Social Cultural Factors Influencing Appointment of Headteachers in Primary Schools in Eldoret East Sub-County, Kenya

Headteachers’ position is at the critical point of which all the mechanism of Education system: planning, delivery and management rest. The purpose of the study was to investigate social cultural factors influencing appointment of headteachers in primary schools in Eldoret East Sub-County, Uasin Gishu County. The target population comprised of 275 respondents who were: head teachers, deputy head teachers, members of appointment committee in the Sub-County Education office noted as the DEO, DQASO, QASOS, AEOS, DSO, DHRO and KNUT Executive official. The study used questionnaires and interview schedules as tools of data collection. Findings of the research showed that males dominate headship positions in primary schools in the sub county where even the constitutional threshold of 30% has not been attained. It was found out that female leadership is devalued the study area. Respondents indicated that stereotypes associated with social cultural factors had significant influence on the appointment of heads of schools in Eldoret East Sub County. Women teachers not given equal chances to apply for headship position due to cultural beliefs that the society has towards them. There is need for selection panels not to focus on socio-cultural issues that may affect women ascendancy to school leadership. The selection panels need to forego socio-cultural factors that may affect women teachers’ promotion to school headship. Keywords: social, cultural, factors, appointment and head teacher

Effect of teacher performance appraisal on learner scores in public secondary schools in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Education standards in Kenya has shown a declining trend, necessitating interrogation by stakeholders and introducing teacher appraisal performance to remedy the situation. The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of teacher performance appraisal on learner scores. The study was guided by goal-setting theory. The study adopted a descriptive survey design and was carried out in public secondary schools in Uasin Gishu County. The target population was 7 TSC sub-County directors, 156 principals, 342 Teachers, and 8 Quality Assurance Standard officers (QASOs). Sample size was calculated using Yamane formulae. Stratified sampling was used to select schools from 6 sub-counties. Simple random and purposive sampling was used in this study to select respondents. The study used structured questionnaires and interviews scheduled as the main research instruments. Information gathered from the pilot study was utilized for ascertaining for validity and reliability of research instruments. The study yielded both qualitative and quantitative data. Data collected was coded, edited and analyzed through the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software version 24. Quantitative data collected was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics. Descriptive statistics was analyzed by use of frequency, percentages, means, and standard deviations. Tables were used to present the data. Qualitative techniques were employed for qualitative data. This was presented in the form of reports. Study findings showed that implementation of teacher appraisal system have led to improvement in learner exam performance. Learner promotion rate has risen after the introduction of teacher performance appraisal system. Study concluded that teacher performance appraisal has a positive influence on learner scores. The study recommended that the schools and the ministry of education should ensure that they introduce teacher performance appraisal system feedback

Teacher performance appraisal in aiding to bridge teacher’s professional performance gaps in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Education standards in Kenya have shown a declining trend, necessitating interrogation by stakeholders and introducing teacher appraisal performance to remedy the situation. Therefore, this study sought to establish the effect of teacher performance appraisal in aiding to bridge teacher's professional performance gaps in public secondary schools in Uasin Gishu County. Goal-setting theory was adopted. The study adopted a descriptive survey design and was carried out in public secondary schools in Uasin Gishu County. Target populations were 6 TSC sub-County directors, 156 principals, 342 Teachers, and 6 Quality Assurance and Standards Officers (QSOs). The sample size was calculated using Yamane formulae. Stratified sampling was used to select schools from 6 sub-counties. Simple random and purposive sampling was used to select respondents. The study used structured questionnaires and interviews scheduled. Pilot study was conducted to ascertain the validity and reliability of research instruments. Data collected was coded, edited, and analyzed through the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software version 24. Quantitative data collected were analyzed by use of both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics comprised of frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations. Inferentially data were analyzed using correlation and simple linear regression. Tables were used to present the data collected for ease of understanding and analysis. Qualitative techniques were employed for qualitative data. The study findings revealed that there was a positive there was a positive linear effect of performance appraisal in aiding to bridge teacher's professional performance gaps (β=0.895, p=0.000). Teacher performance appraisal affects teachers' professional performance. Study recommended that the schools and the ministry of education should ensure that they introduce teacher performance appraisal system feedback. This will bridge teachers' professional gaps

