Influence of planning of physical facilities on the provision of quality learning environment in secondary schools in Narok North Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

The responsibility for planning of school physical facilities should involve all stake-holders in the school, to ensure that every child has a favorable learning environment for quality education. The purpose of the study was to determine the influence of planning of physical facilities on the quality of learning environment provided by secondary schools in Narok North Sub-County. The study objectives were to determine whether secondary schools use government provided guidelines on construction of school physical facilities, to determine the quality of school physical facilities provided for teaching and learning, to determine the adequacy of school physical facilities provided for teaching and learning and to determine the relationship between planning of school physical facilities and quality of learning environment in secondary schools in Narok North Sub county. The study used the descriptive survey research design. The target population consisted of one Sub-County Director of Education (SCDE), 23 principals, 345 teachers, and 1150 students from 23 public and private secondary schools in Narok North Sub-County. A random sample of, 100 teachers and 120, form three students was selected for the study. The study sample also included one SCDE and 23 principals who were purposively selected, to give a total of 267 respondents. The instruments for data collection were questionnaires for teachers and Form Three students. An interview schedule was administered to the administrators. The instruments were subjected to content and face validity through expert judgment by university supervisors. Reliability was estimated using Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient, which was accepted if it was over 0.7. The reliability of the teachers’ and students’ questionnaires were 0.9 and 0.875 respectively. The major findings indicated that a majority of the school administrators were aware of the existence of government approved building guidelines. However they did not adhere to them when putting up school buildings. Most of the administrators also observed that there was no enforcement mechanisms in construction of school buildings and no inspection of facilities were carried out by the government. Teachers observed that the classrooms had good quality lighting, ventilations to provide a high indoor air quality, while other aspects of the classroom did not meet the standard for inspirational setting for learning. This was because classrooms were inadequate resulting into overcrowding and, without enough furniture. The students concurred with most of the perceptions of their teachers. On the issues of sanitation facilities the respondents agreed that the facilities were the most neglected. The study found that there was a statistically significant relation between planning, adequacy and quality of physical facilities of schools. Based on these findings it is then recommended that government to use qualified building constructors, conduct regular inspection of school facilities to ensure compliance with construction guidelines and therefore ensure provision of adequate quality learning environment. These findings are likely to benefit the ministry of education and the school administrators, in understanding the importance of planning of school physical facilities, in order to provide quality learning environment, hence improve the quality of education.