Total Quality

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Total quality management in secondary schools in Kenya: extent of practice

Moses Waithanji Ngware
Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), Nairobi, Kenya, and
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David Kuria Wamukuru and Stephen Onyango Odebero

Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya
Abstract
Purpose To investigate the extent to which secondary schools practiced aspects of total quality management (TQM). Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional research design was used in this study. A sample of 300 teachers in a residential session during a school holiday provided their perceptions on the practice of TQM in their schools. Data were collected using a questionnaire. Findings Board of Governors and chairpersons in secondary schools are not providing the necessary leadership that would promote TQM practices necessary for schools continuous improvement. However, some head teachers are providing the required leadership with a considerable number of school managements empowering their employees. The majority of schools are not committed to strategic quality planning, though they do promote human resource development initiatives. Research limitations/implications The study relied on an accessible sample of practising teachers drawn from M.Ed and PGDE students on a one-month residential session in a public University. There is likelihood that schools from all the regions of the country were not represented. Practical implications School management is expected to provide leadership that promotes TQM practices in order to achieve set objectives. Empowered employees participate in decision-making and are capable of increasing the quality of learning. Strategic quality planning is important for the provision of quality services while human resource development is necessary in schools to motivate and realise the maximum potential from employees. Originality/value The study provides research information on the Kenyan education system and quanties the extent to which it is being practiced. Keywords Total quality management, Secondary schools, Leadership, Teachers, Empowerment, Kenya Paper type Research paper
Introduction According to Kaufman (1992) total quality management is dened as providing what is required as judged by the client. It is accomplished through everyone in the organisation being committed to achieving results, a passion for quality and decisions based on performance data. According to Caplan (1990), client satisfaction or dissatisfaction is based on the degree to which outputs meet specications of perceived quality. Output quality and customer satisfaction are the vision for TQM. Satisfaction comes from everyone in the organisation working constantly to achieve customer satisfaction. TQM emphasises that it is important for all elements to t together to turn raw materials into the
Quality Assurance in Education Vol. 14 No. 4, 2006 pp. 339-362 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0968-4883 DOI 10.1108/09684880610703947
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products and deliverables that satisfy clients. Customer satisfaction is the result most addressed by TQM (Crosby, 1979; Caplan, 1990). It is geared towards clients perception and feelings about the outputs. That is, do they nd them worthy? Will they continue to be customers, or will they demand changes or take their business elsewhere? The basic elements of TQM include: customer-oriented processes; an organisational climate which supports continuous improvement towards perfection, and; quality management function, which is not delegated (Kaufman, 1992). TQM in education In support of the TQM initiatives in education, Crawford and Shutler (1999) applied the Crosby (1984) model to suggest a practical strategy for using TQM principles in education. Their strategy focused on the quality of the teaching system used rather than on students examination results. Crawford and Shultler ague that examinations are a diagnostic tool for assuring the quality of the teaching system. To satisfy the educational needs of students, continuous improvement efforts need to be directed to curriculum and delivery services. From such a perspective, various root causes of quality system failure in education have been identied. These include poor inputs, poor delivery services, lack of attention paid to performance standards and measurements, unmotivated staff and neglect of students skills (Ali and Zairi, 2005). One of the weaknesses of such a perspective is in its concentration on the student as a customer whereas TQM in education should concern the customer beyond students. Elsewhere, Dahlgaard et al. (1995) dene total quality in education as educational cultures characterised by increased customer satisfaction through continuous improvements in which all employees and students participate actively. Literature available point to a growing interest in applying TQM in education and for a wide variety of reasons (Thakkar et al., 2006; Temponi, 2005; Cheng, 2003): Some of the reasons include: . pressures from industry for continuous upgrading of academic standards with changing technology; . government schemes with allocation of funds, which encourage research and teaching in the eld of quality; . increasing competition between various private and government academic institutions; and . a reduction in the pool of funds for research and teaching, implying that only reputable institutions will have a likely chance of gaining access to various funds. In the Kenya Education Master Plan for Education and Training 1997-2010 it is argued that quality is not mere passing of examinations or certication, but the development of independent, analytical, creative potential of the individual, including critical imagination, spiritual and ethical values. It implies standard agreed criteria for assessment (Government of Kenya, 1998). Saitoti (2003) posited that the major determinants of quality education include curriculum content, relevant instructional materials and equipment, physical facilities, conducive learning environments, the quality of teaching force and assessment and monitoring of learning achievements. Saitoti concurs with the Master Plans view that quality education should shift from
merely passing exams to encompass the discovery of talents, development of analytical, cognitive and creative potential. It is enhanced by efcient and effective management and prudent utilisation of resources. Galabawa (2003) observed that issues related to quality and relevance of education in Kenya are nebulous. This author argues that the sources of quality improvements may be traced to the sense of competition and the pride institutions and schools whose students do well feel on nding themselves doing better than their rivals in performance. At tertiary level, there is often pressure exerted on every institution based upon the demand for the graduates in the formal employment sector. Githua (2004) views quality assurance in secondary school education in Kenya as a process with a set of criteria ensuring that the education offered is of the highest possible standard and is driven by individual, professional and social demands. The criteria include the quality of learning environment, educational experiences and learning outcomes. Githua further analyses a number of other factors for quality assurance in secondary school education which include: selective entrance criteria for students; stringent staff recruitment procedures; performance related funding; tools for evaluation; and peer review. TQM in Kenyan secondary schools has been conceptualised by the Education Master Plan 1997-2010 in terms of human resources, curriculum and nancial resources (Government of Kenya, 1998). On human resources, rst, the plan argues that in order to enhance TQM in secondary schools, it is imperative to have a well-qualied and highly motivated teaching force capable of understanding the needs of learners and the curriculum. Secondly, secondary school head teachers who are well versed in management are also essential for successful curriculum implementation, effective and efcient management and administration of schools. However the Plan observed that many secondary school head teachers had not been adequately trained in management and administration and were ineffective and lacking in accountability. They should be the advisors in curriculum implementation in their own schools and should be well prepared for this role. Third, the plan deplores the poor terms and conditions of service that have led to poor morale. Some secondary school teachers who work in remote areas have inadequate basic amenities like housing, access to clean water and health facilities. Lastly, the secondary school system is said to be marred by nepotism and corruption allegations in the promotion of teachers. Such malpractices are likely to affect teachers morale, performance and commitment to TQM as non-performers are rewarded. Curriculum matters equally affect TQM. For a long time in Kenya, a heavy workload characterising the current system of education grossly affects the quality of learning and teaching, due to lack of time devoted to the application of what is taught. However there have been recent efforts to reduce the workload and examinable subjects in an effort to reduce cost of education and at the same time raise the quality of teaching and learning. The pressure of examinations and ranking of a schools performance is also to be blamed for the lack of depth in the learning /teaching process as teachers and students focus more on drilling with a view to passing the examinations and earning the school a good ranking. This has tended to compromise the quality of teaching and learning in schools where the processes are examination driven. Total quality in secondary schools is also reected in nancial and other resources. The quality and adequacy of resources such as physical facilities, equipment, teaching and learning materials all have a direct bearing on quality as they determine how effectively the curriculum is implemented. The quality of education cannot be achieved
