Quest for Teacher Effectiveness Parameters

A Survey of Public and Private Schools in North-Rift Kenya.

Abstract

Teacher effectiveness is the capacity of teachers to perform their duties optimally and achieve desired educational goals and standards. The purpose of this study was to establish the factors influencing teacher effectiveness and quality education in public and private secondary schools in the north rift region. To establish factors that influence the effectiveness of teachers, the study employed descriptive research design, which entailed the collection of data using questionnaires observations and interviews. The target populations for the study were teachers and head teachers in selected public and private secondary schools. Stratified sampling method was used in the selection of permanent and temporary teachers, whereas purposive sampling method was used in the selection of head teachers. The study sampled 22 temporary teachers from the private schools and 100 teachers from public schools, where 13 were temporary teachers and 87 were permanent teachers.  Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings showed that a myriad of parameters gravitate around the teacher effectiveness concept and the earlier these parameters are isolated and teased out the better for the education fraternity. The study therefore recommends that parameters such administration, teachers, students, and classroom be leveraged to improve teacher effectiveness in both public and private secondary schools.