INSTRUCTIONAL SUPERVISION SELF EFFICACY AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN KAKAMEGA COUNTY PRIMARY SCHOOLS, KENYA

Abstract

This paper explored the relationship between head teachers’ instructional supervision self-efficacy and pupils’ academic achievement in public primary schools in Kakamega County, Kenya. The study was guided by Bandura's self-efficacy theory and adopted the correlational research design. It targeted 916 public primary school head teachers. Stratified, proportionate and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the 282 head teachers who participated in the study. Data was collected using a head teachers’ questionnaire, which was validated through expert judgement. It was deemed reliable as it yielded a coefficient of 0.871. Data was analysed with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Science. The Pearson’s correlations test was used to determine the relationship between head teachers’ instructional supervision self-efficacy and pupils’ academic achievement. The findings indicated that the pupils’ academic achievement was below average while head teachers’ supervision of instruction self-belief was moderately strong. A positive and statistically significant relationship was observed between head teachers supervision of instruction self-belief and pupils’ academic achievement, r(282) = .572, p<.05. This paper concludes there are other factors that affect pupils’ academic achievement besides head teachers’ instructional supervision self-efficacy. It also concludes that pupils in schools managed by head teachers with strong instructional supervision beliefs tend to do better academically. It recommends that to improve achievement, primary school educators should focus on factors which affect it such as provision of adequate instructional materials, adoption of appropriate teaching approaches, creating a conducive teaching-learning environment among others. Head teachers’ instructional supervision beliefs should also be enhanced through training and exposing them to experiences that enhance their self-confidence and motivation.