A Critical Look at Participation of Persons with Mental Health Problems in Training Mental Health Professionals within University Education

Involvement of persons with mental health disorders, with or without addictions (persons with MHA), within mental health education is becoming more common in some parts of the western world, in particular, the United Kingdom. What does involving persons with MHA entail and what are the benefits and challenges in involving these individuals in education? In this paper, we take a critical look at involvement of persons with MHA within the literature and provide a case study of a Canadian inter-professional mental health and addictions course where persons with MHA were included in some aspects of teaching. We present the evaluation of the course, and offer implications for involvement of persons with MHA in university courses

Health systems integration: state of the evidence

Introduction: Integrated health systems are considered a solution to the challenge of maintaining the accessibility and integrity of healthcare in numerous jurisdictions worldwide. However, decision makers in a Canadian health region indicated they were challenged to find evidence-based information to assist with the planning and implementation of integrated healthcare systems. <br><br> Methods: A systematic literature review of peer-reviewed literature from health sciences and business databases, and targeted grey literature sources. <br><br> Results: Despite the large number of articles discussing integration, significant gaps in the research literature exist. There was a lack of high quality, empirical studies providing evidence on how health systems can improve service delivery and population health. No universal definition or concept of integration was found and multiple integration models from both the healthcare and business literature were proposed in the literature. The review also revealed a lack of standardized, validated tools that have been systematically used to evaluate integration outcomes. This makes measuring and comparing the impact of integration on system, provider and patient level challenging. <br><br> Discussion and conclusion: Healthcare is likely too complex for a one-size-fits-all integration solution. It is important for decision makers and planners to choose a set of complementary models, structures and processes to create an integrated health system that fits the needs of the population across the continuum of care. However, in order to have evidence available, decision makers and planners should include evaluation for accountability purposes and to ensure a better understanding of the effectiveness and impact of health systems integration

Using a Complex Systems Perspective to Achieve Sustainable Health Care Practice Change

Background: There has been a surge of interventions at health care settings to achieve practice change, but sustaining these new practices remains challenging. The purpose of the study is to use the Legacy Sustainability Model, a framework grounded in complexity science, to examine the implementation and sustainability of an interprofessional (IP) collaboration intervention in health care. The model considers the six factors communication, connections, coherence, continuous assessment, commitment and constructs essential to building capacity for sustainability.Methods and Findings: Three health care settings in Alberta implemented IP practice interventions over a six-month period. After three and six months, we interviewed participants at each site about the progress of the IP intervention and emerging challenges. We examined the interview data for emergence of the six factors of the Legacy Sustainability Model. Conclusions: Our analysis showed distinct contextual differences between the three sites as represented by the strengths of the six factors at the outset of the IP interventions and the way the factors evolved throughout the project. Using a complex systems lens may be valuable for examining contextual factors that might affect the success of a practice intervention and for monitoring progress towards capacity building for lasting practice change

Rapid generation of stable transgenic embryonic stem cell lines using modular lentivectors

Generation of stable transgenic embryonic stem (ES) cell lines by classic transfection is still a difficult task, requiring time-consuming clonal selection, and hampered by clonal artifacts and gene silencing. Here we describe a novel system that allows construction of lentivectors and generation of stable ES cell lines with > 99% transgene expression within a very short time frame. Rapid insertion of promoters and genes of interest is obtained through a modular recombinational cloning system. Vectors contain central polypurine tract from HIV-1 element and woodchuck hepatitis virus post-transcriptional regulatory element as well as antibiotic resistance to achieve optimal and homogenous transgene expression. We show that the system 1) is functional in mouse and human ES cells, 2) allows the generation of ES cells expressing genes of interest under the control of ubiquitous or tissue-specific promoters, and 3) allows ES cells expressing two constructs through selection with different antibiotics to be obtained. The technology described herein should become a useful tool in stem cell research

Cover and contents : “Proceedings of the 14th CEReS Symposium on Enviromental Remote Sensing” February 17, 2012

2012年2月17日（金） 於 千葉大学けやき会