An investigation on the effect of quality management practices on the performance of public primary schools in Nakuru Municipality, Kenya

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of quality management practices on the performance of public primary schools in Nakuru Municipality, Kenya. The research objectives were to; determine the extent to which QM practices have been applied in public primary schools and determine the effect of QM practices on performance in public primary schools within Nakuru Municipality. The study used a census survey of all the 60 public primary schools and the respondents of the study were 60 head teachers from all the public primary schools in Nakuru Municipality. The study used structured questionnaires to gather data from school head teachers. Data was analyzed with help of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).Descriptive statistics mean, median, mode, percentages were used. Inferential statistics regression analysis technique was used to analyze data. Study findings showed that competitive benchmarking, training as well as reward and recognition were achieved moderately whereas teamwork and customer focus were marginally achieved in the public primary schools in the study area. Quality management practices (top management commitment, teamwork, continuous improvement, competitive benchmarking, training, reward and recognition and customer focus) were found to significantly influence performance among schools in the study area. This study recommended the need to strengthen these elements of quality management practices in order to realize meaningful performance; effective application of quality management practices among other strategies in order to achieve measurable improvement in the performance. There is need for stakeholders in the public primary schools to increasingly and effectively implement the identified quality management practices in order to realize increased levels of performance especially in KCPE mean score, enrolment and co-curricular activities.