Challenges Faced by the School Administration while Carrying out Various Welfare Practices on Secondary School Teachers in Bondo Sub-County , Kenya Mr .

The study sought to determine the teaching staff welfare practices and their effect on work performance of secondary schools teachers in Bondo Sub-County. The study was necessitated by discrepancy in work performance out put of the teaching staff as observed in achievements in curricular and co-curricular activities in secondary schools in Bondo Sub-County. The objectives of the study were to: assess the challenges faced by the school administration while carrying out various welfare practices and establish coping strategies employed by school administration to solve the challenges faced in offering the practices. The study was based on Social Action Theory which postulates that if a worker is not satisfied with the work environment, it will affect the services the worker renders to the institution. The research design for this study was descriptive survey design. A total of 330 respondents comprising of 240 teachers, 30 principals, 30 Board of Management chairpersons and 30 Parents Teachers Association chairpersons formed the population of the study. In each school, in the 30 chosen schools in Bondo Sub-county, eight teachers – two from each of the four departments, the principal, chairpersons of Board of Management and Parents Teachers Association were chosen for the study. The study used a combination of purposive sample and simple random technique to select the respondents. In conducting the survey, document analysis, three sets of questionnaires and interview schedule were drawn up. One set was administered to the Board of Management chairperson, the principal and the other set to the teaching staff. Information from Parents Teachers Association chairperson were obtained using interview schedule only. Research experts in the Department of Curriculum and Management at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology evaluated the instruments to ascertain their content validity. A pilot study was conducted in 10 percent of the population to test the reliability of the instruments. Simple descriptive statistics in form of mean rating, pie-charts and frequency counts using Statistical Package for Social Sciences was employed to analyze the data in order to establish relationship between the variables. The study was significant to educational practitioners and stakeholders and challenged them to adopt staff welfare practices that purely motivate the teaching staff hence enhancing their efficiency and effectiveness in discharging their duties. The study found out that welfare practices affect performance and productivity of teachers. From the findings, there emerged the need for welfare practices that purely motivate the teaching staff. The following were recommended for further research; government financial support & its effect on school management and scheme of promotion & its effect on teacher’s performance. Definition of


