A Theoretical and Empirical Review of the Relationship between Head Teachers’ Leadership Styles and KCPE Performance in Public Primary Schools in Kenya

The quality of education depicted in any school is largely influenced by the quality of leadership exhibited by the school administrator in that institution. Effective teamwork and networking among stakeholders in a school is a source of motivation that drives all people involved to work towards the achievement of the goals of that institution. It is the obligation of the institution leader to influence those workers under him or her to strive to achieve the institutional goals through the application of appropriate leadership skills. In this article, the authors discuss the findings from the study carried out on the relationship between headteachers’ leadership styles on KCPE performance in public primary schools in central region of Kenya. The study is based on normative decision theory by Vroom and Yetton (1973). The study adopted mixed methods and applied sequential exploratory design which involved quantitative and qualitative procedures in data collection and analysis. The study adopted purposive and stratified simple random sampling and data was collected using questionnaires, interview schedules and document analysis for the secondary data. The instruments’ validity was established through the guidance of the experts in the department of management, administration and leadership of Mount Kenya University. The researchers established instrument reliability by using split half technique which involved calculating the Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) between the two halves of the tests.  Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS version 21 and qualitative data was analyzed thematically according to the objectives. The findings of the study indicated that pupils’ performance in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education corresponded to leadership styles to a very great extent. The study also found out that there was laxity by the headteachers in delegating power and duties to their teaching staff and lack of participation of all stakeholders in the welfare of the school thus affecting the pupils’ performance. The findings of this study drew conclusion that would assist education policy makers and implementers to formulate strategies that could be used to improve leadership styles that would promote better examination performance at primary school level. Keywords: Leadership, leadership styles, performanc

A Theoretical and Empirical Review of the Relationship between Head Teachers' Leadership Styles and KCPE Performance in Public Primary Schools in Kenya

Abstract The quality of education depicted in any school is largely influenced by the quality of leadership exhibited by the school administrator in that institution. Effective teamwork and networking among stakeholders in a school is a source of motivation that drives all people involved to work towards the achievement of the goals of that institution. It is the obligation of the institution leader to influence those workers under him or her to strive to achieve the institutional goals through the application of appropriate leadership skills. In this article, the authors discuss the findings from the study carried out on the relationship between headteachers' leadership styles on KCPE performance in public primary schools in central region of Kenya. The study is based on normative decision theory b

Neonatal mortality in Kenyan hospitals: a multisite, retrospective, cohort study

Background Most of the deaths among neonates in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) can be prevented through universal access to basic high-quality health services including essential facility-based inpatient care. However, poor routine data undermines data-informed efforts to monitor and promote improvements in the quality of newborn care across hospitals.Methods Continuously collected routine patients’ data from structured paper record forms for all admissions to newborn units (NBUs) from 16 purposively selected Kenyan public hospitals that are part of a clinical information network were analysed together with data from all paediatric admissions ages 0–13 years from 14 of these hospitals. Data are used to show the proportion of all admissions and deaths in the neonatal age group and examine morbidity and mortality patterns, stratified by birth weight, and their variation across hospitals.Findings During the 354 hospital months study period, 90 222 patients were admitted to the 14 hospitals contributing NBU and general paediatric ward data. 46% of all the admissions were neonates (aged 0–28 days), but they accounted for 66% of the deaths in the age group 0–13 years. 41 657 inborn neonates were admitted in the NBUs across the 16 hospitals during the study period. 4266/41 657 died giving a crude mortality rate of 10.2% (95% CI 9.97% to 10.55%), with 60% of these deaths occurring on the first-day of admission. Intrapartum-related complications was the single most common diagnosis among the neonates with birth weight of 2000 g or more who died. A threefold variation in mortality across hospitals was observed for birth weight categories 1000–1499 g and 1500–1999 g.Interpretation The high proportion of neonatal deaths in hospitals may reflect changing patterns of childhood mortality. Majority of newborns died of preventable causes (>95%). Despite availability of high-impact low-cost interventions, hospitals have high and very variable mortality proportions after stratification by birth weight