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and sustained if the resources and facilities are not available in sufcient quality and quantity. It is imperative to note here that; most of the literature reviewed (Government of Kenya, 1998; Saitoti, 2003; Galabawa, 2003) seems to view total quality management in Kenyas secondary schools in terms of the quality of the inputs, notably the quality of the learners themselves, teacher qualications and their enthusiasm to work, and physical and nancial resources. The issue of clients satisfaction and judgment of services offered to them has not taken centre stage. Equally, not much attention is paid to the contribution of the non-teaching staff and parents. Bonsingl (cited in Mehrotra, 2004) outlines the TQM principles believed to be the most salient to education. The principles, also called Pillars of total quality management, include: . Empowerment of workers/employees. It is called the principle of synergistic relationship. According to this principle, an organisation must focus rst and foremost on its suppliers. In the organisation everyone is both a supplier and a customer. This confusing concept emphasises teamwork in which all are involved. In other words teamwork and collaboration are essential components in educational administration. The concept is supported by Padhi (2004) who considers teamwork in his eight elements of TQM. Padhi emphasises that in a team, people feel more comfortable. As to whether or not teamwork is a component in secondary school management in Kenya is what this study partly seeks to unravel. . Leadership. The schoolteacher must establish the context in which students can best achieve their objectives. Continuous improvement that results from students, teachers and Board of Governors working together must be harnessed. Teachers should concentrate on literacy and teaching that provides a leadership framework that support continuous improvement in the learning process. Padhi (2004) calls it the most important element in TQM, arguing that leadership appears everywhere and requires the manager to provide an inspiring vision, make strategic decisions understood by all and to instil values that guide the subordinates. For TQM to be successful supervisors must be committed to providing leadership. . Training. Padhi (2004) also asserts that training is very important for employees to be productive. Employees require interpersonal skills, the ability to function within teams, problem solving skills, job management, and performance analysis and improvement skills. Employees are trained to become effective. However, in school situations, team building has been based upon biases, prejudices, and the way we have always done it around here rather than evidence based decision-making taking account of qualications, competence and ability (Kiboro, 2003). Statement of the problem Total quality management, and specically continuous improvement, is key to school success in terms of its mission, goal and objectives. It is therefore imperative that school leadership put in place mechanisms to ensure that quality assurance practices are being followed in their schools. However, in Kenyan secondary schools, there have been concerns expressed by government bureaucrats, politicians and a big proportion of the public over what they perceive as lack of and/or inadequate quality management
practices in schools. The Sessional Paper No. 1 of Government of Kenya (2005a, p. 44) notes that secondary education has been characterised by poor performance in national examinations, high pupil-textbook shortages in mathematics, a shortage of science teachers, overburdened curriculum, and teacher promotion based on qualications rather than performance. However, being outsiders, the concerned parties are seen by educational administrators as intruders into an area that they know little about. However, the external efciency of an education system is judged by those who are outside the system including employers and members of the society. From such a perspective, intruders cannot be ignored. A study by Odebero (2002) established that bureaucrats and politicians, who have a big inuence on public opinion, are not always driven by motives that are in the interests of the school, but sometimes their own personal agenda takes centre stage. An alternative school of thought argues that teachers, as insiders, are in a much better position to inform as to the behaviour of school management in practicing some aspects of TQM (Painter, 2000). This research therefore is an attempt to establish the extent to which secondary school management utilise various aspects of TQM, as perceived by teachers. Purpose The purpose of the study was to solicit secondary school teachers perception on the extent to which school management practiced TQM as indicated by aspects of TQM that are important for the quality of education to be maintained. The aspects included are leadership, empowerment, strategic quality planning and human resource development. The objective of the study was therefore to establish teachers perceptions of the extent to which school administration ensured that the above-mentioned aspects of TQM were practiced in their schools. To do this, the study attempted to answer the question: What were the teachers perceptions of the school administrations extent of practice of TQM as expressed in the four tenets of leadership, empowerment, strategic quality planning and human resources development? Methodology A cross-section research design was used in this study. There are 39,000 secondary school teachers in Kenya spread across 4,000 secondary schools (Government of Kenya, 2005b). Some of the teachers are trained in teacher training diploma colleges, for three years, where they graduate with a diploma in education. The majority are trained in universities, where they take a four-year Bachelor of Education programme or a one-year Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) programme. On completion, the teachers are employed to teach any where in the country, though recruitment has recently been decentralised to school level to allow recruitment on a needs basis. After the year 2000, public universities offering teacher training programmes in Kenya embarked on school based programmes (SBP) in various disciplines at both undergraduate and post graduate levels. Two such programmes that have attracted teachers are the Master of Education (M.Ed) and PGDE programmes. Secondary school teachers are admitted to these programmes in their area of interest and attend course work when schools are on recess, usually in the months of April, August and December. The study sample was from all of the practicing teachers who were taking SBP at a public university. These teachers came from different administrative
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categories (national, provincial and district) of secondary school from all over the country. This group of teachers was more accessible given the fact that they had already assembled in one place to under take the SBP. The study considered this sample as coming from schools with different management characteristics and therefore enabled the researchers to capture varied practices of TQM in secondary schools in Kenya. A purposive sample of 300 teachers, in their rst and second year of study of the M.Ed and PDGE programmes participated in the survey. In essence, all of the M.Ed and PGDE student-teachers who were in residence in the month of April 2005, except student-headteachers[1], (head teachers who had enrolled for the SBP) were included in the sample. All the 300 teachers responded to the questionnaire within a span of two weeks. The high return rate was possible given that the respondents were resident and therefore more accessible to the researchers. To ensure content validity, literature on TQM in education and the expected operations of secondary schools in Kenya were used to strengthen the scope of the items. Peer review by faculty members was used to ensure face validity of the questionnaire items. (see items in Tables I-IV) Data were collected using a single questionnaire with 37 items. The items covered teachers perceptions on the four tenets of TQM namely: (1) leadership; (2) empowerment; (3) strategic quality planning; and (4) human resource development.
Sno. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Item The BoG chair involved in quality improvement activities Headteacher involved in quality improvement projects Practices of Headteacher regularly demonstrate and communicate commitment quality improvement Practices of BoG chair regularly demonstrate and communicate commitment quality improvement The BoG chairperson communicates his/her commitment to student focus and quality values to all employees Employees who pursue training in quality methods beyond the scope of that offered by the school are rewarded through leadership opportunities The BoG chairperson measures school success by the quality of programs and services provided rather than the unit cost The BoG chairperson utilises total quality management principles in leading the school The day to day practices of the schools administrators demonstrate commitment to total quality management principals All items combined 1 14 7 9 15 26 28 19 22 12 17 2 25 8 17 24 34 36 27 30 25 25 3 10 8 10 13 10 11 22 16 11 12 4 35 39 33 34 21 16 19 22 32 28 5 17 37 31 14 9 9 13 10 20 18 X 3.16 3.91 3.60 3.08 2.53 2.41 2.86 2.68 3.23 3.05 SD 1.34 1.19 1.31 1.31 1.31 1.29 1.75 1.30 1.35 1.35
Table I. Teachers perceptions on school management practices that demonstrate TQM in Leadership
9 10
Notes: X mean; SD Standard deviation
Sn. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Item Allowed to make decisions and instigate action All staff in the school are provided an opportunity to participate on quality assurance teams My input is always welcomed concerning quality initiatives and process improvement Collaboration among employees to improve the quality of programs and services is encouraged The BOG chairperson promotes employee authority to act I am able to access the education and training I need to improve my contribution to my work unit Employees in the school are given freedom to act without fear of retribution Changes have been made to our school organisational structure to facilitate employee empowerment Team initiative and innovation by employees are encourage in my school I feel free to take risks in an effort to improve the quality of my subject performance All items combined
