Students Perceptions of School-based HIV/AIDS Education Programs in Western Kenya

Education on HIV infection, prevention, and treatment has the potential to improve young people’s knowledge on sexual health. Utilizing an ethnographic research approach, this study explored students’ perceptions of school-based HIV/AIDS education programs in three high schools in Western Kenya. Using a rights-based theoretical framework the authors sought to understand how such programs empower students to understand HIV vulnerability and prevention. This study contributes in two ways: first, it informs education-based policies and guidelines on the design and implementation of HIV/AIDS education programs in K-12 schools. Second, it underscores the influence of social norms, attitudes and behaviors within the broader societal context on the youth and the power of this population in participating in the design, implementation, evaluation, and sustainability of school-based HIV/AIDS prevention programs. Keywords: HIV/AIDS, School-Based HIV/AIDS Education programs, Students perceptions, Human Rights, Kenya.

Instructional Leadership: A Contextual Analysis of Principals in Kenya and Southeast North Carolina

Schools around the world need effective school leaders with knowledge and skills to understand the local context with a global view. This paper examines how principals in Kenya and North Carolina use their time as they execute duties in their multifaceted roles. We analyze various aspects of their demographic characteristics, including gender, age, level of educational attainment, and level of schools they lead. Additionally, we examine how they spend their time, how they would like to spend their time, and roadblocks they face in accomplishing their work. Findings indicate that principals overwhelmingly agree on the importance of serving as instructional leaders but traditional roles of principalship hinder them from investing more time in instructional leadership. This research will add to a review and rethinking of educational policies and educational leadership programs. Keywords: Principals, school leadership, school management, principal roles, instructional leadershi

High School Principals’ Leadership Roles and Use of Time

Time is the most valuable currency in schools. This study describes how successful high school principals reported spending and allocating their time to various leadership tasks using selected items from a study of principal-time use and school effectiveness in Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida US. Public high school principals were selected based on their 2019 Missouri School Improvement Program performance indicators and asked to complete either a paper or online survey. Findings show that principals spend more time on management-related activities than curriculum and instruction-related activities. There is a strong association between time-use on curriculum and instruction with both gender and school size. The more leadership experience a principal has, the less time they are likely to spend on school management activities. Time-use on organization management is strongly associated with school size. If instructional leadership is a fundamental priority for principals, then development and support of successful principalship will require a redesign of their roles to free time for instructional leadership. School districts that hire principals from a pool of assistant principals (AP) or invest in principal pipelines, need to develop a strategy to build APs’ instructional and leadership skills. Keywords: High school principals, principals’ time-use, principals’ roles, successful principals, instructional leadership. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-18-01 Publication date:June 30th 202

High School Principals’ Experiences in Implementing HIV/AIDS Education Programs

Young people are at the center of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. However, they offer a window of hope in stemming the tide of HIV/AIDS if they are reached early by HIV/AIDS education programs, whose objective is to develop the awareness, knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that reduce infections. While school-based HIV/AIDS education is believed to encompass these programmatic skills, little is known about the role and experiences of principals who oversee their implementation. This paper, which is part of a larger study, uses the cultural frame to investigate the experiences of two high school principals regarding their role in implementing HIV/AIDS education programs in Kisii County, Kenya. Data were collected through interviews and participant observation.  Findings show that culture, more than policy, influences the role principals play in implementing HIV/AIDS education programs. A principal who hails from the local community where the school is situated is less likely to implement HIV/AIDS education programs that go against the community’s culture compared to one from outside. The study concluded that delocalization of principals has the potential of galvanizing the school organization to educate young people about actions they can take to protect themselves from becoming infected. Keywords: HIV/AIDS Education, School-based AIDS Education, Principalship and HIV/AIDS, HIV/AIDS and Culture DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-36-01 Publication date: December 31st 2019

Educating Marginalized Girls: Examining the Concept of Tuseme

This article examines the concept of Tuseme, a Swahili word, meaning Let’s Speak Out and how it is used to empower girls in a Center of Excellence in Kenya. The Center serves as a school and home to girls rescued from female genital mutilation and child marriages. Data were collected from students, teachers and the Center’s principal. Findings indicated that Tuseme, through its creative activities, empowers students with life skills, including how to speak out, build self-confidence, decision making, negotiation and leadership skills. It also helps teachers to acquire and use gender-responsive instructional strategies, which boost girls’ academic success, self-efficacy and a consciousness to identify, understand, and articulate problems that affect them and take action to solve them