Background to the Study 1.
Staff welfare practices were developed during the period of industrial revolution by early management authorities.Their philosophy was that, people's behavior in an organization depended on how they were treated (Owen, 2001).Every organization primarily needs committed and dedicated staff that will help the organization to meet its objectives.These objectives can only be achieved if the knowledge and skills of staff are upgraded through training and development (Porter, 2003).This will serve as a source of motivation to employees and drive them to contribute their quota towards the achievement of the organization's goals.According to Taylor (2000), competent staff at all levels of an organization is needed to effectively push ahead the objectives of the organization.
United States of America (USA) has experienced higher rate of teachers changing careers after a short time or do not enjoy their work -a consequence of poor staff welfare practices as seen in low pay, lack of support from educational bureaucracy and a pervasive isolation (Obama, 2006).Teachers have joined other professions with adequate staff welfare practices that enable them feel satisfied with the job.He reiterated that if we are serious about building a twentyfirst century school system, we must take the teaching profession seriously.Kelly (2007) had the same views in his study of job satisfaction among teachers in Michigan State but concluded that there is just one catch in exchange for all these practices -teachers need to become more accountable for their performance.
Canada as well as Spain has equally experienced teachers changing careers after a short time.A parliamentary commission set to form an inquiry into the practice of changing career in both countries has established that it is partly due to the welfare practices offered by different learning institutions (Too, 2007).Most teachers are not satisfied with the welfare practices offered in their respective working stations hence they opt for other jobs.
Study carried out by Lovell (2005) on welfare practices in United Kingdom (UK) ascertain that members of a particular group -working as a team, base their success on trust and encourage all members to express their opinions, varying views and questions.Similarly, they see conflict as a part of human nature and they react to it by treating it as an opportunity to hear about new ideas and opinions (Mullins, 2002).He added that everybody wants to resolve problems constructively.They participate equally in decision-making, but each member understands that the leader might need to make the final decision if the team can not come to a consensus.
In Nigeria, under the present government, the federal states have been allowed a greater part to play in the control of education, while the national government now has more of a coordinating role to play (Musaazi, 2002).The Federal Ministry of Education has administration and policy division that deals with cases of personnel management that includes staff appointments, promotions, leave tenure and retirements (Maicibi, 2003).Fafunwa (2002) in his case study of administration of education in Nigeria indicated that one of the most effective ways to bring about curriculum change, teaching improvement and the professional growth and development of teachers is through well-organized welfare practices such as in-service programmes and promotion of teachers within the education system either in terms of job group mobility or next working level.
In Uganda, the government recognized that education was a vehicle for national development and set up a commission that found that there was a need for a systematic identification of the needs of teachers so that the welfare practices programmes could be organized systematically (Castle Commission, 1963) as reported in Opolot (2006).The Commission also recommended large scale expansion of post primary schools.This involved construction of tuition blocks, staff houses and remunerating teachers properly for extra teaching loads.Lugamba (2001) while studying the development and administration of education in Uganda, observed that attaining the goal remained elusive until close to the end of the century when the authority begun to implement it.
A report by the Teacher's Service Commission (TSC, 2012) indicated that many teachers have left teaching in public schools for greener pastures -better paying private schools or the private sector.Oloo (2010) in his study on the effect of teaching and learning materials on performance in mathematics in secondary schools in Bondo district observed that the teacher's unions -Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) and Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) have risen to the occasion by advocating for better pay for teachers and promotion for their respective members.However, he recommended that the unions should equally seek funds and time for continuous investment in in-service skills for its members (Oloo, 2010).This study intends to focus on staff welfare practices and their effect on work performance of teachers in secondary schools in Bondo district, an area that Oloo, in his study, did not explore.
Welfare practices are motivational avenues put in place by management in order to build confidence, create a sense of belonging and enhance productivity among workers in an organization.Institutions which have ignored these practices have recorded minimum productivity (Mullins, 2002).Despite various staff welfare practices such as job promotion, incentive packages, housing facilities, soft loan ( imprest) to the teaching staff, team work, recognition of individual effort, in-service training, performance appraisal, lunch programme and fringe benefits that are offered in secondary schools in Bondo Sub-County, discrepancy in work performance out put in schools still remains a challenge.The study sought to determine the teaching staff welfare practices and their effect on work performance of secondary schools teachers in Bondo Sub-County.
The purpose of the study was to determine the teaching staff welfare practices and their effect on work performance of secondary schools teachers in Bondo Sub-County.
The study was guided by the following objectives: To determine the welfare practices in secondary schools in Bondo Sub-County.To find out the effect of welfare practices on work performance of teachers in secondary schools in Bondo Sub-County.To assess the challenges faced by the school administration while carrying out various welfare practices.To determine the coping strategies employed by school administration to solve the challenges faced in offering the practices.
This study was based on Social Action Theory by Robert Bowey, (1963) as indicated in Kelly (2010) who postulates that naturally, workers are not interested in any activity for its own sake, but rather for what the activity will bring them.People would be more ready to listen and co-operate with those who promised some kind of immediate reward than those who promised some better times in future.Hence concluding that provision of adequate social welfare services may increase the workers' job satisfaction and thus retaining their services towards work performance in school.Consequently, drawing from the literature reviewed in this study, the study was based on the understanding that various factors such as in-service training, promotion, performance appraisal, housing facilities, team-work, lunch programme, equity, fringe benefits, incentive packages and soft loan (imprest) to the teaching staff as independent variables (IDV) combine to influence work performance of teachers which is the dependent variable (DV) in a school.

Research Methodology 2.
The study adopted the ex-post facto research design.Ex-post facto design is used in a situation whereby the independent variables (IV) and dependent variables (DV) have already interacted (Amin, 2005).Therefore, the researcher cannot manipulate the independent variable(s) with a view to determine its/their effect on the dependent variable(s).In this regard the effect of the interaction between the independent variables such as in-service training of teachers, promotion, performance appraisal, housing facilities, team-work, equity, fringe benefits, incentive packages, lunch programme and soft loan (imprest) to the teaching staff(s) determines retrospectively work performance of teachers -dependent variable (Creswell, 2009).
The study was carried out in Bondo sub-county which is one of the six districts in Siaya County in Kenya.It borders Lake Victoria to the west, Kisumu County to the east and Siaya district to the north.The district lies within longitude 33 0 20 ' and 35 0 20 ' E and latitude 0 0 20 ' and 0 0 50 ' s.The district has a mean annual rainfall of 1530mm.(Republic of Kenya, 2012).The district covers an area of approximately 1,972 square km.Out of this area; 1000 square km is covered by Lake Victoria.Bondo sub-county is divided into three administrative regions namely: Maranda, Nyang'oma and Usigu divisions.It has a population of 79,036 (Kenya Population and Housing Census, 2012).According to the census, Bondo Sub-County is fairly cosmopolitan and this provides respondents with different interest and background.The district relies heavily on agricultural activities such as fishing, quarrying, growing maize, beans, tomatoes and sand harvesting.According to a data obtained from County Education Office (2013), the sub-county has one National school, seven county schools and 26 registered districts schools.
A total of 330 respondents, which included, 240 teachers, that is eight teachers -two from each of the four departments namely examination, games, humanities and sciences, 30 principals, 30 Board of Management (B.O.M) chairpersons and 30 Parents Teachers Association (P.T.A) chairpersons formed the population of the study where the document data was collected from.