1 13 18 14 11 24 21 23 21 12 14 17
2 24 23 22 22 30 22 28 34 22 23 25
3 14 14 14 11 19 6 13 13 10 13 13
4 35 33 35 38 18 28 26 22 35 30 30
5 15 12 15 18 8 23 11 10 20 20 15
X 3.16 2.99 3.16 3.30 2.56 3.08 2.74 2.67 3.29 3.18 3.01
SD 1.29 1.33 1.31 1.30 1.27 1.50 1.35 1.31 1.34 1.36 1.34
Table II. Teachers perceptions on school management practices that demonstrate TQM in employee empowerment
Sn. 1 2 3
Item Periodic reviews of quality assurance plans and performance are conducted with all employees The school collects and utilises data on service quality and student satisfaction to develop improvement plans The school has operational (one to two year) and strategic (three to ve year) plans that describe overall quality and performance goal and strategies for achieving those goals There is a plan to communicate quality expectations to all personnel at my school The school has developed a plan for committing resources for quality initiatives Training is based upon a thorough analysis of employee staff development needs Plans and strategies are being developed to build and maintain positive relationships with students My input is valued and incorporated in the long range planning of my subject The school employs systematic methods of evaluating the quality of products (students) and services All items combined
1 29 22
2 35 27
3 10 13
4 19 24
5 6 14
X 2.38 2.81
SD 1.26 1.38
27 17 14 26 9 13 11 19
33 29 30 35 15 18 27 28
13 12 13 13 16 14 13 13
17 31 26 15 41 39 31 27
9 11 16 11 19 16 17 13
2.52 2.90 2.99 2.49 3.45 3.29 3.16 2.89
1.46 1.31 1.34 1.31 1.21 1.28 1.31 1.32 Table III. Teachers perceptions on schools strategic quality planning
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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Item The school provides time and other resources to develop continuous quality improvement initiatives My job has changed signicantly as a result of redirection of school funds The job of someone with whom I work has changed signicantly as a result of redirection of school funds Employees are recognised for achievement of quality goals and strategies Employees are provided incentives to encourage them to contribute to quality improvements Training in quality improvement techniques is part of each employees staff development plan Employees are rewarded for the achievement of quality goals and objectives There is evidence that continuous improvements have been made in the reward systems to promote quality in my school My job provides me with a great deal of satisfaction All items combined
1 14 20 17 11 13 23 19 18 15 17
2 24 35 28 23 30 33 24 26 22 27
3 13 20 19 9 11 12 12 15 10 13
4 35 18 24 37 29 20 28 25 37 28
5 14 7 12 20 17 12 17 16 16 15
X 3.11 2.58 2.87 3.32 3.06 2.66 3.08 2.97 3.18 2.98
SD 1.31 1.20 1.29 1.31 1.34 1.35 1.90 1.37 1.35 1.38
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3 4 5 6 7 8
Table IV. Teachers perceptions on schools human resource development
9 10
All of the items were closed ended with the respondent being required to respond along a Likert-scale type continuum with 1 strongly disagree, 2 disagree, 3 undecided, 4 agree and 5 strongly agree. Data was analysed using scale means and standard deviations, average composite scores for each item and for each of the tenets of TQM. Reliability of a tool ensures that the tool consistently measures what it is supposed to measure. From the theory of measurement, each response to an item reects to some extent the true score for the intended construct and to some extent some random error (Rossi et al., 1983). A reliable measure (as in the set of items in the questionnaire) should minimise the measurement error so that the error is not highly correlated with the true score. On the other hand, the relationship between true score and observed score (actual responses) should be strong. Cronbach Alpha examines such a relationship. An internal consistency reliability coefcient of 0.89 was estimated from the Cronbachs Alpha (a) reliability test. Bryman (2004, p. 72) considers the acceptable threshold of reliability to be 0.8, and with a coefcient of 0.89, the instrument was considered to be reliable. In order to have a better understanding of how secondary schools in Kenya implement TQM, in-depth interviews were conducted. A sample of nine schools was randomly selected from three groups of schools that had been categorised based on overall teachers opinion on the practice of TQM in their schools. In each group three schools were selected. Schools whose teachers overall opinion score was below 1.9 were described as low TQM-score schools, between 2.0 and 3.9 were described as having a moderate preference for TQM or medium TQM-score, while those scoring over 3.9 were described as high TQM-score schools. This classication was for the purposes of categorisation of schools with possible different practices of TQM. Overall,
the sample had four provincial schools and ve district schools. There were two girls only schools, three boys only schools and four mixed schools. Five of the schools were boarding while four of the school were day only. The researchers visited each school and held a detailed interview with the participating teachers using an interview schedule. Findings This section presents the results of the study and comprises six sections. The rst section looks at perceptions of teachers on leadership as a component of TQM. In the second and third sections, the results of the empowerment and strategic quality planning components are presented. Human resource development is presented in the fourth section, while a synthesis of the four tenets of TQM studied is presented in the fth section. In the last section, the paper looks at the implementation of TQM in the secondary school system. In the Likert Scale, all items were written in the positive so that satisfaction or agreement (either strongly agree or agree) equates to a positive response to the item. Combining strongly agree and agree into one evaluation point allowed for more manageable analysis of the data Leadership Leadership is the process of encouraging and helping others to work enthusiastically toward objectives (Okumbe, 1998). It involves developing a vision for the organisation that will encourage employees to work with a passion. The school management should emphasise teamwork and collaboration which are essential components in provision of quality education. Good leadership should embrace the principles of TQM which bring about continuous improvement and which guides the students, teachers and Board of Governors (BoG) in working toward the achievement of the organisational objectives. The secondary school BoG chairperson is expected to safeguard public interest and give guidance to the schools stakeholders (community, parents, headteacher, teachers and students) with a view to achieving the school objectives. As per the teachers perceptions on the BoG chairpersons involvement in quality improvement activities (such as participation in curriculum implementation and supervision), 52 per cent thought that the chairperson was personally and visibly involved while 39 per cent thought otherwise. While the majority thought that the chair was actively involved, a proportion of 39 per cent of those disagreeing is substantial enough to raise genuine concerns over the inputs of BoG chairperson to the schools quality assurance process. However the general feeling was that the BoG chairpersons were actively involved, if the mean scale of 3.16 is anything to go by. Similar perceptions were held by teachers on the chairpersons demonstration and communication of commitment to schools quality improvement. For instance, informing parents, teachers and students on improvement plans of the schools laboratories and workshops, and following up to see that this is done. Negative perceptions were held by 39 per cent of the teachers sampled while 48 per cent thought that the chairpersons had demonstrated and communicated their commitment to the schools quality improvement. As in the case reported before, more than a third of the teachers disagreed, an indication that a considerable number of schools may not be receiving communication from their BoG chairpersons on matters of quality improvement.
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On the behaviour of the BoG chairperson, in communicating his or her commitment to student focus and quality values to all employees, 60 per cent of the teachers thought the chair does not do this while 30 per cent thought the person in the chair does it. Concerns on student focus and instilling desirable quality values among employees are important in cultivating a culture of quality assurance among students and workers. The school leadership has responsibility for developing such a culture among the school community. In its absence, issues of quality assurance are likely to be relegated to the periphery, a move that would see a decline in the quality of school outputs. The scale mean was 2.53, indicating an inclination towards negative perceptions on this issue. It is important for the school leadership to have indicators of success. Improvement in such indicators is a pointer of good performance and a move towards achieving the school objectives. Among the teachers sampled, 46 per cent thought that the chairperson did not measure school success by the quality of programs and services provided rather than the unit cost. On the other hand, 32 per cent of the teachers thought the school chairperson measured school success by the quality of programs and services. The fact that one-third of the sample perceived the chairperson positively is an indication that there are BoG chairpersons that value the quality of programs and services to an extent of using them as measures of output. Such a trend encourages the growth of a culture of quality assurance in schools. Despite these encouraging endeavours, the 46 per cent who perceived the BoG chairmen as not using quality measure to assess schools success would mean that a considerable proportion of BoG chairpersons do not consider measuring school success by using quality measures. This is likely to relegate quality assurance to the periphery in the operations of the school as they are not considered to be crucial in determining success. TQM principles are important benchmarks/guidelines and provide a framework for developing a schools TQM system. It is important