Relationship Between Instructional Supervisor’s Attributes And Students’ Academic Performance In Kenya Certificate Of Secondary Education In Public Schools In Machakos County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

The education system in Kenya is examination oriented and its quality is seen in terms of

the number of students passing national examinations. The issue of poor academic

performance in examinations signifies a critical impediment in any country since

education is a major contribution to economic growth. The purpose of this study was to

investigate the relationship between instructional supervisor’s attributes and students’

academic performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Education in public

secondary schools in Machakos County. The research adopted a correlational study

research design of the expost facto method. The target population was 270 schools and

the sample for the study was 41 schools equivalent to 41 headteachers. Data was analysed

using quantitative and qualitative techniques. The statistical significance of the difference

between the sample means was tested using two sample t-test of equal variance while the

relationship between the dependent and the independent variables (student academic

performance and instructional supervisor’s attributes) was tested using Pearson Product

Moment correlation. A coefficient value of 0.7289 was obtained and this was good

enough to judge reliability of instrument (Grinnel, 1993). Findings on the relationship

between instructional supervisor’s attributes and students’ academic performance

revealed that majority of headteachers indicated that teaching and learning resources

were inadequate which affected instructional supervision in schools. Based on the

findings of the study, it was concluded that there was a significant relationship between

instructional supervisor’s attributes and students’ academic performance at KCSE. There

should be regular inspection of lesson notes, schemes of work and lesson plans.

Headteachers should ensure that students have the necessary materials for learning they

should check records of work and schemes of work. Taking the limitations and

delimitations of the study it was suggested that a similar study should be carried out in

other counties. A study should be carried out on headteachers’ personal characteristics

and their influence on instructional supervision.