Factors Influencing Stress among Public Secondary School Female Principals in Kenya: A case study of Rachuonyo North and Homa Bay Sub-Counties

Abstract

Principals play a pivotal role in performance of students in secondary schools. In many instances, this calls for high professional and societal demands, and expectations. As a result, principals experience stress. Studies in countries like USA, Britain, Norway, India, Nigeria and Kenya have revealed that optimal stress among principals enhances students' performance in public examinations while excessive stress reduces students' performance. In Rachuonyo North and Homa Bay Sub counties, the mean scores for schools headed by female principals from 2010 to 2014 were 3.77 and 4.20 respectively compared to those headed by male principals whose mean scores were 5.05 and 5.67 for the same period. These performances were below those of Rachuonyo South Sub County which were 4.67 for female principals and 5.20 for male principals for the same period. The performances of schools headed by female principals' were lower than those headed by male principals. These studies have linked stress among principals to students' performance. The purpose of this study was to establish factors influencing stress among public secondary school female principals in public secondary schools in Rachuonyo North and Homa Bay Sub counties, Kenya. This study established that female principals in Rachuonyo North and Homa Bay Sub counties were experiencing moderate stress at a mean (M) 3.37 and Standard Deviation (SD) 1.290 on a 5-point scale. Stress factors accounted for 52.9% of female principals stress levels. The factors that had highest influence on stress levels of female principals were working environment (M 3.67, SD = 1.287), pursuit for excellence (M = 3.65, SD = 1.033), conflicting demands from stakeholders (M =3.68), SD = 1.156), lack of time to teach and attend to administrative tasks (M =3.373, SD = 1.122), workload (M =3.54, SD = 1.260), uncertainty in job expectations (M =3.97, SD = 1.166), undisciplined teachers (M =3.58, SD = 1.357) and staff shortage (M =3.78, SD = 1.357).

School Heads’ Practices Defined

“…School heads perform important duties that are supposed to contribute to a successful outcome in schools (Juma, Simatwa &Ayodo, 2016;Wallace Foundation, 2013). However, the incidence of job stress has caused some heads to have low job satisfaction (Markow, Macia &Lee, 2013), others to lose interest in the job (Mbibi, Oluchi & Nwamuo., 2013) and some to opt for other occupations (Yambo, Kindiki &Tuitoek, 2012).…”

The relative effect of student, family and school-related factors on math achievement by location of the school

“…The SES promotes sharing of social norms and values required for students to succeed in schools through social capital. It is suggested that socioeconomic indicators such as parents' highest education level, parents' highest occupation level, family income and size are important determinants of achievement (Chevalier & Lanot, 2002;Juma et al, 2012;Şirin, 2005;Tomul & Savasci, 2012).…”

“…Parents' highest education level and family income are suggested to be the long-term determinants of achievement and specifically the parental education level is the most important reason for the difference in student achievement (Chevalier & Lanot, 2002). It is remarked that the increase in family income leads to school achievement at every level of education (Juma et al, 2012) and generally the children of poor family have lower achievement (Chevalier & Lanot, 2002). According to Kyriakides et al (2019), the low family income, on the one hand, prevents students from living in a more developed settlement area, possessing a good peer group and accessing a school that provides a good education.…”

“…In addition to these, family characteristics such as family size, number of siblings, and birth order, the environment in which the family lives and parents' highest occupation level also appear to affect student achievement. It is reported that as the number of individuals in the family increases, the achievement decreases (Juma et al, 2012). In developing countries, the older children are less likely to succeed and access higher education levels compared to younger siblings (Smits, 2007).…”

Preparing to lead schools: Leadership aspirations of Zimbabwean female teachers

“…African scholars have also pinpointed socio-cultural constraints that bear upon female principals and teachers when they do exercise leadership in schools (Grant, 2005;Juma et al, 2011;Mestry & Schmidt, 2012;Omboko & Oyoo, 2011;Parsaloi & Steyn, 2013). Finally, this body of scholarship has both portrayed and contrasted uniquely 'female ways of leading' schools in different African societies including Ghana (Agezo & Hope, 2011;Kwadzo, 2010), Tanzania (Dady, 2014), Zimbabwe (Chabaya et al, 2009;Makura, 2012;, Kenya (Wambura, 2010), Nigeria (Ikoya, 2009), and South Africa (Lumby & Azaola, 2014;Mogadime et al, 2010;Naidoo et al, 2012;Smit, 2013).…”