for the school leadership to understand them before adapting them to suit their environment. The majority (52 per cent) of the teachers sampled felt that the BoG chairperson does not utilise TQM principles while carrying out his/her responsibilities. This would mean that less than half (32 per cent) of the teachers had a positive perception about BoG chairperson utilising TQM principles. Going by the results of this study, most BoG chairmen do not make use of TQM techniques despite their importance in quality assurance and quality of output. Turning to the headteacher as a leader, the headship was perceived by 76 per cent of the teachers as being personally and visibly involved in quality improvement projects. For instance, improving the pupil-text book ratio in his or her school. The high percentage of teachers perceiving the headship as actively involved is a pointer that school heads provide leadership on matters of quality improvement in their schools. A scale mean of 3.91 was an indication that teachers were inclined to have a positive perception on this issue. The headteacher, in his/her duties should demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement in quality of service delivery in the school. This could be done through effective communication to the students and teachers on the standards expected of each school activity and output. A majority (64 per cent) of the sampled teachers thought that the practices of the headteacher regularly demonstrated and communicated commitment to continuous quality improvement in the school. A
scale mean of 3.6 was an indication that the perceptions of the respondents were positively inclined, and that head teachers were providing the necessary leadership on this issue. Employees are expected to, from time to time, upgrade their knowledge and skills across a range of disciplines, including the practice of TQM. This is done through attending either short course offered by specialised management training institutions or going for further education where TQM is integrated into various courses taken during the study. On return and/or completion, the employee expects the school leadership to place him or her in a leadership position in order to utilise the knowledge and skills acquired during training. However, this does not always happen and teachers sometimes feel frustrated by their schools leadership. Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of the respondents felt that employees going for training in quality methods beyond the scope of that offered by the school are not rewarded through leadership opportunities. On the other hand 25 per cent thought that employees are rewarded. What is coming out clearly here is that pursuing further training in quality methods may not always be benecial to the school as those trained may not be given an opportunity to practice TQM. The scale mean (2.41) was inclined towards a negative perception. In the day to day running of the school, the schools administrator (head teacher) is expected to demonstrate commitment to total quality management principles through his or her actions. This does not always happen though majority (52 per cent) of the teachers sampled felt that the head teachers actions demonstrate a commitment to TQM principles, with 37 per cent feeling that there was no such demonstration. Commitment to TQM principles is crucial for the success of a TQM system in an organisation. Employee empowerment Empowerment refers to delegation of responsibilities to employees with suitable skills and abilities by school managers. One aspect that has given Japanese industry of its competitive position is continuous improvement. Continuous training is very important for any employee to be productive. School employees require updating of their interpersonal and pedagogical skills. Moreover, the ability to function within teams, problem solving skills, job management performance analysis and improvement are all dependent on continuous training. In school situations, head teachers and BoG chairpersons are supposed to facilitate such training to improve the quality of services provided by their employees. After training the employees should be identied and put in positions relative to their extra training to boost their morale and productivity. Thus the head teachers and BoG chairmen should encourage a decentralised structure that gives employees more powers to make decisions and get involved in school management. Participatory decision making in schools improves the quality of decisions and builds ownership. When this is combined with authority to take action, on decisions taken, it improves the efciency and quality of school operations. The sample survey showed that 50 per cent of the teachers agreed that they were allowed to make decisions and instigate action, as opposed to 37 per cent who indicated that they were not allowed to do this. Quality assurance teams are an important component of an effective TQM system. Slightly more (45 per cent) of teachers agreed that the staff in the school were provided
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an opportunity to participate in quality assurance teams. This increased the morale of the participants as they felt recognised and that their role in quality assurance was taken seriously. Another 41 per cent of teachers felt that the staff were not given such an opportunity. Failure to include staff in quality assurance teams may be viewed with suspicion and even lead to failure of TQM systems. Teachers inputs into TQM activities are important for continuous improvement of teaching and learning processes. Teachers are key players in the teaching and learning processes and therefore being at the centre of such services their quality initiatives should not only be welcomed but encouraged. Half of the teachers surveyed agreed that their inputs were always welcomed. Accepting inputs from teachers makes them feel part of the system and therefore this improves their commitment to organisational and/or school goals. Slightly above one-third (36 per cent) of the sampled teachers felt that their inputs were not welcomed. Teamwork creates a sense of belonging and makes team members identify with their institutions. When employees collaborate with each other, harmony in school operations is increased. When collaboration among employees is encouraged, staff become more open, share experiences and knowledge, and this, in turn, improved the quality of service delivery. A majority (56 per cent) of teachers sampled felt that employees were encouraged to collaborate. However, a considerable proportion (33 per cent) felt they were not. Giving employees the authority to act reinforces participatory decision-making and collaboration, as staff realise that they will be making decisions on which they will be expected to act. From the teacher sample, 54 per cent felt that authority to act is not promoted by the BoG chairperson, while 26 per cent thought it was. (Collaboration is participation in decision making, and being given authority to act contribute to employee empowerment.) Teachers need to continuously upgrade their skills and knowledge on content, pedagogy and school management for them to continue making improvements at their work place. This is done through access to education and training. About 51 per cent of the teachers sampled felt that they were able to access the education and training they needed to improve their contribution at the work place. Another 43 per cent thought that they did not have such access. In-depth interviews at school level revealed that the education and training provision was limited to short in-service courses on school management and or pedagogy provided by the Ministry of Education. The expected teacher contribution at the work place included effective teaching, guidance and counselling and active participation in other school duties as delegated by the headteacher and or his/her appointee. Lack of opportunity or inadequate access to in service education and training, could lead to the use of obsolete techniques in service delivery and this will jeopardise the quality of service. It is therefore important that teachers are continuously given an opportunity to up grade their skills and knowledge. Freedom of expression and action demonstrates that a school not only subscribes to democratic principles but also recognises that actions taken by other people could be equally productive. Freedom to act without fear of retribution encourages timely decisiveness and encourages responsibility rather than passing the buck. When employees are empowered to take action on their decisions, they are likely to associate more with the institution and therefore be more committed to school objectives. However, 51 per cent of the teachers were of the opinion that employees in the school are not given freedom to act. In the in-depth interviews, the issue of teachers freedom