Research Instruments 3.
The study used document analysis, three sets of questionnaires and interview schedule.One set was administered to the B.O.M chairperson, the principal and the other set to the teaching staff.Information from P.T.A chairperson was obtained using interview schedule only.However, analyzed documents such as inspection report, performance in co-curriculum and examination results were obtained from Bondo sub-county education office.
Validity is the degree to which results obtained from the analysis of the data actually represent the phenomenon under study (Creswell, 2009).If such data is a true reflection of the variables, then the inferences based on such data will be accurate and meaningful.Content validity which is a measure of degree to which data obtained from an instrument meaningfully and accurately represents content of a particular concept was determined by presenting them to two lecturers in the Department of Curriculum and Educational Management who are experts, to judge and advice on their content.Their inputs were used to make the necessary corrections on the instruments.
1. Reliability is a measure of the degree to which a research instrument yields consistent results or data after repeated trials.In this case, test-retest technique which involves administering the same instrument twice to the same group of respondents, usually after a time lapse between the first test and the second test was used (Orodho and Kombo, 2002).Reliability was ascertained through pilot study that was carried out in 10% of the population not necessarily under the study, after that the researcher corrected the inconsistencies and weaknesses detected in order to make it reliable.Permission to conduct the research was sought from the university and the Government through the Ministry of Education.The researcher delivered the introduction letter to the school principals, sought official permission and booked an appointment before administering the instruments to the anticipated respondents.Upon receiving permission, the researcher administered the questionnaire to the respondents.The questionnaire was left with respondents for about one week to have adequate time to fill before collecting them.The researcher availed himself physically for interviews schedule and to help in case there is need for clarification or guidance.
2. Data collected using questionnaires was analyzed using simple descriptive statistics in the SPSS package of version 20 in form of mean rating, pie-charts and frequency counts.Borg (1996) observes that descriptive statistics are mathematical techniques for organizing and summarizing set of numerical data.The units of analysis were welfare practices in various schools and work performance out put such as early syllabus coverage, high achievement in school activities and in-depth syllabus coverage among the teachers.Content analysis was used to analyze responses from interviews schedule and open-ended parts of the questionnaires.According to Creswell (2009), in content analysis, a classification system is developed to record the information.In interpreting results, the frequency with which an idea appears was interpreted as a measure of importance or attention.Other responses were reported verbatim.

