Effect of strategic leadership practices on performance of public secondary schools in Koibatek Sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

Strategic leadership is important in setting organizations’ vision, mission, strategies and culture as the key drivers of effective strategy implementation. Ministry of Education requires each public secondary school to develop and implement strategic plan to improve schools performance. Statistics indicate that public secondary schools in Koibatek Sub-County over the years have experienced poor performance in the national examination. It is not clear from literature whether strategic leadership practices by the principals affect performance in public secondary schools in Kenya. The main objective of the study therefore was to establish the effect of strategic leadership practices on performance of public secondary schools in Koibatek sub-county, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to; establish the effect of strategic direction practice, core competence practice, human capital practice and alignment of school resources to strategic goal practice on performance of public secondary schools in Koibatek Sub-County, Kenya and to establish the moderating effect of the principals’ Level of Education on the Relationship between Strategic Leadership and Performance. The study adopted descriptive research design using purposive sampling. The target population was thirty five principals in the public secondary schools. Primary data was collected from the respondents using structured questionnaire. Regression model was used to establish the effect of the four elements of strategic leadership on schools’ performance. The study established a positive significant relationship between strategic direction and the performance of public secondary schools in Koibatek Sub-County (r=0.767, p=0.001<0.05) whereas human capital, core competence and resources aligned to goals did not influence the performance of the schools. Further findings established that principals’ level of education had moderating effect on the relationship between strategic direction practice (r=1. 011, p=0.000) and aligning resources to strategic goal (r=.532, p=0.039). The study therefore concluded that only strategic direction influenced the performance of public secondary schools in Koibatek Sub-County and that the principals’ level of education moderated the relationship between Strategic Leadership and Performance of public secondary schools in Koibatek Sub-County. The study recommended that the Ministry of Education should adjust its policy in such a way that strategic leadership is part and parcel of principals’ in-service training to strengthen strategic leadership.