An Investigation of the factors that influence Staffroom culture and its impact on the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education Performance: a case study of Kianda School

Abstract

Teachers play a key role in the development of a country. Teaching is the essential profession, the one that makes all other professions possible. Well qualified, caring and committed teachers are needed in order to ensure that our children are prepared for the challenges and opportunities they will encounter in future.The role of the teaching staff is emphasized by Karugu (1986:7) who notes:'Reformers may build schools, make changes in structure and the curricular, recommend and prescribe methods or aids but in the end, everything will depend on the teachers who will be responsible for applying them. ' The morale and effectiveness of a teacher is influenced by the kind of culture he/she finds in the staffroom. This encompasses the way of carrying out teaching and non-teaching duties, the way of relating with one another, attitude towards administration and also the manner in which students are handled. Ultimately all these is likely to impact on students' performance.The performance in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) in Kianda School has been on the decline for the last three years. The mean score has been going down as a result of poor performance in some of the subjects. It has been noted that working relations and teamwork between teachers within some subject panels such as Science and Mathematics has also been deteriorating. A negative culture among the staff had begun to develop.The purpose of this study was to assess the culture in terms of the relationship the teachers have among themselves and how they perceive the school administration.The study sought to establish if the leadership style contributed to the staffroom culture and also to verify if there was a connection between the staffroom culture and students' performance.