of Management (BoMs) in secondary schools on how to address the needs of female teachers. This will go a long way in enhancing their level of job satisfaction.

Keywords: Gender, Job Satisfaction, Kenya, Nakuru County, Teachers

Perception of Public Basic School Teachers on the Factors Influencing Teacher Attrition and Retention in the Atiwa District in the Eastern Region of Ghana (Published)

This study investigated the factors influencing teacher attrition and retention in public basic schools in the Atiwa District in the Eastern Region of Ghana. A descriptive survey design was used in the conduct of the study where through proportionate stratified random and convenience sampling techniques, 515 teachers were sampled and participated in the study. The instruments included a structured questionnaire and semi-structured interview guide. Data collected were analyzed using both descriptive statistics like mean and standard deviation as well as inferential statistics such as multiple regression with the aid of Version 22 of SPSS. The qualitative data were analyzed through the thematic approach. The study revealed that the teachers identified remuneration and conditions of service factors to predominantly influence their quit intentions more than school environment factors and personal factors. The study showed that retention strategies such as improved salary and remuneration, provision of housing scheme, regular in-service training for teachers, scholarships for further studies, improved classroom environment and teacher involvement in decision making to be likely to boost their retention. Generally, it was revealed that teachers demographic variables such as marital status, years of teaching experience and level of teaching significantly predicted their quit intentions. It was further revealed that there was a positive correlation between the predictors (sex, age, rank, academic qualification, marital status, teaching experience, and level of teaching) and retention strategies as these demographic variables contributed significantly to retention strategies. It was therefore recommended that the Ghana Education Service through the Atiwa Education Directorate should ensure improved remuneration and conditions of service and school environment should be improved since these are among the top reasons discovered as being behind teacher turnover.

Keywords: Attrition, Demographic Variables, Teachers, retention strategies

Perception of Public Basic School Teachers on the Factors Influencing Teacher Attrition and Retention in the Atiwa District in the Eastern Region of Ghana (Published)

This study investigated the factors influencing teacher attrition and retention in public basic schools in the Atiwa District in the Eastern Region of Ghana. A descriptive survey design was used in the conduct of the study where through proportionate stratified random and convenience sampling techniques, 515 teachers were sampled and participated in the study. The instruments included a structured questionnaire and semi-structured interview guide. Data collected were analyzed using both descriptive statistics like mean and standard deviation as well as inferential statistics such as multiple regression with the aid of Version 22 of SPSS. The qualitative data were analyzed through the thematic approach. The study revealed that the teachers identified remuneration and conditions of service factors to predominantly influence their quit intentions more than school environment factors and personal factors. The study showed that retention strategies such as improved salary and remuneration, provision of housing scheme, regular in-service training for teachers, scholarships for further studies, improved classroom environment and teacher involvement in decision making to be likely to boost their retention. Generally, it was revealed that teachers demographic variables such as marital status, years of teaching experience and level of teaching significantly predicted their quit intentions. It was further revealed that there was a positive correlation between the predictors (sex, age, rank, academic qualification, marital status, teaching experience, and level of teaching) and retention strategies as these demographic variables contributed significantly to retention strategies. It was therefore recommended that the Ghana Education Service through the Atiwa Education Directorate should ensure improved remuneration and conditions of service and school environment should be improved since these are among the top reasons discovered as being behind teacher turnover.

Keywords: Attrition, Demographic Variables, Teachers, retention strategies

The degree of the practice of human relations with the principals of government schools in the first Blue Education Directorate from the point of view of the teachers (Published)

The present study aimed at measuring the degree of human relations with the principals of government schools in the blue first education from the point of view of the parameters Directorate , and to achieve the main study goal of the researcher on the descriptive and analytical approach adopted , as the study sample consisted of ( 35 ) , a teacher, and the study found that the degree of exercise Humanitarian relations among school principals is high, and the study recommended the need to strengthen human relations within public schools by principals and principals, because of its importance in raising the level of education in Jordan.

Keywords: Human-Relations., Principals, Teachers, public schools

Social Networking and Participation as Predictors of Teachers Emotional Intelligence in Public Secondary Schools in Rivers State (Published)

The study investigated social networking and participation as predictors of teachers’ emotional intelligence in public secondary schools in Rivers State. Two objectives, two research questions as well as two hypotheses were postulated to guide the study. The design for the study was correlational design. The population of the study comprised all the 16,743 public secondary school teachers in Rivers State out of which 376 teachers were sampled for the study through multi-stage sampling technique. Two questionnaires which were a 35-tem questionnaire titled “Social Capital Investment Scale” (SCIS) as well as 40-item questionnaire titled Emotional Intelligence Scale” (EIS) were the instruments used for the collection of data for the study. The questionnaires were validated by three experts in the area of Measurement and Evaluation, Department of Psychology, Guidance and Counseling, Faculty of Education, University of Port Harcourt. However, for the reliability, Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the internal consistency of the questionnaires with reliability co-efficients of 0.76 and 0.83 for the sections of the independent variable and 0.96 for the dependent variable. The research questions were answered using Pearson Product Moment Correlation while the hypotheses were tested using z-ratio at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that there was a positive relationship between social networking and teacher’s emotional intelligence. Similarly, a positive relationship exists between social participation and teachers’ emotional intelligence in public secondary schools in Rivers State. It was recommended that school administrators should endeavor to organize social activities among teachers, parents and students as often as possible to encourage teachers’ participation and freedom of association should be promoted in order to strengthen social networking in these schools.

Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Secondary Schools, Social Networking, Social Participation, Teachers

The Extent of the Application of Participatory School Management in Jordanian Public Schools from the Point of View of the Teachers (Published)

The objective of the present study was to investigate the extent to which the participatory school administration was implemented in Jordanian public schools from the point of view of the teachers. To achieve the objectives of the study, the researcher followed the analytical descriptive approach in terms of applying the study tool and data collection and analysis. The sample of the study consisted of teachers of Jerash Elementary School for Boys with (18) teachers. The study found that the extent of the application of participatory school administration (human relations, involvement of the school principal in leadership tasks, delegation of authority) Jordanian government Lars from the point of view of teachers is high, the study recommended the need to work on training courses and workshops for managers of basic and secondary schools in order to deepen the concept of participatory management have.

Keywords: Participatory Management, Teachers, public schools

Correlation between Instructional Leadership and Students’ Academic Achievement in Public Secondary Schools in Baringo County, Kenya (Published)

The significance of instructional leadership as it relates to students academic performance has assumed greater importance in education today as stakeholders demand for greater accountability. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between instructional leadership and student achievement, considering the dismal academic performances of students in public secondary schools in Baringo County. The study adopted the cross sectional survey   research design. The target population of the study was 1070 secondary school teachers from 122 public secondary schools. A sample size of 291 teachers was selected using stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Data was collected by use of questionnaire and Document analysis. Frequencies and percentages were used to summarize and describe data whereas the Spearman correlation analysis was used to establish relationship of the variables in the study.    

Keywords: : Academic Performance, Instructional Leadership, Secondary Schools, Students, Teachers

Attitudes of Teachers Towards Application of Item Response Theory in Technical Colleges in Rivers State (Published)

This study investigated attitudes of teachers towards the application of item response theory (IRT) in the technical colleges in Rivers State. It is intended to ascertain the influence of these teacher-related factors on testing processes using IRT in these institutions. Five research questions were asked to guide this study and five null hypotheses were formulated and tested. Cross-sectional survey research design was adopted in this study. The population of this study comprised all the 424 technical teachers in the 15 technical colleges in Rivers State. The study used stratified random sampling technique to draw the sample of size of 212 out of the population. The instrument for data collection was a self-designed Likert type (five response level) questionnaire titled,“Survey of Teacher’s Attitudes Towards Application of Item Response Theory (STATA-IRT), with a reliability coefficient of .86. Correlation analysis was used to answer the research questions and multiple regressions, R, was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. It was found from the overall result, that strong linear relationship exists between attitudes of teachers and the application of Item Response Theory in Technical colleges Rivers State. It was also found from the multiple regression results that the attitudes of teachers are predictors of effective application of item response theory in the technical colleges in Rivers state.

Keywords: Application of Item, Attitudes, Response Theory, Rivers State, Teachers, Technical Colleges

Students from Different Cultural Backgrounds, Their Difficulties upon Elementary School Entry in Greece and Teachers’ Intercultural Educational Practices (Published)

The present research aims to explore intercultural practices that are adopted by primary school teachers so as to address the difficulties faced by students from multicultural backgrounds upon their school entry. Moreover, it aims to explore teachers’ perceptions regarding the counselling dimension of their role. For that purpose, a questionnaire was used including open and close type questions. The sample was composed of 106 teachers from Primary Schools of Achaia in South West Greece (86 women and 20 men, 25-55 years old). The results indicate that intercultural activities adopted by teachers as long as their pedagogical suggestions are mainly stereotypical. They also refer to an early conception of intercultural pedagogy based more on acceptance than in coexistence / inclusion. Moreover, teachers do not seek further counselling to address students’ difficulties, although they acknowledge the major problems faced by students coming from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

Keywords: Counselling, Intercultural education, Teachers, educational practices

Attitudes of Pupils and Teachers Towards Life Skills Education in Public Primary Schools in Eldoret Municipality, Kenya (Published)

In the year 2009, the government of Kenya introduced Life Skills Education to help the students in coping with the challenges and demands for everyday life. It is important to understand how performed since then. As such, the study was conducted to find out the preparedness of public primary schools in the implementation of Life Skills Education (LSE) curriculum in Eldoret Municipality. Based on the study, this paper examines the attitudes of pupils and teachers towards Life Skills Education in public primary schools in Eldoret Municipality. The study was based on the 1997 Functionalist theory by Kinsley Davis. The study employed a survey design. Out of the total 42 public primary schools in Eldoret Municipality 13 of them were selected through simple random sampling. A sample size of 13 head teachers was purposively selected, from the 13 schools; 39 teachers, 3 from each school, were purposively selected. These comprised teachers of LSE. Stratified sampling was used to select one teacher from lower primary, mid-upper and upper primary. Pupils in Classes Six and Seven were purposively selected. The study, therefore, sampled was 299 respondents comprising of teachers and pupils. The data collection instruments used were: questionnaires and interview schedules for head teachers. Descriptive methods were employed in data analysis and data were presented in the form of frequency distribution tables, graphs and pie charts. Data from the interview schedules was analysed qualitatively. The study findings revealed that majority (69.1%) of the students in public primary schools in Eldoret Municipality enjoyed learning Life Skills Education. This shows that students had a positive attitude towards learning of life skills education. In addition, it emerged that majority of the teachers believed that Life Skill Education was necessary for primary school children. It was therefore recommended that there is need to make its teaching and learning compulsory to all students as it contributes to personal and social development of a child at an early stage. Similarly, for teachers to develop an interest in teaching of LSE, there is need for them to be trained on LSE.

Keywords: Attitudes, Eldoret Kenya, Life Skills Education, Public Primary Schools, Pupils., Teachers