Challenges Faced by the School Administration While Carrying out Various Welfare Practices
The presentation on this section shows the challenges faced by the school administration while carrying out various welfare practices.The research question responded to was: what challenges does the school administration face in carrying out various welfare practices?The number of times a challenge is repeatedly mentioned indicated the level of importance the respondents attached it to the success of welfare practice.The pie charts below shows the challenges facing the school administration in its effort to offer various welfare practices.
Bearing the welfare practices in mind, management (principals, P.T.A and B.O.M chair persons) was asked whether there are challenges facing the practices mentioned above.All the 30 principals and 30 B.O.M chair persons answered in the affirmative.In addition, all the respondents translating to 100% unanimously agreed that inadequate finances were posing one of the greatest challenges to the implementation of the welfare practices.
The pie charts clearly indicates that housing facilities in all the sub-county and some county schools followed by inservice of trained teachers are some of the welfare practices which are greatly affected by the inadequate finances.Similarly, 30 school principals representing all the respondents in that category asserted that inadequate finances in schools was majorly due to poor fee payment by parents and unreliable government financial support for Free Day Secondary Education (F.D.S.E).
One school principal intimated that in order to put up a two unit self-contained house for the teaching staff, approximately Ksh. 2.5 million is required.This amount may not easily be raised in many schools even through a fund drive.Therefore, other alternative ways of mobilizing for funds and infrastructural support should be explored.The respondents pointed out that availability of funds is a requirement to the implementation of welfare practices mentioned above.
The management of school in their response during the interview explained that most learning institutions do not have income generating projects.This has affected their ability to offer incentives to the teaching staff.For example, a school with projects such as poultry keeping, dairy and crop farming will comfortably give teachers incentives from these produce without going through the procedure of virement.
Some principals pointed out that low student enrolment in their schools coupled with poor fee payment and inadequate staffing are challenges faced by the school administration in its effort to offer welfare practices.Similarly, they noted that lack of support from B.O.M, P.T.A and the community affect their effort to bring staff together in the spirit of team work, consequently impacting negatively on the practices offered.Report from the sub-county education office (2011) indicated that a community invaded a school due to dismal performance in K.C.S.E results and blocked a principal from accessing the school.In the inspection report, many principals and teachers rebuked the barbaric act of the community.They suggested that the community should have contributed in putting in place measures that would have brought good results before pointing fingers at the school management.Teachers also noted that limited infrastructure in most schools is a challenge whose solution need to be sorted.The pie-chart below shows that 66% of the respondents agreed that indeed inadequate infrastructure in their institution is a challenge that needs to be addressed.
The management also mentioned that staff burn out is a challenge to team work and other welfare practices in the school.For instance, it would be difficult to appraise a staff member who has switched off.Certainly, he/she will be less productive and cooperative in joint school activities.These views were shared by 220 (66%) of the respondents who pointed out that inadequate finances and infrastructure are the major challenges facing implementation of welfare practices.However, they added that burn out could be due to staff financial constrain as a result poor planning, over indulging in personal happiness, high expectation in life and domestic challenges.It could also be due to in ability to achieve personal targets either at home or at work place resulting into frustration.A keen analysis of the findings indicate that burn out transcends administrative boarders.This explains per excellence why both teachers and school principals have been involved in attempted suicide.
School principals and teachers in their response confirmed that they are faced with heavy work load since the school curriculum is over loaded.The demand for syllabus coverage, subject and school mean has put unprecedented pressure on both teachers and the principals.Very minimal time is left for benchmarking in order to discover what is happening elsewhere that need to be borrowed to improve work performance of teaching staff.Subsequently, they hardly have time to concentrate on policies that would put in place new welfare practices.In this sense, they end up ignoring important welfare practices in their stations.

The Coping Strategies Employed by School Administration to Solve the Challenges Faced in Offering the Practices
The research question responded to was: how does the school administration cope with the challenges faced in offering the welfare practices?The respondents were meant to identify the challenges and state the strategies employed to cope with the challenges.On the issue of inadequate finances due to poor fee payment by parents and unreliable government financial support for Free Day Secondary Education (F.D.S.E), most school principals advised their colleagues to initiate income generating projects.The project such as poultry keeping, running of school canteen, dairy and crop farming should be managed by staff welfare.The proceeds from these projects, wired to staff welfare kitty should be used to offer incentives to the teaching staff.Moreover, the parents should be reminded about their obligation of timely fee payment and how it affects the learners in school.With the limited financial resources available in schools, many schools have opted to offer welfare practices that do not demand a lot of finances.Other practices are offered gradually depending on availability of funds.
All the respondents in this study were in agreement that there is a need to motivate the staff and put in place the necessary strategies to address the challenges facing welfare practices.Their responses are captured in table 4.3 below.Most teachers advocated for staff motivation, initiating income projects, supportive administration, promotion scheme, culture of openness devoid of intimidation and a strong staff welfare that bonds teachers together.They observed that teachers must be encouraged to create an environment that allows them to feel free and responsible.Similarly, they suggested a need for a leadership that accommodate everyone and offers guidance in the best way possible besides giving financial support to teachers when faced with critical moments.In their wisdom, if all these are done then the school management will have under its leadership a staff that is self driven, self motivated, focused and working towards a common goal.When asked whether it was possible to satisfy individual needs.The teachers responded that of course it was impossible; however, that element of showing concern from the leadership was important.
When management was asked whether they accept that training can improve staff performance and productivity, all the respondents responded in the affirmative.They noted that the main purpose of training is to enable the employees to overcome the limitations, current or anticipated that are causing an employee to perform at an undesirable level.In addition, all of them including the teachers agreed that training opportunities were available to staff.These opportunities are study leave with pay, study leave without pay, and in a few instances the government through TSC awards scholarship to the teaching staff.For the case of workshop and seminars for teachers, the school management would step in.Most of the respondents observed that even managers should attend training as part of a long-term strategy for the development of higher management skills.
The school managers also mentioned timely fee collection, initiating income projects, regular staffing to reduce teacher-student ratio as some of the coping strategies employed in various schools.However, they appealed to teachers to observe patience and great understanding based on the situation on the ground.
According to the principals, the institution have become increasingly complex, the time span between the current decision taken and outcome results have widened.Therefore, success in management of our institutions calls for strategic planning involving all the education stakeholders.This is the answer to numerous challenges facing welfare practices, added the principals.
Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations 5.