to act was probed further. It emerged that, in most cases, teachers were given a free hand to make decisions and take actions on matters perceived to be internal in nature, for instance, classroom based and or curriculum related issues. However, they were not given freedom to act on matters perceived by the headteacher to be external to the school and or issues thought to be the preserve of the BoG. Among the issues identied as being outside the action of teachers included making any nancial commitment on behalf of the school, determining school fees, making large procurements and questioning school expenditures, among others. Most of the areas where teachers were not given freedom to act revolved around nancial resources. Given the importance of nancial resources in the acquisition of teaching and learning materials, this may explain why more than half of the respondents thought that teachers were not given freedom to act. This is an indication that, in Kenya, teacher decisions and actions are mostly conned to classroom related matters and limited in school budget issues. But despite all this, 37 per cent of the survey respondents felt that school employees are given freedom to act. Schools organisational structures inuence, among other things, information ow and delegation of authority. The organisational structure also determines the extent of employee involvement in school activities. A decentralised structure gives employees more powers to make decisions and get involved in school management. This kind of empowerment improves the efciency of school operations, especially in the delivery of services. Centralised school organisational structure on the other hand inhibits organisational growth as decisions are left to one or a few individuals. In their absence, processes stall or slow down thus affecting the system. Data from the survey show that a majority (55 per cent) of teachers in Kenyan secondary schools, were of the opinion that reforms of the school organisational structure to facilitate employee empowerment have not been made. Only 37 per cent felt that such changes have been made. Encouraging team initiative and innovation in a school, promotes progress and growth of a culture of continuous improvement of teaching and learning processes among employees. Of the sample, 55 per cent felt that team initiative and innovation by employees are encouraged in their schools, while 34 per cent thought they were not. Such team initiative and innovations were in the areas of teaching and learning, sports, syllabus coverage and utilisation of scarce facilities and equipment. Failure to encourage team initiative and innovation among employees leads to individualism, and sometimes unhealthy and uncoordinated competition among employees as they rst promote individual goals at the expense of the organisational goals. Empowering staff to make and take risky decisions and actions provides them with challenging experiences and informative lessons to learn. With time, skills and knowledge gained in dealing with risky situations are utilised to continuously improve schools teaching and learning processes by empowered staff. Half of the sample felt that they were free to take risks in an effort to improve the quality of their subject performance, while only 24 per cent thought otherwise. The kind of risks employees, and especially teachers, were free to take are conned to their areas of teaching and as long as they did not entail a nancial obligation on the part of the school. Strategic quality planning Strategic quality planning refers to a deliberate attempt to organise and control school services and activities over a specic period of time. This is geared towards quality
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assurance while focussing on the school goals. The head teachers and the BoG chairman should ensure that the schools have a strategic quality plan which should be reviewed periodically with the involvement of all employees. The head teachers and BoG chairman must ensure that strategic quality plans are prepared and followed based on quality data. Quality assurance mechanisms provide a systematic way of monitoring and controlling the quality of various school activities and services that are aimed at improving student performance. Periodic reviews of quality assurance plans and performance are conducted with all employees. Collecting and utilising data on service quality and getting feedback from service consumers is an important process in ensuring that the quality plans continuously benet from the client level of satisfaction. Quality assurance is an integral part of TQM in education organisations. Quality assurance mechanisms provide a systematic way of monitoring and controlling the quality of various school activities and services that are aimed at improving student performance. Developing strategic quality plans provides a way of actualising quality assurance in a systematic and performance oriented way. From the sample surveyed, 64 per cent of the teachers disagreed with the statement that periodic reviews of quality assurance plans and performance are conducted with all employees. This is an indication that in Kenyan secondary schools, quality plans are either not available or not reviewed periodically. This could also mean that teachers are not involved in such reviews if they are conducted. Absence of quality assurance plans allows haphazard quality assurance practices that could be ineffective. Collecting and utilising data on service quality and getting feedback from service consumers is an important process in ensuring that the quality plans continuously benet from the client level of satisfaction. A considerable proportion (49 per cent) of teachers sampled disagreed that the school collects and utilises data on service quality and student satisfaction to develop improvement plans. However, 38 per cent of the teachers thought otherwise. If feedback information is not used to feed into the quality plans, then such plans are likely to become irrelevant and ineffective as they would fail to capture areas or issue that could increase customer satisfaction. The presence of operational and strategic quality plans is an indication of a schools management commitment to quality assurance. Commitment to quality goals in secondary schools is necessary if the school is to produce the desired quality outputs. In the teacher sample, 60 per cent indicated that their schools do not have operational and strategic plans that describe overall quality and performance goals and strategies for achieving those goals. This would indicate the absence of commitment to quality goals in a majority of secondary schools in Kenya. But despite this high proportion, 26 per cent of the teachers were of the opinion that such plans do exist in their schools and that they describe the overall goals and strategies for achieving quality. The school strategic plans covered among other things school goal and objectives, development of physical facilities, curriculum implementation, school-community linkages, procedures for evaluating teacher performance, student assessment and evaluation procedures and resource allocation. For quality goals in a school to be achieved, it is important that they not only be known by all service providers but such service providers must be in support of such goals. The opinion of 42 per cent of the teachers showed that secondary schools have
plans to communicate quality expectations to all personnel in the school. Communicating quality expectations sets standards to be achieved by service providers. From the in-depth interviews, among the quality expectations communicated through plans included preparation, peer review and discussion of lesson plans and schemes of work, internal examination moderation procedures, specications for teaching equipment and reporting systems. This is likely to improve performance in teaching and learning processes within schools. However, there was a considerable proportion (46 per cent) that thought that schools do not communicate quality expectations. Such a proportion cannot be ignored, as it could be an indicator for a lack of a comprehensive policy on quality assurance within the secondary school system. Such teachers expected the plans to communicate level of performance and quality standards expected, procedures for assessing students and the role of departmental committees, peer reviewers and students in evaluating teaching effectiveness among others. Quality assurance mechanisms and initiatives require resources to be actualised. Schools that are committed to quality goals must allocate adequate resources to quality assurance initiatives. From the sample, about 42 per cent of the teachers agreed that schools have developed a plan for committing resources for quality initiatives. This is an indication that some secondary schools in Kenya are committed to quality goals. However, a proportion of 44 per cent that disagreed with the opinion that schools are setting aside adequate resources for quality initiatives could mean a breakdown of quality assurance mechanisms. Some of the quality assurance initiatives on which resources were being committed included facilitating departments to meet regularly and discuss the content of schemes of work and tests, organising open days for parents and teachers to discuss student performance and putting in place schemes to reward (sometimes monetary) departments that record the highest improvement in national examination performance. Those who disagreed thought that the school were not committing adequate resources to nance short course in-service training for teachers, purchase of adequate and quality teaching and leaning materials among others. Training needs assessment is a critical necessity in identifying skill gaps among employees in an organisation. Such an analysis should form the basis on which teachers skill deciency, including TQM, should be addressed. However, 61 per cent of the teachers surveyed, were of the opinion that training is not based on a thorough analysis of employee staff development needs. It would seem that, in a majority of schools, staff training depends on the whims of the school management rather than a thorough identication of staff development needs. Schools and their relationships with students inuence the extent to which school goals, including those of quality, are achieved. Maintaining a positive teacher-student relationship and or student-school relationship is important for the achievement of the goals. For the teachers sampled, 60 per cent were of the opinion that plans and strategies are being developed to build and maintain positive relationships with students. This is an encouraging development though its intention in most Kenyan schools is to avoid student disturbances and/or strikes rather than to encourage quality assurance mechanisms. In addition, staff inputs into the long range planning in various aspects of the school are crucial as it gives the plans diversity, participation and a sense of continuity. From the sample, 55 per cent of the teachers agreed that their inputs are valued and incorporated in the long range planning of the subject(s) that
