Effectiveness Of Headteachers Instructional Supervision On Learner’s Academic Achievement In Primary Schools In Kitui County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Effective School level instructional supervision is important for its central objective to improve instruction to achieve educational goals. The major and essential objective of any learning institution is to offer a worth education to its learners by imparting relevant skills, knowledge and attitudes. To ensure access, retention and quality instruction in teaching and training in all institutions of learning, robust and effective instructional supervision is essential. The success or failure of the school is believed to rest on the effectiveness of instructional supervision at the school level. It is in this milieu that the research study was prompted. The research objectives that guided the study: i) To assess teacher perceptions on the effectiveness of school-level instructional supervision influence on learner academic achievement, ii) To ascertain the effectiveness of headteacher instructional supervision roles, iii)To determine the effectiveness of practices utilized by headteachers in instructional supervision, and iv) To assess the effectiveness of instructional supervisory approaches and their effect in enhancing the academic achievement of learners. A descriptive survey design was employed in this study. The study was carried out in public primary schools in Lower Yatta Sub County, Kitui County, Kenya. The study targeted 76 public primary schools. Questionnaires for both head teachers and teachers were used to obtain data from the respondents. Qualitative data analysis involved an explanation of information obtained from the empirical literature. The quantitative analysis involved the use of numeric measures in the scores of various responses on the effectiveness of instructional supervision influence on the academic achievement of learners. This entailed generation of descriptive statistics after data collection, the formation of data sets, estimation of population parameters from the statistics, making of inferences based on the statistical findings. This was done with the aid of SPSS v20. The output of the analysis was presented in tables, figures and charts; interpretations and discussions made based on the research objectives. The study found that there were mixed reactions on headteacher effectiveness on instructional supervision. Headteachers roles, practices and approaches were characterized with the incoherent application. It was further concluded that instructional supervision was ineffectively administered in Lower Yatta Sub-county and by extension Kitui County. This cast a negative impact on learner academic achievement. The study recommended regular head teachers retraining and sensitization on effective instructional supervision practices, roles and approaches to enhance learner academic achievement.