PERCEPTIONS OF PRINCIPALS, HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS AND TEACHERS REGARDING EFFECTIVENESS OF PRINCIPALS' INSTRUCTIONAL SUPERVISION IN ASSISTING TEACHERS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CURRICULUM

The purpose of this study was to examine the Perceptions of Principals, Heads of Departments and Teachers Regarding Effectiveness of Principals’ Instructional Supervision in Assisting Teachers in the Implementation of the Curriculum.This study adopted Developmental Supervision Theory by Glickman et al. Descriptive survey design which embraces both quantitative and qualitative approaches, was used. The study was carried out in public secondary schools in Nairobi and Kajiado counties in Kenya. The sample comprised of the following: 38 principals, 151 heads of departments and 289 teachers. This gave a sample size of 478 respondents. Stratified random sampling was used in selecting schools according to the following strata: boys’ public secondary schools, girls’ public secondary schools and mixed public secondary schools. Simple random sampling was used to select principals, heads of departments and teachers for the study. The instruments used to collect data were: Interview guide for principals, Questionnaire for principals, heads of departments and teachers. The validity of the content was determined by seeking expert judgment from specialists in the department of educational management, policy and curriculum studies; while the reliability of the instruments were ascertained by using Cronbach’s alpha technique. The key finding of this study was that : principals did not have adequate skills and knowledge on how to implement the curriculum.majority of principals’ either performed diligently but did not use appropriate skills or they lacked knowledge and skills on how to conduct instructional supervision. It also established that principals faced issues and challenges mainly due to lack of funds and overloaded curriculum; which also interfered with the strategies they put in place to improve instructional supervision. Based on the findings, the researcher recommends that the TSC in connection with the MoE through the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) and Educational Management Institute should frequently organize in-service courses, seminars and workshops to train principals of secondary schools on curriculum development. This would allow them to perform their tasks effectively, and also guarantee effective instructional supervision in curriculum implementation in public secondary schools. The education policy makers need to re-examine the contents of the policy and guide on how instructional supervision could be improved. Secondly, training of principals on instructional supervision should be introduced.