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they teach. All the same a considerable proportion (31 per cent) was of the view that their inputs are ignored and not incorporated in the long range planning of their subjects. The quality of school products (students) and processes/services are indicators in the achievement of quality goals. Secondary schools should therefore devise ways and means of evaluating the quality of school products and services. In the sample, 48 per cent of the teachers were of the opinion that schools employ systematic methods of evaluating the quality of products (students) and services. This is a good indication that secondary schools are committed to the improvement of the quality of service and products. However, a considerable proportion (38 per cent) of respondents thought otherwise. Again, this means not all schools show commitment to the quality of services and or their products. Human resource development Human resource development in the school context is the process by which education managers identify, develop and effectively realise the maximum potential of employees for the benet of both the school and the individual employee (Okumbe, 1998, p. 235). It is important that head teachers and BoG chairpersons motivate the workers to undergo regular in-service training in order to update their skills in line with the curriculum and technological changes. Human resource development is a continuous activity for effective TQM. Teachers and other school employees require regular and systematic upgrading of their skills in order to keep pace with the changing cultural, institutional, legal, technological and environmental dynamics. Such up grading is best done through pre-service training, in-service training, seminars, workshops and other short organised courses among others. Equally, schools need mechanisms to encourage, recognise, reward and therefore motivate workers. Effective human resource development activities ensure that school employees capacity gaps and motivational levels that would reduce pupils achievement are minimised. One such activity in human resource development is provision of time and other resources to develop continuous quality improvement initiatives. Almost half (49 per cent) of the teachers sampled agreed that the school provides time and other non-nancial resources to develop TQM improvement initiatives. This would mean that almost half of the secondary schools pay attention to human resource development in terms of provision of time and non-nancial resources. However there is a substantial proportion (38 per cent) of schools that ignore or do not take such initiatives, if the percentage of teachers disagreeing is anything to go by. School funds are an important input in school activities. Fund allocation and re-distribution among the many competing needs of the school should be optimal for TQM to be effective. Such competing needs include human resource development. Few teachers agreed (25 per cent) that redirection of school funds had resulted in a signicant change in their job compared to 55 per cent who disagreed. Similar views were expressed by respondents even when asked whether the job of their work mates had changed signicantly as a result of redirection of school funds. This is an indication that despite almost half of those responding indicating that schools provide time and resources for quality improvement initiatives, for majority of teachers, this has not translated in to the way that they perform their job. It would have been
expected that if the schools provide adequate time and resources for quality improvement initiatives among employees, then their job performance would increase. However this does not seem to be the case. This may be an indication that time and resources provided for quality improvement initiatives may be inadequate. The majority (57 per cent) of teachers agreed that employees are recognised for achieving quality goals and strategies. Recognition for quality performance is a motivation on work job performance and when well matured will result in increased student achievement. A motivated teacher is more likely to work harder and be more committed than a demotivated teacher. On the other hand, some schools (34 per cent) do not seem to be recognising the achievement of quality goals and strategies. Such schools lack commitment to quality improvement and employee output and commitment to TQM is equally likely to be poor. Provision of incentives to employees is an important input for them to have a sense not only of belonging and association but feeling appreciated and encouraged. Incentives also act as motivating factor, and may lead to increased commitment for improved quality achievement. A big proportion (46 per cent) of teachers felt that schools are providing incentives to encourage employees to contribute to quality improvement. Such encouragement is important for employees to remain committed to TQM. However there exist schools (43 per cent) where such encouragement is not practiced. In such schools, the pursuit of quality improvement goals is likely to be jeopardised by employee disinterest and low commitment. A majority (56 per cent) of responding teachers felt that training in quality improvement techniques is not an integral part of employees staff development plan. Only 32 per cent felt that training in quality improvement techniques is part of staff development planning. One of the key pillars of the Deming philosophy is the continuous improvement of processes. This is based on the argument that the quality of a product or service is determined by the quality of the process that produces it. While it is true that students are not products, schools take them through processes before they graduate with the expected levels of competencies. If graduate students competencies were to be improved, then schools should concentrate on improving the process that produces graduates. Possession of capability in the use of quality improvement techniques cannot be assumed but needs to be developed among employees through training. Unfortunately schools seem to assume that employees already possess such capability. While this could be the case, well organised and systematic TQM systems requires that employees up-grade their skills in-service or be inducted from time to time with a view to close capacity gaps and impart emerging techniques. To maintain and or improve the standards of performance among employees, organisations may have a reward system. The in-depth interviews indicated that schools had such reward systems meant to recognise achievement and reinforce positive behaviour among employees. Various instruments for rewarding achievements that are in use include verbal appreciation, promotion or recommendation for promotion, holiday tours and cash tokens among others. However, the reward system was not being practiced by all the schools visited. The main reason given for not having such a reward system was that achieving quality improvement goals is an employee responsibility for which they are compensated. According to such schools, it was therefore not necessary to give a reward; in any case
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they thought that this may sometimes constitute an extra and unnecessary expense imposed on the student. Going by teachers responses on rewards for achievement of quality goals and objectives, 45 per cent of secondary schools have a reward system as opposed to 43 per cent who were deemed not to be rewarding achievement of quality goals and objectives. As in the case of encouragement and recognition, rewarding employees for quality performance is equally motivating and inculcates a culture of belonging where ones efforts are rewarded. Employees are likely to be conditioned to seek quality achievement due to the motivating effect of the reward. In secondary schools in Kenya, such rewards range from awards of various certicates of good performance in open ceremonies, promotions and nancials rewards to sponsored elds trips in the fauna and ora rich Kenyan game parks and sand beaches. Teachers also felt that there is evidence that the reward system is continuously improved in order to promote quality in schools. However the proportion of those who agreed (41 per cent) was slightly lower than that of those who disagreed (44 per cent). It is important for the reward system to be meaningful and effective in order to have the desired effect. From the teachers views, it is possible that the reward systems are continuously improved in some (41 per cent) schools while they are not in others (44 per cent). A majority (53 per cent) of teachers felt that their job provides them with a great deal of satisfaction as opposed to 37 per cent who felt that their job does not give then a great satisfaction. Job satisfaction improves commitment to work, which in turn leads to quality performance. Job satisfaction is also an indication of an improvement in general welfare of the employees, which could lead to stability within the industry. Overall, the proportion of teachers who felt that schools human resource development aspects are favourable to the employees achievement of quality improvement was almost the same (43 per cent) as that of those who felt they were not (44 per cent). This is an indication that many schools still need to put more effort into the area of human resource development with respect to TQM. The ndings of this study agree with the results of a survey by Rampa (2004) in black schools in South Africa which indicated that there is a need for an intervention strategy to integrate TQM in school management. Implementation of TQM in secondary school system in Kenya In this section, we present a detailed qualitative analysis of how secondary schools practiced certain elements of TQM. However, in order to shed more light on the schools output which is as a result of the sum of all schools inputs, including the use of TQM elements in their operations, we make reference to the trend of the schools mean score for the form four national examinations in the last ve years. All the three high TQM-score schools either indicated a gradual improvement in the Kenya Certicate of Secondary Examination (KCSE) mean score or maintained a consistent trend in performance in the last ve years. On the other hand, the three low TQM-score schools and two of the medium TQM-score schools showed a gradual decline in KCSE mean score in the last ve years. The moderate TQM-score school indicated a slight improvement in the KCSE mean score in the last ve years. Given the small sample size for the in-depth interview, quantitative association between schools mean score and the extent of the practice of TQM could not be established. In the following sections, we present the ndings of how elements of TQM are implemented in the secondary school system in Kenya.
