Competence of Head Teachers in Primary School Management in Kenya: An Evaluation of Capacity Building

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of capacity building on head teachers’ competence in primary schools Management in Bomet County. The ministry of education in collaboration with the Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI) rolled out a one year diploma programme on school management for all the head teachers in public primary schools in Kenya in 2011. The aim of the programme was to upgrade the competency of head teachers on school management. The research randomly selected a total of 378 head teachers from a population frame of 610 head teachers in the county. Quantitative data was collected by use of self-administered structured questionnaires. Analysis of data using correlation showed that capacity building is highly correlated to head teachers’ competency in primary school management. The correlation of the capacity building to managerial competency variables were: Resource management, r = 0.389; Result based management, r =0.496; Procurement process,r=0.394; Finance management, r = 0.567; Strategic leadership, r =0.567; Project planning, r =0.547. The correlation matrix obtained from Spearman’s rank correlation showed similar results at 0.05 percent level of significance. The results were r = 0.00 p < 0.05; showing that capacity building is significantly related to competency in primary school management. It was recommended that training needs should be conducted periodically for improving knowledge and skills for the administrators.