Challenges Faced by the School Administration While Carrying out Various Welfare Practices
The study revealed that the school management faces myriad of challenges in its effort to offer welfare practices.The order in which they are listed reflected the frequency and intensity of their effect on the practices.These are: In adequate finances due to poor fee payment and unreliable government financial support for F.D.S.E Lack of income generating projects in schools resulting into difficulty in sustaining school activities that requires financial support.
In adequate infrastructure.Many school lack adequate tuition blocks, multipurpose hall, school farm and room for expansion.Teaching and learning of optional subjects are therefore affected negatively.
Excess teaching work load of teachers as a result of poor staffing.The few teachers posted by the government have over 35 lessons.This results into poor curriculum delivery.
In adequate support from B.O.M, P.T.A and the community.Most of the stakeholders in education are not pulling together in order to record success in education activities in school.
Staff financial constrains due to poor planning, over indulgence into personal happiness, high expectation, frustration and domestic challenges.In this regard, individual staff members suffer burn-out Misunderstanding of current school situation and impatience from the teaching staff.Majority of members of staff do not understand the school financial situation particularly with the government financial support that is inadequate and unreliable.
Poor communication from top-bottom and bottom-top in a school set-up.
In tolerant school leadership that does not accommodate divergent views, criticism and offers no guidance and counseling to the teaching staff.
In equity and unfairness in the way the school management handles teachers and departments.Lack of career advancement.Teachers stagnating in one job group for a long time resulting into job frustration hence burn out.
Stress; due to high teacher-student ratios that create extra work outside the normal working time.Individual financial constraints.Many teachers are going through financial trying moments due to unprecedented The following conclusions were made: Secondary schools in Bondo sub-county offer different teaching staff welfare practices depending on various reasons.The study noted that welfare practices have become a major issue in management in current times.
These practices affect work performance of teachers in their respective institutions.The school administration encounters numerous challenges in offering various welfare practices.Success of welfare practices offered in many institutions by the management and teachers depends on the coping strategies put in place.
Therefore, the existence of staff welfare practices is one of the factors contributing towards enhanced work performance among the teaching staff.These findings are in agreement with the Social Action Theory by Robert Bowey, (1963) as indicated in Kelly (2010) that guided this study.For all intents and purposes, in order to make an institution stronger, more effective and better able to cope with the challenging environment in which it doubtlessly exist, staff welfare practices is the answer.

The following recommendations were made:
There is need to improve the quality and relevance of education given to teachers in the universities and other institutions so that the training adequately prepares teachers for managerial responsibilities.
Education curriculum should be reviewed with an aim of removing unnecessary load and replacing it with emerging issues in order to make learning, teaching and management of education to be more current and relevant.
MOEST should organize in-service courses for school principals on staff welfare practices.Teachers should observe great understanding and patience as the school managers offer welfare practices based on the situation on the ground.
TSC and MOEST should ensure that education policies that guarantees conducive working environment in schools are put in place.
The government should review its policy on F.D.S.E by increasing the amount given per student and disbursing the funds to schools in time.

Suggestions for Further Research 8.
The study has the following suggestions for further research: Undertake a study on the impact of government financial support on secondary school management.Conduct a study to determine the teaching staff welfare practices and their effect on work performance of private secondary schools teachers in Kisumu city.
Conduct a study on TSC scheme of promotion and its effect on teacher's work performance in public secondary schools in Bondo sub-county.

The number of Teachers, Principals, B.O.M and P.T.A Chair persons in Selected Secondary Schools in Bondo Sub-County
games, humanities and sciences departments and purposive sample technique to select departmental heads, principals, B.O.M and P.T.A chair persons of each school.
county were selected using purposive sampling.In Kenya, schools are stratified into Private and Public schools -Ministry of Education Science and Technology(MOEST, 2011).All the public schools which included one national, seven county and 22 sub-county schools were chosen for the study.In each school, in the 30 chosen schools in Bondo Sub-county, eight teachers -two from each of the four departments, the principal, chairpersons of Board of Management and Parents Teachers Association were chosen for the study.The study used simple random sampling to select one teacher each from examination,