Leadership. In six of the schools, the BoG chairperson was described as being actively involved and physically presence to give guidance in quality improvement related activities in their schools. Such activities included planning and implementation of micro-projects, monitoring school academic progress, motivating students and teachers among others. Such practice is common in high TQM-score schools. In the three other schools, one medium and two low TQM-score, where there was no active involvement, the chairpersons presence was not felt as s/he was either too busy to create time to visit the school or was less concerned or was incompetent. In such schools, it was reported that head teachers frequently went out of the school compound during working hours to attend to personal businesses. The high TQM-score schools indicated that the BoG chairperson visited the school at least three times in a school-term (quarter) and was available when needs arose. On the other hand, the availability of the chairpersons of one of the medium and two of the low TQM-score schools was rare and only visited the schools during the BoG general meeting and in some cases they even skipped such meetings. Absentee chairpersons were said to show little commitment in providing the much-needed leadership to the school community. To demonstrate and communicate commitment to quality improvement to students, teachers and parents, the BoG chair in the company of the headteacher held separate and occasional meetings with teachers, students and parents. In such meetings the chair emphasised the need for being results oriented in order to achieve the schools objectives. This was the characteristic of all high and two of the medium TQM-score schools. To motivate staff and students, some provided personal gifts, sponsored education tours, cash prizes and trophies to students and employees who excel. In the rest of the schools, the chairpersons did not demonstrate any commitment to quality improvement. From the words of one of the respondents, such chairpersons think that their role in leadership is to sign cheques, determine school suppliers and only meet students and parent when students go on strike. Motivating teachers and students creates a competitive environment that is conducive for increased performance. In the long term such an environment will be transformed into what Crawford and Shutler (1999) calls a school culture that is sensitive to quality improvement in order to maintain good performance. In low TQM-score and two of the medium TQM-score schools, the BoG chair measured school success by the nancial balance sheet rather than the quality of programs and services delivery. To such chairpersons, if the school was able to collect as much school fees as possible, and hence reduce the number of fee defaulters, then the school has a capacity to perform as well as any good school. In the thinking of such leaders, if the school has money, then implementation of its programmes including quality improvement efforts should not be a problem. Such BoGs concern themselves with nancial issues and relegate curriculum and service quality issues to the head teachers and their immediate management team. The assumption made by such chairpersons is that the headteacher will place the interest of the school a head of his/her personal interests and that should there be a conict, then the schools interest come rst. However, in low TQM-score schools, this was not the practice as head teachers were said to be operating private business that competed for the available head teachers time with his/her schoolwork. The in-depth interviews also revealed that in the low and medium TQM-score schools, employees who pursue further education and training beyond the minimum
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(rst degree in education or its equivalent with two teaching subjects) required to teach in a secondary school are not rewarded through leadership positions. Such leadership opportunities are limited to a few positions in the school usually one deputy head and at most six heads of departments. In such schools, decision-making is centralised and limited to the headteachers ofce and or deputy headteachers ofce. In schools where there is decentralisation of power, it is possible to involve more teachers in decision-making and leadership roles. Employee empowerment. Teachers in high TQM-score schools were actively involved in schools decision-making and instigating action. In such schools teachers are involved in making of the school budget, managing schools micro-projects that are directly related to teaching, admitting new students and purchasing teaching and learning materials. Teachers and other school employees are also involved in the school progress review through heads of departments and subjects. This gives them an opportunity to participate in decision making on quality improvement issues. In schools where teachers were not involved in the selection and purchase of school inputs, especially teaching and learning inputs, subject teachers complained of low quality, irrelevant and or inadequate teaching and learning materials. This affected the quality of service delivery, with some lessons being cancelled and or rescheduled to await the purchase of appropriate materials quite a wasteful process. In almost all schools, teachers were encouraged to work as a team through team assignments including peer review teams, weekly duty masters, using common approach in the provision of remedial lessons, participation in co-curriculum activities including sports, music and drama. School sponsored in-service training was not common in most schools as this meant a budget item to be met by parents and students in form of increased school fees. However, even where schools thought teachers could be sponsored to attend relevant short courses, there was little information availed to school administration on the value-addition of such courses. Consequently, in almost all the schools visited, teachers made individual arrangements to attend such courses. The implication of individual sponsorship to short courses and or further education and training is that those involved start looking for a transfer on promotion on the basis of the acquired skills and or alternative employment where their net income will be increased. This action denies the host school the kind of manpower that could be used to improve and sustain quality service delivery. In low and medium TQM-score schools, employees were not given authority to act outside classroom decisions. In such schools, the hierarchy of command was very strictly followed. Some respondents said this was necessary in order to avoid role conicts and incurring unnecessary expenditures based on individual decisions that do not reect the schools cash ow. However in the three high TQM-score schools, it was demonstrated that a clear chain of command is also in place but teachers are fully in-charge of their areas and are free to take action, even outside the classroom, and only to inform the respective authorities. In such schools there was evidence of reforms in the administrative structure to facilitate employee to make decisions and take action on quality improvement. Such evidence included a clear practical decentralised structure with heads of departments and subject heads having some autonomy to incur some limited expenditure. School strategic quality planning. Though all schools visited verbally indicated the presence of a quality assurance plan, only four (three high and one medium
TQM-score) schools showed evidence of periodic review of such plans with involvement of employees. The researchers could not conrm that such plans were available in three of the schools two low and one medium TQM-score schools. However, three high and one of the medium TQM schools had operational medium term (ve year plan) plans for improving quality, which are further broken into annual action plans. The progress of such plans is reviewed every quarter. Strategic quality planning is important as it galvanises schools efforts to the achievement of the school goal. It gives a clear roadmap that acts as a guide to the implementation of the school programme taking into account resources and service quality. In most schools, the strategic plan acts not only as the roadmap but also as a tool to communicate quality expectations to all employees. Unfortunately, such schools are week in systematic follow-up to ascertain the implementation of the plans. In addition there seemed to be no deliberate attempts to do a formal internal evaluation with a view to ascertain the extent to which qualitative and or quantitative targets have been met. Failure to do such an evaluation denies the organisation the opportunity to reect on the quality planning and inculcate a culture of quality assurance in schools. Schools human resource development. Most respondents indicated that schools are unable to balance the use of resources among various aspects of quality improvement. For instance, in the high TQM-score schools, teachers indicated that service delivery was affected by school funds even as the government put upper fees ceiling beyond which the schools cannot charge. In these schools more funds are channelled towards curriculum implementation especially in buying of teaching and learning materials including laboratory apparatus and chemicals. As a result, teachers are more motivated and nd their work environment more conducive for quality service delivery. However, in low and medium TQM-score schools, teachers work environment seem not to be affected by redistribution of school funds. In most of these schools provision of adequate and relevant teaching and learning materials is a problem. All, except in two low TQM-score schools, employees are recognised for achievement of quality improvement goals. Such recognition inculcated a positive work culture that could lead to continuous improvement. Recognition was done through verbal appreciation, letters of appreciation and promotion or recommendation for promotion. While most of the head teachers gave verbal appreciation only, some from high TQM score schools wrote letters of appreciation or recommended their employees for promotion. In other instances, employees are promised tokens to motivate them towards quality improvement. However, only a few end up getting the tokens since the standards set are usually very high and sometimes unrealistic. A good example is where teachers are promised a token of 1,000 Kenya shillings (US$ 14) for every grade A plain or A minus scored by a student in their subjects in the KCSE. Apart from two high TQM-score schools, the rest of the schools visited did not have a formalised staff development plan or plans to train employees in quality improvement techniques. This is an indication that schools expect staff to be equipped with quality improvement techniques from their preservice training. In the two schools, training in quality improvement is part of each employees staff development plan. Conclusions From the teachers perception on leadership, relatively more (47 per cent) teachers were of the view that BoG chairpersons were not providing the necessary leadership that
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would promote TQM practices necessary for schools continuous improvement. Though a considerable proportion (39 per cent) thought the BoG chairpersons were providing the necessary leadership. Overall, teachers perception on the head teachers role in providing leadership on TQM was different from the way they perceived the BoG chairpersons. Majority (54 per cent) of the teachers thought the head teachers were providing the required leadership while 36 per cent thought they were not. It can therefore be said that while majority of secondary school head teachers provided leadership on TQM in their school, slightly less than 40 per cent of the BoG chairpersons did the same. Taking BoG chairperson and school head teacher to represent the school management, 46 per cent of the teachers thought this management offered the leadership that promoted the practices of TQM in secondary schools. Overall, slightly more (45 per cent as opposed to 42 per cent) teachers were of the opinion that employees are empowered to act and therefore get an opportunity to participate in decision making that improves quality in the school. It can therefore be said that in Kenyan secondary schools there is a considerable number of school management that have empowered their employees and this is likely to lead to more effectiveness in service delivery. In addition, such schools enjoy the opportunity of utilising their available human capital. But on the other hand an equally large proportion (42 per cent) of schools hardly empowers their employees. This is a clear indication of the presence of a totalitarian system of leadership being practiced in secondary schools where decisions lie with individual school managers. The overall perception of teachers on schools strategic quality planning (SQP) showed that most of them (47 per cent) were of the opinion that a large proportion of secondary schools are not committed to SQP. Such schools are likely to jeopardise public efforts to provide quality secondary education. However, there exist schools that are committed to SQP as indicated by the opinion of 40 per cent of the teachers. From the overall teachers perception on the schools human resource development, the indication is that a larger proportion (43 per cent) thought that schools promote human resource development initiatives, while only 34 per cent thought that they do not. It is therefore evidence that secondary schools in Kenya do consider employees interests as an important input for an effective school. Implications for education BoG chairpersons play an important role in linking the school to the community. It is therefore important that they promote TQM practices in their schools by providing the necessary leadership. Failure to do this jeopardises the school goals. Equally, the head teachers role in providing the leadership that promotes the TQM philosophy is important. From the teachers perceptions a considerable number of secondary schools are not beneting from such leadership. Schools that empower employees are likely to make quality decisions that would optimise student achievement as opposed to schools that stie employees free expression of their intentions. There is need therefore for the Kenyan secondary school system to evaluate the extent to which employees have been empowered with a view to increasing the quality and participation in decision making among other functions. The fact that schools are operating without strategic quality planning is an indication of a lack of commitment to TQM. Lack of quality planning may jeopardise the provision of quality education services, which may in turn lead to low student
achievement. It is important therefore for the school system to sensitise school managers to the importance of strategic quality management in education. Schools that do not pay adequate attention to human resource development are not only likely to have a demotivated staff but also an ineffective workforce. It is therefore important for such schools to consider human resources development activities as part and parcel of school development plan.
Note 1. The SBP students had some practising headteachers. Since the questionnaire had items that solicited information on headteachers conduct, it was therefore necessary to exclude them from the sample. References Ali, N.A. and Zairi, M. (2005), Service quality in higher education, Working Paper No 05/29, Bradford University School of Management, Bradford. Bryman, A. (2004), Social Research Methods, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, New York, NY. Caplan, F. (1990), The Quality System: A Sourcebook for Managers and Engineers, Chilton Book Co., Radnor, PA. Cheng, Y.C. (2003), Quality assurance in education: internal, interface and future, Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 202-13. Crawford, L.E.D. and Shutler, P. (1999), Total quality management in education; problems and issues for the classroom teacher, The International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 67-72. Crosby, P. (1979), Quality is Free, New American Library, New York, NY. Crosby, P.B. (1984), Quality without Tears, New American Library, New York, NY. Dahlgaard, J.J., Kristensen, K. and Kanji, G.K. (1995), Total quality management and education, Total Quality Management, Vol. 6 No. 5, pp. 445-56. Galabawa, J.C.J. (2003), Enhancing efciency, improving quality and relevance in education and training, Report of the National Conference on Education and Training held at Kenyatta International Conference Center, November 27-29, Nairobi, pp 71-73. Githua, B.N. (2004), Planning instruction for quality assurance in higher education, a paper presented at the a workshop on Planning Instruction for Quality Assurance in Higher Education for School Based Programmes, ARC Hotel, Egerton University, Njoro, 21 July. Government of Kenya (1998), Master Plan on Education and Training 1997-2010, Government Printer, Nairobi. Government of Kenya (2005a), Sessional Paper No. 1 of A Policy Framework for Education, Training and Research: Meeting the Challenges of Education, Training and Research in Kenya in the 21st Century, Government Printer, Nairobi. Government of Kenya (2005b), Kenya Education Sector Support Programme 2005-2010: Delivering Quality Education and Training to all Kenyans, Government Printer, Nairobi. Kaufman, R. (1992), The challenge of total quality management in education, International Journal of Education Reform, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 149-65. Kiboro, W.D. (2003), Effective Performance Management, report of the National Annual Head teachers Conference, Nairobi, 25 June, pp. 2-7. Mehrotra, D. (2004), Applying total quality management in academics, Six Sigma, available at: www.isixsigma.com/me/tqm/ (accessed 16 May 2005).
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Odebero, O.S. (2002), Bursary as a method of nancing secondary school education in Busia District, Kenya, unpublished Masters of Education thesis, Maseno University, Maseno. Okumbe, J.A. (1998), Educational Management: Theory and Practice, Nairobi University Press, Nairobi. Padhi, N. (2004), The eight elements of TQM, Six Sigma, available at www.isixsigma.com/me/ tqm/ (accessed 16 May 2005). Painter, S.R. (2000), Principals efcacy beliefs about teacher evaluation, Journal of Education Administration, Vol. 38 No. 4, pp. 368-78. Rampa, S.H. (2004), The relationship between total quality management and school improvement, Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria. Rossi, P.H., Wright, J.D. and Anderson, A.B. (Eds) (1983), Handbook of Survey Research, Academic Press, London. Saitoti, G. (2003), Education Sector Review: How Far Have We Come Since Independence and What Still Needs to be Done to Meet the Education Needs of all Kenyans, report of the National Conference on Education and Training held at Kenyatta International Conference Center, Nairobi, 27-29 November, pp 50-64. Temponi, C. (2005), Continuous improvement Framework: implications for academia, Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 17-36. Thakkar, J., Deshmukh, S.G. and Shastree, A. (2006), Total quality management (TQM) in self-nanced technical institutions: a quality function deployment (QFD) and force eld analysis approach, Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 54-74. Further reading Deming, W.E. (1982), Quality, Productivity and Competitive Position, Center for Advanced Engineering Study, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. Joiner, B.L. (1985), The key role of statisticians in the transformation of North America industry, The American Statisticians, Vol. 39 No. 3, available at http://deming.eng. clemson.edu/pub/den/les/tql.txt Joiner, B.L. (1986), Using statisticians to help transform industry in America, Quality Progress, May, pp. 46-50.
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Total quality management in secondary schools in Kenya: extent of practice

TQM in secondary schools 339

David Kuria Wamukuru and Stephen Onyango Odebero

TQM in secondary schools 341

TQM in secondary schools 343

Notes: X mean; SD Standard deviation

TQM in secondary schools 345

Notes: X mean; SD Standard deviation

2.52 2.90 2.99 2.49 3.45 3.29 3.16 2.89

Notes: X mean; SD Standard deviation

Table IV. Teachers perceptions on schools human resource development

Notes: X mean; SD Standard deviation

TQM in secondary schools 347

TQM in secondary schools 349

TQM in secondary schools 351

TQM in secondary schools 353

TQM in secondary schools 355

TQM in secondary schools 357

TQM in secondary schools 359

TQM in secondary schools 361

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